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I’ve been of the mindset that we have to 100% keep SC no matter what, but after going last night and watching that, something has to change.
I had no idea what we supposed to be doing second half, what the tactics were, what the formation was. Was utterly dreadful. (Neco Williams being the worst)
A change in manager might give some of the players a kick up the backside they need and we MIGHT just scrape more points than 3 other teams.
We have good players. I think. They just need some structure on the pitch.
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Interesting stat I just read. The average age of the subs we used last night was 31.5.
Not for one second am I saying this is the only thing that was wrong or absolving Cooper of any blame. Just that the team we have built seems so disjointed and far away from the young attacking side that got us promoted.
Last year we hit on the break at pace with young mobile forwards and wing backs. That was what our brought our success. Almost the only time this season we have replicated that was on Saturday vs Wolves. Back to type again last night looking old, slow ponderous and devoid of ideas of how to change it. Couldn’t match Leeds energy. Cant help but think we didn’t try harder to “build last season’s team better”.
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(05-04-2023, 09:22 AM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Interesting stat I just read. The average age of the subs we used last night was 31.5.
Not for one second am I saying this is the only thing that was wrong or absolving Cooper of any blame. Just that the team we have built seems so disjointed and far away from the young attacking side that got us promoted.
Last year we hit on the break at pace with young mobile forwards and wing backs. That was what our brought our success. Almost the only time this season we have replicated that was on Saturday vs Wolves. Back to type again last night looking old, slow ponderous and devoid of ideas of how to change it. Couldn’t match Leeds energy. Cant help but think we didn’t try harder to “build last season’s team better”.
Couldn't have put it better
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(05-04-2023, 09:22 AM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Interesting stat I just read. The average age of the subs we used last night was 31.5.
Not for one second am I saying this is the only thing that was wrong or absolving Cooper of any blame. Just that the team we have built seems so disjointed and far away from the young attacking side that got us promoted.
Last year we hit on the break at pace with young mobile forwards and wing backs. That was what our brought our success. Almost the only time this season we have replicated that was on Saturday vs Wolves. Back to type again last night looking old, slow ponderous and devoid of ideas of how to change it. Couldn’t match Leeds energy. Cant help but think we didn’t try harder to “build last season’s team better”.
I think we did at the start of the window, Mangala, Taiwo, Neco, Richards, MGW, Niakhate, Dennis even. Then Lingard, Freuler etc joined and it all became a bit disjointed.
I guess the problem is had we not have started using Kouyate, Freuler, Aurier, Boly etc and let the younger lads play more then Cooper would already be long gone anyway. Southampton have tried exactly that strategy and its failed. I guess it shows you can't carry too many younger players that need to develop all at once. Got to be a blend until they're good enough to carry the side on it's own.
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Heard that argument of “got to have a blend” far too often. Its not just about having a mix of youth and experience its having a squad that is built form the outset to play a particular way.
There were clearly too many people pulling in different directions in the summer. The other problem is we initially built a squad to play 532 only to discover we were nowhere near good enough to use that at this level. Yes some of that blame is on Cooper, a bit of naïvety and lack of PL nous.
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(05-04-2023, 12:50 PM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Heard that argument of “got to have a blend” far too often. Its not just about having a mix of youth and experience its having a squad that is built form the outset to play a particular way.
There were clearly too many people pulling in different directions in the summer. The other problem is we initially built a squad to play 532 only to discover we were nowhere near good enough to use that at this level. Yes some of that blame is on Cooper, a bit of naïvety and lack of PL nous.
The blend point was that I don't think if we'd have bough 11 Mangala types that we could've survived. There needs to be some older players that are both used to playing under the heightened pressure and who are much more consistent.
I agree though I think maybe with the massive benefit of hindsight we could've stuck with the 352 and just dropped another into midfield and played one up top. I also think the wingbacks are the key to that tactic and ours this year and not as good as last year (respectively). You wonder if it would've worked better if we had have had Spence still with his linkup with Brennan.
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05-04-2023, 02:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-04-2023, 02:14 PM by Salvatore Matrecano.)
(05-04-2023, 01:38 PM)wassy04 Wrote: (05-04-2023, 12:50 PM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Heard that argument of “got to have a blend” far too often. Its not just about having a mix of youth and experience its having a squad that is built form the outset to play a particular way.
There were clearly too many people pulling in different directions in the summer. The other problem is we initially built a squad to play 532 only to discover we were nowhere near good enough to use that at this level. Yes some of that blame is on Cooper, a bit of naïvety and lack of PL nous.
The blend point was that I don't think if we'd have bough 11 Mangala types that we could've survived. There needs to be some older players that are both used to playing under the heightened pressure and who are much more consistent.
I agree though I think maybe with the massive benefit of hindsight we could've stuck with the 352 and just dropped another into midfield and played one up top. I also think the wingbacks are the key to that tactic and ours this year and not as good as last year (respectively). You wonder if it would've worked better if we had have had Spence still with his linkup with Brennan.
Agree in part. The argument about the wing backs falls down a bit because last years left sided wing back was…errr..Jack Colback. Think Lodi is just a tiny bit of an upgrade! Although to be honest whilst he looks better defensively than I had thought he doesnt offer much going forwards.
Its the midfield that has let us down in my opinion, we never seem to control a game.
By the way, you make it sound like Mangala is an inexperienced kid. He is 25 and has 130 Bundesliga appearances to his name.
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(05-04-2023, 02:11 PM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: (05-04-2023, 01:38 PM)wassy04 Wrote: (05-04-2023, 12:50 PM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Heard that argument of “got to have a blend” far too often. Its not just about having a mix of youth and experience its having a squad that is built form the outset to play a particular way.
There were clearly too many people pulling in different directions in the summer. The other problem is we initially built a squad to play 532 only to discover we were nowhere near good enough to use that at this level. Yes some of that blame is on Cooper, a bit of naïvety and lack of PL nous.
The blend point was that I don't think if we'd have bough 11 Mangala types that we could've survived. There needs to be some older players that are both used to playing under the heightened pressure and who are much more consistent.
I agree though I think maybe with the massive benefit of hindsight we could've stuck with the 352 and just dropped another into midfield and played one up top. I also think the wingbacks are the key to that tactic and ours this year and not as good as last year (respectively). You wonder if it would've worked better if we had have had Spence still with his linkup with Brennan.
Agree in part. The argument about the wing backs falls down a bit because last years left sided wing back was…errr..Jack Colback. Think Lodi is just a tiny bit of an upgrade! Although to be honest whilst he looks better defensively than I had thought he doesnt offer much going forwards.
Its the midfield that has let us down in my opinion, we never seem to control a game.
By the way, you make it sound like Mangala is an inexperienced kid. He is 25 and has 130 Bundesliga appearances to his name.
He's 25?! Ha I presumed he was a few years younger! Yes I do agree, midfield has been the weak link, sometimes due to lack of support from fullbacks or wingers. Has shown with how much we've missed Yates. The only one apart from maybe Kouyate that has shown the energy to be a premier league CM.
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Yep we will get some serious offers for Ryan this summer. Telling that the 2 players we will have the most interest in are both academy products.
I like Kouyate a lot but he clearly runs out of gas around the 60 min mark. Need someone who can do his job for 90, think looking to Danilo but whilst he clearly has some quality he looks a way off yet.
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(05-04-2023, 02:26 PM)Salvatore Matrecano Wrote: Yep we will get some serious offers for Ryan this summer. Telling that the 2 players we will have the most interest in are both academy products.
I like Kouyate a lot but he clearly runs out of gas around the 60 min mark. Need someone who can do his job for 90, think looking to Danilo but whilst he clearly has some quality he looks a way off yet.
Should have kept O'Brien in the squad
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