I know everybody keeps talking about the lack of progressive football (no fear) and all that stuff. But are we actually just WAY too easy to play against?? In our usual starting 11 beilik is the only one who is meant to be able to win the ball back and then move us through the "transitions".
He has turned into a slob in the middle of the park, there is nobody to get a bit nasty against the opposition which for me, is just as important as free flowing football. The arsenal of old used to be good at football but everybody knew that all you had to do was kick them a little bit and they would crumble. Are we a bit guilty of being that team??
There was talk when Rooney came in that we need to rid ourselves of this 'us against the world" but I actually think that is what makes us BLUES.
let's not completely forget who we are and get back to being horrible to play against, because we certainly need that at the moment and I think that is what get the crowd fired up for now.
I know everybody keeps talking about the lack of progressive football (no fear) and all that stuff. But are we actually just WAY too easy to play against?? In our usual starting 11 beilik is the only one who is meant to be able to win the ball back and then move us through the "transitions".
He has turned into a slob in the middle of the park, there is nobody to get a bit nasty against the opposition which for me, is just as important as free flowing football. The arsenal of old used to be good at football but everybody knew that all you had to do was kick them a little bit and they would crumble. Are we a bit guilty of being that team??
There was talk when Rooney came in that we need to rid ourselves of this 'us against the world" but I actually think that is what makes us BLUES.
let's not completely forget who we are and get back to being horrible to play against, because we certainly need that at the moment and I think that is what get the crowd fired up for now.
I accept that people were uninspired by JE's constant same approach to interviews ... ie always the same ... "it's about being competitive" ,,, and his absolute refusal to ever criticise the team (or fans) publicly
,,,, but are rival fans more likely to mock us for dropping quicker than a stone - or does anyone really get ribbed on a Monday with remarkes of "Saw your Blues lot at the weekend - i know you beat Albion 3-1 .... and i know it was a great match to watch .... but christ your manager is slightly repetitive in his interviews every week" ?
I don't know how to respond to that to be honest rags.
But I think what I'm basically saying is... Yes can we go back to just being competitive please. Bring back sunjic, then we might get the old beilik back or have JJ next to him. Then have a fron 4 of stansfield, MIYOSHI bacuna and Dembélé. With attacking full backs. I think we also have to get used to not having laird as an option.
This with bells on, we are far too nice.
Dramah kicks the ball out for one of theirs staying down injured when there was clearly nothing wrong with him, is an example of this.
We need to be nastier and far more aggressive like teams are against us.
We need to toughen up and start to bully teams, like teams do to us.
Bielik worked under JE because he realised that he needed legs next to him which is why Sunjic was a regular
He’s isolated under Rooney and looks the shadow of the player he was
That was one of Eustace’s strengths - he set us up in such a way that players strengths were highlighted and their limitations were masked as much as possible
Iain_GavinAny manager worth his salt identifies the weaknesses and capabilities of his players and plays to their strengths.Bielik worked under JE because he realised that he needed legs next to him which is why Sunjic was a regular
He’s isolated under Rooney and looks the shadow of the player he was
That was one of Eustace’s strengths - he set us up in such a way that players strengths were highlighted and their limitations were masked as much as possible
Rooney’s problem is that he plays to a pre established system irrespective.
When you play out your career with stellar players at Man U and England you can get away with it.
But not at this level in th championship I’m afraid.
I don't know how to respond to that to be honest rags.
My answer, on re-reading it, didn't actually address your points. I probably meant to post something else, got distracted and then just typed in whatever my innermost thoughts were at the time
Apologies ... 'cos now i can't remember what it was i was actually trying to say
Put Sunjic and Bielik back Infront of the back four and let's go from there
We need a couple of "enforcers " Chopper Harris ,Norman Hunter types
Go back to what we was actually good at. And slowly get more attacking and sexy from there. It's still multi million followers Rooney in charge and Brady in the stands. So what's the big deal! It should still tick the boxes of knighthead shouldn't it?
Am I reading that people want to go back to Eustace style, sit deep, break fast on the counter, concede 70% possession every game. Is that the way forward? To go backwards?
No I don't think your reading that. But wouldn't it of been a bit more sensible to keep what was good and improve what wasn't. But instead Rooney is telling them to play from the back and then keep passing it until it hopefully goes somewhere vaguely close to the oppositions goal and then shoot. Then, when that doesn't work, come out and publicly out your players by saying I've told them to stop doing that because they are not good enough.
JayDeeAm I reading that people want to go back to Eustace style, sit deep, break fast on the counter, concede 70% possession every game. Is that the way forward? To go backwards?
We're certainly going backwards down the table at the moment
It's a compromise until we have players capable of playing Wazzball. We had a good defence and we have good attackers but the whole maligned squad are sinking into the mire.
Fouling is part of the game, other teams are much better at it than us - we are far too honest.
Against Blackburn, whenever it looked like we were getting out of their press they'd foul us. They never got booked because it was in our half and they didn't go to ground. It wasn't some wily old pro doing this - it was their young midfielders, they were clearly trained to do it. Yet whenever they played through our press, we just watched them and often weren't even close enough to try and commit a tactical foul. It's not just Blackburn, many teams have done it to us.