JohnPOutplayed by Albion granted but can't remember many chances for them and thought we looked good on the break with Dembele, Bacuna and Miyoshi.
And Stansfield up top was so refreshing and exciting at the time.
I remember us attaching on the night and v Huddersfield with those 4 driving forwards and remembering McLeish's attack of just Jerome or Bruce's of just Heskey.
generalBlueOnel HernandezgeneralBlueIf the manager and players halt the losses and start picking up points would that be a good thing ?
Of course, why wouldn't it be?
Just checking !
23 more points needed ( approx ) from 26 games.
That's Wayne Rooney's target and his players.
It's not massively ambitious but that's the bottom line.
Ultimately it would be terrific if we could adapt to a free flowing style full of attacking intent with high energy and a swagger. However needs must and right now if we adopt a more safety first approach and gather more points in the process I'll take that without reservation.
Personally I think if we abandon everything we've tried to do and start putting 11 men behind the ball in the hope of not losing, it can't be called anything but a regression from where we started the season. We'll have made no progress towards where we want to be and I assume the desire for good football from the owners will still be there so we're going to have to go through all of this again at some stage. In the short term to pick up some points and build confidence? Fine. Over the remainder of the season? Not for me...
As you say, we have to survive so if needs must, we'll have to do it but whilst I've been on the "give Rooney time" side of the argument, that's based on the fact that it'll take time for the players to learn and adapt to what is being asked of them. I'm judging him against what I think other managers would achieve if they tried to get this squad to play in a similar way. If we abandon that, Rooney is judged against what other managers could do given a free reign to do whatever is necessary to pick up points... I know there are plenty out there who could have us comfortably finishing mid table in those circumstances.
I'm torn - I want us to be a club that is unwavering in our philosophy and to have a manager/head coach who is just as head strong in the way they want to play.
90% of the teams in the Premier League and the clubs at the top end of the Championship play in a similar style to what Knighthead want, they have set principles and they stick to them whether they win 5-0 or lose 4-0. At some stage there needs to be a starting point to this journey where we don't look back and abandon our philosophy off the back of a tough period.
Now comes the issue, in my opinion Rooney is just simply not a good enough manager to able to change our playing style, in fact I haven't seen any pattern or style in 9 matches so far, just disorganisation and a team playing off the cuff. That being said I do have some sympathy, I think the person coming in first (and midway through a season) to completely overhaul our style has the hardest job of all the managers who will inevitably follow. It would be a tough job even for a proven successful manager at this level to get this squad playing the complete opposite of style to which they have been settled in under JE for 18 months+, however I think we would see significant signs of progress by now which we haven't have under Rooney.
I can't see Rooney going anywhere anytime soon so I think our only hope of picking up points would be to be more pragmatic and nick wins off the back of a strong defensive setup, whether we are able to do that remains to be seen.
Either way, our next appointment is massive - it needs to be someone who is proven and CAN deliver us this football and give the fans a better sense of what the owners want and where we are heading, and one that we don't look back from.
For me, it's imperative that he sticks to the style of play for which he was appointed. Otherwise, we could've stuck with Eustace until just before the January window opened and gained more points.
That said, the style of play hasn't really been costing us many goals, poor defending has. As I think I said on here after Coventry, even with Laird, Drameh, Long and Sanderson all missing, we defended no better or worse for their absence.
WR BluebrierleyblueI don't really understand the negative response to this. A good manager gets the best out of the tools at his disposal. Rooney needs to find the best system that our squad can play, not try to force them into implementing a system the current players simply cannot adapt to.
I don't know about a negative response, but surely people will ask questions like - 'how did a good manager not realise this from the start?' or 'how did a good manager ever think it was a good idea to try to conduct such a change at the point that it was tried?' and leading on from these they might ask 'why did we spend money and effort changing a half-decent manager for one who thought that this would be a good idea?'
It wouldn't be so bad if there was the merest hint that he knows his arse from his elbow. It's not like we've brought in the new Ange from Spurs, with a well known reputation for exciting front foot, attacking football. He did a reasonable job at Derby in difficult circumstances, but I don't remember them as a free flowing attacking side. He was a miserable failure at DC, with an even worse win percentage that he had at Derby. The whole "No Fear" idea is meaningless marketing drivel. We need a coach who can get the best out of players, not somebody who comes in and slags off the players to hide his own shortcomings. We should go for Hassenhutl or Parker in my opinion. Get them in to stop the rot and analyse the players, then let them build a team to push for promotion next year. The longer they stick with Rooney, the closer to League 1 we're going to be.
Agreed.
Iroala has been mentioned a few times and you can see from the start of the season to now, he has had Bournemouth playing a certain way. The issue with Rooney has been that, as Rab said earlier, he changed the team and system in his second game. There's been a general nod to pressing higher up the pitch but no specific style or setup in his first 9 games.
To revert back is to leave behind nothing in the first place. It's really yet another change of tactical approach and will probably lead to more confusion. Perhaps he can successfully go "back to basics" and then slowly start to evolve the team. My fear is and has always been that Rooney simply doesn't have a clear vision of what he wants to do.
Sometimes it’s not the lack of a clear vision that’s the problem, it’s the lack of suitable parts or tools to achieve the vision.
I have a 70s Kay bass guitar that’s not playing well that I plan to refurbish. The neck is straight and the electronics are good but the bridge is nigh on useless, there’s holes where there shouldn’t be and the tuners need replacing. I have a clear vision of what I want it to be but I don’t have all of the parts or tools that I need to finish the job just now. When I bought it it looked pretty good and a layman probably wouldn’t see the issues - it looked like it should but didn’t play well. You could get a tune out of it, as the previous owner did, but there was potential for it to be much better. The notes at the bottom of the neck are pretty much spot on but the further up you go, the worse it is.
I’ve taken it apart so at the moment it just looks like a pile of rubbish and doesn’t play at all but a couple of cheap but effective new parts in the new year will help massively. After that it’s a case of putting it back together properly so it plays how I want it to. Once the new strings are bedded in I’ll be rocking but some people who saw the last guy play it wouldn’t understand why I’ve had to rebuild it when it was doing an OK job. The only plus is I don’t have to gig it twice a week while the tweaks/repairs are being done and listen to people boo when it lets me down.
The cat next doorIf style of play is to change, is this something he has instigated himself or run it by the powers that be?
Who would have told him? The football people, or the Marketing guy from Nike?
QBBC2Sometimes it’s not the lack of a clear vision that’s the problem, it’s the lack of suitable parts or tools to achieve the vision.
I have a 70s Kay bass guitar that’s not playing well that I plan to refurbish. The neck is straight and the electronics are good but the bridge is nigh on useless, there’s holes where there shouldn’t be and the tuners need replacing. I have a clear vision of what I want it to be but I don’t have all of the parts or tools that I need to finish the job just now. When I bought it it looked pretty good and a layman probably wouldn’t see the issues - it looked like it should but didn’t play well. You could get a tune out of it, as the previous owner did, but there was potential for it to be much better. The notes at the bottom of the neck are pretty much spot on but the further up you go, the worse it is.
I’ve taken it apart so at the moment it just looks like a pile of rubbish and doesn’t play at all but a couple of cheap but effective new parts in the new year will help massively. After that it’s a case of putting it back together properly so it plays how I want it to. Once the new strings are bedded in I’ll be rocking but some people who saw the last guy play it wouldn’t understand why I’ve had to rebuild it when it was doing an OK job. The only plus is I don’t have to gig it twice a week while the tweaks/repairs are being done and listen to people boo when it lets me down.
In your analogy, Blues have taken the guitar from a competent but boring pub rocker, and given it to somebody with no fingers, who's bashing at the strings with his head.
we need to play to the players strengths and return to what got us a few wins pre Rooney. let the change to this no fear style whatever that is happen over time. we are trying to run before we can walk. it would be nice if the players showed a bit of backbone because if we lose 9 away game in a row that would be a disgrace