SHA Small Heath Alliance

Last night got me thinking about his philosophy and whether this is the problem. He strikes me as someone who wants a great deal of structure and order to a game, so much so that he sacrifices attacking threat for control. This is allied to his fixation with one system 4-2-3-1 even if he doesn't have the right players to play that system. I do worry that he is so set on his philosophy that he cannot see another way and/or react when presented with a challenge in a game like last night. I often hear he is learning but don't see lots of progress in his approach or thinking. Its more to double down on the same way. i appreciate that is has worked consistently over an extended period, but if we want to progress then maybe a greater tactical flexibility is required. And no I'm not bedwetting, just reflecting on what I see from other managers who are already at further on in their careers. I wonder if we have the patience for him to develop and / or he has it in him.

Fixated with one system (albeit with some subtle tweaks and personnel changes)

At times this season we should have set up with either 3 at the back and 2 wingbacks or 3 in midfield to stay solid. Any decent opposition manager with a relatively decent team can set up to swarm us through the middle and press our backline

To some extent the manager has to be the one person who believes in the footballing philosophy he is asking them to carry out even when its not particularly going well - but not blindly.

If you step back and take a breath, we have rinsed league one with the best ever points tally.
And we are also mathematically still in with a chance of playoffs - so for all his faults, CD knows a thing or two about football, no doubt. As i said in another thread, when it works, it works.

However, I feel our 'prep' in response to what the other team might offer, sometimes is lacking.
What i mean is, there might indeed be a shape they work on in training, but to my eye, we seem to stick to the same core fundamentals of passing from the back, possession and 'the perfect goal'.

I worry the players themselves are perhaps fed up of being on the receiving end of a backlash of 'sticking to the formula' when we desperately need something different against a particular team.

I am not expert but that won't have been fun last night with CD shouting his ideas and the players are like 'dude it aint working - what else you got' ?

I think last night it needed somebody on the field to stop the short stuff out the back for a spell.

Imo Klarer should have made that call and told his young goalkeeper to keep it simple and if there was a wrath from the manager he would take it.

The insistence on doing the same thing over and over again really turned the crowd.

Everbluesince92

I think last night it needed somebody on the field to stop the short stuff out the back for a spell.

Imo Klarer should have made that call and told his young goalkeeper to keep it simple and if there was a wrath from the manager he would take it.

The insistence on doing the same thing over and over again really turned the crowd.

Again, without Priske, who can we go long *to*.

People love to talk about Stansfield offering so much more as a 9, but he restricts us so much in this sense.

And no Paik means we can't pass out either.

I don't necessarily mean long all the way up top but that would still have been better for a spell of losing the ball 70 yards from our goal instead of the 25-30 yards we did multiple times in the first half.

Going long for 10 minutes would have stopped the groans, given boro something else to think about and maybe stopped the second goal being conceded.

Afterwards, we could have then brought it back into our game but perhaps boro wouldn't be so pressed high.

I think last night it needed somebody on the field to stop the short stuff out the back for a spell.

Imo Klarer should have made that call and told his young goalkeeper to keep it simple and if there was a wrath from the manager he would take it.

The insistence on doing the same thing over and over again really turned the crowd.

I 100% agree.....which begs the question - why?
I thought Klarer at one point was gonna go fekin apoplectic when he got passed the ball and nearly went out for a corner.

But he just carried on. Why is our captain not calling that out - whether CD endorses that shit or not - you cannot physically be pegged further back without playing the match on the lap of row A of Tilton.

He should have gone mad and told Beadle to get it out his feet for a bit to relieve pressure!

This also calls into question his loyalty to certain players when even by their own admission , they are struggling or out of form. He could have easily said last night Beadle was shaken by a bad knock and we will assess him this week and see if he is fit for the next game. He almost doubled down. Unless his head falls off, he's playing. Same with Paik and Iwata last season, Paik before Christmas this season, Jay now. We have options but he loves a system and certain players. I do wonder if his stubbornness will end up costing him. Ultimately its about giving the opposition different things to worry about. Basically at the moment they can spend all week worrying about 4-2-3-1, pressing high and how to solve it safe in the knowledge, they don't have to worry about anything else.

StechyBlue

I think last night it needed somebody on the field to stop the short stuff out the back for a spell.

Imo Klarer should have made that call and told his young goalkeeper to keep it simple and if there was a wrath from the manager he would take it.

The insistence on doing the same thing over and over again really turned the crowd.

I 100% agree.....which begs the question - why?
I thought Klarer at one point was gonna go fekin apoplectic when he got passed the ball and nearly went out for a corner.

But he just carried on. Why is our captain not calling that out - whether CD endorses that shit or not - you cannot physically be pegged further back without playing the match on the lap of row A of Tilton.

He should have gone mad and told Beadle to get it out his feet for a bit to relieve pressure!

The KRO podcast had the answer to this - apparently Davies was apoplectic when the players did take it upon themselves to go long because he thought we could play through the press last night if we tried enough times.

Trouble is, when if the manager changes formation and we still don't do well, he gets slagged off with cries that he's been wheeling out "Lee Clarke's bingo machine".