saintant

Wouldn't be against trying Manning in midfield - my only reservation being that he's another short arse.

Lots to agree with here. Perraud is a much better fullback than Manning who has been awful in every game so far. I'd give Bree a go on the right and play KWP left back with none of this inverted nonsense. If one gets forward down one wing then the other stays back and both concentrate more on defensive duties than attacking. We never address the lack of height and power in the side. Its an essential part of the make-up of any team yet we continue to field too many weaklings who are not up to the physicality of professional football. Cut out the tip-tap walking football from the back, beef up the midfiled (though we probably don't have the players for this), get two wide players hugging the touchlines and Stewart, when fit, through the middle. Ping balls down the flanks or channels with midfielders bursting forward in support. Much more movement off the ball and getting between the lines. We'll create more chances, score more goals and be much more solid at the back. Carry on the RM way and the only direction for us is down because we'll leak goals by the bucket load.

My apologies, I hadn't realised you were privy to what RM said to Charles after the first goal. Bazunu picking out runners with a few long balls can hardly be described as mixing it up -there are ten outfield players in the team.

Where did I say nobody outside of Man City tries it? The problem with RM is that he is for total possession football which his players cannot give him. Of course, all teams play for possession of the ball but you can't instruct your defenders not to ever go long to the flanks or channels which is where he is going wrong. Mix it up and make the possession football more purposeful. We have no shape or strategy and look a ragbag of a team that has no clue what it's doing. Let's see what the future brings - my guess is that RM's current style of play will be binned one way or another.

Anyone else find losing back to back games 5-0 and 1-4 entertaining?

I wonder if JW has sat RM down for a chat after the last two abysmal performances. I'd like to think he has because things need to be said.

It's nothing to boast about.

Yet some are saying we are great on the ball - I don't agree by the way.

How many goals had they conceded?

You have far more faith in his ability to adapt and change than many of us and we were warned by Swansea fans what to expect.

The only time you'd normally see a picture like this is if Leicester were the defending side 🙂

Go to any ground in the country and fans will react in the same way as we do when the ball is constantly being given away particularly in dangerous areas. You can't expect anything else because that is the norm and people like you who may be prepared to sit and applaud politely are a rare breed. Fans are passionate and, having paid a lot of their hard earned income to watch their team of very highly paid professionals they quite naturally become pissed off if said professionals on massive incomes perform like players who have barely been introduced to a football. Currently I tend to blame RM more than our players because his system is making them look bad. You can laud RM all you like for trying a brave new way of playing but I can tell you and him it has zero chance of working because that kind of effective possession based football is only possible if you have the best players in the world at your disposal. You cannot coach it - if you could teams like Man City would be ten a penny. There's a very simple reason very few managers, if any, outside the top of the Premier League try it and that reason is that it is impossible to implement. The sooner we get back to a more basic, simpler brand of football the sooner our players will perform to the best of their ability and not have the crowd constantly pressurising them - we have a decent squad but they are being asked to play in the wrong way. Now results are turning and teams see how easy we can be exploited it is only going to get worse. Time for management to bite the bullet and inform RM he has to change and see if he has anything else to offer other than possession football.

Think you are kidding yourself and have believed the hype - we are not very good on the ball.

His comments after the game were strange to say the least. He sounded like the pressure is already getting to him and most of what he said came across as garbled nonsense that I don't think even he believed.

I'm not convinced you can build a team to play out from the back. The best sides can do it but only because their players are so good. It's nigh on impossible to learn on the job because mistakes get made, sloppy goal are conceded, players confidence nose dives and the fans get restless. It's ok to play out when the option is on but it shouldn't be the default setting as there's nothing wrong with hitting long balls to the flanks and into the channels. RM will not last long if he does not learn to mix it up.

I'm guessing JW won't sleep easy tonight after back to back debacles.

Have been critical of Baz but thought he did well tonight despite how shocking we were.

I agree with all you say but you omit the act that the first two goals which caused most of the damage were not caused by us being caught with too many players upfield. They were the result of Leicester being fully aware that we'd try to play out from the back whatever the circumstances. We played right into their hands by twice giving away the ball in our half and Leicester cashed in and raced into a two goal lead.

Whichever way you cut it that first goal was a total clusterfuck. We kicked off and 25 seconds later the ball was in our net! I couldn't believe what I was watching - we took the kick off passed the ball back until Baz had it, he played a pass that left Charles under pressure but, knowing he wasn't allowed to send it long he tried a pass that wasn't remotely on. Leicester knew we'd do it, they had the ball and in the next breath it was nestling in the back of our net. That should not happen at any level of football. RM should be embarrassed.

The inverted position KWP goes into is because RM thinks he can emulate what Pep does. He can't and our players are not good enough to play that way. For pity's sake can we go back to basics, cut the inverted full backs nonsense and stop this obsession with playing out from the back, Set up in a good shape, play out when it's possible but if not the players must be told it is ok to hit the flanks or channels. We are not and never will be Man City. We have good players being played in totally the wrong way and this will only get worse as confidence drains and other teams press us hard high up the pitch. It is nonsense.

Agree. I heard him say he was proud of the players. If he's saying that after a 4-1 home defeat that could have been worse and which followed a 5-0 thrashing that could also have been worse then he's sending out completely the wrong message. We need some honesty and home truths not some sort of propaganda statement.

The problem with RM insisting on this playing out from the back is that opponents are very aware of this. From the first minute today Leicester pressed us hard and their reward was two early goals as we played right into their hands - other teams will do the same. This will erode any confidence of the players and lead to even more mistakes. There is no way you can learn this system on the job because of all the goals you'll give away - it is self perpetuating. RM must abandon it because if he doesn't he's going to be sacked before too long.

We made it very easy for him to be fair.

RM sugar-coating it on Sky. He needs to stop kidding himself and get his head out of the sand.

Exactly. RM seems to insist that we play like Man City. It's never going to happen. Get the basics right and stop trying to be so frigging clever.