saintant

Unless something changes they will continue because opponents will be well aware that their press will induce these errors.

Edozie clearly needs this loan because he has not demonstrated that he can perform at the level we require. The attributes he has shown are that he is good on the ball and can get past an opponent. However, there has rarely been an end product plus his finishing is pretty poor. If he can work on and improve those aspects plus maybe work in the gym to build up his upper body strength he has the potential to make a very good winger. A season of hard work at a club like Anderlecht, assuming he gets plenty of playing time, could be the making of him. I wish him luck.

Is there nothing in between? Is the stark choice either what we are seeing now or what we saw when we last went down? From what I read many are arguing that RM needs to change his principles because they don't believe they'll work. We'll find out soon enough. However, his way is not the only way - plenty of good managers are showing that you can win football matches without this obsession to retain possession at all costs. He will live or die by his methods and that is his choice - my prediction is that he'll be gone sooner rather than later and this will be a damaging blot on his CV and will severely reduce his chances of getting another job above the Championship. Maybe, if that's what transpires, he'll have no regrets and you have to give him a little credit because he is sticking by what he believes in - for me, it's just that I don't believe in the project.

Latest is he's two weeks away from being two weeks away from being two weeks away from being two weeks away ad finitum.

I'm not even sure this is true. From what I see he wants to be best friends with all his players and that is not healthy. In my opinion he is far too close to the players and this often clouds his judgement and decision making.

Very good post!

Agree but more often than not the passes are short and that's when we get ourselves in a mess. The good sides who play out from the back well tend to hit longer passes at speed to wide full backs or advanced centre backs/dropping midfielders.

Yeah, maybe but could be worth every penny if he can stabilise our defence and help cut out the soft goals. He's a very experienced player so would have bags of influence at the back.

Come on, Ramsdale was an obvious pick in front of AM. As for taking off AA and WS at half time the reality is they should not have started in the first place.

RM is quoted as saying if you have the ball the opposition can't score. Correct but, in our case, they can easily nick it off you or pick up a sloppy pass around our penalty area and score as we've already found out to our cost for all goals conceded this season.

All our centre backs are struggling so far. Joel Matip is available as a free agent so might he be worth a look? Ok, he's just turned 33 but good centre backs can play on past that age. He always looked calm and assured, reads the game extremely well, is a unit so useful in the air, passes well and is not afraid to carry the ball out of defence at the right time. I reckon he'd bring some experience and a calming influence to our haphazard defending. Trouble is West Ham are currently showing interest so we'd have to move fast. Also we're probably overloaded in this position but he'd certainly add something plus Adam Lallana knows his qualities.

Our possession stats to goals ratio tells you RM's tactics are not working at this level. We all realise our possession stats are only so high because we play lots of sideways and backward passes particularly at the back - nobody is fooled into thinking the stats make us a good side. He has to find a way of moving the ball upfield much more economically and cut out the passes for passes sake. We'd all sacrifice less possession for more chances and goals I'm sure.

Can't see where anyone has compared the two. I made a reference to Mane but not a comparison.

This quote was before his time with us but I don't believe he's changed his principles.

Well, by the time of the next game Ross-he's-two-weeks-away-Stewart must be fit and chomping at the bit so presumably he'll be included on the bench and given some minutes 🙂

Well I'm afraid that's all there is so you'd better get used to it 🙂

The following quote made by RM might concern you - it does me. 'But we didn’t have anyone that big to play it up to, and unless you have someone who really specialises in that role, and the team buys into that story, then for me there’s more risk in doing that. We really believe in something, and our job is to make Plan A better. Because if you’ve got Plan A, and then the next plan, Plan B, is to do the complete opposite, then you don’t really believe in Plan A, do you?' It's from coachesvoice.com

It's a real shame because Kamaldeen has the raw materials to be a top player. Maybe he just can't or won't learn the finer parts of the game so he's simply a speed merchant with nothing else in his locker. Mane was raw when we signed him but he was a quick learner and clearly hungry to succeed - I don't see that in Kamaldeen but maybe one day he'll prove most of us wrong and turn up playing scintillating football for a top side but I wouldn't bet on it.

Agree. ABK has bags of potential and is a beast. I've no clue of the truth or otherwise about him being difficult to manage but if he doesn't leave in this window RM needs to sit him down and try to find a way to get him onside so we can benefit from his undoubted talents - not least because our current 3 centre backs haven't started the season particularly well.

You make a good point but it doesn't have to result in presenting the ball on a plate to the opposition. Plenty of teams have no problem with it and many seem to have more than one way of progressing up the pitch from a goal kick. They never look overly rushed or hard pressed by the opposition. It's the likes of us who haven't developed a way of playing out from a goal kick who end up in a blind panic being pressed harder because the opposition know it's a weakness and smell blood so it's self perpetuating.

Exactly how I saw it. I wonder if RM watched it and will learn anything from it 🙂 Liverpool were absolutely superb and it could have been even more embarrassing for Utd.

Two of you have opted for 433 but I think we'd suit 4231 better and it's what most teams play these days including the elite ones. I'm assuming our players would be familiar with it and could adopt to it quite quickly but it won't happen with the current manager. I watch us and we are a mess with no shape or obvious purpose and I'm not even sure what formation we play apart from something concocted by RM that he thinks will conquer football.

Makes you wonder why we were paying Ralph so long after he left doesn't it. You can add Nathan Jones to that too.

Not heard anything. Where are you getting this from?

Spot on.