derry

Football is a simple game. The problem is that coaching and management are two different jobs. True, some coaches can make successful managers because they have a common sense, simplistic approach to the simple game. Others like Selles that are comprehensively qualified are so occupied with the theory that they lose sight of the big picture. A superb example of the brilliant coach with the simplistic overview is Pep Guardiola. Trying to copy his pass and move philosophy by playing out from the back with unsuitable players doesn't work but Selles doesn't get that. Pep does because he buys the superb players with the skills then schools them to develop those skills and play his pass and move game. I think some managers get this for example Crystal Palace and AFCB didn't do it and played the ball out wide. Hasenhuttl didn't get it either. We are where we are because our game and buildup is too slow and faces packed defences who are allowed unlimited time to set up as we recycle the ball in our own half. Selles is a purist failing on the principle of possession ignoring that the players lack the skill, movement and vision to play that way. Playing players out of position or trying to revolutionise by randomly playing players in positions they are unsuited to play causes a lack of shape, blend and balance. Micro management ignoring the fact football is a simple game.

Selles has had a press conference reported in the Echo. They are going to devise a plan to win at Newcastle. He is more than just deluded. How does he think Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong are going to give him an edge. He could pick a team to give Newcastle a game but not if he follows his usual template.

At just after 6.45 last night I looked at the team. Yet again Selles had picked a team that just didn't work. Selles is another result of too much theory over common sense. He obviously has no clue what he is trying to achieve or how to do it. We get the soundbites but they are just hot air and meaningless. Every team he has selected in his short tenure has been the same. Because he hasn't a clue he tinkers every week with the line up hoping he's going to hit on the answer. Yet he still fails to turn out a blanced team that blends and a well defined shape. The result is a shapeless mess. Although some people are praising the Arsenal game because we scored goals but look a little closer. Arsenal's arrogance in the first ten minutes gifted us two goals. The goalkeepers pass out to Alcaraz was swiftly punished as was Alcaraz' beautiful ball in behind the defender for Walcott's goal. After that it was one way traffic with us hanging by our fingernails. Then a once in a blue moon JWP delivery flicked on by Bella-Kotchap and buried by Caleta-Car gave us a little breathing space amidst the constant battering. We are crying out for goals so he picks Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong which immediately means no chance against AFCB who were nice and compact. We indulge in playing out short but for what purpose because the way we play it it is no more than meaningless ball rotation and often leads to a punt upfield to the opposition. Alcaraz is a good player, Walcott has time expired. There was no shape or meaning in the way we played. My blue print starts from the back, cut out all short passing and hit the ball out to the wings. Stop fullbacks making kamikaze runs and exposing the centre backs. We just aren't good enough and produce very little from it, so play with a solid back four. Four in the middle, two pacy wide men who hug the lines and two midfielders one deep the other like Alcaraz. Two proper strikers supported by the wide men and the attacking midfielder. A simple philosophy defend and win the ball then get it out wide and attack in numbers. Stay compact at the back and go for it quickly up front. I haven't written off Onuachu because he has scored a lot of goals most getting in front of the defenders in the box so play him there he's not a presser. Adams is a dead loss, unintelligent and totally unaware of his positioning. He has scored more than his share of goals disallowed through offside because of his lack of awareness. He is also poor one on one with the keeper. If those goals had counted we would be comfortable. Personally I'd look at Mara alongside Onuachu with Djenepo and Sullemana wide. There is really no place or purpose in playing Armstrong, Elyounoussi, Walcott, AMN or Aribo.

Tinkerman strikes again.

They might have walked the league except for about four games with first team squad players included and losing.

I think it was all down to my 6 years old grandson shedding his PSG Messi shirt and watching his first Saints game in his Saints shirt (that aren't available so cost £75) I'm now trying to get him for Thursday night, it's a school night but he's kicking off superbly, fingers crossed, I'm not superstitious.😂

I was disappointed by Alcaraz's substitution but with his combative style and the level of cheating and rolling around of top side's players, Arsenal may well have had him sent off by the trigger happy referee. Martinelli's cynical backing under Bednarek then gesturing innocence deserved a red card for the cynicism never mind the danger of serious spinal injury. That needs seriously stamping on as did Martinelli. More to the point neither Elyounoussi nor Armstrong should have been on the pitch or even in the squad in the first place as the result was down to the vision and energy of Alcaraz. The other two just minced about the pitch mostly in dead ground and virtually avoided physical challenges by not getting close. Selles hasn't a clue about managing or picking the best team, he is just another coach with a load of qualifications and a head full of minutiae. We need a big picture manager that sees the game in simple terms and picks players that do the job and complement each other. Rather than tinker every week, picks square pegs in round holes and players that contribute next to nothing.

That's a good shout with decent balance so that won't occur to Selles. It'll be something really clever and clueless as usual.

They did show a replay. It was horrendous and is happening too often. Martinelli should have been sent off because that sort of challenge is far more likely to result in very serious head or spinal injuries similar to the spearing tackles banned in rugby. No booking, no comment, something seriously amiss there.

If he wasn't injured he shouldn't have been substituted.

I have always felt that packing the whole team into the last third and trying to defend by just sticking bodies in the way isn't the best use of resources. In a way thanks to the third goal we got a point by the skin of our teeth. We were at it again yesterday passing out short then losing the ball and allowing Arsenal to come at us in our half. We were far less vulnerable when the goalkeeper played long and we were competing higher up. It seems to me that the way to hang on and defend a lead is by counter attacking by sticking three even two pacy players high up the field because it pins three or four opponents and they join attacks at their peril. I will say that both Elyounoussi and Armstrong were strolling pedestrians, filling spaces, rarely making contact and flattering to deceive. Never mind substituting them neither should have been picked. Leaving players high helps defenders in two ways it reduces the number of opponents in the box and helps defenders play long and move out behind the ball. Packing the defence just plays into the attacking sides hands. Having said that, I'd have snatched your hand off if you had offered me a point at seven o'clock. As for Selles, I don't rate him. Like his predecessors he is addicted to tinkering, doesn't know his best team and shows that he just doesn't see the big picture. A lifetime of concentrating on detailed minutiae results in not seeing the wood for the trees. We have a decent team in the squad but it is never selected and allowed to play. Blend and Balance is the goal but Selles shows that it's a numbers game to him so his selections never achieve this.

So that's three nothing players, Elyounoussi, Walcott and armstrong. Powder puff defenders, press my eye. Press and close down, don't make me laugh. As for scoring Selles is just an overqualified coaching idiot and the universities are full of similar unemployable people on berry picking and needlework degrees.

Absolutely. Bloody square pegs in round holes or no pegs at all is killing us. It's not just Selles, not one manager since Koeman has known his best team except a short spell with Ralph which he couldn't repeat. Tinker, Tinker, Tinker all the time. We're going to see the same thing again tonight and more of the same on Thursday and so on. It's a simple game just stop complicating it.

We might have a chance if Selles misses the coach and loses his phone.

Onuachu has a goalscoring record, most of his goals entail crosses and getting across defenders. All our other players are hopeless finishers. So play to his strengths and put the ball into the box and hope he gets on the end of it. Put somebody with him to occupy defenders and maybe give him an opportunity. Forget about all the possession in our own half and move the ball quickly. We paid a lot of money for him and the management haven't the wit to use his strengths. He isn't a midfield presser.

I am sick and tired of watching the turgid rubbish we are serving up. Two centrebacks and JWP passing it aimlessly around until Bazunu is left with no options but to hit it into a midfield stifled by a consolidated defence. What's worse and the major cause of our demise are smartarse overqualified coaches masquerading as managers. For decades it's been obvious that playing players in positions they aren't comfortable in destroys the balance. Buying a big centre forward then playing two wide men cutting in means no crosses, it's elementary and the height of stupidity. No wonder we can't score goals and feeding on scraps. Every team has a natural shape, change it and it will be the clusterfuck we experience week in week out. We have a team with a natural shape that could beat the pants off the teams our sophisticated theorists mess about with. Keep it simple stupid is the plan. KWP at right back Bednarek and ABK Perrault at left back. JWP and Lavia, Sulemana on the right, Djenepo on the left with Onuachu and Alcarez (Mara) right up as far as they can go in amongst the centre backs. No passing out short, no passing back unless no other choice. get the ball out to the wide men quickly. One full back only attacks at a time the other joins the Centre backs. One midfielder holds the other gets up in support. The wide player away from the ball gets to the back post. Just elementary high tempo football. Last week we left out the nothing player, replaced by another nothing player, wide men on the wrong side, a right back on the left and a journeyman on the right and no striker. We got what we deserved, nothing. We don't pick Onuachu, so why do we bring him on two goals down to try and save the game? Sheer stupidity. JWP needs to get his head out of his arse and play forward.

Bazunu KWP Bednarek ABK Perraud, JWP Lavia, Sulemana Onuachu Alcarez (Mara) Djenepo. Pace on the break, leave the two strikers up. JWP and the centrebacks to cut out the tippy tappy and get the ball out to the wingers immediately. Get crosses in and forget meaningless rotation of the ball.

I'm sick and tired of watching JWP and the centrebacks suck the life out of every game. Jones stumbled on a possible forward line against Manchester City but was too thick to see it. Selles is a coach with a masters and a list of coaching qualifications and jobs as long as your arm. He has no common sense related to football and definitely does not see what makes a team. His stupidity is transparent in thinking he can play four forwards who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo (Australian shovel ! ) and win games. Onuachu is a box player and needs a partner (Alcarez or Mara ). The two wide players need to play on their natural sides. Sulemana on the left or Walcott will just cut in which is useless for the strikers. Djenepo and Sulemana need to go down the lines and get crosses in. JWP needs to get his head out of his arse and forget what's behind him and play forward, Lavia is no problem. Play KWP on his natural right and Perraud on the left There's no other natural left sided fullback and he will get crosses in as will KWP. It's simple. It's a case of a clear picture and round pegs in round holes. That team will outperform anything we've put out under Selles because the players are all in natural positions and JWP and the centre backs have to play forward immediately. When a full back goes up the line the other full back joins up with the two centrebacks behind one of the midfielders holding.

On evidence unless he was at the Etihad he wouldn't recognise a team. Every disjointed, unbalanced side that he has picked can't be described even loosely as a team.

For Selles there were two major cockups today. He picked a team that didn't gel then made it into a shapeless mess with substitutes, No real blend or balance to start with then throws on Onuachu and Djenepo to try and save the game. Plays a right back at left back along with Aribo and Walcott hoping for goals. We were awful. As for passing it around at the back, Palace didn't and looked much more dangerous, we did and wonder why we are outnumbered up front. Get rid of Selles now and never again employ a coach as a manager. Very few coaches ever make good managers. Now bring in a manager that understands what makes a team work much like Kompany has done at Burnley.

He's a fucking idiot. The only thing you can trust is that you won't get anything. Don't worry about the future because he hasn't got one here. Even if they keep him, his overcomplicated thinking will cause another clusterfuck in the Championship and the sack will be the result. What the idiot doesn't get is that as soon as the supporters see Elyounoussi's name on the team sheet it immediately puts a dampener on any hope for the match and virtually destroys any positivity. No good calling for the supporters to be the team's twelth man and picking Elyounoussi because he's lost the support by doing that.

Onuachu doesn't play down the middle with his back to goal. What he is good at which is evidenced by most of the goals he has scored and his header against West Ham, he hangs around the penalty area and spots the cross and gets across the defender first to the ball. Play him and it's down the wings towards the byeline and hit crosses away from the goalkeeper and get him on the end of them. Far better than passing it around in our own last third for Bazunu to be left with no alternative but have to chip it hopefully up the field. that's why we are where we are.

Too much theory and thinks it is rocket science, not enough awareness that it's a simple game and the right people have to be put together to blend in their natural shape and let play. A coach can improve players out of game time but has little or no influence once a game has started except to make changes. If the players have little natural blend and balance the result is what we have had all season. Drawing the names out of a hat would possibly give a similar result.

Because he's the sort of nice bloke that nods his head to everybody, three bags full sir and appears to agree with everybody, so he gets picked. He's still a fucking nothing player and he wouldn't get in my reserves reserves.