derry

The team and the supporters have been let down by three poor managers, one had lost the players and never knew his best team, one who was totally out of his depth, finally one who has no idea what constitutes a balanced team. Selles was at it again last night too clever by half. AMN pulled into the middle and Forest given the freedom of a big open space down our left side. We had no defence as there was no disciplined shape with the centre backs and full backs defending and the midfielders holding a disciplined line. We played kamekazi and paid for it going two goals down and conceding four. We bring on Sulemana and KWP kept getting in front of him denying the space to use his pace. JWP sideways and backwards so much so that attacking near Forest's goal line ended up back with McCarthy. It needs a major clear out and a proper manager not another micro managing coach with no idea of the big picture. Week in week out decent players either went out and looked around them in dispair at the dysfunctional team selections knowing they had little chance with the team weighted down with the likes of Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong. Che Adams might be playing as a striker but he is far from that. Last night, play on the byeline, stood on his heels six yards out ball watching. He's only an occasional goalscorer, Alcaraz has four in not many appearances. The worst thing for me is the lack of organisation, the lack of team discipline and a team playing off the cuff and paying the price, Selles is a prat, a rich prat but still a prat. As for Semmens and Ankersen just total bullshitters.

What the idiot doesn't get, it's his unbalanced team selections with no blend and his favoured players that are taking us down. Even when he has a team holding it's own without those favoured players he then substitutes them on after an hour and the team collapses. Just get rid of the clown.

The first thing from my perspective is appoint a manager before the transfer window opens. No more inexperienced theorists, ego driven bible thumpers or foreign managers employed outside the UK. Secondly a big picture thinker with a proven track record. Thirdly a manager that has proved he can turn out well balanced teams that perform consistently in attack and defence and sees playing out from the back as Guardiola's preserve. Most importantly no more sideways and backwards which has destroyed us. Let him look at the available 2023/24 squad and decide who he wants to keep, who he doesn't want and who he wants to sell to raise the capital to buy in a core strength to get us promoted automatically.

I think the Brendan Rogers photo could be a photoshop job. The Aviation background doesn't ring true. More like Glasgow airport with a genuine Rogers whilst manager of Celtic.

It doesn't look like Southampton. Are you sure ? A Falcon arrived at 1740 from Stockholm. Similar wing profile,

I think you might be closer than you know.

So Tella wasn't good enough to bring back in January. Armstrong. Elyounoussi, AMN and Walcott among others aren't fit to lace his boots. Now Kompany is desperate to sign him to play in the Premier for Burnley next season. What an indictment of a club that has no idea and a publicity department that thinks it's the bee's knees. Total delusion.

Selles blew whatever chance we had of getting something out of the game. It wasn't a bad team and it did a decent job in the first half. Bringing on Armstrong, Elyounoussi, AMN and Walcott was total incompetence. All of them stroll, mark from ten yards away, have no workrate and would struggle in a National League team. The first half decent performance was spoilt by the short passing and giving the ball away in our half. I think some players need to change their boots. What would I do. I'd fire Selles tonight. Then I'd tell AMN to go back to London and we'd pay his money until the end of the month. I'd tell Elyounoussi to find another club, don't come back we'll pay up to June 30th. I'd tell Armstrong he was finished here. I'd wish Walcott a happy retirement. Then I'd pick a balanced team. Stop the backwards and sideways, keep three forwards up and give it a go.

JWP would be a better, more effective midfielder if he was told to cut out the routine sideway and backwards with the centrebacks and play the ball out to wingers or even forward. He annoys me intensely when he plays passes either behind or straight to a player rather than in front of them to run onto. He would be more effective if he just took the direct free kick opportunities and passed over most corners and non direct free kicks to other players instead of just inswingers from the left and outswingers from the right. JWP suffers from players like Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong offering nothing. Adams is poor positionally and moves around but rarely makes diagonal runs. Using wingers would help us to be better attackers and easier for JWP to play more positively resulting in feeding wingers who in turn can play in whoever we play as strikers with crosses from wide into the penalty area. The lad is talented but is not an obvious leader. Captains should be seen to be leaders not the old cliche, leads by example.

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.