He has Dicks ? isn't he suppose to be doing the defensive coaching if not move him on. 2 seasons on the bounce individual errors every game is costing us.
I think a big contributing factor is the inconsistency of selection. The best teams defend as a unit. We've been all over the place in that respect.
In defence we've played three at the back, then a flat back four. We've had four different players at right back, three or four different centre back pairings, Reid switching between RCB and LCB and Cresswell has been bang out of form and his deputy injured for most of the season.
In midfield we've sometimes played two in the middle, sometimes three. We've tried three different players on the right, three on the left and even now we don't seem to know who fits best.
Up front we've not had our best striker available pretty much all season. Our talisman is made of glass, our record signing is a bit of an enigma (winger? No10? Centre forward?) and our top scoring forward is a winger.
I don't know the stats (but I know someone that probably does...), but I'd imagine that of the 20 PL teams, we've had more starting XI changes than anyone else.
Interesting that Sullivan has apologised to the fans and stated that we have to start playing "good" as he called it BEFORE we are losing. I can't understand why we are the slowest starters in the league.
I would hope so but it's taking them a helluva long time to do so. Chelsea managed it very quickly. Watching it again last night I noticed again that our defenders very rarely throw themselves in the way of shots or try to block crosses etc, rather they seem to just turn their backs.
I don't believe they'll sack him, he's still got the backing of the majority of fans (although there is plenty of discontent out there), getting rid would just add to the negative atmosphere.
They have to back him in the summer though and he has to get this defence sorted out, it's truly shocking.
How I would love to scrape a couple of 1-0's right now and a battling 0-0 away.
We've forgotten how to defend as a team a unit, Carroll does his bit in getting back, but the rest are poor at stopping the opposition.
Could be without Obiang and Reid for a while, therefore get Collins in there, was very surprised after waiting all this while for Obiang and Kouyate in the middle, he put him a CB and didn't bring Collins on.
I wouldn't sack him but he literally blew a whole transfer window on a bunch of bang average players. Would you trust him to get it right this window ?
We have to get to safety first though and i don't like our run in to say the least. We are at the point of where we were at Christmas, Hull + Swansea are must win games.
He still has a year left, no? I can't see them doing anything until Xmas 2017 either way, if we're doing okay, they'll extend it, if a bit like this season, they just won't renew and if we're bang in trouble he'll be gone by the January window.
Perhaps he played to the crowd Baracks, lets not forget a vast number of our fan base kept reminding the previous manager that "we play on the floor" and 0-0's and 1-0's were not what we were about.....
They all came from the angle, "I don't care as long as it's decent football".....
They don't sack him......check Give him 30m and some loans.......check Repeat the mess from this season........check Stay in the PL, KERCHING!!!!.........check
In Jan, the season had turned around. We'd gone from bottom three candidates to knocking on the door to the top 10.
What happened?
We signed nobody. We replaced Ogbonna with Fonte and Payet with Snodgrass. Two positions which needed filling.
But after that, nothing. No striker. No RB. No CM option as we may have needed.
Whoever made that call, whether it was Slav saying 'save the money' or the Dave's saying 'we won't spend' or a mixture of both, it was a poor decision. We've gone from 9th to approaching a game we must not lose under any circumstances or we will be two defeats off the drop zone. What we do know is the owners have history with the January blues in past windows.
Slav may well have said save the money until the summer. Problem is if this goes on much longer he won't be the one spending it.
Alderz, how does that explain the goals we've conceded at corners? ;hmm
I would hazard a guess that we spend more time in training working on our attacking play than we do on our defending corners (could be wrong), which comes back to the manager's philosophy IMO.
We clearly need to work on it, because we've been very disorganised at defending set pieces this season, which is hardly surprising given we've changed GK and half the defence this season.
I don't understand why his possible sacking is being discussed. We had one great season - being carried on the hysteria of the last season at Upton Park. For me, this season we are just returning to normal service.
We must stick with Bilic, give him the chance over several seasons (say 5) to improve us bit by bit.
I agree 9th 10th is where we are with that squad less Payet .
The thing is too many players last season where 8/9 most games this season we have too many players 4/5/6 out 10 no real leader on the pitch and tactics that nobody seems to understand .
I watch Ironmen dvd which came Friday , I found the meeting with the coaching staff very funny slav said " we will start with a 5 a side then up it to a 7 a side after 10 minutes ...... real intensive meeting ;biggrin
I'm struggling with this "give him 5 seasons" type theory
What if he's not good enough? Why would you need 5 years to draw any conclusion?
Besides the he expectations of all of us here debating the issue are not really going to count. It's the expectations of our owners which matter and I guess Bilic will be measured against those.
We must stick with Bilic, give him the chance over several seasons (say 5) to improve us bit by bit.
This. I can't imagine who people think they'd want. I don't want to keep switching managers. He's proved once that he can get it right and he deserves a chance to prove it again.
I think Noble was right about supporters. To be honest, I think our club's supporters are deluded, not in their expectation of football but in that they think they're good fans (even the best). That must have been along time ago because from what I've seen, our fans are fickle. The atmosphere isn't just dead at this stadium, it was pretty bad a lot of the time at Upton Park.
Comments
http://www.whu606.com/discussion/comment/848392/#Comment_848392
In defence we've played three at the back, then a flat back four. We've had four different players at right back, three or four different centre back pairings, Reid switching between RCB and LCB and Cresswell has been bang out of form and his deputy injured for most of the season.
In midfield we've sometimes played two in the middle, sometimes three. We've tried three different players on the right, three on the left and even now we don't seem to know who fits best.
Up front we've not had our best striker available pretty much all season. Our talisman is made of glass, our record signing is a bit of an enigma (winger? No10? Centre forward?) and our top scoring forward is a winger.
I don't know the stats (but I know someone that probably does...), but I'd imagine that of the 20 PL teams, we've had more starting XI changes than anyone else.
Accoriding to SKY, at the end of December we had made the 4th highest no of changes, behind Citeh, Swansea and Sunderland.
http://www.scoopnest.com/user/SkySportsStatto/805853704524075008
I can't understand why we are the slowest starters in the league.
I'm pretty sure Slav doesn't get it either. Or the players. If they knew what was causing it, they'd get it sorted, wouldn't they?
Watching it again last night I noticed again that our defenders very rarely throw themselves in the way of shots or try to block crosses etc, rather they seem to just turn their backs.
Perhaps Conte is a genius, or perhaps he lucked into it.
Arsene Wenger, a man who has previous for knowing what he is doing, doesn't seem to be able to sort out the current issues with his Arsenal side.
Ranieri, a manager who took a bang average Leicester squad to the PL title, couldn't sort out Leicester.
It's clearly a combination of factors, not a simple, single thing.
I hope the owners give Slav the proper amount of time needed to get it sorted.
They have to back him in the summer though and he has to get this defence sorted out, it's truly shocking.
How I would love to scrape a couple of 1-0's right now and a battling 0-0 away.
We've forgotten how to defend as a team a unit, Carroll does his bit in getting back, but the rest are poor at stopping the opposition.
Could be without Obiang and Reid for a while, therefore get Collins in there, was very surprised after waiting all this while for Obiang and Kouyate in the middle, he put him a CB and didn't bring Collins on.
Fernandes in the middle to help Kouyate.
By then he will have had two years to make us a tighter defensive unit
If we are sitting not far above the relegation zone with some more defensive calamities along the way they won't renew his contract IMO
We have to get to safety first though and i don't like our run in to say the least. We are at the point of where we were at Christmas, Hull + Swansea are must win games.
Perhaps he played to the crowd Baracks, lets not forget a vast number of our fan base kept reminding the previous manager that "we play on the floor" and 0-0's and 1-0's were not what we were about.....
They all came from the angle, "I don't care as long as it's decent football".....
#BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor
;biggrin
Would you give him another £50-£60m if it were your money?? ;hmm
They've got two choices keep him and back him with sizeable funds
Or part ways
Keeping him and not investing sizeably in the team won't work
I didn't realise he had another year to go..
They don't sack him......check
Give him 30m and some loans.......check
Repeat the mess from this season........check
Stay in the PL, KERCHING!!!!.........check
;wink
After all they did make sam's end of contract departure pretty much an inevitability by not spending in his final transfer window..
;hmm
Once with Sam, no investment in the January when we were about 6th?
And then again last season with Slav, the best opportunity you'll ever have of breaking the top 4
In Jan, the season had turned around. We'd gone from bottom three candidates to knocking on the door to the top 10.
What happened?
We signed nobody. We replaced Ogbonna with Fonte and Payet with Snodgrass. Two positions which needed filling.
But after that, nothing. No striker. No RB. No CM option as we may have needed.
Whoever made that call, whether it was Slav saying 'save the money' or the Dave's saying 'we won't spend' or a mixture of both, it was a poor decision. We've gone from 9th to approaching a game we must not lose under any circumstances or we will be two defeats off the drop zone. What we do know is the owners have history with the January blues in past windows.
Slav may well have said save the money until the summer. Problem is if this goes on much longer he won't be the one spending it.
We clearly need to work on it, because we've been very disorganised at defending set pieces this season, which is hardly surprising given we've changed GK and half the defence this season.
We must stick with Bilic, give him the chance over several seasons (say 5) to improve us bit by bit.
I would like to give him at least one more season hopefully a summer where we get the RB we've needed.
The thing is too many players last season where 8/9 most games this season we have too many players 4/5/6 out 10 no real leader on the pitch and tactics that
nobody seems to understand .
I watch Ironmen dvd which came Friday , I found the meeting with the coaching staff
very funny slav said " we will start with a 5 a side then up it to a 7 a side after 10 minutes ...... real intensive meeting ;biggrin
What if he's not good enough? Why would you need 5 years to draw any conclusion?
Besides the he expectations of all of us here debating the issue are not really going to count. It's the expectations of our owners which matter and I guess Bilic will be measured against those.
I think Noble was right about supporters. To be honest, I think our club's supporters are deluded, not in their expectation of football but in that they think they're good fans (even the best). That must have been along time ago because from what I've seen, our fans are fickle. The atmosphere isn't just dead at this stadium, it was pretty bad a lot of the time at Upton Park.
Of course I / we / most of us know it takes a lot longer
But there are many out there who thought it was like waving a magic wand and we'd be top 4 all of a sudden......
The point is they should be either extremely clear about what they say and allow for little to no confusion over expectations
That would help, IMO
I really don't think you can establish any useful policy on the basis of trying to ensure that the densest among us wouldn't be confused by it.
At some point, for me, you have to assume a reasonable level of cognitive engagement, and if that is missing, accept the Twit aftermath..