Critchball plus thuggery.What is it.
The Cardiff giants were very direct.
Ipswich were, well, not really sure how I'd describe them.....
What are we going to get.
A bit more dynamic than Appyball I hope.
100%Win, lose or draw today it’s not the time to get overly excited or gloomy. He will have a full week of training next week to get his ideas across, an FA Cup game and more training before the M.Boro match. That’s when we will start to get a proper feel of any style changes. Today we may or may not benefit from the bounce effect, I hope we do benefit today but won’t be phased if not.
We wanted to progress. That's natural. We didn't get that right on loads of levels. Hey ho. We are we are and honestly, if we'd got a new bloke who said - it's all out attack, Kevin Keegan style then fine.That phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’ springs to mind?
Liverpool has their midfield thugs in place which let Mane, Salah and Firmino run riot. Fans wanted more flair in the centre. They signed Keita and Thiago and it hasn’t worked.
City wanted a 9 to score all the chances they created as they stormed the league almost every year. They signed Haarland who is a machine but now something is missing in their play (probably the false 9)
All the talk of last summer was 4-3-3 and creative midfield. We got that and we’ve been wank almost all matches played barring pockets of genius and rare moments of success.
I’d prefer mid table and laughing at Nobbers than the beautiful game watching Maxi fumbling crosses and Connolly blowing out of his arse trying to cover two positions
I think confidence and slightly more balanced side and were pretty much there.100%
Today will tell him one of two things.
a) If he can do it mainly with confidence and few tweaks
b) if he needs to put together a whole new style and drill that intensively
Either way, he needs the game to know.
We've done what we can to give ourselves a chance. What more can we now do? Couple of Mick players in and leave it to him. That's it. End of. We just need to back it to the hilt.I think confidence and slightly more balanced side and were pretty much there.
Of course no guarantees, as at the end of the day it's a game with a bouncing ball and anything can happen.
But we've a far better chance with confident players, a bouncing stadium, a balanced side and a fitter Bowler.
We wanted to progress. That's natural. We didn't get that right on loads of levels. Hey ho. We are we are and honestly, if we'd got a new bloke who said - it's all out attack, Kevin Keegan style then fine.
I don't think now it's about style a or b. It's just about us having a clear go at it in a way where everyone understands their role and what they're contributions to whole mean.
Too often we've looked like the players didn't understand (or weren't capable) of delivering the plan. What ever the plan or formation, we've got to get back to being a proper unit above anything else.
The effort and desire is there. If we can harness it, we'll be reet.
That is in itself a plan. To go from a rigid unit that mostly scores on the break and can thus be nullified to a more free thinking side that can improvise and control a game. The players have to think more freely to do that. It didn't work. We're now back to where we were with bells on and that's fine because all that was yesterday and today is Mickmas Day.I’m not convinced that there was much of a plan…
Both Morgan Rogers and another player I can’t recall (possibly Thompson) have reference the ex-manager’s propensity for using the phrase “just go out there and express yourself” or “He allows us the freedom to express ourselves” and we’ve also heard a number of equally vague phrases from Apples directly…
To me… whenever I hear “He gives us the freedom to express ourselves”, I read that he essentially hands over his tactical responsibilities to the players…
Too many times we just looked like 11 players just randomly going about their business in a totally disjointed fashion…. Of course no doubt they’d been set up in a 433 or whatever…, but it felt naive and disjointed for the most part.
I’d like to think that McCarthy will quickly resolve those organisational problems and have us functioning as a team, rather than 11 individuals.
Hmmm… I’m not so sure ‘just do whatever you fancy’ classes as much of a plan…. We had our own players virtually tripping each other up last Saturday (and not for the first time).That is in itself a plan. To go from a rigid unit that mostly scores on the break and can thus be nullified to a more free thinking side that can improvise and control a game. The players have to think more freely to do that. It didn't work. We're now back to where we were with bells on and that's fine because all that was yesterday and today is Mickmas Day.
Creative midfielders are wonderful to watch. I'd love to be able to watch Patino played properly. However, if you're going to play creative mids, there must be a controlling midfielder behind them: a Scholes, a Gerrard or (in our case) a Ferguson.That phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’ springs to mind?
Liverpool has their midfield thugs in place which let Mane, Salah and Firmino run riot. Fans wanted more flair in the centre. They signed Keita and Thiago and it hasn’t worked.
City wanted a 9 to score all the chances they created as they stormed the league almost every year. They signed Haarland who is a machine but now something is missing in their play (probably the false 9)
All the talk of last summer was 4-3-3 and creative midfield. We got that and we’ve been wank almost all matches played barring pockets of genius and rare moments of success.
I’d prefer mid table and laughing at Nobbers than the beautiful game watching Maxi fumbling crosses and Connolly blowing out of his arse trying to cover two positions