US Seagull
Well-known member
So I have two thoughts about the last game, which are connected, but might both be total BS.
First, I wonder if Fab isn't tinkering where he doesn't need to? The first goal against us caused him to panic and bring on more defensive cover in the form of Igor. It makes sense to bring on a defender to defend a lead, but we'd been pretty solid up to that point and any time you bring on a sub you risk upsetting the balance of the team. So you have to weigh the benefits of bringing on another defender against the risk of changing tactics and confusing everybody at a vital point of the game. If we'd been backs to the wall just hanging on, it probably makes sense, but we weren't doing that, just that one breach aside, Leicester hadn't looked like scoring. So changing tactics and bringing on a sub with just a few minutes left to play seems like an unnecessary gamble. He should have "trusted the process" and have faith that one mistake aside, the defensive setup he'd started with was still up to the job.
Second, I wonder about Igor's communication. We don't see a whole lot of him in the videos the Albion puts out, so it makes me think he's English skills aren't great. Certainly not fluent. This doesn't have to be a problem, they don't put out many videos with Mitoma speaking much either. But I do wonder if Igor, and this isn't in anyway meant to suggest anything about his intelligence, is understanding less of the instructions he's given than both him, and the coaching staff realize. You might remember that one game, I think it was a friendly, when Igor was handed the captains armband late in the game and put it on. Which had many of us wondering why on Earth you'd make Igor, who'd only recently joined the team, the captain? I genuinely think that might have been a miscommunication. He was handed the arm band with the instruction to pass it on to somebody else, didn't quite understand, so he put in on himself. What does this have to do with yesterday's game? When you send a sub on, the coach will generally brief them on what they want him to do and also what instructions to pass on to the rest of the team. I wonder if Igor got that, but failed to pass on the instructions completely, or maybe at all. When you see Igor dribbling the ball and looking lost before losing it for the second goal, I wonder if it wasn't because Igor expected his team mates to be in different positions, since the tactical switch, but that hadn't been passed on. He had one idea of what was supposed to be happening, but the other players didn't get the message. So there was confusion about who was supposed to be where and doing what.
Hopefully these problems will become less of an issue as the players get to understand Fabian's tactics a bit better, and maybe Fabian learns to "trust the process" himself.
First, I wonder if Fab isn't tinkering where he doesn't need to? The first goal against us caused him to panic and bring on more defensive cover in the form of Igor. It makes sense to bring on a defender to defend a lead, but we'd been pretty solid up to that point and any time you bring on a sub you risk upsetting the balance of the team. So you have to weigh the benefits of bringing on another defender against the risk of changing tactics and confusing everybody at a vital point of the game. If we'd been backs to the wall just hanging on, it probably makes sense, but we weren't doing that, just that one breach aside, Leicester hadn't looked like scoring. So changing tactics and bringing on a sub with just a few minutes left to play seems like an unnecessary gamble. He should have "trusted the process" and have faith that one mistake aside, the defensive setup he'd started with was still up to the job.
Second, I wonder about Igor's communication. We don't see a whole lot of him in the videos the Albion puts out, so it makes me think he's English skills aren't great. Certainly not fluent. This doesn't have to be a problem, they don't put out many videos with Mitoma speaking much either. But I do wonder if Igor, and this isn't in anyway meant to suggest anything about his intelligence, is understanding less of the instructions he's given than both him, and the coaching staff realize. You might remember that one game, I think it was a friendly, when Igor was handed the captains armband late in the game and put it on. Which had many of us wondering why on Earth you'd make Igor, who'd only recently joined the team, the captain? I genuinely think that might have been a miscommunication. He was handed the arm band with the instruction to pass it on to somebody else, didn't quite understand, so he put in on himself. What does this have to do with yesterday's game? When you send a sub on, the coach will generally brief them on what they want him to do and also what instructions to pass on to the rest of the team. I wonder if Igor got that, but failed to pass on the instructions completely, or maybe at all. When you see Igor dribbling the ball and looking lost before losing it for the second goal, I wonder if it wasn't because Igor expected his team mates to be in different positions, since the tactical switch, but that hadn't been passed on. He had one idea of what was supposed to be happening, but the other players didn't get the message. So there was confusion about who was supposed to be where and doing what.
Hopefully these problems will become less of an issue as the players get to understand Fabian's tactics a bit better, and maybe Fabian learns to "trust the process" himself.
UTA!
