To be honest, playing crap and losing 0-2 versus a battling display and losing 0-2...possibly playing crap is better - the only way is up, etc.
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[Football] The season’s turning point
- Thread starter Weststander
- Start date
To be honest, playing crap and losing 0-2 versus a battling display and losing 0-2...possibly playing crap is better - the only way is up, etc.
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
Couple of my mates travelling back have been on facebook and would say different. Poor buggers, having to go there for that.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
Be honest - blame tonight on Uncle Tony..........................
But you do appreciate my point. If we are playing at maximum capacity, best plan, best line up, best of luck, and still losing, we are f ucked, relegated and burned. If we are not yet wiggling our bottoms in the right way, in the right velvet underpants, and with the right aftershave, then there is hope.
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
I reckon we should pick 11 from the NSC brethren, plenty here think they're better
Weststander
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #46
Well, I think they are about as good as I think they are). I mean, I agree with you that we are currently lower/possibly relegation level, but I do believe that our tactics, coaching, and squad rotation [or lack of] are not getting the best out of what we have. Yep, I'd too be very happy if we find a few higher quality players who want to come here.
If Mourinho, Guardiola or even Hodgson was parachuted in, how could they get us to consistently win PL matches?
I think they’d struggle.
Fullbacks, strikers, wingers and D.Propper - we lack pace, goals, defensive class, generally the tools needed to give opponents an awful lot to worry about.
army ali
New member
Seeing as there are a few threads about the same thing, below is something I posted a few weeks back:
I may get slated here but I think CH is missing a trick in our formation, which in my opinion has lost us 4 points from the last 3 games. Here goes with my reasoning with how we could improve:
At the back - Goldson (who Has Maldiniesque tendencies) is a better footballer than Duffy; Duffy is hard and enjoys the ugly side of the game, getting stuck in when needed; Dunk is a mixture of both but needs to rely on someone to tidy up when needed. Equation - play all three together.
Midfield - We have a severe lack of bite in the centre which served us so well over the last 2 seasons. Propper and Stephens too alike and cancel each other out. Either play Stephens/Propper and Kayal. My opinion, Stephens and Kayal with Propper in the hole in an attacking free roaming type position (funnily enough, the one he does very well with The Netherlands). Ok, that leaves a problem with Groß but I will come back to him in a minute. Wide you can set up to either hold and defend with Schelotto/Bruno or Suttner/Bong (left and right) or attack with Izquierdo and Knocky (again left and right respectively). Opponent dependent.
Up Front - Murray/Hemed and Baldock. Playing 1 up front has severely restricted our goal scoring opportunities, because quite frankly, there is no one in the box because the lone striker is out of position with link up play. 2 up front obviously means that leaves one for link up and feeding with one in the box to receive.
The mathematicians, statisticians and tactitians amongst you will recognise this as a 3-5-2 formation which can be interchanged to either a defensive or attack minded formation dependent on home/away/opposition.
Now the elephant in the room - Groß. He runs his socks off every game giving everything. For me, he is simply outstanding but I think he is being asked too much of to either support midfield (most of the time) and support the attack. However, he is so effective in that ‘hole’. So, does he replace Propper in that position as THE attacking midfielder with Propper replacing Stephens? Either way, Groß must always start but I do not feel the same way with Propper or Stephens. However, we need ‘bite’ in that central midfield and that is Kayal. This will also help our front pair and (in my opinion) could really scare some (most) of the opposition outside of the top 6.
Anyway, that’s it. In a nutshell, something has to change to convert draws into wins. I do not understand comments of ‘we are learning’ or ‘a point will do’, that’s way too negative. We have a squad of players that can thrive instead of survive. We can definitely be brave and we do look like we belong.
I am not saying we can beat everyone or that we can easily be in the top 10. What I am saying is that we can thrive. That is good for our future.
Just a few thoughts.
Ps, no intent to be needy here
I may get slated here but I think CH is missing a trick in our formation, which in my opinion has lost us 4 points from the last 3 games. Here goes with my reasoning with how we could improve:
At the back - Goldson (who Has Maldiniesque tendencies) is a better footballer than Duffy; Duffy is hard and enjoys the ugly side of the game, getting stuck in when needed; Dunk is a mixture of both but needs to rely on someone to tidy up when needed. Equation - play all three together.
Midfield - We have a severe lack of bite in the centre which served us so well over the last 2 seasons. Propper and Stephens too alike and cancel each other out. Either play Stephens/Propper and Kayal. My opinion, Stephens and Kayal with Propper in the hole in an attacking free roaming type position (funnily enough, the one he does very well with The Netherlands). Ok, that leaves a problem with Groß but I will come back to him in a minute. Wide you can set up to either hold and defend with Schelotto/Bruno or Suttner/Bong (left and right) or attack with Izquierdo and Knocky (again left and right respectively). Opponent dependent.
Up Front - Murray/Hemed and Baldock. Playing 1 up front has severely restricted our goal scoring opportunities, because quite frankly, there is no one in the box because the lone striker is out of position with link up play. 2 up front obviously means that leaves one for link up and feeding with one in the box to receive.
The mathematicians, statisticians and tactitians amongst you will recognise this as a 3-5-2 formation which can be interchanged to either a defensive or attack minded formation dependent on home/away/opposition.
Now the elephant in the room - Groß. He runs his socks off every game giving everything. For me, he is simply outstanding but I think he is being asked too much of to either support midfield (most of the time) and support the attack. However, he is so effective in that ‘hole’. So, does he replace Propper in that position as THE attacking midfielder with Propper replacing Stephens? Either way, Groß must always start but I do not feel the same way with Propper or Stephens. However, we need ‘bite’ in that central midfield and that is Kayal. This will also help our front pair and (in my opinion) could really scare some (most) of the opposition outside of the top 6.
Anyway, that’s it. In a nutshell, something has to change to convert draws into wins. I do not understand comments of ‘we are learning’ or ‘a point will do’, that’s way too negative. We have a squad of players that can thrive instead of survive. We can definitely be brave and we do look like we belong.
I am not saying we can beat everyone or that we can easily be in the top 10. What I am saying is that we can thrive. That is good for our future.
Just a few thoughts.
Ps, no intent to be needy here
I reckon we should pick 11 from the NSC brethren, plenty here think they're better
What as players
Lol! Yeah, sure plenty on here think they'd be better managers. In their dreams. Being top banana is a lonely and thankless job. Look at Mourinho these days - a shell of a man, listless and combustable. Any day now he'll go up like a petrol-soaked guy on November 5th. 
Sussex Nomad
Well-known member
What as players
Well yeah plenty of managers here for sure. But managers are usually ex players, so they'd have to put the shift in first
I like this. I think a 3-5-2 could give us a better chance of staying up than the current set up. Allows us to get Uwe/Goldson, Kayal and Baldock in, which I think we need.
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I agree we lack all the things you say. I think Guardiola would try a 3-5-2 with our current player options. "Army Ali" makes a good case for it, I feel. We need to try some Plan B in case [!?!] we don't get any star performers in the next couple of weeks.
Albion Dan
Banned
Would love to see CH give something like this a go. Makes sense and would at least show some strategic vision to address our problems. I doubt he would though, it's just not his way!
Who have we lost this week?
AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
Izzy Brown, Jamie Murphy and Steve Sidwell.
Not much that'll be missed, then. Just clearing the way for some incoming, I hope.
(But yes, I was having a senior moment - couldn't remember who'd gone)
Aston Villa.
As soon as we were promoted we were 50:50 to go down whatever strategy we took. Bloom knows this and has rightly made sure we don’t overspend. However as we have seen over several seasons that he will invest only in the right players at the right time. I do believe they have tried to sign a striker but probably more through the salary policy than cash they have failed to strengthen the squad. I’m pretty sure Bloom has looked at Burnley and thought that if we go down the parachute payments will help us That’s a very risky strategy - but then he is a gambler. The aim is to build a mid-table stable premier league side. Rome wasn’t built in a day...
It’s an interesting point. Coppell did this when he took over from Hinshelwood in what is now the Championship - effectively making Kerry Mayo a 3rd centre-half (alongside Butters and Cullip if I’m not mistaken).
He had a squad that almost certainly wasn’t good enough for the 2nd tier, but actually made it work, and although we went down, because of 12 successive defeats at the start of the season, with 3-4-1-2 had a record of W10 D11 L10.
Some might say its a ridiculous comparison, but we are sleep-walking to relegation unless something changes.
Really? So what £30m striker is going to sign for us when we may not stay in the Premier league?