Ange in or out?

[Mikey10]

To be fair, I remember reading the same things when Conte was the manager. I'd say it was different under Mourinho and Pochettino: players knew what they were supposed to be doing but some of them were clearly unable/unwilling to carry the instructions they were given. Being a manager is a tough job...

Oddly enough, these first 10 games under Postecoglou are both a saving grace and a curse: they prove it could work but they also very much give the impression that we're not heading in the right direction.

My feeling on those first games is that teams hadn't yet sussed out that there was one way we play and that is it. Once they did, we've seen the results change over the past year.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Yes, they truly are the benchmark of a well run club.

When it comes to trophies won they have rubbed our noses into the dirt. Where I come from winning trophies is the main objective of playing the game.

If Chelsea are not a good benchmark for us then why all the wailing after they happen to beat us?

 

[Finney Is Back]

Seems a comparable level of depth to me.

Yep and I suspect the two clubs will be reasonably comparable at the end of the season, despite their manager having an 8 month head start on Postecoglou.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Personally, i think our January activity (or lack of) will tell us a lot...

That the powers that be at the club don't really have much in the way of ambition?

 

[Finney Is Back]

On a more serious note, saying injuries are just 'bad luck' or will 'even out' over the course of a season is, in my opinion, a huge mistake. They don't and while there are many factors (number of games, intensity of play, players' specific injury records, preparation...), if we can't find a way to keep the number of injuries down, nobody will be able to get anything out of that squad.

City never recovered from losing Rodri. We're missing something like 8 or 9 players at the moment. The only thing I disagree on with most people is that it's not tough luck. Whoever decided to play Romero yesterday, for instance, made a mistake. I read that he 'trained well' so either the training is different from match intensity (which is likely) or they misread his training performances.

For me, whoever makes these mistakes has to go - whether it's Postecoglou or the coaches or a combination of both, I don't know but it's getting out of hand.

Struggling to understand why he shouldn't have played Romero yesterday? Romero played well until he picked up an injury completely unrelated to the toe injury that had kept him out for a little while prior to yesterday's game.

 

[Finney Is Back]

We're still bound by needing to focus on club trained players though. Particularly as EL is our best course to europe

That will take care of itself in another 18 months' time. KWP might help us as he can play on either side and could come in this January and allow us to add one to our Europa squad (and jettison a keeper who'll never play anyway). Fact he only has 6 months left on his contract at Southampton would also play into our hands. However, I really don't think Ange is about the short term fix and instead is all about the long term vision.

 

[Finney Is Back]

They can mock all they want, but they don't have their own micro-brewery or toy F1 track.

And our EBITDA puts theirs to shame..... Those Chelsea fans soon shut up on the train on the way home from the game yesterday when they heard us singing "best EBITDA in the premier league - you'll never sing that!"

 

[billyiddo]

Yep and I suspect the two clubs will be reasonably comparable at the end of the season, despite their manager having an 8 month head start on Postecoglou.

So with that in mind then is the level of squad building for where we are at as bad has been argued?

 

[Finney Is Back]

i was responding to a post from Grays that stated we had a paper thin squad, regarding squad building - I disagreed with that, there was no comment or discussion being had around injuries or the knock on effect they have had to our season.

Vicario, Forster
Porro, Spence
Romero, Dragusin
Van Der Ven, Davies
Udogie
Bentancur, Bissouma, Gray
Sarr, Bergwal
Kulusevsi, Maddison
Johnson, Odobert
Solanke, Richarlison
Son, Werner, Moore

The above squad would be absolutely fine if we were not playing European football. I suspect it would finish 5th or 6th.

With European football however, the squad is both too small and doesn't have enough experienced players in it.

I think after two or three more transfer windows we'll be getting close to the size and experience level of squad we need to play both PL and EL/CL football.

 

[Finney Is Back]

So with that in mind then is the level of squad building for where we are at as bad has been argued?

I think we've gone into the season 4 or 5 players short of what we could've registered for PL. That doesn't suggest to me that the club have any real desire to win anything. In fact it tells me that the only desire is to build for the future.

 

[billyiddo]

I think we've gone into the season 4 or 5 players short of what we could've registered for PL. That doesn't suggest to me that the club have any real desire to win anything. In fact it tells me that the only desire is to build for the future.

Tells me we're in the midst of a rebuild and we haven't got everything done yet

 

[Finney Is Back]

Tells me we're in the midst of a rebuild and we haven't got everything done yet

Hey presto..... Yet a bunch of knee jerkers on here want us to sack another manager...

 

[billyiddo]

Hey presto..... Yet a bunch of knee jerkers on here want us to sack another manager...

Not many are calling for him to be sacked at the moment, most people from what I have seen are saying come the end of the season, after 2 full seasons in charge there needs to be a marked improvement on what we have seen thus far.

Kneejerking works both ways, if you're saying the manager is in the middle of a rebuild then the club too is rebuilding and needs to be afforded the time and windows to shape the squad.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Not many are calling for him to be sacked at the moment, most people from what I have seen are saying come the end of the season, after 2 full seasons in charge there needs to be a marked improvement on what we have seen thus far.

25% of people on here from the poll above. That is a reasonable bunch of knee jerkers I'd say.

 

[SpurMeUp]

18 months is a fair amount of time to be practising anything, especially if those who have practised frequently look like they don’t know what they’re really supposed to be doing.

So essentially you'd just sack every manager after 18 months if they weren't delivering. How many of the successful managers we see in the PL would have been canned under such an approach? Arteta etc.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Yep and I suspect the two clubs will be reasonably comparable at the end of the season, despite their manager having an 8 month head start on Postecoglou.

And about a billion spent! With so many players at their disposal.

 

[glorygloryeze]

25% of people on here from the poll above. That is a reasonable bunch of keen jerkers I'd say.

Those supporters who wanted Sherwood sacked after just a few months, were they 'knee-jerkers' as well?

 

[Baleforce]

It certainly seems so now that he has been in place for almost 5 years. It didn't look particularly great for the first 2 to 2 and half years of his tenure though did it?

Nah, he’s a lucky boy, most places won’t let you fudge around for that long.

 

[Mcfee]

It always makes me laugh how our fans like to portray Chelsea as a basket case club, when they consistently invest in both personnel and managers and deliver in terms of success - meanwhile we also flit from manager to manager, whilst making lower quality investments and winning nothing.

But I'm sure Chelsea fans are often caught casting envious eyes over here wishing it was announced Chelsea were the greenest football club in the league (four years running!) and having an outstanding turnover to wages ratio.....

Well all I know is that if they win the league this season it’ll be all due to Poch and not this chancer Maresca.

 

[Spoonman]

I don't think it's knee jerk to want Ange gone as it's not just based on yesterday's result. It's more than a seasons worth of generally poor results and some quite horrific performances with little sign of learning or improvement.

Knee jerk is West Ham fans wanting rid of Lopetegui after 12 games.