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Roberto De Zerbi *OFFICIAL*

It is being realistic and just accepting where we are and what we want to do and to give that time to come together.

To be pedantic and petty, 747 teams entered the FA Cup last year - all had a realistic chance of winning it?? really?
I don't remember we were world beaters the last two times we won the league cup. We might not be one of the favorites but we shouldn't immediately assume it's something to throw away to get everyone back to full fitness like last night. Under a more cup oriented manager like Mourinho we might have a better shot and definitely not something be sniffed at.
 
I don't remember we were world beaters the last two times we won the league cup. We might not be one of the favorites but we shouldn't immediately assume it's something to throw away to get everyone back to full fitness like last night. Under a more cup oriented manager like Mourinho we might have a better shot and definitely not something be sniffed at.

Agreed.

We have no Europe and the players are about to go off on a three week international break. There was zero excuse to make so many changes last night imo - especially given we played a stronger team at home to Charlton in the last round.
 
Agreed.

We have no Europe and the players are about to go off on a three week international break. There was zero excuse to make so many changes last night imo - especially given we played a stronger team at home to Charlton in the last round.
I’m a big fan of RDZ, still 100% behind him and don’t think we’ve played that bad since the Brentford shambles, but I couldn’t understand that team selection yesterday. The “first choice” players are in desperate need of minutes playing together to build the chemistry, let alone fitness.
 
It's interesting to go through the team changes

Kinsky vs Dubravka
Gray vs Gray
Van Hecke vs Tosin
VDV vs Senesi
Robbo vs Udogie
Bentancur vs Bentancur
Tonali vs Bergval
Savio vs Kudus
Fernandez vs Gallagher
Marmoush vs Tel
Solanke vs Marmoush

So what did RDZ get right and wrong in this selection....in my opinion

1) Removing both of your senior centre halves. Worst case, you remove 1 - wrong move
2) Re-instating players you want as your first team, Udogie and Kudus - right move
3) Making 4 changes to your forward line, only retaining Marmoush but in a different positoion - wrong move
4) Removing a couple of meh players from the weekend e.g. Solanke - I'm on the fence with this one
5) Managing players through injuries and red zone e.g. early subs for Udogie and Bents - right move
6) Changing the number 10 position again - I'm on the fence with this one. He didn't want all 3 senior centre mids on the pitch at the start because he needed Bents to be subbed early and had no access to Gray as a 6. - I'm on the fence with this one as well

All in all, RDZ might have made a couple of errors in team selection but it's definitely not as bad as "made 8 changes and lost the game" narratives that we've seen in the past.
 
It's interesting to go through the team changes

Kinsky vs Dubravka
Gray vs Gray
Van Hecke vs Tosin
VDV vs Senesi
Robbo vs Udogie
Bentancur vs Bentancur
Tonali vs Bergval
Savio vs Kudus
Fernandez vs Gallagher
Marmoush vs Tel
Solanke vs Marmoush

So what did RDZ get right and wrong in this selection....in my opinion

1) Removing both of your senior centre halves. Worst case, you remove 1 - wrong move
2) Re-instating players you want as your first team, Udogie and Kudus - right move
3) Making 4 changes to your forward line, only retaining Marmoush but in a different positoion - wrong move
4) Removing a couple of meh players from the weekend e.g. Solanke - I'm on the fence with this one
5) Managing players through injuries and red zone e.g. early subs for Udogie and Bents - right move
6) Changing the number 10 position again - I'm on the fence with this one. He didn't want all 3 senior centre mids on the pitch at the start because he needed Bents to be subbed early and had no access to Gray as a 6. - I'm on the fence with this one as well

All in all, RDZ might have made a couple of errors in team selection but it's definitely not as bad as "made 8 changes and lost the game" narratives that we've seen in the past.

It's not the individual selections, it's the scale and groupings

- 8 changes from week-end starting lineup (everyone talking about Liverpool changes)
- Dubravka, Gray, Tosin, Senesi as a unit is super weak, Kinsky +1 of the CB's would have been a big difference
- Bergvall & Gallagher is never going to work

And personally, if you were just in it to give people minutes, Solanke needs field time way more than Marmoush

This is standard manager stuff, get it right = genius, get it wrong = worse manager ever stuff
 
It's interesting to go through the team changes

Kinsky vs Dubravka
Gray vs Gray
Van Hecke vs Tosin
VDV vs Senesi
Robbo vs Udogie
Bentancur vs Bentancur
Tonali vs Bergval
Savio vs Kudus
Fernandez vs Gallagher
Marmoush vs Tel
Solanke vs Marmoush

So what did RDZ get right and wrong in this selection....in my opinion

1) Removing both of your senior centre halves. Worst case, you remove 1 - wrong move
2) Re-instating players you want as your first team, Udogie and Kudus - right move
3) Making 4 changes to your forward line, only retaining Marmoush but in a different positoion - wrong move
4) Removing a couple of meh players from the weekend e.g. Solanke - I'm on the fence with this one
5) Managing players through injuries and red zone e.g. early subs for Udogie and Bents - right move
6) Changing the number 10 position again - I'm on the fence with this one. He didn't want all 3 senior centre mids on the pitch at the start because he needed Bents to be subbed early and had no access to Gray as a 6. - I'm on the fence with this one as well

All in all, RDZ might have made a couple of errors in team selection but it's definitely not as bad as "made 8 changes and lost the game" narratives that we've seen in the past.

For Whatever reason Solanke, Savio, Tonali, Fernandes are not fit enough to play 2x games in a week right now.
 
It is being realistic and just accepting where we are and what we want to do and to give that time to come together.

To be pedantic and petty, 747 teams entered the FA Cup last year - all had a realistic chance of winning it?? really?

It wasn't realistic for Leicester to win the Premier league but they made it a reality. And it's wildy subjective but I think we're less of an underdog for the FA cup than them lot were for the title, even if we're a basketcase of a club.

Things take time, however I don't like this whole writing off a season as a transitional one, there's no time like the present. But it takes belief, not from the fans who are almost held responsible for our footballing woes at times. If only we cheered more wouldn't we be brilliant! Presently a goal in the league would be nice, I can only speak for myself but I'm really trying to see each game as a fresh start. Full disclosure it's gonna be hard to get past not really liking this team for me though, same with the coach.
 
Na, I haven't missed anything, I just think you are applying a narrative that hasn't existed just to have a pop, I am unsure how or what you are trying to prove with the highlighted, its just odd mate

No one was nervous with signing or spending money, people debated the rationale of spending and selling players who they deemed good enough (they also might be right BTW, time will tell).

I don't think questioning signings and if some were worth the fees, which is at worse whats been discussed, is anything like what you are painting it out to be. Are we not now allowed to debate the merits of some signings at risk of being mocked? Is that what the forums descended to? Fcuking ridiculous if thats the case.

Absolutely not seen anyone scared or reluctant to spend money, wanting it spent smartly isn't the same thing and seeing as we are a RB and Striker short, I think those people are likely being proven right compared to people coming on to take cheap shots

Ironically you were in another thread on off topic complaining about the exact same tone you have used in your last couple of post
Being only a back up right back and (perhaps) a striker short is perhaps the best we have gone into a season for eons.
 
It's not the individual selections, it's the scale and groupings

- 8 changes from week-end starting lineup (everyone talking about Liverpool changes)
- Dubravka, Gray, Tosin, Senesi as a unit is super weak, Kinsky +1 of the CB's would have been a big difference
- Bergvall & Gallagher is never going to work

And personally, if you were just in it to give people minutes, Solanke needs field time way more than Marmoush

This is standard manager stuff, get it right = genius, get it wrong = worse manager ever stuff
It looked like it worked ok to me. We dominated possession and I enjoyed a lot of our football.
 
Then play them, win the game and worry about the next one later.

By shuffling, and giving them some minutes in some games, we are never getting the impact of actually starting/playing them together.
Play two in quick succession and they are more likely to pick up a proper injury. Playing them a week apart is the right thing to do.

A bunch on here moaned like hell when we had our injury problems under Ange (though Frank seemed to get a pass despite th being little better) yet now we have a manager carefully managing player workload we have moaning in the opposite direction.
 
Then play them, win the game and worry about the next one later.

By shuffling, and giving them some minutes in some games, we are never getting the impact of actually starting/playing them together.

I do not disagree at all. We have rested these players and most will go on international duty and either play a lot of games or stay home and not be match fit after a 3 week break.
 
We didn't have a realistic chance at a trophy before the season started if we are honest so nothing has changed there.

4 managers in a year, massive squad changes, and yet people have given up on it all already. Massive sense of entitlement and no patience. A must win now mentality and a refusal to see any signs of progress or direction.

The point of this place is as you say, to have 'realistic' discussions. My problem is with those posters, who post frequently, but there is no realism to their postings.

RDZ is yet to deliver the hoped for "sunny uplands" but there is light on some distant horizon, yet the 'We're doomed' Cpl Jones phalanx don't want any of it.
Many on here will deny it but they don't believe the 17ths (yes plural) were real. They make excuses, they talk of injuries, they think of Frank specifically being the problem. So now with the manager that kept us up and £300m+ spent surely we pop right back into the space that we *belong* in. 😑

There very little acceptance that yes we had become relegation fodder for whatever reason, some more valid than others but the table doesn't lie. You finish in the position you and that was 17th twice for us. So clearly there's some work that needs doing and we've made massive strides into that direction but the downside is that it will cause turbulence and things just aren't going to be smooth. You can't change the number of players we have and try to fix as many to the very core issues that we have in one window and expect it all to just work. Football just doesn't work that way.
 
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