Thomas Frank - Head Coach

[DubSpur]

At best it was two games, we were less than solid against Bournemouth and Brighton.

Brighton was the 5th game. We conceded one in the first 4 games.

 

[tommysvr]

Football isn't some simple maths equation where more time = better performances and results. People keep rolling out the Arteta example as if that's the way it will go for every manager if given a load of time (not to mention a ridiculous amount of money that our manager won't be getting).

I remember after Conte's first season where he did well to get us top 4, and a load on here were then predicting top 3 and maybe even a title push all because he had been here for a while now and the only way was up. Well no, as we all know it wasn't. By this theory I guess Forest should have kept onto Ange, who unlike Frank didn't even get a pre season because after time it gets better right? No of course not, it just wasn't going to work and he was gone.

Frank had a whole pre season after which the football was turgid, but at least the defence was looking solid. Fast forward 20 games and now the defence is rubbish, the attacking play is as bad as it’s been for quite some time. So can mention time as much as you want, our play is regressing and he needs to sort it out pretty quickly if he wants to be here any longer than this season.....

For me the patience bit is more around culture. Creating a culture of not bombing people out at the first sign of trouble. Not demanding perfection when those making the decisions have been anything but (Levy would have fired himself years ago).

There’s no guarantee of success with that single person, but I believe that stability — and importantly the understanding of who you are — will ideally lead to it.

 

[mudshark]

I think it comes from the coach. It has been evident in many games this season that teams go man for man against our attacking players to create an extra attacker for themselves when they have the ball. We, on the other hand, keep an extra (spare) man back and therefore have fewer players to attack with when we have the ball. Our shape and our lack of forward passes through the middle are both cowardly, ‘low risk, low reward’ ways of playing.

This is why my current hypothesis is that Frank simply doesn't trust the current squad to play with more risk, because their limitations, and particularly their collective lack of ability to resist a press mean the dice are always going to be loaded against him. He is "big" on bravery, he says ("if you don't take risk, you also take risk," etc.) so why is it so glaringly absent from what we see on the pitch game after game? What I'm currently seeing is someone basically locked in damage-limitation mode, which, if I'm right (you may think that's a big if...), would be a reasonable position to adopt. There's risk, and there's stupid risk. I also suspect that he may be prone to overthinking things, which can often make matters even worse.

 

[DubSpur]

This is why my current hypothesis is that Frank simply doesn't trust the current squad to play with more risk, because their limitations, and particularly their collective lack of ability to resist a press mean the dice are always going to be loaded against him. He is "big" on bravery, he says ("if you don't take risk, you also take risk," etc.) so why is it so glaringly absent from what we see on the pitch game after game? What I'm currently seeing is someone basically locked in damage-limitation mode, which, if I'm right (you may think that's a big if...), would be a reasonable position to adopt. There's risk, and there's stupid risk. I also suspect that he may be prone to overthinking things, which can often make matters even worse.

But there is no risk in any of our passing, it's all safe. We're never going to progress that way. While our midfield isn't world class it's also not that bad that it can't play forward. It's also about getting a system embedded into the team. Even if it's not going to work 100% with the players we have now, at least the whole team won't have to learn a new system when we get the type of midfielder that Frank wants in order to be more brave.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Football isn't some simple maths equation where more time = better performances and results. People keep rolling out the Arteta example as if that's the way it will go for every manager if given a load of time (not to mention a ridiculous amount of money that our manager won't be getting).

I remember after Conte's first season where he did well to get us top 4, and a load on here were then predicting top 3 and maybe even a title push all because he had been here for a while now and the only way was up. Well no, as we all know it wasn't. By this theory I guess Forest should have kept onto Ange, who unlike Frank didn't even get a pre season because after time it gets better right? No of course not, it just wasn't going to work and he was gone.

Frank had a whole pre season after which the football was turgid, but at least the defence was looking solid. Fast forward 20 games and now the defence is rubbish, the attacking play is as bad as its been for quite some time. So can mention time as much as you want, our play is regressing and he needs to sort it out pretty quickly if he wants to be here any longer than this season.....

Arteta is a funny example too, as Arsenal would very likely have one a title or two if they'd kept Emery instrad

 

[Mcfee]

Arteta is a funny example too, as Arsenal would very likely have one a title or two if they'd kept Emery instrad

Emery comes across as humble and likeable. Not the right fit for Arsenal.