It’s literally the reason he was hired though, to get more out of these players. He is not someone that you hire and wait so that the pieces of his long term vision fall in to place. He picks on opponents weaknesses and gets results. Otherwise he isn’t doing anything we couldn’t already do.
I think the issues under Jose are the issues that we had at the start of the reason. I think this group has struggled to adapt to a different style of play. They were no longer able to run as hard as they needed and haven’t been able to adapt to different styles. To the points around these players not winning enough of the second balls, I think that is right. And it’s something that we see regardless of which style we are using.
Seeing the goal we conceded against Sheffield United at home. We were playing deeper and we were standing off. It’s a fine, feasible strategy. But they scored a relatively simple goal because I think our players just right now lack a bit of that park to win the 1 v 1s that they need to win. And regardless of the system, whether you are pressing high or dropping deeper, you need to win them. I think Poch’s attempt to play a diamond and the general idea of less pressing was to respond to the fact that these players didn’t want / couldn’t run as much as they have done in the past. And Jose’s style isn’t built on as much pressing anyway - his hire is a recognition of the fact that this squad should be older and wiser and able to play a game that is about containing space in different areas of the pitch.
But I don’t think anything is particularly working. We were horrendous against Chelsea, we created nothing of note at Southampton and we’re patting ourselves on the back for ‘even’ games against bottom of the league Norwich and bottom half Brighton at home. Something needs to improve big time, and quickly. Right now I don’t see any tangible improvement. I see a different style in possession, but I think these players have been given the chance to play a bunch of different styles and none of them are working. I think they may just be done as a group. Hope I’m wrong.