Look I take your point that it would be difficult/stupid/suicidal to sack another manager at this stage.... That doesn't mean we should just accept the fact that we are having a bad season and that a squad of by and large the same players (plus/minus the ones Pochettino wanted to add/get rid of) look worse than we did last year.
I think taking a rational perspective would help personally...
The chairman is obviously at an advantage over me as (I assume) he is completely aware of our manager's vision in terms of what he wants to achieve, how he wants to achieve it and the roadmap that is in place to enable him to achieve it.
The things I would want to know however would be:
1. Why are we already tired after less than half a season has gone?
I believe you're looking at a group of players who have not played three or four matches on the spin like this all season. Thus we are talking about the members who are not used to such runs (Mason) and those who have been fringe until recently (Azza). I'd expect it to improve over time.[/I]
2. Will the manager always play i.n.v.e.r.t.e.d w.i.n.g.e.r.s no matter what?.... even if we don't have full backs available who can provide our width?
Good question.
3. Is the manager prepared to change his gameplan during the game if his preferred gameplan isn't working?
Good question. I would guess 'yes' so long as he trusts the players he has. Therein lies the question methinks!
4. Why did Capoue play for over a quarter of the season when he is clearly absolute dogsh!t?
Well that is, indeed, a question we'd all ask but Bentaleb's injury must have factored in there.
5. Why is he persisting with Lamela, despite the fact that he isn't showing signs of improving his play?
We have to. The guy has talent and potential. What I would say is that he has the rest of the season left to learn he can grown, because right now, he is showing dangerous signs of regression.
6. Why did he drop the only player who gives us width when attacking and go back to i.n.v.e.r.t.e.d w.i.n.g.e.r.s in our next home game after our best performance of the season in our previous home game?
Azza wasn't 100% fit. Again, lot of games for the first time in a while.
7. Why are teams with much lower value players and wage bills able to come to WHL, look so comfortable defensively against us and outplay us in terms of chances created?
If you're talking about Warnock, he's a good manager who does his homework. He knew exactly how to stop us and executed the plan perfectly. I would want a plan B and believe the manager will be able to deploy once he has the squad in place he wants.
8. Why was our last manager able to achieve more with the same bunch of players? Is it a communication thing was he tactically better or did he worry less about the opponent and concentrate more on our own strengths?
Our last manager put his faith in a player since proven (again) to be an absolute liability. This bailed him out at the beginning, but wore out. I think he had some great potential but sadly did not deliver. I would say he did a lot of what you suggested at the end, and that it's as flawed a tactic as any if you want to beat the best.
9. How long does he think it will take for the squad to learn his methods and look like a cohesive team?
How long until he has a squad he (and the club) can trust? because he has obviously found some arseholes in the mix, and they're not easy to deal with.
10. What players are/aren't buying into the 'philosophy' which players should I sell (even for a big loss) and which should I push the boat out for (within reason - I don't mean AVB pie in the sky targets).
I really do think your eyes can tell you mate.
Look I get that Pochettino has a 'philosophy' and I get that a certain type of player and a certain type of mentality is required in order to implement that philosophy - however all managers are judged on performances and results. I have gone to work in many failing businesses/departments with the task of turning them round. There is obviously always a long term goal to work towards. However I also accept that I cannot change things instantly so have to find a way of achieving some short term wins along the way.
I actually cannot argue with this at all, and always hoped AVB would realize the need for short-term success strategies whilst he underlined his long-term. It's a great point and one I I can't dance with.
I was pleased with our performance against Everton - I thought that finally Pochettino had realised that having some pace and width would help to open up the centre of pitch, but straight away he goes back to the same formation that Stoke, WBA, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, etc had all found so easy to defend against.... Then after watching 45 minutes of us taking the ball inside where Palace had numbers he takes off Lamela (hooray!) and puts on Chadli to do exactly the same thing that Lamela was (or should I say wasn't) doing.
Chadli is enormously frustrating in so much as there's a player in there but he's a part-timer. I think we'd all have tried different things against Palace, and all I can personally hope is that he learnt what he could've done.