Roberto De Zerbi *OFFICIAL*

[Bishop]

Absolutely everyone acknowledges that, whats fickle about saying the start has not been whats expected?

No one is asking for the bloke to be sacked

I guess it depends on what you expected? I expected it to be rough. Did I expect to score 0 goals so no not neccesairly, but I didn't expect us to be galloping up the league table. I knew the begining in particular would be rough. It had to be, we've made so many changes.

 

[Lost Mango]

Absolutely everyone acknowledges that, whats fickle about saying the start has not been whats expected?

No one is asking for the bloke to be sacked

Not overtly but the snide comments, the meaningless time lines, "1 game", "5 games", "international break", the re-activation on the Next Manager Thread by the drooling Poch-stans - all creates an atmosphere that this guy is already on borrowed time. Which, to quote one overly-dramatic poster whenever we lose, is "an embarrassment"

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

Questioning the sale of certain players is fair. I’m not 100% behind every move we’ve made myself; I just appreciate the protectiveness, especially as we’ve been tardy in previous years and windows.

Like I say, questioning how good the incomings are and if they are better than some outgoings isn't fans being scared of spending or whatever the troupe was

Some of the transfer fees for incoming players have been high, but it’s not really a buyer’s market at the moment. You’ve most definitely missed posts claiming we’ll be going out of business if we keep spending the way we have.

Absolutely, but again I think its fair for fans to look at some and say "thats expensive" because ultimately in a couple of cases its the truth, again, thats not being worried about signings its just people expressing football opinions.

I haven't missed much on here (sad I know), I know many who have questions the payday loan stuff, I myself have, because I don't like that model, but again thats not worried about spending or being brainwashed. I mean lets be fair, we have spend 250-300m in previous windows so not sure why anyone would be too worried.

I haven’t seen anyone claiming that every move we’ve made has been great, or that we can’t discuss and question the transfers. Ultimately, we probably won’t know whether these decisions were right for at least another six months to a year.

Which is a point many have made in fairness, but this is also a football forum, people will talk about the hear and now.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

Not overtly but the snide comments, the meaningless time lines, "1 game", "5 games", "international break", the re-activation on the Next Manager Thread by the drooling Poch-stans - all creates an atmosphere that this guy is already on borrowed time. Which, to quote one overly-dramatic poster whenever we lose, is "an embarrassment"

I think people are maybe trolling a little more than being serious, suppose its up to them to come clean if they are being serious

 

[Lost Mango]

Nah, there are genuine malcontents on here who wallow in their disappointment and want to share their bad vibes around.

 

[Mikey10]

Nah, there are genuine malcontents on here who wallow in their disappointment and want to share their bad vibes around.

There is a context to all of this, which is two consecutive 17th finishes and three years of largely dross football. That people's frustrations are laid bare on a football forum shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Should RDZ get at least the season unless we are in serious danger of relegation again? Yes. (And even then he may still be the best person to stay in charge.)

Is it fine to discuss certain decisions of his, and wider concerns about the team? Yes.

It has been a less than ideal start - it may well be the beginning of a successful process; but, then again, it may well not be.

The whole point of this place exisiting is surely to have realistic discussion on what's going well (we seem to be improving in some areas game-on-game; we spent a lot of money in the summer and got our business done early) and what's not (why are we fading so quickly in games after bright starts: how come we seem to still be experiencing so many injuries; why didn't we invest at least some of our outgoings into an out and out striker; why do we only have 2 points from an available 12?).

Anyone expecting a football forum to be full of wall-to-wall positivity is probably being a bit naive, especially if they follow a team which is currently sitting 17th (again!) and which has only one trophy left to realistically play for with only four weeks of the season gone.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

There is a context to all of this, which is two consecutive 17th finishes and three years of largely dross football. That people's frustrations are laid bare on a football forum shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Should RDZ get at least the season unless we are in serious danger of relegation again? Yes. (And even then he may still be the best person to stay in charge.)

Is it fine to discuss certain decisions of his, and wider concerns about the team? Yes.

It has been a less than ideal start - it may well be the beginning of a successful process; but, then again, it may well not be.

The whole point of this place exisiting is surely to have realistic discussion on what's going well (we seem to be improving in some areas game-on-game; we spent a lot of money in the summer and got our business done early) and what's not (why are we fading so quickly in games after bright starts: how come we seem to still be experiencing so many injuries; why didn't we invest at least some of our outgoings into an out and out striker; why do we only have 2 points from an available 12?).

Anyone expecting a football forum to be full of wall-to-wall positivity is probably being a bit naive, especially if they follow a team which is currently sitting 17th (again!) and which has only one trophy left to realistically play for with only four weeks of the season gone.

 

[Yiddo]

Only need a couple of wins on the spin and we will be looking up at the European places.

 

[Lost Mango]

There is a context to all of this, which is two consecutive 17th finishes and three years of largely dross football. That people's frustrations are laid bare on a football forum shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Should RDZ get at least the season unless we are in serious danger of relegation again? Yes. (And even then he may still be the best person to stay in charge.)

Is it fine to discuss certain decisions of his, and wider concerns about the team? Yes.

It has been a less than ideal start - it may well be the beginning of a successful process; but, then again, it may well not be.

The whole point of this place exisiting is surely to have realistic discussion on what's going well (we seem to be improving in some areas game-on-game; we spent a lot of money in the summer and got our business done early) and what's not (why are we fading so quickly in games after bright starts: how come we seem to still be experiencing so many injuries; why didn't we invest at least some of our outgoings into an out and out striker; why do we only have 2 points from an available 12?).

Anyone expecting a football forum to be full of wall-to-wall positivity is probably being a bit naive, especially if they follow a team which is currently sitting 17th (again!) and which has only one trophy left to realistically play for with only four weeks of the season gone.

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.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

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.

Just take solace in the fact that on here nothing is too bad (love you all)

Venture out into the hell hole of other 'opinion vehicles' and you'll be thinking in here is cream teas at the village hall.

Perhaps some who do venture into the hell holes, carry a bit of seepage over to here? As it's easy to get saturated.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

We are winning on stats, the question is -> does that ever get there?

We can pass (levels above anything in last 2-3 seasons), we can recycle possession (I actually think a midfield of Fernandes/Tonali/Bentancur could sleep walk protecting a lead if we had one), we also can beat players (Savio, Marmoush, Kudus, eventually Deki).

The problems (that I see) are tempo and finishing.

Tempo I can see some light, first 25 mins against Everton and at points in both halves vs. Liverpool we pushed the game. That said, the system doesn't seem designed around tempo, we often default to a mid block or fudging around with the ball baiting the opposition, it slows the game down, makes it more comfortable to play against, gives opposition chance to recover, set themselves, get some confidence. We need to change this?

Finishing, unlike others, I'm not completely convinced the only answer is a 20 goal a season striker (would be nice), but what I don't quite understand is what is the plan for who to score? e.g. with Ange there was a clear winger to opposing winger at back post play, in prime Son days it was getting him on edge of box to shoot, what play is RDZ running for who to score? how are we getting the tricky wingers isolated against their FB (Tel should have been under instruction to get Frimpong sent off after first yellow), who is making the run into the box? without natural high number goal scorers, those patterns must exist and for a system manager, I'm not seeing it (maybe just me).

Today we looked significantly better when Fernandes and Maddison came on, I have no doubt if we could play every game with Maddison, Fernandes, Porro, Udogie, Savio and Kudus, we would win more than we lose, but surely we have to be able to win without some of them?

I think we’ll get there, and aren’t too far off.

I agree on tempo. I see it coming together but still being inconsistent, like the players don’t seize the opportunity to exploit space where it opens up. Gray I thought had a terrible game (and side note, it concerns me that he is our back up right back if he gives Gakpo that much space to shoot on his right) and one of the reasons why is because he was carrying the ball forward, Tel had made a great run through the middle and had a ton of space, and Gray just…didn’t make that pass. It was maddening. I can only assume the players aren’t used to seeing where the gaps appear and are not totally sure when to recycle and when to slide it in. But I thought it was just a blatantly bad decision.

There was another moment where Fernandes made a great run through the middle as we were building from the back and it just wasn’t seen. We’re still as a team not aware of what is going on around the pitch and how it all connects. And it’s like some players are further along in their understanding of what is required than others.

 

[Clarky]

This is the guy who saved us last season. Same chap the players were publicly raving about. We have a host of new players to bed in. We missed out on a few key players. We have players who have been out injured, players down on confidence, many worried about their futures. We are unbeaten in 50% of our games and improving match by match. There are signs of some good football and important players coming back. In a fortnight the entire picture can look completely different. We'll still have unfinished business in the transfer market with incomings and outgoings. Last night both teams put out weakened sides, gave players a run out. We were felled by two pretty special strikes. We had plenty of chances to win it. The media narrative hasn't changed. They will be desperate for one of the Big 6 to struggle. We are the weakest of that bunch right now.