Welcome Ange: To Dare is to Didgeridoo

[glorygloryeze]

What we need is a left sided CB who play left back or Micky may become that player
I do think it will be one of the youth players we have who will take that role and I’m fine with that. But we haven’t seen them at this level yet
It’s the area of weakness that needs fixing

Yeah it does. as well as good, smart rotation as you've mentioned.

You often seem to come across decently-sourced rumours; have you heard any decently concrete ones about in-comings in January?
Ditto, outgoings?

 

[Grays_1890]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1867549479542436334

A sly dig at Levy for a lack of players, or a dig at some of the fit players not giving 100% - perhaps both?

I think he is spot on there TBH, I am not sure he is having a dig, I think he is talking hypothetical "if there are......." rather than "there are".

For me I would put Lloris comments into this bracket, yes we went into Finals and SFs as underdogs but teams do win from there, so you step up and you try and change things, he never won a thing at the club and IMO should have (as many should have), easy to blame others all the time than step up. And before anyone jumps on that, I think the club should have done more as well, but its at the essence of what Ange is saying

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yeah it does. as well as good, smart rotation as you've mentioned.

You often seem to come across decently-sourced rumours; have you heard any decently concrete ones about in-comings in January?
Ditto, outgoings?

Nothing
Not so far

 

[Gutter Boy]

What we need is a left sided CB who play left back or Micky may become that player
I do think it will be one of the youth players we have who will take that role and I’m fine with that. But we haven’t seen them at this level yet
It’s the area of weakness that needs fixing

But we don't want to block Vuscovic's path 6 months before he arrives. Especially when Ange said in the summer that was why we didn't move for a CB then.

Depending on the prognosis of Davies, Romero and vdV, I can see an argument for a Ryan Nelsen style loan to give us another body; although ideally Dorrington can do that.

I'd much rather we went out and signed a specialist LB who can rotate with Udogie. We'll suffer long term if we go for a jack of all trades across the two positions.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

But we don't want to block Vuscovic's path 6 months before he arrives. Especially when Ange said in the summer that was why we didn't move for a CB then.

Depending on the prognosis of Davies, Romero and vdV, I can see an argument for a Ryan Nelsen style loan to give us another body; although ideally Dorrington can do that.

I'd much rather we went out and signed a specialist LB who can rotate with Udogie. We'll suffer long term if we go for a jack of all trades across the two positions.

These are the big pain questions that the fans don’t really want to hear
The bigger picture Is exactly what you say

 

[Raziel]

Because of injuries, mate.

Ok, very unpopular opinion incoming:

Romero, VDV and Vicario are essentially the three starting players we are missing. Forster has done a great job coming in for Vic. Are we really that reliant on VDV and Romero (who has been accused of falling asleep countless times this season) to perform well as a team? Are they all we need to get this train back on track? Really? Sure, we miss players in certain positions, but none of them (bar Bentancur, who hasn't had a great season, tbh) have featured much anyway. We barely use Bergvall, Moore has gotten minutes here and there, Gray has played all over the place, bless him, Spence couldn't get a start if his life depended on it.

It obviously sucks that we now have to use Gray and Dragu in central defense and have knackered players (lack of rotation could explain this bit), but is it really that much of a mitigating factor for the performances we've seen as of late? Really? Or do we just have a poor squad?

Maybe so! What do I know. Maybe so. With a fully fit squad we would obviously be better, but we're never going to have that (especially with how we train, even Ange has admitted as much), practically no team ever have a squad fully fit.

Again, as I've said many times - I hope we and Ange manage to turn this around, I really do, we play exciting football when we're good - we just need to be good more consistently, and certainly not bad as consistently as we have been lately.

It's a little more complicated

- It's Vic, Romero, VDV, Biss (yesterday), Bentancur, Wilson, Richi -> the entire spine of the team is affected
- Gray, Bergvall, Moore, Dragusin, are learning their role in team and finding their feet at this level
- 10 out of a 25 man squad was not available yesterday

But the piece that is probably more relevant is we are a system teams, system teams can be more vulnerable to specific player injuries or just too many injuries (system breaks down), the extreme case of this is City right now. Pragmatic teams that can and do make major adjustments to system/style/formation can potentially take the challenges easier.

The big question/issue for Ange is not about compromising principles, it's about not playing something when you simply don't have the personnel for it, right now, we simply do not have the squad to play 90 minutes of high intensity football twice a week.

Yesterday was the first time I saw us take our foot off the gas in a controlled way, there were actual moments (very small moments) where we sat in a mid block, where we were happy to have the ball in our half and not rush. Was that instruction, was that players making choices, was that only because we were 5-0 up? don't know. My opinion remains Ange has to give the team the option of managing the game for moments until we have that full squad, until some of the youngsters are at a point where they can truly be trusted as part of the rotation.

 

[Daisuk]

It's a little more complicated

- It's Vic, Romero, VDV, Biss (yesterday), Bentancur, Wilson, Richi -> the entire spine of the team is affected
- Gray, Bergvall, Moore, Dragusin, are learning their role in team and finding their feet at this level
- 10 out of a 25 man squad was not available yesterday

But the piece that is probably more relevant is we are a system teams, system teams can be more vulnerable to specific player injuries or just too many injuries (system breaks down), the extreme case of this is City right now. Pragmatic teams that can and do make major adjustments to system/style/formation can potentially take the challenges easier.

The big question/issue for Ange is not about compromising principles, it's about not playing something when you simply don't have the personnel for it, right now, we simply do not have the squad to play 90 minutes of high intensity football twice a week.

Yesterday was the first time I saw us take our foot off the gas in a controlled way, there were actual moments (very small moments) where we sat in a mid block, where we were happy to have the ball in our half and not rush. Was that instruction, was that players making choices, was that only because we were 5-0 up? don't know. My opinion remains Ange has to give the team the option of managing the game for moments until we have that full squad, until some of the youngsters are at a point where they can truly be trusted as part of the rotation.

All very good points, obviously. But are our injuries all down to bad luck, or do we get them because of the way we train and play? If the latter, then we can't really use injuries as an excuse as they will hit us again and again (as Ange even hinted to).

It's been said to death already, but the sensible approach if we are going full pelt every game would be to rotate more, 2-3 players a game, but he hasn't done that. Why we didn't take off Kulu and Solanke at half time yesterday, I'll never know.

 

[Baleforce]

All very good points, obviously. But are our injuries all down to bad luck, or do we get them because of the way we train and play? If the latter, then we can't really use injuries as an excuse as they will hit us again and again (as Ange even hinted to).

It's been said to death already, but the sensible approach if we are going full pelt every game would be to rotate more, 2-3 players a game, but he hasn't done that. Why we didn't take off Kulu and Solanke at half time yesterday, I'll never know.

The sensible approach is not to go full pelt every game.

 

[Raziel]

The sensible approach is not to go full pelt every game.

All very good points, obviously. But are our injuries all down to bad luck, or do we get them because of the way we train and play? If the latter, then we can't really use injuries as an excuse as they will hit us again and again (as Ange even hinted to).

It's been said to death already, but the sensible approach if we are going full pelt every game would be to rotate more, 2-3 players a game, but he hasn't done that. Why we didn't take off Kulu and Solanke at half time yesterday, I'll never know.

That's the point, it's probably not possible to play 100% all the time, how/can Ange adjust?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

That's the point, it's probably not possible to play 100% all the time, how/can Ange adjust?

He can’t
And I don’t think we are 100% all the time
It’s an assumption because of the comments we don’t stop

 

[Baleforce]

He can’t
And I don’t think we are 100% all the time
It’s an assumption because of the comments we don’t stop

we stop all the time, when players break down or run out of energy

I can't remember who, but somebody posted that an error in a game we lost was down to us not getting the third goal

if you can't take a rest and sit back at 2-0 when can you?

 

[Raziel]

He can’t
And I don’t think we are 100% all the time
It’s an assumption because of the comments we don’t stop

We aren't because it's not physically possible and players tire, not instructions

As I said, yesterday was the first time, I actually saw a mid block in 2nd half, was a point Southampton had the ball and our front 3 actually didn't push the press high. If we choose our moments, it becomes way more sustainable and by managing the game (especially when ahead), we reduce the risk to ourselves caused by being high all the time.

 

[Kandi1977]

A long-term major signing would be great, especially if one that can give Udogie some very good rotation...we really need another centre-back to cover MVDV AND a bonafide DM too imo, but as i say one would do if it's an Udogie rotation option

So basically, what we need is a player who is world class playing as left back, centre back, right back, and defensive midfielder.

Preferably all at once!

Shouldn't be too difficult! Over to you, Levy!

 

[johnola]

Not aimed at you, but a general observation…

Conte “blew up the club…great to see Postecoglou’s fight.”

When he does go, I just hope people realise where the real issues lie.

The biggest issue as I see it is that we are not wealthy enough to bin off senior players when we should.

 

[Muttley]

For me I would put Lloris comments into this bracket, yes we went into Finals and SFs as underdogs but teams do win from there, so you step up and you try and change things, he never won a thing at the club and IMO should have (as many should have), easy to blame others all the time than step up. And before anyone jumps on that, I think the club should have done more as well, but its at the essence of what Ange is saying

In a winning football dressing room you have a Hugo, Walker, Rose, Wanyama, Dier, Dembele, Toby, Jan and a Dele. Born winners. Absolutely worthy of winning a league title.

Unfortunately, you also have a Kane and a Sonny, with their clear mentality weaknesses.

Sometimes you have to see the wood from the trees, and forget the media narratives and the stats. Football is not just about talent.

When I look at this current squad, I see a fantastic mentality in guys lie Venom, Porro, Romero, Dragu, VDV, Gray, Kulu, Solanke. We also have a few precious ones like the previous regime of Son and Kane. I think we're all waiting to see whether Biss, Bents, Johnson and Udogie can grasp that nettle and get to the next level in mentality. I'm less sure.

Ange would love a leader of men like Hugo in his squad right now.

 

[Bullet]

Clear mentality weakness.

 

[Grays_1890]

In a winning football dressing room you have a Hugo, Walker, Rose, Wanyama, Dier, Dembele, Toby, Jan and a Dele. Born winners. Absolutely worthy of winning a league title.

Unfortunately, you also have a Kane and a Sonny, with their clear mentality weaknesses.

Sometimes you have to see the wood from the trees, and forget the media narratives and the stats. Football is not just about talent.

When I look at this current squad, I see a fantastic mentality in guys lie Venom, Porro, Romero, Dragu, VDV, Gray, Kulu, Solanke. We also have a few precious ones like the previous regime of Son and Kane. I think we're all waiting to see whether Biss, Bents, Johnson and Udogie can grasp that nettle and get to the next level in mentality. I'm less sure.

Ange would love a leader of men like Hugo in his squad right now.

Hugo was Captain of one of our most talented groups in 3 decades and we won zilch, i dont blame him for thay, im not buying a narative I just think his sulking interview after the event is what Ange alludes to as excuses.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

In a winning football dressing room you have a Hugo, Walker, Rose, Wanyama, Dier, Dembele, Toby, Jan and a Dele. Born winners. Absolutely worthy of winning a league title.

Unfortunately, you also have a Kane and a Sonny, with their clear mentality weaknesses.

Sometimes you have to see the wood from the trees, and forget the media narratives and the stats. Football is not just about talent.

When I look at this current squad, I see a fantastic mentality in guys lie Venom, Porro, Romero, Dragu, VDV, Gray, Kulu, Solanke. We also have a few precious ones like the previous regime of Son and Kane. I think we're all waiting to see whether Biss, Bents, Johnson and Udogie can grasp that nettle and get to the next level in mentality. I'm less sure.

Ange would love a leader of men like Hugo in his squad right now.

I’m not convinced he was a leader you think he was. leaders don’t drink and drive, especially not with other players in the car
Kane mentality is why he has got this far in his career
Sons too
I appreciate your dislike for them but they are beasts when it comes to that IMO

 

[Finney Is Back]

We aren't because it's not physically possible and players tire, not instructions

As I said, yesterday was the first time, I actually saw a mid block in 2nd half, was a point Southampton had the ball and our front 3 actually didn't push the press high. If we choose our moments, it becomes way more sustainable and by managing the game (especially when ahead), we reduce the risk to ourselves caused by being high all the time.

We’ve gone into mid block quite a few times this season.

 

[Raziel]

We’ve gone into mid block quite a few times this season.

Not against brick teams (that I can recall), i.e. not by choice, we have against say a City under pressure at moments