31 Dec 2024 11:49:54
Has Maze returned as the Equalizer?
31 Dec 2024 12:48:37
Option 1. I don’t have the players, I am going to use the most of what I have with me, sit back, make it compact and hit on the counter and pick up as many as points as possible. Because winning is a habit.
Option 2. I ll only play my way and if that means I lose every game from here on, so be it untill I get the players. I simply don’t care.
31 Dec 2024 12:53:00
I reckon. Certainly a troll.
31 Dec 2024 14:05:07
The problem with option 1 is that it didn't work for Ole, for Rangnick or for EtH.
If you adapt to play the only way these players seem to be able to consistently play then we are still exposed as not being good enough and ultimately failing to meet expectations.
Only a fool would look at the recent failings under past managers and think that doing the same thing that has failed 3 times in the past 5 years was a good idea.
Option 2 is the only way we eventually become a good enough side.
Changing his tactics now still wouldn't make our players good enough, while it would also undermine the players confidence in ever playing those tactics again. If even the manager doesn't believe in them then why would the players?
He needs to keep working on them with the players, slowly getting more and more players on board and comfortable in this new system and these tactics.
We need to focus on performances and not results. The results will come once the performances improve.
We have a better shape, we are able to control games better for the most part.
Two things are letting us down, we are too slow in moving the ball, and we make too many individual mistakes.
The first one is partly down to a lack of quality on the ball, and partly due to the players having to think about every action as they haven't learned the system and patterns of play to a point where it becomes instinctive.
To fix this you have to firstly keep working with the players you have to make it instinctive so they can move the ball more quickly and be in the right places at the right time. While you also need to upgrade the quality of the players in the squad.
For those upgraded players to be as successful as possible they need to be joining a team that is settled and comfortable with the way they are playing. So you still need to focus on improving the players you have with the tactics/ system we are looking to play.
Individual errors happen in football. Again these happen more often with players who aren't at the required level of ability. But again mistakes happen more often when a team is learning a new system. These mistakes also lower confidence in players which again makes mistakes more likely, it can be a vicious circle.
Again the only way to solve this in the shorter term is to work with the players on the training ground and play the tactics until it becomes more natural. As the players become more settled in the system they will make fewer mistakes and that will lead to less goals conceded.
In the longer term you again probably need to upgrade the players to higher quality players who are more suited to this style of play.
This isn't a PlayStation or Xbox game, you can't just hit restart or transfer 20 players out of the squad and bring in 20 new ones.
It's a process and it will take time.
31 Dec 2024 14:17:28
Well @Shappy, what is the point of sticking and trying to implement a new style with this group of players who in most probability won’t be here post next summer? You got to start this all over again in the summer. Don’t you?
They should have let RVN to continue untill the summer and got a new manager in change. This stint has sinked RA’s resume to a new low.
31 Dec 2024 14:31:24
He’s he has UA, I responded to a post calling him Maze last night, it’s so obvious every time as well, doesn’t even try to hide it, must be his 20th profile now.
31 Dec 2024 14:32:06
I have to be honest, I'm a little bemused by any manager who openly says they're not going to try something different if something isn't working.
That's not to say I don't agree with what he says - we obviously got him to play this formation, that is actually quite a common formation even in the Prem.
But I will find it a bit of a weakness, not a strength, if results don't improve and he hasn't tried something else. The great managers can mix it up. As he has said himself, the formation isn't important - it's the mindset, effort, and application within that system.
Oh, and every opponent now knows what formation we're going to use until something major happens, not that they need any help against us lol.
31 Dec 2024 15:01:05
He was brought in for his idea and way of playing if we wanted to stick to sit deep be compact and counter we would have stuck with Jose or ole
We have brought in football people and they have set the model and want to play a brand of football that is different from what dross we have been seeing for the past 10 years
We have changed the managers, the assistants some of the players and nothing has seemed to change now we have changed systems everyone wants to go back to what we wanted to change from in the first place because of a few bad results
Suck it up. this is now on the players it is nothing to do with formation or systems or tactics
If a bunch of professional players cannot adapt to a way the manager wants to play you don’t then replace the managers idea to suit the players, you take it on the chin and keep at it and get rid of those players that are not coachable to play that way
Look at pep when he came in to city he practically replaced the whole back 5 within 12 months
We’ve been asking for this team to coached to a way of playing for over 18 months, we have no identity what is the plan etc etc
Now a manager has come in and asked for us all to be patient as he’s sticking to his way there are some in the fan base that now want to revert back to just coping.
Professional players that can’t adapt to what a manager wants, makes me laugh, we seen it with Ralph first game against palace you seen what he wanted to try do, a couple of games after the players were moaning “it’s to much running” the same old excuses year in year out.
Change is needed and like Amorim said yesterday this club needs a shock to wake up because we have been coasting for a decade while teams have caught up and overtaken.
He’s a dead man walking with the dressing room if he decides to change it so soon, ten hag did that after 2 games and those players took the piss out of him just like they did ole and Ralph.
And as difficult as it is to sell some of these players due to them being on high wages that is no fault of the people who decided to give them those wages.
If this season will teach us anything it will be to learn from the mistakes and truly show what kind of fan base we have
Get behind the team and trust the manager.
At least it’s not going to be a boring season ?.
31 Dec 2024 15:56:08
Maze, so you expect the club to sell/ release 25 players this summer and bring in 25 new ones?
I'm afraid you're going to be very disappointed.
By the end of next summer's transfer window I expect we'll see a maximum of 7 new players in the first team at most. More than likely around 5.
While the vast majority of the the current squad will still be here, at most we'll see 30% leave.
Which means a vast majority of the players who are currently struggling with this system will have to learn to adapt to it for next season.
I actually think many of them can adapt to this system, it will just take a little time. Whether they can play it to the standard needed to ultimately get to where we want to be is another matter entirely.
Players who I don't think can adapt to Amorim's system include Shaw, Malacia, Antony, Zirkzee and Rashford. I just don't see a natural role for them that plays to their strengths.
While players like Maguire, Lindelof, Evans, Collyer, Casemiro and Eriksen can probably play within the system but are not ideally suited to it and will need replacing sooner rather than later.
You then have players like Dalot, Martinez, and Garnacho. Players who aren't quite natural fits into the roles, but who have enough ability and talent to maybe stick with for another season and see if they can adapt.
Players like Onana, MdL, Yoro, Mazraoui, Ugarte, Mainoo, Mount, Bruno, Amad, and Højlund are all talented enough and naturally well suited to Amorim's system/ tactics.
So that's 10 who definitely can play this system, and probably well enough to be first team regulars.
Another 3 who might be able to adapt.
Another 6 who short term can play some kind of role within the squad.
Which gives us potentially 19 players who could easily be part of the squad and contribute over the next 18 months. In reality that will probably be more like 15.
With a further 5 who we probably need to move on ASAP as they will likely continue to struggle and lose value as well as contribute nothing.
There are a few others that I haven't included because players like Heaton, Bayindir, Amass, Gore, Wheatley and Sancho that I've not included as they either are likely to leave or contribute little to the team.
I'd imagine we'll see 7-8 players leave (players who are actually involved in the squad), and 5 or 6 new ones join.
So if we are to stick with Amorim and he is to stick to his system (he has to if he is to have any chance of success) then yes it makes sense to keep training the current squad to play this way as most will be here next season as well.
31 Dec 2024 16:25:39
We will get a hiding at pool next week but don't kid yourselves about the mantra of trust the manager. If we continue to spot every team a 2 or 3 goal lead and look like a championship team it will turn toxic very quickly. These performances are not acceptable and he needs to tweak things.
You are all very mistaken if you think they will be okay with this and heads will roll. No body gives a damn about what system teams play its about winning. The most decorated and successful team in football plays 4 in the back, so this idea of wait the 3 at the back will be unbelievable if we could only buy a whole new team is a ridiculous notion.
The biggest issue is not even 3 at the back but how poor we look in our built up play and up front. After liverpool he has to win games. He will not make it to summer if this continues imo.
31 Dec 2024 17:11:09
I don't think it’s just about buying new players, we do need a couple at least to start with as there is no profile in the squad for a couple of the roles but it’s about teaching the players that are there how to play this system, which he has said he’s been struggling to do because of the lack of training and they have been playing a different (terrible) style for 2 years.
Obviously if there is no improvement once he’s trained them and we have a few new players in there will be issues, at the moment he is seeing which players can adapt quickly and which will need training and which are lost causes, I’m sure these results are helping him work that out pretty quickly.
31 Dec 2024 17:14:43
Ahmad that's funny. You wanted us to give EtH time even after 2 years of crap and saying Amorim needs to start producing results after a month incharge. Hypocrisy or just favouritism?
31 Dec 2024 17:24:33
Think he will get to the summer regardless mainly because we are out of other options.
Our biggest issue for a number of years has been our lack of creativity and being clinical in front of goal. This season we have scored 48 goals in 30 games, fix that then play a settled back 3 and we might start winning again.
31 Dec 2024 20:59:37
UA
ETH finished 3rd and 8th, 3 finals won 2 trophies and was ravaged by injuries last year. This is miles worse and don't kid yourself and excuse the inexcusable.
This is beyond any standard or norm. Getting humped at home week in week out is a joke.
I like him and how he comes across but if he can't get a much better performance out of the players at his disposal, he is toast.
31 Dec 2024 21:55:23
Had we gone for Southgate and the results been the same, we’d have been baying for him.
Amorim is a little more charismatic and an excellent communicator which has endeared him to the fans, but it won’t protect him forever. He gets passes against Liverpool and Arsenal but there seriously has to be something positive to see within a few weeks.