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Comments
The football they play going forward is no worse than Pelle’s, but they have all the defensive intensity and structure that (I fear) a Pelle team will never have.
That'll learn 'im.
And this season has started with a damp squib punctuated by many of the exact same failings of last time round.
Pelle is given a pretty easy ride IMO. He is paid far more and given far more transfer funds than any of our previous three PL managers. The fans (those who are not overly enamoured) deserve far more IMO.
When you look at the side, players like Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Noble, Snodgrass, Rice, Antonio, Lanzini, Hernandez etc have all been regulars under Pelle, & all were regulars for the club before Pelle arrived. So, in many ways, he is still transitioning the side. Five of those have been here since the summer of 2015.
I can understand both you & jay's views. I think you could both make a fair argument by being underwhelmed depending on what you were expecting. Performances have been incredibly inconsistent.
I would say, if you sign a 3 year contract, that suggests it is a 3 year project. If they wanted him to achieve greatness in 12 months he would have signed a one year deal. I think they expect, during his third season, things to be clicking if they haven't done so sooner. This season, for me, would be another solid season if we finished in the top 10 again & put in a better showing in the FA Cup (not losing so embarrassingly to a lower league side).
#dreamteam
Again perhaps a matter of opinion. On paper (offensively only), yes I would say so.
In practice defensively no, and offensively on occasion, yes.
We’ve seen virtually no evidence of it this season IMO
Hoof it up and start again. :quaver:
It’s the last word of that sentence that continually worries me about Pelle. It’s so rare that I can remember our team closing down and chasing around with the effort and intensity those other teams show. But maybe that will come with time.
I just fear Pelle thinks the answer to everything is great technical attacking play, but it clearly isn’t.
I think finishing 9th to 11th this season doesn’t necessarily represent progress from one of the highest paid managers in the league.
But at the end of the season the daves may need to decide whether they plan to go beyond 3 years with him (as he will only have a year left) - and likewise vice versa for Pelle - ie if this “project” is worth persevering with
I personally am hoping the daves have set him a stiff target of 7th or 8th this season. Because he won’t be able to achieve that unless he sorts us out defensively
We need stability, six managers in less than ten years hasn't done us any favours.
I can't pinpoint when football adopted this 'only instant success is acceptable' outlook, but you'd have thought by now that fans would have realised that playing musical chairs with managers has seldom been a recipe for success. I'm with ASLEF - let Pelle get on with rebuilding the club the way he envisions it.
I saw enough last season to feel that the growing pains were worth the effort.
We see other managers at other clubs coming in and making almost instant changes, but that's, I think, a bit misleading. Klopp & Guardiola come in and make what feels like immediate change, but they have hundreds of millions to spend each year. I think there is a perception that Leicester have had that change with Rodgers, but actually they haven't really (IMO) lived up to their reputation in the media so far. Wolves have been building for a few years under Nuno in the Championship.
When I think of clubs who have regular managerial changes (particularly when those managers differ philosophically), I think of people like Southampton, Newcastle, Palace, Watford, Leicester, Swansea, West Brom, Stoke. That's not a group I want to be linked to in any way.