Surely it’s a good thing if players are disappointed they are not playing and want to prove they should be with performances on the pitch.
( goes against the grain with some, but personally , I really don’t give a shit )
Abdul is transitioning into becoming a Premiership Player
This isn't the case, I can assure you. I liked us under Maresca but I also liked us under other managers that had a completely different approach. I'm not attached to any form of football, I simply want us to play to our strengths whatever they are at the given time.Pop (and a few others) see the 'new' way of football being played as progressive and important. They see what EM did with the club last season and want that approach to be continued. Pep ball is the future, etc.
Dibling, you daft ****.When Saints are relegated we should be all over Dibley, by the way. He looks a great player.
The latter point is important, sometimes dropping players, and then bringing them back in, gives them extra motivation, as well as removing pressure from during the period they not taking part, and yep as you said may have been a factor.IF Cooper had started with Fatawu and Winks the first half might have been different - but it might not - we'll never know.
I enjoyed the way our fans were calling for Fatawu - then cheered him on every time he was passed the ball - a bit of a throw back to last season...
However, (unlike most subs that SC has made this season) it seemed to me that Fatawu and Winks felt they had a point to prove, and really grasped the opportunity to show the manager what was missing - their contribution (and Ayew's) transformed our performance and we snatched 3 vital points from the jaws of defeat.
A tense watch but a great result for us.
I'm not sure the theory of bringing your best players on when you're two goals down will always be as successful as it was today.The latter point is important, sometimes dropping players, and then bringing them back in, gives them extra motivation, as well as removing pressure from during the period they not taking part, and yep as you said may have been a factor.
I feel Fatawa is the sort of player that would benefit from coming on second half, as his energy advantage would exploit things, and the player he is up against would have to adapt to him late in the game. So I wouldnt necessarily be putting him straight in a starting line up, sometimes players are better as impact subs. I trust in Cooper on that decision.
I'm not sure the theory of bringing your best players on when you're two goals down will always be as successful as it was today.
Cleans up alright, don’t he?
Exactly! I can't add any more to that. Succinctly, clear how I feel. How you manage to write so intelligibly having just won a well deserved stash shows you haven't spent it on beer yet.Pop (and a few others) see the 'new' way of football being played as progressive and important. They see what EM did with the club last season and want that approach to be continued. Pep ball is the future, etc.
CF (and a few others) find the 'new' way of football tedious and overblown. They don't care for the modern reinvention of the game as something more complex and yearn for us to buck the trend.
Southampton are a case in point. They played us off the park for the first hour today using the 'modern' style. They caved in the last half hour because it only works when it works and collapses if there is a red card or players feck up.
Cooper is caught between the styles. He clearly wants aspects to be 'new' and set us up today just like Maresca did. We tried to play 3-2-4-1 in possession, and 4-4-2 out of possession, like last season. We tried to play wide and use patient passing. He knows he has quite a few players that want to play this way. He's changed a few things positionally, but the basic principles he's using are different to anything he's done in management before.
Cooper is, at heart, a pragmatist. He knows that we won't win much with the modern style and mediocre players. See Southampton this season and Burnley last season. So he knows we can't just go 'pure' Pep ball. What's the point of plaudits for style when you lose every week? He also has half a team that weren't here last season.
Given all this, I'm glad we have Cooper navigating us through. He's clearly smart enough to get it. We're clearly going to have a season of chaos football and I'm all in for it. The stats aren't going to be pretty but the wins will be.
Is it a long term route to re-establishing us in the PL? Feck knows. But what should really matter to all of us is the fact that of 24 matches played by the three new PL sides this season, there have only been two wins and we've got 'em both. And. for the first time this season, tonight we're no longer odds on to go down.
I agree with this.
We just can't afford to keep getting it so wrong so frequently. He made the right substitutions today and Winks and Fatawu completely changed the game.
Everyone could see that Fatawu needed to start. That was a horrible decision. Persisting with the FB setup which means Kristiansen and JJ have to be in two places at once is also complete madness.
BUT...
He got it spot on on the end by going balls deep and trying to win the game. That was brave. The BIG question is, will he learn from it. He's been slow as **** to learn anything so far but surely he must take note of that second half and use it as a template for how not to end up two goals down to the worst side in the league.
When he shows that he can do this, he will get much more credit from me and many other fans. Until then, it's a mix of the good, the bad and the downright ****ing useless which means there will be inevitable questions about whether or not he's up to
You should write down and publish the agenda. Then work on #hiddenagendaI've said lots of positive things about him in the past. You've ignored them.
#c#childishagenda
P | Pld | Pts | |
1 | Liverpool | 15 | 36 |
2 | Chelsea | 16 | 34 |
3 | Arsenal | 17 | 33 |
4 | Nottm F | 17 | 31 |
5 | Aston Villa | 17 | 28 |
6 | Manchester C | 17 | 27 |
7 | Newcastle | 17 | 26 |
8 | Bournemouth | 16 | 25 |
9 | Brighton | 17 | 25 |
10 | Fulham | 16 | 24 |
11 | Tottenham | 16 | 23 |
12 | Brentford | 17 | 23 |
13 | Manchester U | 16 | 22 |
14 | West Ham | 17 | 20 |
15 | Palace | 17 | 16 |
16 | Everton | 15 | 15 |
17 | Leicester | 16 | 14 |
18 | Ipswich | 17 | 12 |
19 | Wolves | 16 | 9 |
20 | Southampton | 16 | 5 |