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If you want promotion.....you need an identity.


Lez

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I always get pissed off hearing LJ go on about our "identity" on the pitch when we dont have one. We arguably played with a press a couple of years ago but over the past 2 seasons there has been no consistency on the pitch making an identity impossible.

One minute we play 352 possession , then 442 with wingers, occasional Fam up top by himself hoof ball.....its all very frustrating and I feel tailored to countering opposition rather than focusing on our strengths.

Looking at success in this league it is clear you need a philosophy that is consistent.....something we dont have.....some teams like Leeds, Brentford, Sheff Utd play with a high press position based game.....and then others like Newcastle, Brighton etc who were far more defensive with brick walls at the back......different philosophies and identities but they stuck to them.

The vast majority of teams in this league have an identity.....I can only think of 5 that dont.....us reading sheff wed Charlton and QPR. LJ needs to get a grip on this.....if it means selling decent players (eliasson diedhiou) to meet it.....then do it....

 

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I do think that Johnson thinks flexibility is a good thing, but I think you need to have a solid plan A, before you can evolve into a team that can execute other plans. Instead we flit between varied plans without mastering any of them.

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2 minutes ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

 

1 minute ago, mozo said:

I do think that Johnson thinks flexibility is a good thing, but I think you need to have a solid plan A, before you can evolve into a team that can execute other plans. Instead we flit between varied plans without mastering any of them.

I agree with both of these posts. And I think the net result is that our players' heads get so filled up with instructions about how to neutralise the opposition that the players never seem to have the headspace free to focus on what they are actually good at. 

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3 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

 

I agree with both of these posts. And I think the net result is that our players' heads get so filled up with instructions about how to neutralise the opposition that the players never seem to have the headspace free to focus on what they are actually good at. 

You’re right and constantly thinking about what the opposition are good at will only build a negative mindset. 

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9 minutes ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

He didn’t start that way and neither did his dad but both became paralysed by the fear of losing rather than obsessed with winning. 

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We’ve got no identity. Certainly did a couple of seasons ago including the Man U & City games and not got it back since with too much swapping about of team and formation. LJ signs players seemingly without a clue how to fit them in rather than sort out how he wants to play and then sign players to suit that way of playing. In that way when suspensions and injuries occur it’s a matter of bringing a player in to fill that spot who knows how we play.  
With Cotts we all knew we would play 3 at the back and wing backs. 
if you want to see a team with identity look no further than Brentford. 

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25 minutes ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

 

24 minutes ago, mozo said:

I do think that Johnson thinks flexibility is a good thing, but I think you need to have a solid plan A, before you can evolve into a team that can execute other plans. Instead we flit between varied plans without mastering any of them.

@LondonBristolian I agree with these two also.

The other thing is he’s too often uses a sledgehammer to crack a walnut....it’s total system change, several player changes, both between matches but also during games, e.g. how many times has it been a double sub and formation change at half time?  Too many.

I think that highlights a real lack of tactical maturely in the way he analyses a game.  He rarely makes subtle tweaks.  Why?

Because he can’t watch a game and identify the root cause, so he just tries something different.  When it works, he’s a tactical genius (self-congratulating himself), when it doesn’t it’s excuses or blaming the players.  But I think it’s a huge element of luck.  Because he’s made a massive change he has nothing to fall back on in his analysis to know what exactly worked and what didn’t.  It worked because it was different is the best you’re gonna get, not the real cause and effect.  Include Macca and Deano in that, unless they are being ignored.

Take last weekend v Blackburn.

First half was poor, so were Blackburn in the main.  I actually said Tom Joe - “we are playing poorly, but so are Blackburn, they are giving it back just as easily as we were” and we actually went in at h-t drawing 1-1.  Let’s not forget that.

Half time subs:

Hunt for Pereira (1), no change to set up.

Wells for Massengo (2), but no just that, you have to include O’Dowda (3) to CM (in a two, eff me, don’t get me started!), Paterson (4) from no10 to left wing.

So a double sub actually meant 4 changes, quite a big amount of change from 1st half....and probably what they’d worked on in the previous week or so.  The side that started v Blackburn was the same as against Southampton except Hunt and Pereira, suggesting they’d been getting used to a 4411.

I wrote a piece in Nov 2018 called “placebo?”.  It inferred LJ doesn’t really know the reasons for his changes or how they effect a game.  I stand by that.  Apart from “throwing the kitchen sink” changes I can only think of one real piece of subtle tactical change during his tenure, and that was Charlton (h) this season when he matched up their diamond and we came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 after Diedhiou got sent off, with Brownhill scoring an injury time winner.  I’ll give him credit for his 4222 at home to West Brom, but stick for not realising West Brom changed their system after 20 minutes and it was one way traffic after that.

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17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

@LondonBristolian I agree with these two also.

The other thing is he’s too often uses a sledgehammer to crack a walnut....it’s total system change, several player changes, both between matches but also during games, e.g. how many times has it been a double sub and formation change at half time?  Too many.

I think that highlights a real lack of tactical maturely in the way he analyses a game.  He rarely makes subtle tweaks.  Why?

Because he can’t watch a game and identify the root cause, so he just tries something different.  When it works, he’s a tactical genius (self-congratulating himself), when it doesn’t it’s excuses or blaming the players.  But I think it’s a huge element of luck.  Because he’s made a massive change he has nothing to fall back on in his analysis to know what exactly worked and what didn’t.  It worked because it was different is the best you’re gonna get, not the real cause and effect.  Include Macca and Deano in that, unless they are being ignored.

Take last weekend v Blackburn.

First half was poor, so were Blackburn in the main.  I actually said Tom Joe - “we are playing poorly, but so are Blackburn, they are giving it back just as easily as we were” and we actually went in at h-t drawing 1-1.  Let’s not forget that.

Half time subs:

Hunt for Pereira (1), no change to set up.

Wells for Massengo (2), but no just that, you have to include O’Dowda (3) to CM (in a two, eff me, don’t get me started!), Paterson (4) from no10 to left wing.

So a double sub actually meant 4 changes, quite a big amount of change from 1st half....and probably what they’d worked on in the previous week or so.  The side that started v Blackburn was the same as against Southampton except Hunt and Pereira, suggesting they’d been getting used to a 4411.

I wrote a piece in Nov 2018 called “placebo?”.  It inferred LJ doesn’t really know the reasons for his changes or how they effect a game.  I stand by that.  Apart from “throwing the kitchen sink” changes I can only think of one real piece of subtle tactical change during his tenure, and that was Charlton (h) this season when he matched up their diamond and we came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 after Diedhiou got sent off, with Brownhill scoring an injury time winner.  I’ll give him credit for his 4222 at home to West Brom, but stick for not realising West Brom changed their system after 20 minutes and it was one way traffic after that.

Agree with almost all of that. 

The only thing I would say is that for me it all comes down to one thing, it's not lack of ability as a couch or tactical knowledge, for me it's bottle. 

Force Johnson into a corner where he has no choice but to do what he can with what he has and he will do a good job, our best runs and best football has always come when something has been forced on him by circumstance, we were at our best defensively when we had to play 4 CB's across the back and had little choice in midfield either, we have our best runs when things are forced upon us usually by injury. 

The second there are options and something goes wrong it all goes to shit. This season we started 3-5-2 largely because we had full backs who either are not full backs or just plain can't defend, and we did OK, performances weren't inspiring but the results were good. Inevitably we loose a couple of games, and there is no tweaks to the system, or personnel it's wholesale change we throw the whole lot out and try something different. 

This is a pattern that we follow in a never ending cycle, we pick a system and it might work for a bit, the second we have a bad game or more often half we bin the whole thing off and chuck another random system. 

This to me says that Johnson has no faith in his own philosophy and tactics, most managers fail because they refuse to accept that they are wrong and will persevere even when it's obvious that isn't a good idea, Cotts should have changed system when it was clear it was not working but he didn't and blindly stuck to his guns. 

The best managers see when something isn't working and tweak it and make small adjustments, Johnson just throws everything out and hopes that something else works. 

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10 minutes ago, Spud55 said:

Agree with almost all of that. 

The only thing I would say is that for me it all comes down to one thing, it's not lack of ability as a couch or tactical knowledge, for me it's bottle. 

Force Johnson into a corner where he has no choice but to do what he can with what he has and he will do a good job, our best runs and best football has always come when something has been forced on him by circumstance, we were at our best defensively when we had to play 4 CB's across the back and had little choice in midfield either, we have our best runs when things are forced upon us usually by injury. 

The second there are options and something goes wrong it all goes to shit. This season we started 3-5-2 largely because we had full backs who either are not full backs or just plain can't defend, and we did OK, performances weren't inspiring but the results were good. Inevitably we loose a couple of games, and there is no tweaks to the system, or personnel it's wholesale change we throw the whole lot out and try something different. 

This is a pattern that we follow in a never ending cycle, we pick a system and it might work for a bit, the second we have a bad game or more often half we bin the whole thing off and chuck another random system. 

This to me says that Johnson has no faith in his own philosophy and tactics, most managers fail because they refuse to accept that they are wrong and will persevere even when it's obvious that isn't a good idea, Cotts should have changed system when it was clear it was not working but he didn't and blindly stuck to his guns. 

The best managers see when something isn't working and tweak it and make small adjustments, Johnson just throws everything out and hopes that something else works. 

I often say he has no courage in his convictions....essentially the same thing.

I forgot to add in my first post that his lack of being able to spot root cause means he cannot put right with subtle tweaks on the training ground either.

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I don't think he either truly matches up often, or committs to our strengths. 

We seem to get the worst of all worlds. I'm a broken record on this but a true match up might be a certain setup that many clubs in this division use as  starting point. A principle if you like, not necessarily a specific formation as such.

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

 

@LondonBristolian I agree with these two also.

The other thing is he’s too often uses a sledgehammer to crack a walnut....it’s total system change, several player changes, both between matches but also during games, e.g. how many times has it been a double sub and formation change at half time?  Too many.

I think that highlights a real lack of tactical maturely in the way he analyses a game.  He rarely makes subtle tweaks.  Why?

He doesn't just analyse ( perhaps that should be analise!) but over analyses.

I know football is a different game than 40 years ago, but back then you could pretty well predict the starting 11 from one week to the next. Even today I suspect that fans of Leeds, West Brom, Brentford and the like can guess their starting 11 in advance and their formation and the way they will set up. Mystic Meg would struggle to guess how LJ will set us up from one game to the next!

How many times have total system changes and player changes during games been caused by us starting games looking primarily to give nothing away - essentially setting out not to lose - and rather than looking to impose ourselves, we concede the early initiative allowing the opposition to take control? LJ is then forced to make changes in order to rectify to rectify the situation. It is this lack of positivity that has become my worry, and especially at Ashton Gate. 

It is as thought LJ is only able to work effectively if he has something to which he has to react i.e. how will the opposition play, how will they set up and where do their strengths lie, and can then set the team up to counteract those issues. While that might not be an unreasonable tactic away, where we have been pretty effective for the last couple of seasons, our real achilles heel for the last couple of years has been at Ashton Gate, where you would expect the home team to be on the front foot  from kick off and looking to dominate the opposition.

That we rarely do either, but do regularly see caution to the wind changes in the second half, to try and pull the irons out of the fire, is a trend that I think will keep causing us to miss out on the top 6.

 

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What is an identity? To some it seems if you have success you have an identity and if your not successful you are lacking an identity. Garbage. If having an identity is playing in a recognised manner then it's no guarantee of success. Arsenal have played in the same manner for decades, but they are now so predictable they have become less and less a force as each year goes by. Spurs don't have one do they, unless it's 'Give it to Kane'. Liverpool may have an identity, as may Manchester City, but I'm less sure that Chelsea have one. As far as I can see Manchester United have no identity on the pitch as their midfield is as changeable as the weather but they will probably finish the season in 5th. It is not so easy to see an identity in the rest of the Premier Clubs, unless the Norwich identity is called losing. 

As far as the Championship is concerned Leeds and Brentford gave recognisable styles but West Brom's is Perreira must play well if we're to succeed. Cardiff's identity is to bore everyone to death. 

 

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3 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

What is an identity? To some it seems if you have success you have an identity and if your not successful you are lacking an identity. Garbage. If having an identity is playing in a recognised manner then it's no guarantee of success. Arsenal have played in the same manner for decades, but they are now so predictable they have become less and less a force as each year goes by. Spurs don't have one do they, unless it's 'Give it to Kane'. Liverpool may have an identity, as may Manchester City, but I'm less sure that Chelsea have one. As far as I can see Manchester United have no identity on the pitch as their midfield is as changeable as the weather but they will probably finish the season in 5th. It is not so easy to see an identity in the rest of the Premier Clubs, unless the Norwich identity is called losing. 

As far as the Championship is concerned Leeds and Brentford gave recognisable styles but West Brom's is Perreira must play well if we're to succeed. Cardiff's identity is to bore everyone to death. 

 

This displays a complete lack of understanding of football. Pretty much every sentence is wrong.

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Seems like LJ spends all his time talking about identity, but just ignored it every time he picks a team... For a while we were an attractive passing team, which we had a moderate amount of success with... Now we just hoof it up to fammy (not a dig at fammy at all it's tough for him alone) and hope something come from it... It's a shame as feel we have the players to again be a exciting attacking team, but hate to say it perhaps not the manager for it

...

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5 minutes ago, Lez said:

This displays a complete lack of understanding of football. Pretty much every sentence is wrong.

We could go on disagreeing. Perhaps you'd enlighten me as to the identity of Middlesbrough, Barnsley, Birmingham etc. However that not the point. A philosophy in itself, and sticking to it, doesn't bring success. Management and players have to be adaptable to situations. I'm sure LJ believes he has a philosophy and a style but it's clearly not working at present. Personally I think we move the ball too slowly and we're too predictable when we do. 

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4 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

We could go on disagreeing. Perhaps you'd enlighten me as to the identity of Middlesbrough, Barnsley, Birmingham etc. However that not the point. A philosophy in itself, and sticking to it, doesn't bring success. Management and players have to be adaptable to situations. I'm sure LJ believes he has a philosophy and a style but it's clearly not working at present. Personally I think we move the ball too slowly and we're too predictable when we do. 

Barnsley play high press short passing football, consistently since new German manager came in. Every game. Birmingham play defensive football with physical CMs who play simple football....soak up pressure especially away and hit on the break. These are their footballing philosophies that come from their managers.

Boro under Warnock will need no explanation.

Who said it brings success? No one has said that.....what I have said Is that if you WANT success you NEED one.

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2 hours ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

Just listening to Warnock on the radio about how he will turn around Boro, he says first and foremost he will give players confidence so they can express themselves, I get the feeling LJ trys to control and stifle his players to much and as a result diminishes their confidence, that seems evident on the pitch. Release the shackles Lee!

I mentioned on the Liverpool thread how Dalglish statef unless you have a unified squad and management team all pulling in one direction then you will never have success.

A far cry from LJ who regularly hangs his players out to dry and questions his players integrity and trust, he never deflects criticism from his team.

He thinks he is clever but clearly over thinks the situation, he hampers players and knocks their confidence with his tactics and crap people and management skills. Student of the game? Maybe.  Top manager and coach? Absolutely not.

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2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

@LondonBristolian I agree with these two also.

The other thing is he’s too often uses a sledgehammer to crack a walnut....it’s total system change, several player changes, both between matches but also during games, e.g. how many times has it been a double sub and formation change at half time?  Too many.

I think that highlights a real lack of tactical maturely in the way he analyses a game.  He rarely makes subtle tweaks.  Why?

Because he can’t watch a game and identify the root cause, so he just tries something different.  When it works, he’s a tactical genius (self-congratulating himself), when it doesn’t it’s excuses or blaming the players.  But I think it’s a huge element of luck.  Because he’s made a massive change he has nothing to fall back on in his analysis to know what exactly worked and what didn’t.  It worked because it was different is the best you’re gonna get, not the real cause and effect.  Include Macca and Deano in that, unless they are being ignored.

Take last weekend v Blackburn.

First half was poor, so were Blackburn in the main.  I actually said Tom Joe - “we are playing poorly, but so are Blackburn, they are giving it back just as easily as we were” and we actually went in at h-t drawing 1-1.  Let’s not forget that.

Half time subs:

Hunt for Pereira (1), no change to set up.

Wells for Massengo (2), but no just that, you have to include O’Dowda (3) to CM (in a two, eff me, don’t get me started!), Paterson (4) from no10 to left wing.

So a double sub actually meant 4 changes, quite a big amount of change from 1st half....and probably what they’d worked on in the previous week or so.  The side that started v Blackburn was the same as against Southampton except Hunt and Pereira, suggesting they’d been getting used to a 4411.

I wrote a piece in Nov 2018 called “placebo?”.  It inferred LJ doesn’t really know the reasons for his changes or how they effect a game.  I stand by that.  Apart from “throwing the kitchen sink” changes I can only think of one real piece of subtle tactical change during his tenure, and that was Charlton (h) this season when he matched up their diamond and we came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 after Diedhiou got sent off, with Brownhill scoring an injury time winner.  I’ll give him credit for his 4222 at home to West Brom, but stick for not realising West Brom changed their system after 20 minutes and it was one way traffic after that.

I wish journalists would bring up this sort of stuff when they're quizzing him during press conferences. Instead of the same lame old questions. It's even worse than watching a Downing Street briefing a lot of the time.

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15 minutes ago, Lez said:

Barnsley play high press short passing football, consistently since new German manager came in. Every game. Birmingham play defensive football with physical CMs who play simple football....soak up pressure especially away and hit on the break. These are their footballing philosophies that come from their managers.

Boro under Warnock will need no explanation.

Who said it brings success? No one has said that.....what I have said Is that if you WANT success you NEED one.

If I accept what you say my problem remains that LJ thinks he has a philosophy, even if it's not a successful one. We have a style of sorts. Principally we try to play out from the back, move the ball into midfield and then get it out wide, but this is often where it breaks down as all too often we seem reluctant to cross the ball or get a shot away, as we try to walk the ball into the net. My biggest problem remains lack of tempo as, since Brownhills departure, their is a reluctance to drive at the opposition. Perreira was the only player to do so (and then only once) against Blackburn. Palmer has the ability to do it but I wouldn't hold my breath he will if he starts as he's a show pony, George Boyd without the work ethic. 

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1 hour ago, downendcity said:

He doesn't just analyse ( perhaps that should be analise!) but over analyses.

I know football is a different game than 40 years ago, but back then you could pretty well predict the starting 11 from one week to the next. Even today I suspect that fans of Leeds, West Brom, Brentford and the like can guess their starting 11 in advance and their formation and the way they will set up. Mystic Meg would struggle to guess how LJ will set us up from one game to the next!

How many times have total system changes and player changes during games been caused by us starting games looking primarily to give nothing away - essentially setting out not to lose - and rather than looking to impose ourselves, we concede the early initiative allowing the opposition to take control? LJ is then forced to make changes in order to rectify to rectify the situation. It is this lack of positivity that has become my worry, and especially at Ashton Gate. 

It is as thought LJ is only able to work effectively if he has something to which he has to react i.e. how will the opposition play, how will they set up and where do their strengths lie, and can then set the team up to counteract those issues. While that might not be an unreasonable tactic away, where we have been pretty effective for the last couple of seasons, our real achilles heel for the last couple of years has been at Ashton Gate, where you would expect the home team to be on the front foot  from kick off and looking to dominate the opposition.

That we rarely do either, but do regularly see caution to the wind changes in the second half, to try and pull the irons out of the fire, is a trend that I think will keep causing us to miss out on the top 6.

 

Here lies a man with little philosophy!

662F2809-E0A5-4036-AE54-74D9ED9C8FAC.thumb.jpeg.7a734aaff0e7c2531fd1fddb534be79d.jpeg

In 37 league games up until the break:

  • 12 changes from a back 4 to back 5 or vice versus from one game to the next (Red scribbled numbers)
  • 16 changes from a back 4 to a back 5 or vice versus during a game (blue scribbled numbers)

plus 8 games where he’s changed pre-game to either a back 4 or back 5 and then changed it back during the game.

....and that’s without going into other system changes eg 442 to 4141 during a game.

You expect odd changes, horses for courses, etc, but that is staggering!!!

He’s more fickle than us fans!

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25 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Here lies a man with little philosophy!

662F2809-E0A5-4036-AE54-74D9ED9C8FAC.thumb.jpeg.7a734aaff0e7c2531fd1fddb534be79d.jpeg

In 37 league games up until the break:

  • 12 changes from a back 4 to back 5 or vice versus from one game to the next (Red scribbled numbers)
  • 16 changes from a back 4 to a back 5 or vice versus during a game (blue scribbled numbers)

plus 8 games where he’s changed pre-game to either a back 4 or back 5 and then changed it back during the game.

....and that’s without going into other system changes eg 442 to 4141 during a game.

You expect odd changes, horses for courses, etc, but that is staggering!!!

He’s more fickle than us fans!

Mrs Downend often tells me that  I'm a man with a little philosophy. I might have misheard her, but it's a little something or other!

Players play best when they are used to the players around them, in particular the central defensive pair or pair of strikers ( not that we really know hat that is!) With all the chopping and changing our players don't have the benefit of building playing relationships on the pitch as they will be playing alongside different players from one week to the next. 

My memory might be deceiving me, in which case I'm sure someone will correct me, but back in the play off season my recollection is that you could probably anticipate GJ's team selection, because it changed very little. GJ's team was notable for being greater than the sum of it's parts, and while some of this was down to GJ's personality, perhaps it was the players knowing what was expected and that they got used to formation and the players around them week in, week out.

 

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1 hour ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

What is an identity? 

 

Many coaches consider identity to be:  The principles that govern your football. The game is five elements. Attacking, defending, transition from attack to defending, transition from defending to attack and set plays. The principles govern those elements.

If you cannot easily explain what an identity is the team does not have one.  

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4 hours ago, Lez said:

I always get pissed off hearing LJ go on about our "identity" on the pitch when we dont have one. We arguably played with a press a couple of years ago but over the past 2 seasons there has been no consistency on the pitch making an identity impossible.

One minute we play 352 possession , then 442 with wingers, occasional Fam up top by himself hoof ball.....its all very frustrating and I feel tailored to countering opposition rather than focusing on our strengths.

Looking at success in this league it is clear you need a philosophy that is consistent.....something we dont have.....some teams like Leeds, Brentford, Sheff Utd play with a high press position based game.....and then others like Newcastle, Brighton etc who were far more defensive with brick walls at the back......different philosophies and identities but they stuck to them.

The vast majority of teams in this league have an identity.....I can only think of 5 that dont.....us reading sheff wed Charlton and QPR. LJ needs to get a grip on this.....if it means selling decent players (eliasson diedhiou) to meet it.....then do it....

 

Our identity is boring football and fact of the matter is this will never change with Johnson at manager

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1 minute ago, City18 said:

Our identity is boring football and fact of the matter is this will never change with Johnson at manager

Don't think that's entirely fair. 2 seasons ago for one.

Some reasonable stuff in the relegation survival in his first 4 months. Seemed a useful platform to build on.

Not a lot to show for 4 seasons and more though and definitely getting worse!

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4 hours ago, Lez said:

I always get pissed off hearing LJ go on about our "identity" on the pitch when we dont have one. We arguably played with a press a couple of years ago but over the past 2 seasons there has been no consistency on the pitch making an identity impossible.

One minute we play 352 possession , then 442 with wingers, occasional Fam up top by himself hoof ball.....its all very frustrating and I feel tailored to countering opposition rather than focusing on our strengths.

Looking at success in this league it is clear you need a philosophy that is consistent.....something we dont have.....some teams like Leeds, Brentford, Sheff Utd play with a high press position based game.....and then others like Newcastle, Brighton etc who were far more defensive with brick walls at the back......different philosophies and identities but they stuck to them.

The vast majority of teams in this league have an identity.....I can only think of 5 that dont.....us reading sheff wed Charlton and QPR. LJ needs to get a grip on this.....if it means selling decent players (eliasson diedhiou) to meet it.....then do it....

 

Your are right. But my fear is if the penny has not dropped with Johnson about this by now then will it ever. He is at his best when we have injuries and his options are limited. As soon as he has a good and full squad he simply seems unable to decide on settled team or tactics. The more he gets the worse it gets. Unfortunately the owner cannot see this.

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7 hours ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

Sean O’Driscoll mk2! Been saying it for ages. Con man this bloke!

looking forward to one up front tomorrow at home. ?
 

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3 hours ago, Redrascal2 said:

Your are right. But my fear is if the penny has not dropped with Johnson about this by now then will it ever. He is at his best when we have injuries and his options are limited. As soon as he has a good and full squad he simply seems unable to decide on settled team or tactics. The more he gets the worse it gets. Unfortunately the owner cannot see this.

I believe that's what Barnsley fans said. Once his hand was forced by injuries he had success.

It baffles for me a man who talks about identity how we don't have one. 

Mark Ashton has to take blame here. Look at the Norwich director of football, they signed Pukki because he takes the chances their team makes, hence why it was successful. We on the other hand like to buy different clubs in the bag, but we'd buy a sand wedge even though we are only playing pitch and putt. 

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8 hours ago, Badger08 said:

My one problem with Johnson is, he tries to be too clever sometimes. I get a bit frustrated with our stance of setting up to neutralise their strengths, instead of setting up and letting them worry about us. We don't play to our strengths by doing that. 

What may save Johnson this season is having no crowd as I sense they are ready to make their feelings known if performances & results aren't good. Looking in from the outside it's been an underlying current over the last couple of seasons but he always manages to get a winning run together just when the natives are getting restless but how long will you loyal bunch put up with mediocrity when you expect so much more and normally a drop in attendances can be a deciding factor in a chairmans decision to change the manager but up until the lockdown your crowds have been really good even though many of you aren't happy.

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