robin_unreliant

2 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Just read the evening post write up and this line stood out for me:

”Matty James said that’s the most controlled he’d ever felt in a game, complete dominance”

Now, that quote to me is revealing for a few reasons;

- He’s name dropping a senior professional and a “Pearson” player. A bit of this is to say “look the players are on side” but it is also a classic tactic when you know you’re under pressure or haven’t performed well “look x said it was good”. Any of us who have worked in offices will have seen that tactic and it’s normally the preserve of the weak

- It’s very unlikely to be true. Matty James has played for teams who have won this league and the league above. He’s undoubtedly been in more control of games.

It just feels uncomfortable to have a head coach quoting one of the senior players. Surely that should be left to MJ to say, you don't generally hear what's said in the dressing room, for obvious reasons. Comes across as LM lacking confidence imo.

3 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

The nepotism thing isn't uncommon in family or corporate businesses of course but this is particularly bad.

Just watch Succession to see the possible outcome. Not sure which of the useless offspring is closest to Jon but can't see how he is better than any of them.

20 minutes ago, cheese said:

 

Fine margins and I'm optimistic it will come good and the results will come.

My concern is that we don't have enough quality up front to consistently take the chances we create. Plus the soft goals are creeping back in again after we seemed to have cut them out. So, to summarise, I am not as optimistic as you. All comes down to inconsistency due to the level of players in the squad imo.

41 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Yup. Posted similar the other day. He’s no doubt and by all accounts a good coach. Jury definitely out on if he’s a good manager.

But according to JL what we needed to 'kick on' was a coach who worked on the grass to organise our Top 6 squad, not a manager. Apparently Tins can do the rest. Deluded unfortunately. 

If Sykes wasn't injured or knackered (he didn't look it) then taking him off was bizarre. Playing him on the left, equally so.

One of those teams I just expect to beat us and I'm rarely disappointed.

Totally clueless going forward and soft goals conceded. Nothing changes does it.

Can we clone Knight and play two of him instead of Matty James please. Not sure I've noticed MJ touch the ball yet 

I always thought the ceiling of the Dolman still looked like it needed a lick of paint after the re-fit was finished 

6 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

Whoever is up front just looks so isolated to me game after game.

It's more about taking their chances for me. Maybe they lack support but we've still got in plenty of great positions and failed to make them count. No coincidence that strikers are our weakness as good ones cost and City can't or won't spend what is required to get in the quality.

Just now, Fordy62 said:

Standard City performance. Get you all Excited with a good 45 and completely unable to replicate it in the second half. 

We've been like this for years and years. Incapable of playing well for a whole game. If we have one good half you can bet the next one will be crap.

Just now, redrob said:

Not sure you've seen the goal. Naismith wasn't near him to start with. Matty James?? 

Yeah, definitely MJ, nothing to do with Naismith.

1 minute ago, Fordy62 said:

Can’t argue with a finish like that. 

James stood off him and allowed the shot though

Wonder if LM has asked the U21s to adopt a change in playing style to match the first team? May affect the results for a while as they get to grips with a change if so.

Perhaps you can balance this against the £25m we got for Scott who has also hardly played this season due to injuries. We were unlucky with RM but lucky not to have kept Alex, only to have him out most of the season - so far.

8 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

New boss has had two weeks off to work with these players, implement his style, find his best team and the formation he wants.

I feel that what we see tomorrow will tell us a lot about how things are going to pan out. 

Two weeks - am I being wooshed here? We were talking about giving Nige longer after 2.5 years to get things going but LM gets two weeks to make an impression. Hmm. Not expecting much to change yet.

1 minute ago, SecretSam said:

He wasn't a dull plodder as a player, he was quite an elegant CB 

Fair enough. He was a defender though and has a defender's mindset imo. 

1 minute ago, redkev said:

 

this is where we either need our fullbacks to go outside or get Rashford back on form , our attack tends to stop when out attackers get the ball 

This is where having a dull, plodding CB as your manager tends to be a slight tactical disadvantage.

1 minute ago, One Team said:

Same here I just don’t get it with him. 

£100m my ass.

OG

Zero penetration. Grealish does my head in. Pass back or run infield and fall over, looking for a FK. 

44 minutes ago, hertsexile said:

The simple answer is that you have to pass the ball to your striker. Tommy Conway currently has to go looking for the ball ️. At present we fail to cross the ball into the penalty in a timely manner. Another factor is that Wells is injured when he is alongside Conway is more affective. Hopefully after the international break things will be different. 

It would've helped if he could stay onside for the few occasions we did pass to him yesterday.

Liam gives the impression in interviews of being a bit of an introvert. Somewhat similar to JL, which might be why he saw him as a good fit. This could just be an impression though, maybe I'm wrong. I'm not that confident that this type of personality will inspire the squad to give their best if I'm honest. 

32 minutes ago, Harry said:

This is no dig at Manning. I actually liked his style of play and I want him to succeed here. But he’s gonna need a number of replacements to do so. 

No doubt the fact Manning knows L1 players is part of why we wanted him. We'll be shopping in the lower leagues, picking up players he has seen are top-end at that level. Problem is they aren't gonna be top-end at this level. So I don't see much likelihood of anything other than rinse and repeat the same old failed strategy.

1 minute ago, Andrew_V1 said:

Agreed. It’s almost as if Nige knew his stuff and was correctly not picking him….

Maybe he is better in training. Need to give Manning a few games to catch up with what we've already seen - he's a waste of a shirt.