2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[Bruce Wayne]

I agree 100%. While i would be critical of the home record, we had a great derby win at anfield, and did well against United at Old Trafford, and we beat Spurs away. Carlo deserves to be both praised and criticised when merited, but i fully believe that he is the man to turn us around. This club will not attract another manger with his CV, so yes he needs at least two or three full seasons in charge in my opinion.

With any of these kinds of decisions, we should always be asking "who could we get that is any better?" We were muddling around a bit, with Martinez, Koeman and Silva much of a muchness in terms of their level, but we've got a manager now who is really from the top echelon of coaches, so unless Guardiola decides he fancies coaching us we're not going to get any better. With FFP in place, it will take a bit longer to change things wholesale, so we'll just have to be patient.

 

[TheBigIguana]

The fact is if DCL had a bit of composure/ball control then those 2 passes would have went down as big chances created, alas his boots were on the wrong feet and he fluffed them both, the providers have done their part, the recipient hasn't. They created the opportunity for a shot on goal, the striker has messed it up.

Fine but I'm talking about us creating chances as a team and that includes the striker getting to the ball and shooting.

I do think this is very harsh on DCL too but for a different thread that.

 

[matty1878]

Yes this is Carlo Ancelotti, the guy who hasn't built up a club since the early 2000s.

And we clearly have not written this season off as transitional or we'd be doing transitional things and not clawing for every single point.

LOL

 

[gaino92]

Fine but I'm talking about us creating chances as a team and that includes the striker getting to the ball and shooting.

I do think this is very harsh on DCL too but for a different thread that.

Not denying we don't create enough as a team, the counter argument is the personnel we currently have fit don't have a creative bone in their bodies, they're too scared to lose the ball, only so much can be coached in to them if they aren't willing to take risks. If we had a fully fit squad you would see an upturn in performances. Once James is back we will have that player who isn't afraid to take the ball and try something positive, hopefully it drags performances out of some of the other players as well.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Not denying we don't create enough as a team, the counter argument is the personnel we currently have fit don't have a creative bone in their bodies, they're too scared to lose the ball, only so much can be coached in to them if they aren't willing to take risks. If we had a fully fit squad you would see an upturn in performances. Once James is back we will have that player who isn't afraid to take the ball and try something positive, hopefully it drags performances out of some of the other players as well.

The manager is also not willing to take many risks. This surely has an impact.

 

[billyblue80]

Home and away has kind of not been a thing without crowds.

I'm not letting injuries be an excuse for not developing the team. I'm just not. We can try and play better with whoever we have.

Issue is when we try and play better and more open at home without our full team out there we get destroyed because the make up of the squad is wrong/not good enough.

 

[gaino92]

The manager is also not willing to take many risks. This surely has an impact.

Who can he turn to? Iwobi? Bernard? Gomes? Gylfi? All of these players 95% of fans want us to bin off because they aren't good enough. He's currently working with average to poor players and trying to get a tune out of them

 

[TheBigIguana]

Who can he turn to? Iwobi? Bernard? Gomes? Gylfi? All of these players 95% of fans want us to bin off because they aren't good enough. He's currently working with average to poor players and trying to get a tune out of them

I'm not sure he's really tried to. He's mostly just sat back and hoped we can spawn a goal somewhere.

Look we aren't going to agree, I just think you can ask serious questions at this point. The football is abysmal. We're a long shot for the CL and in a knife fight for Europa. That conference thing can do one. We've got City to beat or the cup is gone too. 8th place and no cup isn't going to be good enough to justify how we're playing and how little we've done to progress the style to something sustainable.

Add in that our transfer policy was not long term, James and Allan are right now signings, and you've got serious challenges seeing how this team is a conrender for what we all hope to be contending for in the next few years. So we need to see the signs now. After the first derby it looked like we might be onto something but then a downturn in form and some injuries caused Carlo to go "pragmatic" which was really just to go Dyche style and hope to nick games. And like Dyche showed that year he got 7th sometimes that can overachieve but it won't do forever and we are showing no signs of wanting to do any better. Results can mask this but for me only so much.

 

[Lanolin]

Yes this is Carlo Ancelotti, the guy who hasn't built up a club since the early 2000s.

And we clearly have not written this season off as transitional or we'd be doing transitional things and not clawing for every single point.

100% this. It is absolutely crazy to suggest otherwise. All of the evidence is that we've made a massive push to get top 6 this year, literally all of it. I mean you'd think the manager consistently stating from day one that it's 'important' we get Europe would be enough to show that on it's own, before you even look at things like the average age of the signings, the lack of gametime for younger players, the safety first football to eke out every point...

There is nothing to suggest this is meant to be our 277th transitional season in a row, I firmly believe they've made moves to get into Europe this year, and if they don't then the club will see that as a failure. Luckily for them, loads of fans will say it's absolutely fine and frankly it's a miracle we didn't get relegated, while simultaneously complaining at every opportunity about the 'loser mentality' they insist the club has.

 

[Tubey]

100% this. It is absolutely crazy to suggest otherwise. All of the evidence is that we've made a massive push to get top 6 this year, literally all of it. I mean you'd think the manager consistently stating from day one that it's 'important' we get Europe would be enough to show that on it's own, before you even look at things like the average age of the signings, the lack of gametime for younger players, the safety first football to eke out every point...

There is nothing to suggest this is meant 277th transitional season in a row, I firmly believe they've made moves to get into Europe this year, and if they don't then the club will see that as a failure. Luckily for them, loads of fans will say it's absolutely fine and frankly it's a miracle we didn't get relegated, while simultaneously complaining at every opportunity about the 'loser mentality' they insist the club has.

No, I mean we wrote it off as a credible season to push on by spending in January.

We clearly made the decision in January that if we get Europe, great, but we're not spending £50m on it now.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the plan is to act in the summer.

 

[Lanolin]

No, I mean we wrote it off as a credible season to push on by spending in January.

We clearly made the decision in January that if we get Europe, great, but we're not spending £50m on it now.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the plan is to act in the summer.

I'm not sure that was so much a plan as simply an inability. I don't think we had £50m to spend, and I doubt we'll spend an obscene amount in the summer either. I'd be surprised if it's much different to last year, depending on sales.

 

[TheBigIguana]

No, I mean we wrote it off as a credible season to push on by spending in January.

We clearly made the decision in January that if we get Europe, great, but we're not spending £50m on it now.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the plan is to act in the summer.

Basically no one spends in January. Is everyone writing the season off?

 

[Egil Olsen]

Issue is when we try and play better and more open at home without our full team out there we get destroyed because the make up of the squad is wrong/not good enough.

Well you can argue that this is happening because Ancelotti is too pragmatic, and changes formation, tactics, strategy from match to match. The players never manage to form any relationships on the field, and lack the security you get through a certain form of stability.

 

[Tubey]

I'm not sure that was so much a plan as simply an inability. I don't think we had £50m to spend, and I doubt we'll spend an obscene amount in the summer either. I'd be surprised if it's much different to last year, depending on sales.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised then.

 

[Lanolin]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised then.

It will be a pleasant surprise in some ways, but also make me think the club is fairly incompetent. If they really were sat on a couple of hundred million and decided to keep their powder dry in January when we had the best chance of top 4 in the last 15 years, I'll be more than a little annoyed.