2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

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I don't think we've learned anything new recently. Certainly, if you were paying attention, you would have known that we had one galactico, two excellent players (Richarlison and Digne) who have made poor decisions recently, partly out of frustration, a small clutch of emerging players with potential (DCL, Holgate, Godfrey), a few players at career crossroads that could go either way (Pickford, Keane, Mina, Davies) and a crowd of deadweights who will continue to hole the good ship Ancelotti under the bow for some time yet (Gomes, Iwobi, Delph, Tosun, Bernard). Coleman and Sigurdsson are good players who are now far past their best. Essentially, every time we take two steps forward, we will take one step back. Seven wins in a row followed by a draw and three defeats. This is very much a work in progress. However, I am hopeful that Ancelotti's insistence on playing for the here and now as well as the future means that the bulk of players he buys will be of a standard to make a quick impact. Allan and Doucoure are in that class, but obviously need some time to gel in an ever-changing starting line-up. Their integration has been hindered by injuries and brainless suspensions. If we can cut out the latter between now and January, we may have plenty to aspire to come the new year.

So, we're not going to make the Champions League with this squad. That's hardly news. Our hopes of making the Europa League probably depend on our new players getting up to speed, a decent hand with injuries, some cop-on to avoid crazy suspensions, and another targeted impactful signing who affects things now rather than in the future. There is no doubt we are going in the right direction - we are three points off top and in a cup quarter final - but it's a process. Seven points from the next three suggests we are making big strides - but the deadwood means it'll be two steps forward, one back for some time to come.
 
I'd rather the posts voicing legitimate concerns than the stupid ones claiming we should fold if Carlo can't get us playing.

I'm still in a bit of a shock at what went on at Newcastle, only heightened having watched them again on Friday against Southampton. Awful team selection, awful subs against a truly awful team.
 

Lots of other premier league teams have clear attacking patterns, ways of getting in behind, around and through opponents defensive lines. Usually swift one-twos, one touch passing, clear patterns, involving three or 4 players close together near the opposition box. It looks telepathic because they obviously do a lot of these offensive drills day in and day out in training.

By contrast, our players look laboured, take too many touches, and don't know what their next move is (except a backward pass). Do our players look like they have pre-rehearsed, ingrained, attacking patterns drilled into them?

I don't, and if they do, why can they not apply this to premier league matches? We are simply too predictable.
 
rochdaleblue said:
It is whilst Siguardisson and Gomes play there.
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Yes, but Carlo could take them out of the equation. We have the opportunity to play with double pivot - Allan and AD. In addition, we could play with JR in the 10 role. This would give our midfield more balance. Every coach knows that the most important area to protect is the inside corridors. Instead, we are weakened here, and in addition we give a lot of space to our opponents on our right. I would put Iwobi on the right, not my favorite player, but he will cover much more space than JR.
 
he needs to find a system that gets James on the ball in the final third a hell of a lot more whilst negating his lack of defensive ability which is currently being exposed and putting pressure on Coleman doucoure and Allan.

the 4-3-3 needs a deep lying midfielder to play through the press - that would normally be Gomes but he’s in woeful form and sigurdsson doesn’t have the ability/balls to play the ball forward.

prepared to be laughed at but if he sticks with that formation I’d be tempted to play iwobi in there who can thread a pass and carry the ball or if we want more solidity Davies/Delph.
 

Egil Olsen said:
Yes, but Carlo could take them out of the equation. We have the opportunity to play with double pivot - Allan and AD. In addition, we could play with JR in the 10 role. This would give our midfield more balance. Every coach knows that the most important area to protect is the inside corridors. Instead, we are weakened here, and in addition we give a lot of space to our opponents on our right. I would put Iwobi on the right, not my favorite player, but he will cover much more space than JR.
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Just no with iwobi. Did you see the liverpool goal in the 93rd min that wasnt?
He totaly switched off. He does it every single time. The argument to play him because he will fill in and cover is no argument at all. Because he doesnt.
 
Interesting comments in here today to say the least.
Just out of curiosity.
We've taken a punt on someone with no CV in silva. Disaster
We then went with someone with possibly the best CV.
Question to those now questioning the current manager.
What do you want given we went no CV to great CV.
Genuinely interested to know where the quick fix comes from.
 
Gilbert.. said:
Interesting comments in here today to say the least.
Just out of curiosity.
We've taken a punt on someone with no CV in silva. Disaster
We then went with someone with possibly the best CV.
Question to those now questioning the current manager.
What do you want given we went no CV to great CV.
Genuinely interested to know where the quick fix comes from.
Click to expand...

All we’ve learnt is that when key players are out we don’t have sufficient depth. And when those players return we will play better and win.
 
Gilbert.. said:
Interesting comments in here today to say the least.
Just out of curiosity.
We've taken a punt on someone with no CV in silva. Disaster
We then went with someone with possibly the best CV.
Question to those now questioning the current manager.
What do you want given we went no CV to great CV.
Genuinely interested to know where the quick fix comes from.
Click to expand...
A manager of his quality should have stopped this at Newcastle. It's his remit to choose the players and have them ready. The fact we are so reliant on one single player being out is a bit alarming. We were poor for 3 matches in a row and got 1 point in 9, then lost, again, to a pretty crap Utd team. 1 in 12 for someone of Carlo's stature really isn't acceptable.
 

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