Is that kenwright 8 seconds into the McNeil interview?
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How good is he?
He was indeed excellent versus Arsenal. Offered more than Doucoure or Davies did first half. Worthy of a squad placeHe was very good against Arsenal. Not many first teamers on the pitch in the second half but still he looked one of the best out there, plays with a bit of malice which we have often lacked in that part of the pitch.
I think by his own admission he had learnt probably more in the last 6 months in this job than any other. He also acknowledges that he has much to learn but I think this mentality is a good one as he is hungry to succeed is willing to learn from mistakes and grow, hopefully this will rub off on the the team and get us moving in the right direction. If we show a bit of patience I think he could be a good long term fit for our club.I just like Frank Lampard. I'm kind of sick of the narrative around football about his managerial career. "He doesn't know what he's doing?" "takes the praise when the team does well, throw the team under the bus when it doesn't" "doesn't deserve the big jobs" etc. etc.
Frank Lampard's managerial career pre Everton is average if you ask me, but not at all bad. He finishes about where he expected to for Derby. Did well to get champions league football his first year at Chelsea considering they had a transfer ban. Second season he does less well but still built a team that then went on to win the champions league.
This is neither a spectacular resume or a particularly bad one, but a large majority talk like he's a complete disaster.
Then he joined us, and the situation was bleak. If we didn't have the good start to the season (they were hardly convincing performances) we would have been bottom of the league. We had managed 1 win in about 4 months. The club was in freefall and we were definitely going down if something wasn't changed. Lampard steadied the ship, got big wins against Brentford in the cup and Leeds in the league which showed the players they still had the ability to turn people over. He showed signs of naivety in some tactical decisions and it looked like even this new manager bounce wasn't enough as our form went back to type for a little while. But we rallied again got huge results against United and Chelsea and looked to have the upper hand in the race to survive. We then bottled an away game against Watford and a home game against Brentford and were looking to do the same against Palace. It looked like the good performances against Chelsea and United were for nothing. But we were able to rally again and we came back and won one of the biggest games in our recent history from a losing position (Something we have a shockingly bad record for).
My point with all that is that Lampard repeatedly showed signs he could inject character into a bunch of players that had previously shown none. And I find it bizarre he isn't getting more credit for that. Going back to one of the main narratives I hear outside of our fans that he "takes the praise when the team does well, throw the team under the bus when it doesn't". Maybe the timing wasn't right when he did this after the spurs game as he was probably just as culpable for that result as the players that day. But ultimately, this team needed to start taking accountability for their performances, so I just don't think this argument is valid in this case. He publicly lambasted them and they still managed to dig deep and get us over the line, showing that in some respect they must have agreed.
I hope he gets the signings he needs, so this goodwill can continue from the back end of last season.
Mcneil looks a shrewd bit of business even though it's early days.
If Frank can find the magic wand that keeps Mina fit, and Kev gets him the 6 he wants, then we are looking a much better prospect than last season.
What i like him about him, is he always looks up for a bit of craic and looks to have fun, hes not to serious when he doesnt need to be, good for spirit.
thanks mate. i don`t get compliments like yours too often. usually they`re abusive and derogatory, your post is really appreciated - thanks againWhat i like him about him, is he always looks up for a bit of craic and looks to have fun, hes not to serious when he doesnt need to be, good for spirit.
In his playing days mate he wasn't always a saint like, think at least one Chelsea incident and one with England on being caught bevvied up etc - but was never a habit by him like some players.