Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
100% agree...ive just gone through the last 8 or 9 pages with posters not even trying to have a conversation, debate or even make a point...they're either slating you or trying to belittle you.
Absolutely pathetic.
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100% agree...ive just gone through the last 8 or 9 pages with posters not even trying to have a conversation, debate or even make a point...they're either slating you or trying to belittle you.
Absolutely pathetic.
And I think that's where you differ from many mate.
For me, as important as sexy football is, winning is key for me. Nice playing comes (a very very close) second.
I don't want a Pulis/Allardyce "long ball using massive grocks" set up, that's not what I mean - a mixture of both is obviously the ideal. But winning has to come first.
Also, when going forward I reckon we do actually do it in style currently mate.
robbo30efc
Player Valuation: £225k
dont feed him mate. he wont have seen any of the above
Tigger
Player Valuation: £35m
You could be on to something there. Somewhere to go for a sensible debate with everyone's favourite poster. People would still cry arse about him in his own thread.
Blue Cheese
Mental Patient, GOT Ward
Seems to have got Ross playing more consistently lately, albeit a bit of flair lost, Barkley looks like some pressure has been lifted, whether that's Davies and lookman taking some heat off him I don't know but he looks like he is enjoying himself again.
100% Grouch
Koeman's 'style' was and never will be 'long ball'. He likes his forwards to work hard and press high, and have a high-energetic midfield to push up as well. Win the ball back and play nice togger in proper areas.
We will and have play it out from the back - Koeman was furious at Williams when he started going long all the time the other day - but we still need some additions in the defence to allow us to play with a 4 at the back rather than having to stick with a 3 all the time.
It's just not as reliant on possession. And possession-based football has never guaranteed anything in this league, ultimately. Even Pep is finding that out to an extent and is actually adjusting accordingly.
Managers like Rodgers and Martinez couldn't adjust quickly enough to adapt when they got figured out.
At the moment, we're playing well and we're probably where we should be. Though despite our crap form for 10 games we've never dropped out of the top half, hardly ever been below 7th place.
Koeman doesn't 'accept' second best. He's a very demanding manager, and whether that is purely down to his own self-goals, I couldn't care less, as he's a manager who is going to take this club back to where we need to be to build to be the club we all want us to be again - title contenders.
Whether he's the man to see that to fruition (e.g. Poch at Spurs) or whether he moves on once we're a stable top-seven
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
If that is Ross with flair lost then i welcome the backheel flick assists every week in his lack of flair game mate
As for why he's looking much improved, look at the man whose managing him, training him and who has got him doing things very few predicted he was ever gonna be capable of doing (pressing, working hard off the ball, tackling, and sticking himself on the line for the team) - all thats down to the way koeman has cpoached and handled him and got him to finally 'man up'
The lack of confidenc ecould all have stemmed from a lack of belief in his ability to do any of that defensive work and undemrined everything else, now it actuially seems for the very first time like he's on rout to becoming an all around centre midfielder
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
All good points mate, think a curious thing though is that basically everyone above us (even those on good form) are looking weaker than they did first half of the season, we are looking stronger and fitter by the week, gonna be an interesting last few months to the season for sure
The point changes by the day tho !
brieverton
Player Valuation: £50m
Well I would certainly rather a stronger 2nd half than 1st half of the season, the key, as we all know, is consistency and getting results when not playing well.
Our strong finish to games is particularly encouraging and shows us at or near the level of fitness we need for the more intensive pressing game that Koeman favours. We should, with a few more additions, be properly ready for the off next season in that respect.
Like some others, I have been lucky enough to see us win titles so not getting at all carried away albeit our run of results has been encouraging.
I think the test in this league is to put a run together of 12-15 games unbeaten, in that spell you would have to get the odd away win or 3, and come out with results against higher-placed sides.
We need to maintain our home form, and not be happy with away draws, I'm not saying Koeman is, but as a whole, the squad have to deliver more on the road.
We also have plenty of opportunities coming up to end our jinx at one of the Sky 4 grounds, I want to see us go to win at these venues and not play for a heroic draw.
Plenty to play for between now and May, especially with the RS crash and burn. Middlesborough next is exactly the sort of game where we should go out and show the difference between us and them, it would be great to see Lukaku maintain his form at such a high level between now and May, that alone would see us comfortably above 60 points.
Our strong finish to games is particularly encouraging and shows us at or near the level of fitness we need for the more intensive pressing game that Koeman favours. We should, with a few more additions, be properly ready for the off next season in that respect.
Like some others, I have been lucky enough to see us win titles so not getting at all carried away albeit our run of results has been encouraging.
I think the test in this league is to put a run together of 12-15 games unbeaten, in that spell you would have to get the odd away win or 3, and come out with results against higher-placed sides.
We need to maintain our home form, and not be happy with away draws, I'm not saying Koeman is, but as a whole, the squad have to deliver more on the road.
We also have plenty of opportunities coming up to end our jinx at one of the Sky 4 grounds, I want to see us go to win at these venues and not play for a heroic draw.
Plenty to play for between now and May, especially with the RS crash and burn. Middlesborough next is exactly the sort of game where we should go out and show the difference between us and them, it would be great to see Lukaku maintain his form at such a high level between now and May, that alone would see us comfortably above 60 points.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
That's all I'm saying mate. Win and win style. There's no excuse not to try and do both if it's at all possible. And teams should be set up to win by playing in as stylish a manner possible. I do laugh at the people who trundle out the stuff about "i just want to win, I dont care about anything else". What an attitude to have. This is an entertainment too at the end of the day isn't it? Yes, be competitive, but as I've said before: the best teams ever at club or national level have almost ALWAYS been the best in the business at entertaining. Try and think of some that haven't and they are stand outs because they are exceptions to the rule. The Arsenal team under Graham or that Leicester team last season are good examples but are buried under a mountain of fine football exponents who lift the big trophies.
Pragmatism? Yes, but that just means joining the ranks of the exponents of fine football, because that is what gets the job done.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
Thanks Groucho.
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