mkrudden
Player Valuation: £40m
Yeah agreed, I wasn't very clear.Dont understand that post mate. Are you saying it makes so much sense it can't be true? Or are you saying he is over simplifying things and is off the mark?. Or something else?
When you have 5-6 players like sandro, klassen, sigurdsson, Keane, pickford all arriving and regarded as the best or close to from their respective teams, arriving into a team which was far better than the teams they came from in terms of other players already there, then the failure of pretty much them all to perform comes down to the manager.
Simple as that really, change manager, and guarantee that at least some would start showing their quality.
To simply say that "they were ace at their respective teams so the fact they aren't here is because of the manager" is just wrong imo. Let's look at each:
Sig: Had a team literally built round him. At Swansea where, and I mean no disrespect, the pressure to deliver anything other than solid performances and dangerous set pieces is non-existent, especially since the Martinez and Rodgers days.
Keane: Came from a Sean Dyche team. 4-4-2, full backs far from adventurous and who tuck in tight with the CBs. Basically, Keane was protected a lot last season. This season was always going to be a massive learning curve. With our full backs bombing on at times, one simple long pass down a channel is going to mean he's defending in wide areas far more often. He's also playing in Europe for the first time against more clever, cultured footballers.
Sandro: From a league famous for its more technical, less aggressive approach. There are loads of footballers who struggle to find their feet when they arrive. He's also 21/22 isn't he? Moved to a new country, new language. It was always going to take time.
Klaassen: Much like Sandro. New league, new intensity to deal with.
Pickford: Gone from having to make 340 shots per game to 1 or 2. Got an ever-shifting defence in front of him.
Throw in to the mix that none of these players have ever played with each other before - an obvious point but it is't one or two, it's a whole raft of new players - and you get a situation where fluidity of our game is going to be hard to come by.
Koeman is right, he needs training sessions. I don't buy this "we need one win to kick start our season". We need more games, more sessions and slowly we will see these players finding their feet.