I’ve got to be honest here – I think he is self-sabotaging. There is absolutely no way any manager would change the starting line-up/formation as often as Koeman has. He seems to be deliberately keeping an unsettled side.
The only person that apparently cannot see this is the problem is Koeman. I honestly don’t think he is that clueless.
Koeman knows how to set up without a Lukaku type in the team. He is refusing to do that, just to prove a point - “You didn’t get me a Lukaku replacement – this is your fault”. He didn’t expect to still be here, because he over-estimated the ambition of our board (or under-estimated Moshiri’s nerve).
Someone mentioned earlier – tongue in cheek – that it was a game of chess between Koeman and Moshiri. I don’t think that statement is very far from the truth. He wants out, but not without his compensation.
Also, just as a footnote – In the same fixtures last year, Lukaku had scored six goals (four of them against Bournemouth). Rooney, this season has scored three, with Niasse also scoring three. We picked up fifteen points, compared to seven points this season. To me, that suggests that we have replaced the Lukaku goals. The problems lie with selection, formation and tactics. This is all on Koeman. No one knows what they are supposed to be doing, because, as mentioned previously – he, for whatever reason, keeps changing it.
Rant over.