We won't need a full season to be midtable, that'll come around mid November. We've had a very favourable fixture list so far, from today, it ramps up significantly. The first test, failed. We're playing like absolute dross and it doesn't look like improving.
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Manager Thomas Frank
- Thread starter The Fighting Cock
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Mahrez cost £500k from Ligue 2. He’s by a mile the best
He is nothing like Richarlison or Tel
Or the other two.
Ok help me out here mate because I'm really struggling to see how our attcking play is going to change if he persists with the midfield working the way it is. Simons didn't receive a single pass of JP or RB in the #10 area.
After PSG, then City, and Burnley at home, I was seeing the famous adaptability, now I'm just seeing very risk averse U-Shape passing that's terrified of playing through the middle of the pitch. Kudus is one of the form wingers in the league and he still can't do much when the defenders know exactly when and how he's going to receive a pass.
I get having a cautious approach away at City but we were home to Villa and we looked afraid of attacking their midfield with a pass between them.
View: https://x.com/SZYComps/status/1979944764603793515
I mean, look at RB and JP pass maps
View: https://x.com/SpursPLStatsMan/status/1979928590180299082
We can sign Kane back and put peak Bale on the LW and we might probably still struggle to create anything.
I'm still 100% behind Frank because it takes time to build something but it is reaching the point already where it looks like he's just being stubborn by persisting with the Fridge brothers pivot. And it has to be by design that they are refusing to pass between the lines:
View: https://x.com/hbrooks_coach/status/1979913207457202513
I also understood the drive to make us more solid defensively but we just conceded 2 at home to a top 5 rival, so it seems like sacrificing attacking intent is now starting to cost us that solid foundation he'd built as well.
Exactly.
If this guy gets more required quality and then shits the bed, I'll join in with those who have been so desperate to go early on him.
Because I want what's best for the CLUB.
Until then, I'm choosing reality and common sense.
He's been asked to swim laps with one hand tied behind his back.
Of course we are ……..I’m enjoying watching us again last season was a slog we, Ange scammed the Europa as we did a few seasons ago when we reached the CL final but our luck ran out on that occasion! But irrespective we should have capitalised then , we didn’t ….we have this time in regards we ditched Ange and rightly so but it’s still two years/seasons wasted were the goons, Liverpool & Chelsea taken strides Thomas Frank has a big job on his hands and it will take time I’m happy with consistency and europe next season
The time it takes nowadays to bring subs on shows how utterly ridiculous football has become. Between players needing to get their equipment on, the 4th official working out the electronic board and managers/coaches giving out instructions, you're talking several minutes.
Back in the day, you better have your full kit on from the moment you left the changing rooms prior to kickoff, the boss would tell you to go get warmed up for 5 mins then call you back over, you'd take your bib off, he'd give you a slap on the arse whilst the linesman would signal the change to the ref...and on you went. No faffing, all done in a matter of seconds and you could go impact the game.
How the beautiful game's become so moronic these days.
You can post all the maps and charts you want.
If we had a proper LWr, CF and other players back, we'd have won today.
There's no need to overthink it.
It's obvious and crystal clear.
I'm not going to pretend that's not the case and he should be working more miracles than he already has in making us the joint third highest goalscorers with Richie, Johnson, Tel, Odobert.
And two points off second place.
Like, what are we even doing here???
All of a sudden the expectation and demands on management are quadruple-fold what they have been, when he's missing essential players that the last fella had, who finished 17th.
What are we actually doing here, people???
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Could you see how we were trying to attack? Were we trying to play through them? Were we trying to get past out wide? It looked like give it to Kudus and hope for the best to me, specially second half. Villa coped easily.
Ok, let's remove the maps, did you see anything concerning about the way JP and RB performed today? or the way they performed against Bournemouth? Was there anything or nothing similar about the way they passed the ball in both games?
Like I said, I am still behind Frank but if this is the plan to always pass it wide, I can't think of a single team that ever challenged for titles without ever playing through the middle of the park.
I trust that he's going to fix it but you sound like you are making the case that there is nothing to fix?
Here is another way of putting it but without the maps
View: https://x.com/PremLeaguePanel/status/1979931411214660072
You disagree with that take? The midfield build up play is not an issue at all for you?
That was quite incredible.
Assuming us to be a team that must play on the front foot; if we're to field a pure DM like JP then we need to do so with a 433 and not have someone holding his hand for 75% of the game.
It's by design. He doesn't want us to play through midfield. We will shuffle it around the back deep in the field, hope the opponents take the bait and overcommit, then hit it long either in behind or into the front and try and make something happen attacking the space.
If we do have settled possession in the opponents half, it's horseshoe it around before it goes wide (usually to Kudus) and spam a hopeful cross into the box.
I don't think the individuals out there are very good, but this is Thomas Frank's football. It's basic, percentages football hoping you can pounce on a destabilised defence or some random moment of individual quality happens in the final third.
You got exactly the same hallmarks at Brentford every single year. He can say things like the defence needed sorting first, but I just don't think managers fundamentally change their approach.
De ja vu for me - that Jose would change his football, that Conte would change his football and persona, that Nuno could bring attacking football if he wanted to, etc etc etc. Almost always what you see at the start is what you continue to get.
If we do have settled possession in the opponents half, it's horseshoe it around before it goes wide (usually to Kudus) and spam a hopeful cross into the box.
I don't think the individuals out there are very good, but this is Thomas Frank's football. It's basic, percentages football hoping you can pounce on a destabilised defence or some random moment of individual quality happens in the final third.
You got exactly the same hallmarks at Brentford every single year. He can say things like the defence needed sorting first, but I just don't think managers fundamentally change their approach.
De ja vu for me - that Jose would change his football, that Conte would change his football and persona, that Nuno could bring attacking football if he wanted to, etc etc etc. Almost always what you see at the start is what you continue to get.
The way we play, overall, will flow a lot better with better quality and more intelligent footballers at the cutting edge, who will make better runs off the ball and look to create space in more intelligent ways.
I'm also allowing Frank time to figure out what works and what doesn't whilst he gets to know how the players perform and respond in heat of battle more and more.
The way we played in the first two phases didn't cost us this game, today.
It just didn't.
In the long term, we can't afford to be that 1-dimensional.
.....Far too easy to nullify that.
I saw Villa crowd us out in the middle, so we tried to get wide. Odobert had chances in first and got past his man, Kudus did second half. Don’t think Porro or Spence helped our wingers at all today.