Legend. One of my favourite ever footballers.
But if he comes here, give it 5 minutes before he gets called a cunt by people who say Richarlatan is a great lad, if only he could be more consistent…
That’s what will happen.
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Manager Thomas Frank
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But if he comes here, give it 5 minutes before he gets called a cunt by people who say Richarlatan is a great lad, if only he could be more consistent…
That’s what will happen.
There's also a very good chance you've been crap even if your xG is high, you only have to look at the dipper game at the weekend to see that.
It's really not that difficult. Stats should be utilised IN LINE with watching the game. There's not one single metric, including this fabled "eye test," that will paint a full picture of a game, they all need to be used together to get a full understanding.
Why something so simple is so hard to understand, for some, mystifies me.
Exactly. Our squad is just very average. Probably on a par with Villa and man Us. Scum, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Newcastle all have better starting elevens than us. I would swap every one of our front six usual starting players for those 5 teams.
Alas the problem.
People want Frank sacked and a new manager bought in, and they expect them to turn some of the most average players we have to worldies overnight.
The next manager would again be hounded out of here and they'd be crying out for the next manager. It's groundhog day.
It isn’t even worth listening to them at this point. The fact some are crying out for Ange in the same breath speaks volumes.
Besides, I expect Frank to still be here next season. We’ve made an investment in him and his coaching staff and won’t rip that up already. He’ll be asked to work with what he’s got to bring more tracking out of them. If he can we will just have to wait and see.
When we hired him I thought he would be perfect for our current situation. Someone to make the team greater than the sum of it's parts while we continue to rebuild the squad. But some of the performances are just diabolical and even worse than last season. Having a very limited squad and a manager unable to squeeze something out of it is a recipe for relegation. There's still time, but if this continues through next month I would change manager in January. We also need to address the CM, LW and striker situation.
I think we'll spend in January. This board have to prove their worth and that they are not the problem they painted Levy to be (which he was).
It's up to them and Frank to make the most of it. It was never going to be quick and easy, it was always going to be painful. Some fans can't handle that. The first 10 games of Ange's reign really clouded a lot of people's idea of how a manager can make an immediate impact.
Maybe it's getting old and having adult life take over a bit, but I can't remember having such little interest in watching us play. It's just bad football to watch, time is precious. Really disheartening how little interest we have in midfield, who we target there over the next few windows will be massive. But what are we going to do against PSG, Fulham, whoever else we have coming up? I don't know, but I doubt it's going to be much fun.
Sadly this is the case and it's harder to put right.
We've signed some utter shit or we have put too much emphasis on younger players who aren't ready to deliver and might never be. Johnson, Odobert, Tel etc.
This is all damage done by Levy. We know how he operated, if we had a list of targets, we would end up signing the players halfway down the list who offered a good financial deal, rather than the best player we could get.
Unfortunately, and it sounds crazy to say, but I think we've also fucked up with this summer window.
Simons may come good. But Kudus I have serious concerns about his end product. If he isn't able to get double figure goals then essentially we need to upgrade on him. You can't have wide forwards who don't contribute goals when you play with only one striker. It's why Semenyo would be a great signing but he'll end up at Liverpool.
Kudus stands out because our attack is so poor but I'm worried he's not going to elevate us.
Then you have to question Lange. He's building this squad and he's spent a lot of money and it still looks a mess.
He also appointed Frank, and pushed very strongly for the appointment.
But then you look at our squad and you think, despite the lack of quality, Frank should still be doing better than he is.
Solanke and Kulu aren't going to be game changers when they return they really won't. Our strikers barely touch the ball under Frank as it is, Solanke isn't Kane, he isn't going to make things happen from deep.
Kulu is a wildy inconsistent player who frustrates as much as he impresses.
Who exactly is Frank getting the best out of? He keeps dropping the young players liek Sarr and Lucas and Gray after they make good impressions, that can't be good for their confidence. Then they come on, stink the place out and well, of course, they have been drained of confidence.
I'm not seeing much improvement in any of the players under Frank so far, he's not maximising performances.
Attacking football is easier to get behind and digest as opposed to reactive football, like it or not - you have more to cling onto as a fan if your team plays on the front foot because that's the end goal for every fan of their club.
Ange bought himself a load of time with the halfway line gimmick against Chelsea.
Nothing will change with this ownership.
The best we can hope for is to replicate the Poch spell, which consisted of a world class striker coming through the academy, the best Asian player ever, a 19 year old wonderkid bought for 5 million, the most press resistant midfielder we’ve had in my lifetime, numerous other quality buys with few misses.
Good luck with that.
Suffering through match days isn’t worth it. All stress and anger, rarely a reward.
Probably!
What an intelligent footballer he was. Never ever not in control. The best I’ve ever seen at dominanting a midfield by passing and moving. He could play any type of pass with the perfect weight and on the right side for his team mates to receive. Knew when to play it forward to open the game up and when to drag players towards him to create the space for forwards players to move into. Genius midfield brain.
I honestly think he’s the one that could change everything at our club if he was backed and I do think we’ll see more backing from the board now levy has gone. Back the wrong guy and it’s pointless. He also brings young players through and not scared to put them in. If we have any real ambition to become what we can be he’s the first step. People will say I’m delusional and it’s not possible but he’s ready and waiting for the right job and I think we tick every box.
At this time last year we were 6th, 4 points off second, with a GD of +14 and had just thrashed City 0-4 on their own deck.
I completely agree that Frank deserves more patience but this isn't the best comparison to make
Hope Frank turns it round but if he dont he has left a legacy at club. A padel court at the training ground.
Why does a club have to fall to pieces when a manager leaves for it to mean he was good?
They appointed his assistant after he spent years building them into a stable side.
I'm pretty sure this is the opposite of your point
I agree that we have to give Frank the season and let it play out. But I'd be very worried about backing him heavily in January like some are suggesting. I don't think Frank has shown that he is capable of coaching top attacking play yet so I'm not convinced signings like Savinho, Eze or MGW would have made a difference to where we are right now. I still think we'd have the exact same issues. Same as if we had Maddison, Kulusevski and Solanke fit. The problem is our setup and teams are very comfotable defending against our shape. We can't just be expecting Kudus, Eze or whoever to beat off 3 men to create space! We need overloads and Frank's system means we have none, always 6 or 7 players behind the ball at all times. Yes Richarlison and Johnson can't even beat 1 man but our system expects attackers to beat multiple men to create space. He never had this issue at Brentford because teams pushed up against them every week and he could always find ways to get Mbeumo or Wissa 1v1 or 2v2 through the middle.
I think Frank needs time to learn how to approach games as a big team and its going to be a very tough season waiting for him to learn this. But any ideas of a quick fix will just make things worse long term. Frank has to find a solution to get good players like Kudus, Simons and Muani working and getting the best out of players with huge potential like Odobert and Tel. He has to show something before we back him in January. Otherwise we could be digging another massive hole for ourselves.
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1ov7uho/through_balls_played_by_pl_teams_in_202526_season/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_content=post_body
I was genuinely so disgusted by the Chelsea and Woolwich performances, they are that bad that yes I do think they are sackable offences to be honest. I am still really angry about Sunday, and that was after trying to forget about Chelsea.
Frank will have lost so much goodwill these last two games and it's a long way back to turn it around.
One of the main concerns is the above stat. That is truly abysmal. And the thing is, it's not chance, it's by design.
Frank's obsession with putting in crosses, which he classes as so difficult to defend against, is a really worrying sign.
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I have never been one to have knee-jerk "manager out!" reactions. Especially in this case, where I think a big part of the blame falls on the squad-building over several years that has misfired in almost every way, and we are without our top three attacking players (literally out only three good attackers, save perhaps Kudus) in Madders, Kulu, and Solanke.
However.
Those two performances against our top two rivals, putting up the two lowest xGs in the league, cannot be accepted. I know Frank is hamstrung by injuries and an unbalanced, undercooked squad. But you do not have to be any kind of football savant (lord knows I am very far from one) to have seen the lineup before Sunday's match and thought: playing functionally a back 7, how on earth will the ball ever be progressed to our forwards? Shocker--it wasn't. With two deep-lying defensive midfielders in front of a back three, how will we ever stop them from marauding unchecked through the midfield? Shocker--we didn't.
And now you can pick your favorite football coverage news source, such as The Athletic, and it is filling with articles on all the ways that we were a tactical mess, easily exploited, and then with no answers when the exploitation inevitably came.
All this is to say--I was for the Frank appointment. I back the manager, at least at first. But to keep that backing, you simply cannot make the obvious mistakes he has been making, especially against our biggest rivals. It is embarrassing. I do not see signs that he knows what he is doing. I see lots of signs that he is in way over his head and doesn't have a clue. And that is very, very dispiriting.
However.
Those two performances against our top two rivals, putting up the two lowest xGs in the league, cannot be accepted. I know Frank is hamstrung by injuries and an unbalanced, undercooked squad. But you do not have to be any kind of football savant (lord knows I am very far from one) to have seen the lineup before Sunday's match and thought: playing functionally a back 7, how on earth will the ball ever be progressed to our forwards? Shocker--it wasn't. With two deep-lying defensive midfielders in front of a back three, how will we ever stop them from marauding unchecked through the midfield? Shocker--we didn't.
And now you can pick your favorite football coverage news source, such as The Athletic, and it is filling with articles on all the ways that we were a tactical mess, easily exploited, and then with no answers when the exploitation inevitably came.
All this is to say--I was for the Frank appointment. I back the manager, at least at first. But to keep that backing, you simply cannot make the obvious mistakes he has been making, especially against our biggest rivals. It is embarrassing. I do not see signs that he knows what he is doing. I see lots of signs that he is in way over his head and doesn't have a clue. And that is very, very dispiriting.