Manager Thomas Frank

[Go on son]

This is the problem going forward, even if results improve the style of football will not. It will always be the Frankball he had at Brentford

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I can see it last night away from home slow it down take the sting out of it etc. Most of the time id be happy with that away. But its the fact we do it at home is the problem mainly. No dynamism at all. Lethargic.
Away from home you slow it to organise yourself at the back in case of turnover and quick break. Obviously gives oppo time to get into shape too.
But its the doing it at home is his problem

 

[Notabadsquad]

100% agree. Last nights draw was an unexpected bonus point which everyone here would have taken hand and all before the game. Plus the players showed a little character too. Needed. Its sat night we to put in a performance and a must win

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I'm with all if that other than Saturday being a 'must win' game.

It's absolutely a 'must not' lose match.

It is also advantageous for us (or should be) that Brentford play tonight.

 

[Darnswim 🇦🇱]

I'm with all if that other than Saturday being a 'must win' game.

It's absolutely a 'must not' lose match.

It is also advantageous for us (or should be) that Brentford play tonight.

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It's a must win. We play at home, we've dropped too many points, and we're playing against an inferior side. We should go to every game with a must win mentality, but especially these ones.

 

[Notabadsquad]

It's a must win. We play at home, we've dropped too many points, and we're playing against an inferior side. We should go to every game with a must win mentality, but especially these ones.

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Agree mate.

From the perspective of Frank and I'm sure the same with the players, that’s the mindset they hold.

I think it's also a game where a win would be fantastic but to attach must as though if not is a disaster is silly.

Not losing however would be another game unbeaten and might (only might) br a springboard.

So yes, we ain't for a win, but let's not throw away/lose the point we start with as described above.

 

[Herclueless]

I said that about 70 mins in that it must be horrific playing up front for us.

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It baffles me that people have striker high up on their transfer wishlists.

Can our strikers be improved upon? Yeah probably, are they as bad as their output suggests though? Absolutely not. We could go out and blow our load on Osimhen in January and he would have exactly the same trouble as our current lot.

If the team was creating anything like a respectable amount of chances then RIcharlison would be scoring goals, Kolo Muani would be scoring goals, and even Tel I am confident would be scoring goals.

They get absolutely f-all service, if they miss a chance there's a strong possibility that that was their only chance in a game unless we're playing utter tripe like Copenhagen, they're being hung out to dry and the issue won't be solved by simply swapping them out for someone "better".

I'm not even sure there is any one player in any position we could sign that would fix this. It's an issue with the entire structure and dynamic of the side. I'm hesitant to scream "Frank out", because I don't think he's an idiot, and I don't think he's tactically inept, but I do think he's currently ruled by fear more than anything. He wanted to sort out the defence first this season as it was seen as the glaring issue and that makes sense, but there's no point in being so cautious and reactive when it's not even resulting in being hard to score against.

The issues with the attack, for me, are hardly new. Last season were weren't good in attack, we were just so gung-ho that inevitably we'd score some goals, and a good few of them came in gluts. Most of the time we were blunt, ineffective, and easily nullified by the opposition. This myth that we were free-flowing and entertaining is bizarre and hasn't been true since the first 10 games under Postecoglue.

For now I still think we should give Frank time, but I'm by no means certain that time will equate to improvement.

 

[Herclueless]

I can only assume it’s his tactics because our last manager played the exact opposite, but our entire attacking philosophy seems to be “Make the easy pass.”

Every single pass is sideways or backwards. We go from CB to CDM, CDM passes wide to FB who carries the ball and tries to get it to the winger. Winger half heartedly attempts take on and passes back to FB. FB sideways to CM, CM to CM, back to CB.

Rinse and repeat until one of the FBs or wingers boots a cross into the box or we misplace a pass and they counter.

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Well hold on there, you're missing out a key part of the passing strategy entirely with this you buffoon!

 

[Herclueless]

I'm with all if that other than Saturday being a 'must win' game.

It's absolutely a 'must not' lose match.

It is also advantageous for us (or should be) that Brentford play tonight.

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Should be.

Any time this kind of thing occurs we seem to end up witnessing a game where somehow the opposition comes flying out of the blocks whilst we're still half asleep, and then after 60 minutes our players looked totally gassed despite having done nothing of note, whilst the opposition go from strength to strength...

Just another one of those little things that has me more and more convinced every passing year that this club is simply jinxed.

 

[BrightonSpurs]

I like Frank but it’s a mess. I don’t know how or if he makes us better.

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I expect at some point he will fluke into Gray, Bergvall/Sarr and Simons actually working or be forced into playing that and it also working. There is no way Gray is worse then Bentancur or Pal in that 6 role.

 

[BrightonSpurs]

Typical iraola isn't it, has moments were he makes bournmouth super hot which no doubt they will be again but often they are just pretty beatable and end up mid table

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to be fair they lost last season's keeper and 3 out of the back 4

 

[BrightonSpurs]

The midfield I'd play and stick with:

Gray
Bergvall
Xavi

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yep

 

[Brian Fantana]

I expect at some point he will fluke into Gray, Bergvall/Sarr and Simons actually working or be forced into playing that and it also working. There is no way Gray is worse then Bentancur or Pal in that 6 role.

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Yeah I was saying the other week he just needs to pick a midfield and go with it for a few games to try and get some rhythm going. It is a big problem (yesterday's goal Bruno scored illustrated perfectly how bad our midfield can be with all the players making the wrong decisions). But I think if he can find some consistency there then it is the best idea. Play those three (plus Palhinha as I'm not as down on him as others) and just ride it out. All this chopping and changing (and picking Bentancur) isnt helping the team. Get them out there on the training pitch and drill them to an inch of their lives. Surely with all the coaches and facilities we have it cant be that hard or as hard as we are making it?

 

[BrightonSpurs]

Yeah I was saying the other week he just needs to pick a midfield and go with it for a few games to try and get some rhythm going. It is a big problem (yesterday's goal Bruno scored illustrated perfectly how bad our midfield can be with all the players making the wrong decisions). But I think if he can find some consistency there then it is the best idea. Play those three (plus Palhinha as I'm not as down on him as others) and just ride it out. All this chopping and changing (and picking Bentancur) isnt helping the team. Get them out there on the training pitch and drill them to an inch of their lives. Surely with all the coaches and facilities we have it cant be that hard or as hard as we are making it?

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I also think those 3 are more mobile, and people worry about how robust we would be but Bergvall is a unit and Gray spent the best part of a season in defence against elite forwards. Gray is such an intelligent footballer compared to all of our other midfield options

 

[Brian Fantana]

I also think those 3 are more mobile, and people worry about how robust we would be but Bergvall is a unit and Gray spent the best part of a season in defence against elite forwards. Gray is such an intelligent footballer compared to all of our other midfield options

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That Bruno goal really worried me though on the post match analysis. It illustrated how nothing is working in the team and especially in the middle of the park. Either players dont know what they should be doing, or are refusing to do what they are meant to be doing or just dont have enough footballing nous to do what they should be doing. Bruno just saunters through our midfield from deep and not an attacker or midfielder spots him and the danger and just lets him continue. Nobody takes responsibility and tracks the run. It's why we have big problems.

 

[BrightonSpurs]

That Bruno goal really worried me though on the post match analysis. It illustrated how nothing is working in the team and especially in the middle of the park. Either players dont know what they should be doing, or are refusing to do what they are meant to be doing or just dont have enough footballing nous to do what they should be doing. Bruno just saunters through our midfield from deep and not an attacker or midfielder spots him and the danger and just lets him continue. Nobody takes responsibility and tracks the run. It's why we have big problems.

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either low footballer IQ or not up for it. I am leaning towards the former

 

[Kaz Hirai]

View: https://x.com/eplbible/status/1996011266343567380?s=46&t=eUsg1sQrQqg1bRdJAI122w

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Sums up nicely what I was saying in the sarr thread about Frank and his instructions.

If you pause it a 4 seconds. Kudus' only real option there is to play it through to bergvall, and even then the only person in a similar forward position is our left back on the other side of the pitch .

Pape sarr is not bursting forward , and is well beyond the play, sane goes for bentancur whose still hiding amongst the defenders, no idea where Muani is either

Still on "undecided" about Frank but boy I'm close! This is not watchable

 

[nicoclaesen]

I’ve not read through these messages from last night because I know there will be people happy that we went there and got a draw so fair enough about that but last night was another really poor performance and we score from a brilliant diving header and a fantastic piece of opportunism from our centre back.

The first half was embarrassing and to see a stat come up on the screen to say to say we never had a shot on target in the first half in this game and the previous 3. I honestly can’t understand why this is still acceptable.

The second half wasn’t much better but we had to rely on our captain to pull us out the shit.

That result covers the cracks for me but how we play is relegation fighting teams that just come up from the championship. We can’t hide behind a 2-2 draw at Newcastle because we are t just going to cluck into gear gear and be a free flowing team that starts beating loads of chances. January window is massive and we need quality footballers not just guys that have energy. Fuck that energy shit because when they get the ball they just give it back.

Thomas Frank is not the man we should be giving money to spend in the window.

 

[Fattynomates]

Let's face it, the players dread playing at home. lol

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If the players dread to play in our Stadium then off they can fuck!

 

[Aphex]

We were really fortunate to get anything out of the game despite the unfortunate penalty conceded.

For me, Frank is still on borrowed time.

The whole issue is basically with the home form and the style of play. At the moment he's getting both wrong which is why he won't survive long.

And I still can't get over how poor we were against Chelsea and Woolwich.

For me I maintain those were sackable offence performances and he has ruined his tenure as our manager. I don't really see how he can claw it back. Even if he had us finishing 8th with this style of play I'd want him gone.

 

[manmountainbutters]

It baffles me that people have striker high up on their transfer wishlists.

Can our strikers be improved upon? Yeah probably, are they as bad as their output suggests though? Absolutely not. We could go out and blow our load on Osimhen in January and he would have exactly the same trouble as our current lot.

If the team was creating anything like a respectable amount of chances then RIcharlison would be scoring goals, Kolo Muani would be scoring goals, and even Tel I am confident would be scoring goals.

They get absolutely f-all service, if they miss a chance there's a strong possibility that that was their only chance in a game unless we're playing utter tripe like Copenhagen, they're being hung out to dry and the issue won't be solved by simply swapping them out for someone "better".

I'm not even sure there is any one player in any position we could sign that would fix this. It's an issue with the entire structure and dynamic of the side. I'm hesitant to scream "Frank out", because I don't think he's an idiot, and I don't think he's tactically inept, but I do think he's currently ruled by fear more than anything. He wanted to sort out the defence first this season as it was seen as the glaring issue and that makes sense, but there's no point in being so cautious and reactive when it's not even resulting in being hard to score against.

The issues with the attack, for me, are hardly new. Last season were weren't good in attack, we were just so gung-ho that inevitably we'd score some goals, and a good few of them came in gluts. Most of the time we were blunt, ineffective, and easily nullified by the opposition. This myth that we were free-flowing and entertaining is bizarre and hasn't been true since the first 10 games under Postecoglue.

For now I still think we should give Frank time, but I'm by no means certain that time will equate to improvement.

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Agree to an extent. Though Kolo Muani shows how bad Richie is. We need another elite level striker. It would make a difference.

But yes, our biggest issues are LW and MF (specifically no.8 and no.10). I am hopeful Kulu will solve part of that problem. But we still need two more top players. I wanted us to take Grealish. Semenyo would be good, but unlikely. We really missed MGW. It's that type of no.10 we need. So far Xavi has been a huge let-down.

And you're right, aside from the personel, the key issue is coaching, patterns of play, tactics etc.

 

[rusty]

Yeah I was saying the other week he just needs to pick a midfield and go with it for a few games to try and get some rhythm going. It is a big problem (yesterday's goal Bruno scored illustrated perfectly how bad our midfield can be with all the players making the wrong decisions). But I think if he can find some consistency there then it is the best idea. Play those three (plus Palhinha as I'm not as down on him as others) and just ride it out. All this chopping and changing (and picking Bentancur) isnt helping the team. Get them out there on the training pitch and drill them to an inch of their lives. Surely with all the coaches and facilities we have it cant be that hard or as hard as we are making it?

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but who are they paying against on the training pitches? Cones, kids, they need to be playing training games against Div 1 teams who can give the players a bit of rough stuff, harden up some of our players