steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
But the reality of the situation is it's quite conceivable he'll oversee a winless streak of 8 games by xmas. Is anybody capable of surviving that?
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
I don't get why he gets this reputation as a consummate pro.
He's been here nine years now and played under five managers, yet apart from a short spell under Conte, he's never made a first team spot his own. He seems to be just as happy sitting on the bench as he does playing. Where's his football ambition?
He gets a great salary and lifestyle staying here but across a season he doesn't contribute anything like as much as most of the other players do for the team.
Giving Davies a new contract last year was Conte's final revenge.
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
Doesn't rock the boat, steady eddie, happy to play in any position, experienced international. He ticks a lot of boxes Gary. Unfortunately his limitations are now hurting us in this new system. If we are set to continue as we are then his days may well be numbered.
trustmeiknow1
Vital 1st Team Regular
I think his lacking conviction comments have been a little misconstrued. I think he's alluding to hesitancy, fear and lacking ruthlessnes. He's basically saying you are fucking good enough now show it. He wants them to believe in themselves . He's obviously a brilliant coach. The way we play the ball around at times is outstanding but he is correct we are overthinking it in the final third.
muttley
Alert Team
They've always hurt us, in all of the systems we've adopted over the years. Our club's mediocrity have been borne out of persisting with these mediocre players. Davies hasn't every excelled in any of the 3 positions we've used him in. Like Dawson before him, he seems to have benefitted from injuries to players in his position.
If we want to become a winning club, we have to lose the safeness that we've afforded these model professionals. They don't belong in top 4 squads.
And just imagine the difference it would make playing under Ange if we upgrade two or three players.
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SpursEagle
Vital Squad Member
First 25 minutes was the best I've seen us play in fuckin ages. I have no problem with Ange at all. We are just 4 months in, with a shite load of context to consider.
It's Christmas, so RIP Shane MacGowan and God Bless you all!
It's Christmas, so RIP Shane MacGowan and God Bless you all!
SmithAndJones
Vital 1st Team Regular
It is however a results business. Irrespective of individual fans views, when a team previously five points clear at the top of the table embarks on a run of one point in fifteen, dropping to fifth, and consistently losing matches from a winning position, within the game generally there is going to be speculation and questions asked. I've already started to see articles comparing Nuno and Postco, they were pretty inevitable,
Postco at this stage still has a lot of credit in the bank with the majority of fans, and rightly so given the entertainment value he provides as compared with his predecessors, together with the results he was producing prior to the current bout of injuries. Whether he retains that credit will however be very much dependent on results over the next three months. Based on what we saw earlier in the season, the return of Maddison and Van De Ven (I'm not sure that Bentancur will ever recover to his past levels) should reverse the current results trend and have us back challenging for the top four. If that doesn't happen however, current murmurings will get a lot louder.
I've always maintained a neutrality with Postco based on the fact that he didn't inherit a particularly good situation, and should therefore be given a season with us with minimal expectation. A top six finish would I believe indicate that he's steadied the ship and put us in a position to move toward meeting the expectations that fans, and I'm sure the Club, undoubtedly have.
The Club's history with managers however over the last twenty years or so probably makes Postco's position one of the most difficult managerial jobs in European football. It's a tough ask for a guy with no experience of the PL, we'll learn a lot between now and the end of the season as to whether he is capable of meeting that challenge.
Can't argue with any of this, mate. It is a results business, but there needs to be a realistic analysis on why results are what they are rather than jumping straight to 'sack the manager' which is what usually happens in the PL.
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
I get that but the club had more pressing matters at the time. He has since passed his usefulness, so yeah i believe he should go.
Our front 3 is Johnson, Son and Kulusevski. On the bench options (either injured or not) are even more lacklustre. That means when we haven't got the goal to seal the fame then we are going to struggle.
Until we get that area addressed it is Anges job to find a solution. So far in the last 5 or so games he hasn't done so.
Defending isn't so much the issue as any team gives up chances. We barely gave up any against West Ham but were punished. But that is why we need to find a way to score more. Attacking football must equal more goals if it is going to work
Until we get that area addressed it is Anges job to find a solution. So far in the last 5 or so games he hasn't done so.
Defending isn't so much the issue as any team gives up chances. We barely gave up any against West Ham but were punished. But that is why we need to find a way to score more. Attacking football must equal more goals if it is going to work
SmithAndJones
Vital 1st Team Regular
All three are capable players but Kulu often chooses to pass when it would be easier to score, Johnson doesn't seem to have developed any confidence playing for us yet, and Sonny is maybe the best finisher in the PL when teams allow us to play, but becomes a passenger against teams that set out to drop ten players behind the ball and stop us from playing.
As you say, it is the manager's role to find solutions to those problems, collectively the three are not producing what they are capable of, but losing Maddison hasn't helped the situation.
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
Absolutely right Geoff.
It's ludicrous that at the first sign of a problem there are discussions on sacking the manager. Who do we think we are as a club?
The first thing new manager would do is try and sign new players. So let's give Ange time to do just that. And let's give him some breathing space to find a way through the current malaise.
The only evidence we have of anything so far this season is of what we can expect from Ange's team when he has all of his players available - and it wasn't just entertaining football, it was winning football, 26 points from 30 - and the massive drop off in quality when the squad players are called in to cover. That's what the club should be focusing on and I'm sure they are.
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
Even attacking teams have to be able to defend though meee. And that's why the quality of defenders is so important in Ange's system. And Pep's. And Arteta's....
Attacking teams can't score 3 or 4 goals every game. The best return by any team in the PL is 106 - Man City in 2017-18. That's less than 3 per game over the season and that's from a title-winning team
On those days when a team only has a single-goal lead, they should be able to rely on their defenders to defend it.
Since VdV's injury we've been conceding at last 2 goals every game mainly against teams who've had very little of the play. That's rank poor defending that no successful team can carry.
The change in emphasis on the front 3 is interesting though. For the first few games of the season we were scoring from every position on the pitch. Didn't we have 9 different consecutive scorers at one point? That seems to have changed.
Is it coincidence that since we moved Son centrally that we've subtly moved to a style of play that relies on him providing the bulk of the goals? I hope not or we'll be back to where we were with Kane.
For all that though, if you take every match individually, we were only a hairs breath away from scoring a second goal. And you feel if we had got that second goal we would have won those games with ease. At times it's just down to very fine margins.
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
And those are the attributes that are always rolled out when justifying Davies's inclusion in the squad.
What's conspicuously left out though are his qualities as a defender. That's what should be the prime consideration and minimum requirement.
I cant even remember the last time we had a team squad of top players that we would sell 1 or 2 on and get better in every new season. We have for many seasons bought busloads of also rans and players with minimal Prem level pedigree and then we find we cant/wont sell them anymore and it shows. Davies has been good for us over the years and been very loyal but in this new system - he just doesnt fit but there are others as well not just him..... I would go as far as selling Son if need be ... but he needs to go to Ref school and learn what the offside rule actually is. In the last 5 games he has been offside more times than he has created chances and it is hurting us.
thelaughingcock
Vital Reserves Team
We've hit a bad spell of form for clear reasons. He's revolutionised the set-up and made the culture happy again. We have to support him when he loses, not just when he's winning. Celtic trusted him and look at what happened there.
The reality is, we're right where we should be considering we're more or less playing with last year's squad at the moment so we can't get ahead of ourselves and expect magic just yet (MINUS the greatest striker the Premier League has ever seen and a host of injuries!)
We're only 1 loss behind CITY!!
The reality is, we're right where we should be considering we're more or less playing with last year's squad at the moment so we can't get ahead of ourselves and expect magic just yet (MINUS the greatest striker the Premier League has ever seen and a host of injuries!)
We're only 1 loss behind CITY!!
Real Deal
Alert Team
As Fergie once said, " strikers can win you games, but a GK and defence win you titles".
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
I couldn't agree more Gary but at that particular time we had much bigger problems to contend with as a club. I see no logical reason why we would keep him now.
TQ2Spurs
Vital Champions League
Brian Clough knew that as well, his first action at each club he went to was to buy a top quality goalkeeper.
