It’s a good question, and as we are now serious business being the Prem, we need to start acting like a serious businessManager is not the problem. Recruitment?
No, exactly that.Right, and at the best a sideways move, so with that choice, why do it.
Preparing for Chrimbo dinner at Big Sam's no doubt.Where’s @payola when we need some positivity?
I won't be pleased with the decision to sack Cooper. That isn't because I like him personally, I've never met him.
I believe he'll turn this round and go on to become a top manager if we hold our nerve. I think we have a better manager in the making than we are ever going to be able to hire.
My support of a manager is qualified. This manager has very much earned my patience and faith; moreso than almost any other in my time.
There are replacement candidates I can live with more. I have massive reservations about this one
100% agree with all of this. Cooper has to coach this team and these players far better than he’s doing right nowI happen to agree with all of this, but I also think Coopers own worst enemy this season has been Cooper. His championship Forest played with absolute swagger and belief and you could tell it stemmed from the belief of the manager…
whilst I absolutely understand the challenge is far harder in this league and you cannot simply replicate that level of forward playing football immediately, the manager appears to have lost his own identity and I worry that he’s a little unsure as to how to get it back without creating problems elsewhere.
You can feel it in the press conferences - he’s gone from talking so confidently about his teams ability to go and win games to ‘hoping we do all we can to try and get a positive result’. I know it’s only media and it’s not a tell all, but I do think his attitude is reflected in the way the team play - hesitantly and imbalanced.
It’s easy to blame a lack of forward and other teams being more established, but 1 win in 14 after another huge net spend and dropping big money signings is a step back… there’s no denying, and whether we like it or not, Cooper has to figure out a way to get us playing well and winning again. There’s simply no excuse for Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolves, Everton and soon maybe even Luton, being comfortably ahead of us.
Wolves and Bournemouth have new managers and in wolves’ case have lost players as well as changed their playing squads - how has Gary O’Neil created an identity and we haven’t? Why do Bournemouth suddenly play with swagger and beat teams in a way we never have? I love cooper but we simply cannot overlook them and seek to blame everything on anything but him. He’s the manager and if he takes credit for the glory, he takes responsibility for the slump. I don’t want him gone, particularly if the solution is Nuno, but he’s got to get back to believing in himself a bit more and that starts by dropping the likes of Kouyate and getting the best out of a champions league midfielder in Sangare and a very talented Dominguez.
Or that Mendes is having an influence again..
You have literally been criticising Cooper for exactly the things this guy is 5x worse with
Give Cooper a spine of Jota, Moutinho, Neves, Podence, Patricio and Coady in their prime and then see what happens to his win rate.
Give Nuno a spine of Turner, Niakhate, Kouyate and Wood and see what happens to his PL record
Doesn’t matter who the manager is until this is sorted View attachment 70462
this sounds a lot like the stuff you were saying about cooper when we were about to sign/ had just signed him as i remember? Nuno has been more successful (by a big step) than Cooper?For defensive football.
But you can add in Chris Hughton turgidity for good measure.
You'll be wanting this one out well before the end of the season. The difference is that I'll be calling for it right alongside you
It’s a good question, and as we are now serious business being the Prem, we need to start acting like a serious business
Recruitment till now - I get the frenzied approach. But now we need joined up thinking, with recruitment, scouts, Wilson, cooper and EM around the table several times a year
We need a CF, winger and possibly a goalie in Jan.
We need 7/8 players out the door
We need another 7/8 out the door in the summer
We need a business discussion around recruitment of 4/5 max players this summer with the final say belonging to the manager
Everyone needs to be aligned. We have several loans of which 2/3 should be sent back in 2 weeks
We have many out of contract players this summer, and at least 3-4 who will be sold.
We will free up millions in wages in the next 6 months. BUT, survival in this weakest of premier leagues will not paper over the cracks
Those 4/5 players this summer need an 80% hit rate. And if cooper is still manager, he needs to show he can form these players into a mid table/top half team in the first quarter of next season
The problem needs fixing regardless of whether he goes or stays though? Cooper’s superpower has been the ability to forge a team that believes in its self but… he is not seeming to do that this year?I've never been clear on who is responsible for the signing of new players, if it's Coops then he needs to go, if not he stays and the problem needs fixing.
Nuno's success at Wolves was based around the security of playing 3 centre backs and 2 holding midfielders.However ,similar to Cooper, when he tried to be more expansive he didn't get the same results.Therefore it is difficult to say whether this would actually improve anything and be down to luck on how the players would respond to him. He is not a bad manager but is he going to improve matters? Personally I am more worried about our lack of depth upfront and a number of players going to AFCON than the manager.
Agreed.Nuno would fo fine with a new striker. So would Cooper.
They will both get relegated without one.
That is the issue.
i think the difference is cooper will not be given time whereas as a new manager Nuno would have enough time to turn it around.Nuno's success at Wolves was based around the security of playing 3 centre backs and 2 holding midfielders.However ,similar to Cooper, when he tried to be more expansive he didn't get the same results.Therefore it is difficult to say whether this would actually improve anything and be down to luck on how the players would respond to him. He is not a bad manager but is he going to improve matters? Personally I am more worried about our lack of depth upfront and a number of players going to AFCON than the manager.
I don't disagree with any of thatI happen to agree with all of this, but I also think Coopers own worst enemy this season has been Cooper. His championship Forest played with absolute swagger and belief and you could tell it stemmed from the belief of the manager…
whilst I absolutely understand the challenge is far harder in this league and you cannot simply replicate that level of forward playing football immediately, the manager appears to have lost his own identity and I worry that he’s a little unsure as to how to get it back without creating problems elsewhere.
You can feel it in the press conferences - he’s gone from talking so confidently about his teams ability to go and win games to ‘hoping we do all we can to try and get a positive result’. I know it’s only media and it’s not a tell all, but I do think his attitude is reflected in the way the team play - hesitantly and imbalanced.
It’s easy to blame a lack of forward and other teams being more established, but 1 win in 14 after another huge net spend and dropping big money signings is a step back… there’s no denying, and whether we like it or not, Cooper has to figure out a way to get us playing well and winning again. There’s simply no excuse for Bournemouth, Fulham, Wolves, Everton and soon maybe even Luton, being comfortably ahead of us.
Wolves and Bournemouth have new managers and in wolves’ case have lost players as well as changed their playing squads - how has Gary O’Neil created an identity and we haven’t? Why do Bournemouth suddenly play with swagger and beat teams in a way we never have? I love cooper but we simply cannot overlook them and seek to blame everything on anything but him. He’s the manager and if he takes credit for the glory, he takes responsibility for the slump. I don’t want him gone, particularly if the solution is Nuno, but he’s got to get back to believing in himself a bit more and that starts by dropping the likes of Kouyate and getting the best out of a champions league midfielder in Sangare and a very talented Dominguez.
It's not so much that other people can't see it, more that its not a problem that's worth going on and on about because we can't really solve it.To me it seems so obvious, but it seems so few people can see it.