Ronald Koeman discussion

[riddick]

There are goals in the team if played correctly,
Rooney
Sigurdsson
Sandro
Even Mirallas
Klassen
DCL
All these can score goals but not shoehorned into a system that makes them all play out of position.

1 goal so far in his professional career. Let's not be hyping up a young lad that looks really good WHEN played in his correct position.

This coming from a guy who said he literally saw nothing that showed him being a footballer. Shocking what happens when you play a person in his correct position.

 

[R934]

I'm sorry to pull you up on this but koeman wanted a striker. He had a list of strikers and the task was then handed over to our director of football and transfer committee in bill and Rob to get one over the line.

The issue here is that the team is set up to play with a cf and the board and dof essentially let him down over that. It's hardly fair to hold him accountable when he came out after pretty much every game so far and said he wanted one.

Hold koeman accountable for his tactics, motivation, player recruitment and the rest but don't hold him accountable for the players the board let him down on, for the second year in a row might I add.

Why are people buying into the myth a striker fixes this team?

We are totally unbalanced with or without a number 9 - trying to fit our midfield together is a puzzle within a puzzle, and thats outside of the lack of forward options.
Regardless of who officially makes the signings, Koeman was quite happy with the players we got, and it is in his best interests to work with the current set-up instead of throwing out titbits for the board, media, and fans alike.

Was it not Koeman who played with no width yesterday, signed a £45m 'number 10' only to play him left of a front 3, played Sandro central, shoehorned Rooney wide right, and then clogged the midfield with samey players each more narrower then the other.

The whole argument a striker fixes this is once again making excuses when none are required. Having a targetman doesn't fix the lack of movement from the midfield, it doesn't suddenly fix the lack of width/pace that's been stripped from the team, and nor does it fix a defence -as a collective not individuals- that is average at best.

We've played with no hunger -even the matches we won- and yesterday you'd have expected a reaction of sorts (even more so when we were 3-nil down) but as Koeman put it, admittedly with more pazazz the first goal killed the game, they have one of the best squads so its no real surprise we lost. God only knows the pitchforks and torches would be rounding Goodsion had that been Martinez.

On a side note if you are really going down the route of 'Koeman wanted' but didn't get then we may as well call this season a dud until January?

 

[billyblue80]

..I get the striker point and the need to score goals but it's not like we are missing a host of chances. I feel like a stuck record, but I want to see a team that possess a threat and creativity. The lack of chances is more of a concern for me, other than having more of a focal point I'm not sure Lukaku would've scored goals yesterday.

Good point, lack of width and pace and balance. Three number tens smacks of Koeman struggling to find his best team. Williams/Martina are his favourites to our detriment. We need width we need energy then Rooney/Sig will be able to orchestrate this team.

 

[CerberusFX]

I know things aren't great but not quite that bad that we need David Moyes back, I don't know if people are on a wind up or not, the way he treated us when he left he can rot on the mouldy wood pile of forgotten managers, or he can journeyman his way through life well away from us thanks.

 

[Eggs]

...I might have this wrong and I'm sure there are folk on here more qualified to confirm this point or otherwise, but I recall Southampton having really poor spells under his managership but always turning it around to finish the season respectfully.

 

[Kenshin]

Why are people buying into the myth a striker fixes this team?

We are totally unbalanced with or without a number 9 - trying to fit our midfield together is a puzzle within a puzzle, and thats outside of the lack of forward options.
Regardless of who officially makes the signings, Koeman was quite happy with the players we got, and it is in his best interests to work with the current set-up instead of throwing out titbits for the board, media, and fans alike.

Was it not Koeman who played with no width yesterday, signed a £45m 'number 10' only to play him left of a front 3, played Sandro central, shoehorned Rooney wide right, and then clogged the midfield with samey players each more narrower then the other.

The whole argument a striker fixes this is once again making excuses when none are required. Having a targetman doesn't fix the lack of movement from the midfield, it doesn't suddenly fix the lack of width/pace that's been stripped from the team, and nor does it fix a defence -as a collective not individuals- that is average at best.

We've played with no hunger -even the matches we won- and yesterday you'd have expected a reaction of sorts (even more so when we were 3-nil down) but as Koeman put it, admittedly with more pazazz the first goal killed the game, they have one of the best squads so its no real surprise we lost. God only knows the pitchforks and torches would be rounding Goodsion had that been Martinez.

On a side note if you are really going down the route of 'Koeman wanted' but didn't get then we may as well call this season a dud until January?

The striker makes a lot of difference in the team right now. Sandro lewen Rooney siggurdson klassen. What they all have in common? They are all effective playing off the striker. Some of the things a striker we need would do

1. Hold the ball up giving us an outlet
2. Allow players mentioned to play off him, get in behind playing off him, just have someone who can bring others into the attack
3. Set piece attacker who isn't a defender
4. Someone to cross it to

Without a cf we have no-one to cross it to yet we insist on crossing it in over and over. We kick it long when defending deep yet as shown vs city the best we have in lewen doing that has to then immediately run for goal because they have no strength yo hold it up.

There are many ways to play sure, but you kinda need a focal point or 3 fast direct attackers. We have neither and the team 8s set up yo play off a striker we don't have.

And it has to work NOW, not wait until January because we won't sign a decent striker in January, world cup year is generally relegation window. If we get lucky and get an out of favour one then fantastic, but we need this attack to click now because if it doesn't we are going to struggle

 

[Lanolin]

..I get the striker point and the need to score goals but it's not like we are missing a host of chances. I feel like a stuck record, but I want to see a team that possess a threat and creativity. The lack of chances is more of a concern for me, other than having more of a focal point I'm not sure Lukaku would've scored goals yesterday.

I agree with the general point but I think this season has highlighted just how wrong some people were about lukaku.

Yes he has his limitations, but he could turn a half chance into a goal, could cause panic in defences just by chasing a long clearance. People were so intent on focusing on what he couldn't do that they stopped seeing what he offered us. Anyone who thought he was just a finisher really wasn't paying attention. We're missing someone who offers the constant threat that lukaku did.

 

[orly]

...I might have this wrong and I'm sure there are folk on here more qualified to confirm this point or otherwise, but I recall Southampton having really poor spells under his managership but always turning it around to finish the season respectfully.

Great, do you know if they paid him nearly half a million quid to do so with top six targets?

 

[billyblue80]

...I might have this wrong and I'm sure there are folk on here more qualified to confirm this point or otherwise, but I recall Southampton having really poor spells under his managership but always turning it around to finish the season respectfully.

Also same as last year until Christmas. It seems he works them hard in training that pays off later in the year, also he tinkers too much when he hasn't found an effective team.

 

[abelard]

I assume RK had a system in mind when he bought these footballers.

^ This (from a different thread)

I know it will take time, and Koeman was able to turn things around last year (and at Saints before that). And we had 7 new players starting yesterday.

But Sigurdsson, Rooney, Klassen at the same time - it's hard to see what the plan even is here, never mind how to perfect it.

It certainly didn't look like we're only a better target-man away from everything working perfectly.

 

[bignev23]

Sort your heads out you gang of hysterical unstable over emotional drama loving cretins, we've lost two games and your acting like your lives have been destroyed and your world has fell apart. It's the same people posting the same vitriol Every time we don't look Boss or we're crap cos they dislike Koeman. Some come out the woodwork when the time is right and others are permanently spouting their crap and when he does move on we'll most likely go through the same cycle with the next manager and the next and the next and the next and so on and your cryarsing won't have changed anything but it will show you for what you are... a narcissistic stain on humanity trying to make yourself sound important and failing miserably.

 

[ToffeeTim]

...I might have this wrong and I'm sure there are folk on here more qualified to confirm this point or otherwise, but I recall Southampton having really poor spells under his managership but always turning it around to finish the season respectfully.

A respectable finish tho is to do no worse than matching last year's 7th, but also far better cup runs. Do we look like that at the minute? No. So he needs to find the answers quickly.

 

[Eggs]

Great, do you know if they paid him nearly half a million quid to do so with top six targets?

..there were a few times I thought Soton were in real trouble but by the end of the season they were invariably in a similar position to us.

 

[Eggs]

A respectable finish tho is to do no worse than matching last year's 7th, but also far better cup runs. Do we look like that at the minute? No. So he needs to find the answers quickly.

..it's a strange trait, though, to have such a diversity of performance and results in a single season.

 

[matty1878]

Sort your heads out you gang of hysterical unstable over emotional drama loving cretins, we've lost two games and your acting like your lives have been destroyed and your world has fell apart. It's the same people posting the same vitriol Every time we don't look Boss or we're crap cos they dislike Koeman. Some come out the woodwork when the time is right and others are permanently spouting their crap and when he does move on we'll most likely go through the same cycle with the next manager and the next and the next and the next and so on and your cryarsing won't have changed anything but it will show you for what you are... a narcissistic stain on humanity trying to make yourself sound important and failing miserably.

United a week today will be three on the bounce in the league. Something is a miss right now formations, tactics , I don't know I don't know. But we need to wake up