David Unsworth - Temporary Manager

[Kev50]

So you are comparing unsworth to Alex Ferguson? Actually consider how that comes across here mate!

As for instant improvement, in 5 games yes I would expect some improvement in the defence. If we sacked koeman for doing such a bad job and unsworth is meant to be good enough to be caretaker for this long then I do exoect improvement.

At the end of the day unsworth defence is literally conceding 2 EVERY game. Not just one or two games but every game we play so like I said 2 weeks ago, we are in a position where we need to score 3 times in a game to win. As shown on Saturday, we don't score 3 times we don't win.

That is a relegation team. Simple as that, when a team has to score 3 times to win a game then that's a relegation team because it means every week we are going to concede at least twice. Thst I believe is just not good enough after 5 games in charge

This isn’t directed at you particularly but I find a lot of people’s expectwtions of what Unsworth or indeed anyone could achieve in the last month to be way off. We have a dreadfully unbalanced and demoralise squad, fighting now in a league where no Side is a pushover . And you are saying that conceding two goals is unacceptable after we’ve taken four points from the last six.
Unsworth has done better than I thought. We have a shocking defence midfield and attack, at this point anyhing w get is a bonus. We are in a worse position than ever before, no time now for football, we’ve got to scrap evey game, and w are at the moment

 

[Kenshin]

This isn’t directed at you particularly but I find a lot of people’s expectwtions of what Unsworth or indeed anyone could achieve in the last month to be way off. We have a dreadfully unbalanced and demoralise squad, fighting now in a league where no Side is a pushover . And you are saying that conceding two goals is unacceptable after we’ve taken four points from the last six.
Unsworth has done better than I thought. We have a shocking defence midfield and attack, at this point anyhing w get is a bonus. We are in a worse position than ever before, no time now for football, we’ve got to scrap evey game, and w are at the moment

I do genuinely believe 2 goals a game is not good enough . Simply because we can't keep expecting the attack to score 2-3 goals every game at the same time. Even conceding one is fine for one lapse but it's twice a game at least every game. It's Not that difficult to defend for 90 minutes eith the amount of experience we have at the back. So I raise the question how 3 experienced defenders cannot shut an attack out for 90 minutes at least once in 5 games.

This isn't necessarily unsworth doing as we leaked goals before hand. But it adds to the point unsworth isn't good enough because he has failed to address the issue. Simply put we don't concede we don't get beat except we continually concede

And the main issue why conceding 2 is so poor is because not every team will allow us to score 2 ourselves. We have got 4 out of 6, but somehow relied on pure luck and should have had 0 points.from them games. Take them as they come but I'm realistic to recognise that the team is still nowhere near functional

 

[jceverton]

This just isn't true though, it's just a convenient lie to suit the argument for Unsworth. We conceded the first goal against Bournemouth but fought back to win, battled back to draw against Brighton and Split, rallied impressively against Lyon before ultimately failing, and recovered from one down against Limassol to lead before again failing. There's no difference, we were a missed pen and a scuffed Benteke effort away from both of the last 2 games ending in heroic failure aswell. This team isn't lacking in effort, and hasn't been all season. It's just lacking in quality.

A convenient lie?! If you think we'd have comeback 5 times in 2 consecutive games and get a win/draw under Koeman then I think you're wrong. We haven't done that for 2 consecutive games under Koeman. We lost to Burnley, no fightback, we did then get an equaliser against Brighton, then lost to Lyon when we couldn't comeback to get a draw. Then there was the abject capitulation against Arsenal. We all know the team is lacking in quality but it was certainly lacking in spirit and fight as well.

 

[Joey66]

I haven't mentioned Koeman. Koeman rightly got sacked for his performances this season.

You're telling us that Unsworth has improved the performances when he's quite clearly making the same mistakes as Koeman. There's been zero improvement in the quality of football/tactics/team selection. To me that does not justify giving somebody the job.

And for the record I'd rather have a manager with a bit of tactical nous who could set us up to win from the start and not have to make changes at half time every week, having conceded first or getting beat.

Well in 3 prem games won 1 drawn one lost one away 4 points under RK the way we were going I guess that would have been NIL points!
Unsy will not be our permanent manager, but he has done ok stepping in - stopped a bit of the rot!

 

[Lanolin]

A convenient lie?! If you think we'd have comeback 5 times in 2 consecutive games and get a win/draw under Koeman then I think you're wrong. We haven't done that for 2 consecutive games under Koeman. We lost to Burnley, no fightback, we did then get an equaliser against Brighton, then lost to Lyon when we couldn't comeback to get a draw. Then there was the abject capitulation against Arsenal. We all know the team is lacking in quality but it was certainly lacking in spirit and fight as well.

Well that's very specific criteria you're using isn't it? I can tell you that the team had come from behind to get something from a game on 4 occasions under Koeman this season, and 8 times last season, so it hardly seems beyond the realms of possibility to me. There was indeed an abject capitulation against Arsenal, quite similar to the one at Lyon I'd say, and there was no sniff of a comeback against Leicester either.

The players were trying for Koeman, and they're trying for Unsworth. Unfortunately trying isn't always enough, and saying you were able to get back into games against Watford and Palace so you're clearly trying harder than when you couldn't get back into games against Chelsea and Spurs doesn't really hold up under scrutiny.

 

[Abraders]

Well that's very specific criteria you're using isn't it? I can tell you that the team had come from behind to get something from a game on 4 occasions under Koeman this season, and 8 times last season, so it hardly seems beyond the realms of possibility to me. There was indeed an abject capitulation against Arsenal, quite similar to the one at Lyon I'd say, and there was no sniff of a comeback against Leicester either.

The players were trying for Koeman, and they're trying for Unsworth. Unfortunately trying isn't always enough, and saying you were able to get back into games against Watford and Palace so you're clearly trying harder than when you couldn't get back into games against Chelsea and Spurs doesn't really hold up under scrutiny.

I think they were trying to a degree, Koemans downfall was singling players out so often - as well as not buying into the whole pressing malarky

 

[jceverton]

Well that's very specific criteria you're using isn't it? I can tell you that the team had come from behind to get something from a game on 4 occasions under Koeman this season, and 8 times last season, so it hardly seems beyond the realms of possibility to me. There was indeed an abject capitulation against Arsenal, quite similar to the one at Lyon I'd say, and there was no sniff of a comeback against Leicester either.

The players were trying for Koeman, and they're trying for Unsworth. Unfortunately trying isn't always enough, and saying you were able to get back into games against Watford and Palace so you're clearly trying harder than when you couldn't get back into games against Chelsea and Spurs doesn't really hold up under scrutiny.

The criteria I'm using is the one I originally quoted which you said was a convenient lie. Its the only one I can use because I was only referring to the past two games as an indication that team spirit had improved compared to Koeman. It's not just about trying though it's about having a bit of spirit, not giving up and a belief that you can equalise etc. I just wasn't seeing that myself towards the end of Koeman's time here.

 

[Eggsyblueskin]

The criteria I'm using is the one I originally quoted which you said was a convenient lie. Its the only one I can use because I was only referring to the past two games as an indication that team spirit had improved compared to Koeman. It's not just about trying though it's about having a bit of spirit, not giving up and a belief that you can equalise etc. I just wasn't seeing that myself towards the end of Koeman's time here.

You may be right, but it’s a slender reason to continue with a manager.

 

[Lanolin]

The criteria I'm using is the one I originally quoted which you said was a convenient lie. Its the only one I can use because I was only referring to the past two games as an indication that team spirit had improved compared to Koeman. It's not just about trying though it's about having a bit of spirit, not giving up and a belief that you can equalise etc. I just wasn't seeing that myself towards the end of Koeman's time here.

No i'm talking about the criteria that we never came from behind 5 times in 2 games under Koeman. That's pretty specific. What I'm saying in response though is in Koeman's last week in charge we kept fighting to get a last minute penalty to equalise against Brighton, then came back from 1-0 down to equalise against Lyon (and actually look quite good for a period before being undone by dreadful defending again) and then even managed a late consolation goal because the players were still running down the keeper at 4-1 down v Arsenal.

Nothing's changed. They don't even have more belief, look how panicked they've been in the last 2 games - we gave a stupid penalty away against Watford when we should have been on top of the world, and gifted Benteke a chance when we should have been exerting control of the game. Having somehow got in level at half time, do you honestly think we looked like a team with the belief we could win the game on Saturday? We looked like we were paralysed with fear and it seemed a matter of time until we finally caved. That we didn't was more to do with poor finishing than improved spirit.

The players aren't lacking in effort. Pace, creativity, balance, goal threat, leadership yes, effort no.

 

[Titus Bramble]

He’s brought back a bit of fight and heart in the team, but not a lot else imo. This is fine for a stop-gap and he’s done a decent job considering what he has at his disposal. Still hoping for someone else to be brought in

 

[hktoffee]

What has he done to Barton lol?

And I want a new perm manager btw not Unsy.

 

[diggerdestroyer]

Tactics are awful. Lucky in picking up his 4 points. Nowhere near the long term solution.

But has the players working hard and putting in an effort which might get us points on the board over the next 4 matches which are critical.

 

[PeregrineT]

The issue with Unsworth hasnt been that he just hasnt had enough time. The issue is his decisions have been mind boggling foolish. I mean, you come up against the worst team in the league, who has only scored 4 goals, and you play 2 defensive mids, and on top of that tell all of your wingers and everyone else to sit in and soak up pressure?

You give confidence to the one team that has it, and give them the ONE chance, massive ball possession, to score goals. The best defense is a good offense. Playing so deep against a bad team lets them bring up players they wouldnt otherwise, because they would be worried about a counter attack. Instead, they can now pack 6 in the box, which always leads to goals.

 

[Milkman]

The issue with Unsworth hasnt been that he just hasnt had enough time. The issue is his decisions have been mind boggling foolish. I mean, you come up against the worst team in the league, who has only scored 4 goals, and you play 2 defensive mids, and on top of that tell all of your wingers and everyone else to sit in and soak up pressure?

You give confidence to the one team that has it, and give them the ONE chance, massive ball possession, to score goals. The best defense is a good offense. Playing so deep against a bad team lets them bring up players they wouldnt otherwise, because they would be worried about a counter attack. Instead, they can now pack 6 in the box, which always leads to goals.

That's sort of true, but we don't have an offence capable of being a good defence. You can understand why we sat deep against Palace when they were playing two very quick forwards against our two very slow defenders. The idea was to hit them on the counter, but it wasn't working – usually either because we were too cautious with the ball (as we have been for about 2 years) or Jagielka was hoofing it as he always does.

I think Unsworth has done pretty well with what he's got to be honest. He got his tactics right in the second half by matching their diamond. It made the game scrappy, but it stopped their possession. It also helped that he brought off Schneiderlin. The fans need to show a bit of patience with him; it's not his fault the squad's a mess. We're not going to be very good at football until we have another striker to back up Prince Oumar, Coleman comes back and Baines and Jagielka are replaced.

 

[PeregrineT]

That's sort of true, but we don't have an offence capable of being a good defence. You can understand why we sat deep against Palace when they were playing two very quick forwards against our two very slow defenders. The idea was to hit them on the counter, but it wasn't working – usually either because we were too cautious with the ball (as we have been for about 2 years) or Jagielka was hoofing it as he always does.

I think Unsworth has done pretty well with what he's got to be honest. He got his tactics right in the second half by matching their diamond. It made the game scrappy, but it stopped their possession. It also helped that he brought off Schneiderlin. The fans need to show a bit of patience with him; it's not his fault the squad's a mess. We're not going to be very good at football until we have another striker to back up Prince Oumar, Coleman comes back and Baines and Jagielka are replaced.

In reality, we dont have players capable of a good defence. But having an IMPROVED offence would lead to an IMPROVED defence, they are linked. Giving up 2 of the only 6 goals they have scored all year is dreadful. You can try and excuse why he used those tactics, but we saw the results, and results speak louder than words.

I cant understand why we sat deep against them. It doesnt matter about the quickness of their forwards, those same ones had managed only 4 goals this season. And you dont play to hit someone on the counter without players forward to counter. Its like telling your players to cross at every opportunity and then telling them not to go into the box. Its madness. If you play a strategy, you must play it completely across all fronts, not just in 1/3rd of your team.

The worst team in the entire league had 68% possession, and deserved to win that game, and you think "Unsworth has done pretty well"? If thats our standard instead of NSNO, than maybe we deserve to be relegated.

I have on qualms about being patient waiting for players to gel, and mangers to have their influence, but that wasnt "rust" in that match, that was one of the most boneheaded tactical decisions Ive seen.