2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

Status
Not open for further replies.
If we’re not in Europe and don’t win a trophy what happens then? As that looks the most likely outcome at the moment.

I am going to debate this comment by saying, what if we are in Europe and/or win a trophy?

Seriously though, we are still in the hunt for European places and anything can happen in a one off game. I would not say it is the most likely outcome.

We have had too many off nights against opposition where we are outright favourites, however, we are still there. Another 4 game winning streak may be just around the corner?
 
CL aspirations? I never had any and at no point have we looked anywhere near that level tbh
Where we are in the table tells me we have, performances tell me otherwise.
That has to be the aim, this league is wide open this season look at Chelsea 3 wins on the bounce since Tuchel came in and now there sitting 4th. We should have close to our strongest team come the derby at the weekend we haven’t had that since November.
 
Every new manager is stuck with the squad they inherit, it's up to the manager to motivate and get them to play.

I still don't know 14 months after he joined what he is trying to implement in a way of playing, if anything the football has gradually declined.
And yet we won at Leeds where we've only won once before in living memory and just won the FA Cup tie of the century. So much dross to get rid of yet and even that won't be a quick fix.
 

In the last 20 minutes against Brighton, we couldn’t get a kick of the ball. That worried me. It’s happened a lot since.

That definitely was tactical, and I agree it's happened an awful lot since.

But then again I think we all know the shaky mentality of some of these players. They're just not consistent enough.

My frustration with Carlo at times is that after 14 months he should know that to get the best out of this team, stuff has to be simplified. When he/the coaching staff try to overcomplicate it, we haven't won a game.
 
Of course, Ancelotti has a plan. The question is whether the plan is effective? So far the answer here is yes. On the other hand, one may ask whether this plan is sustainable in the long run.

This is a more difficult question. On the whole, it is difficult to predict the future. If we look behind the results, we see that we have received far more points than expected. This is not an exact science. At best, it gives an indication.

However, very few would argue that we play effective football. This means that we create many goal chances, and have largely control of the matches. This is a concern. Still, this can suddenly turn around, even if it does not look good at the moment.

My gut feeling, on the other hand, is that the curves of Arteta and Ancelotti will soon cross each other. Why do I say this?

These are two coaches with two completely different philosophies. One is more pragmatic in its approach, and thinks more about how to get results here and now. While the other is more concerned with developing something over time, and is willing to sacrifice short-term gains because it is contrary to the team's future development.

Now, one is not necessarily better than the other (although I have my subjective opinion), and I do not argue for Arteta rather than Ancelotti, but since both got the job at the same time and have chosen a completely different approach, it is an interesting comparison .
 
That definitely was tactical, and I agree it's happened an awful lot since.

But then again I think we all know the shaky mentality of some of these players. They're just not consistent enough.

My frustration with Carlo at times is that after 14 months he should know that to get the best out of this team, stuff has to be simplified. When he/the coaching staff try to overcomplicate it, we haven't won a game.
I actually thinks he trusts us more without the ball than with it hence why he concedes possession in almost every game. Once we get our strongest 11 back we may see a different style of football and more possession front foot football.
 

I think there's something in that. I would extend it to say that at times we seem to have a fairly laissez-faire approach to the way we play. Although it's a very different set up, it feels at times a little bit like it did in the latter days of Martinez, as though the plan to win the game is literally 'just go out there and be better at football at them'. There's often little evidence that we've worked on specific plans to deal with opposition players, or worked on passages of play to help us break teams down; it can feel as though we're just sort of knocking the ball around waiting for an opportunity to give it to James or to get a cross into the box, if that makes sense? It's the type of thing that works with the best teams because more often than not they will just overwhelm the opposition eventually due to superior quality, but we're just not good enough to do it. I always think back to the Anfield cup debacle last season when there was talk of the players blaming the tactics, I remember saying at the time that I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't saying the tactics were wrong as such, just that they weren't actually capable of executing them. I think we work best when everybody is given a clear role in the team and they stick to it, which is why I think the identities of the back 4 was less important than the instructions the team were given.

None of that is meant to be a suggestion that he's not doing a good job or isn't the right manager for us (although of course i'm aware some people will claim it is), it's just one of the areas that I think is causing us a problem in these home games.

In teaching they used to talk a lot about the concept of a "scaffold" mate, to help learning and performance. Essentially a set of measures, ideas, concepts that would help the child in their learning. The cleverest rarely need it, but the rest will, and the less academically able often the more they need.

Ancelotti has really worked with the best, and to a degree I do think he's re-adjusting as best he can, but you can see it's a bit alien to him and in honesty it's not really his natural skillset, so on occasions he's shown up. There are also probably games whereby he just wants to go back to what he does best, which is developing very intricate tactical systems but they fall down because the players aren't ready. I do think with this set of players too, it's mentally more than technically or even physically they struggle.

You think back to those Moyes teams, and physically they were smaller and slower than this team, and technically not really as good. Someone like Gomes in both of those areas is very strong. But mentally they were brilliant, and consistent and got the msot from themselves. So back to the scaffold analogy, the players need more help.

As for the back 4 question, I do partially agree. I do think mindset helps. The players quite like simple instructions and I think quite like revelling in being the underdog. I don't really have a big issue with Digne, but Coleman now, I'll be frank, I don't think physically he is able to be defensively big and strong enough. Last night, players just waltzed past him. I mean don't get me wrong, given Coleman and Digne the instructions they had in those games would help, but he's not 6ft, he's no longer than quick or that strong.

But to a point, if his view is Coleman and Digne play- thats fine too, but we need some consistency now.
 
I actually thinks he trusts us more without the ball than with it hence why he concedes possession in almost every game. Once we get our strongest 11 back we may see a different style of football and more possession front foot football.

I don't think that's an issue - I feel the same. We're a better team off the ball, counter-attacking.

However, if that is the case, we can't be playing the midfield that we did the other day, because teams just stroll through us and dominate, even though in theory, each of those midfielders are capable on the ball.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLW

Status
Not open for further replies.
Top