2018/19 Marco Silva - New Poll Added

[Eggsyblueskin]

My issue is it doesn't necessarily matter the quality of the squad. Klopp had a squad of the likes of Ricky Lambert and Borini yet took them to a cup and later Europa League Final.

Martinez had a side with the likes of Lukaku, Barkley and Stones in yet finished below garbage sides like Stoke who had the likes of Berahinho up top.

Good managers can push sides on look at Moyes taking the team we had into the top 4 that year.

My concern is regardless of who we sign in January Silva's not the man to get the best out of them.

We'll never win a league title or trophy if we cant defend or have no Plan B. Klopps Liverpool couldn't do that and they had the forwards to blow teams away which we realistically will never have.

A more balanced manager was and is still needed after Alladyce.

A dream appointment for me would be Conte

A realistic appointment would be Mancini

A wildcard appoint Nagellsman who has Hoffenheim very well balanced in attack and defence whilst still young and upcoming.

Until December our defending was actually good. Playing this style of football will always leave teams vulnerable at times but I thought Silva managed it well until our recent wobble.
I think you’re just going to have to buckle up and try to enjoy the ride this year as there is little appetite for a return to managerial instability among the majority of supporters , and I suspect absolutely none at all at amongst Moshiri and Brands who will be determined to give the manager time to prove his worth.
Come back next Christmas for a more reasoned debate of where we are and where we are going. At this point there is too little evidence and ,some of it conflicting, to make a definitive decision.
It is unlikely that any manager however talented will be able to transform a long term established mid table club into consistent top six contenders in 4 months.
Who ever occupies the managerial seat needs at least 18 months of support before we cast judgement on their worth, whether we personally like them or not.
Barring a major collapse of course.
* ( I of course rather hypocritically exclude gravy guzzling brummie bizzies sons from the equation . )

 

[Toffeelover]

We aren't Manchester City. There isn´t enough money to go out and buy the best players in the world. Can´t see a scenario in which Conte thinks coming to coach this squad of players would be a good idea. It´s a huge project and a bloody difficult one.

That is not the point he is making, it is the last line.

 

[dannyboy]

That is not the point he is making, it is the last line.

Who knows, it´s only been a few months. Granted the signs aren´t brilliant but we´ve got to at least give the fella a bit of time. Any of the managers listed could come in and struggle.

 

[Toffeelover]

Who knows, it´s only been a few months. Granted the signs aren´t brilliant but we´ve got to at least give the fella a bit of time. Any of the managers listed could come in and struggle.

I agree, in another post I have expressed my concern but am prepared to wait for season end.

 

[Toffeelover]

Except he plays Walcott in every match instead of anyone else. That means he rates Walcott.

Must be the only one judging from the Walcott thread.

 

[brieverton]

I think we would be a laughing stock if Silva were to leave anytime soon. Ask yourself, is it more or less likely one of these top-bracket managers would want to come to us in that scenario, knowing there would be even more pressure on them than Silva being a big name?

Also, for all of the appointments since Moyes left, we haven't been linked with anyone with a record of achievement in one of the big leagues. The top managers can take up jobs and then wait for a period if they leave before going back in again. Tuchel was another flavour of the month candidate last year but if we did approach him, and we probably did, then it didn't get us anywhere. Even Koeman, who has done comparatively little outside the Eredivisie, took weeks of persuading before he joined. I wish he hadn't bothered, but anyway.

There is pressure on Silva, and so there should be. If he fails here, he will just be another journeyman manager. At least both he and us have the incentive to get things right, and in this case, I'd prefer a manager with age on his side than the likes of Pellegrini.

It will be a further 12 months on before I think we can say with a degree of certainty whether he will be a success or not. I am disappointed in how things have gone recently but that is small beer compared to the problems we will face if we are on the hunt for yet another man.

 

[crackers]

I find this stressing about finishing 8th last year and if 7th is a major jump madness. Most seasons there's a top group of 5 or 6 teams. Then a few points gap, then another bunch down to 10th or 11th. Then the rest. There's nearly nothing to choose between 10th and 7th most seasons and can often be decided on the final day and most players will care little between the two, it's not like either even comes with an EL place.

But surely the key here is to become a member of the group above? It seems to me the manager makes a clear impact on results, but equally that impact can become greater as he gets a number of transfer windows under his belt and gets in the players to suit how he wants to play. There's 2 steps imo,

1. can the manager perform with any group of players? This is what he has when he joins. His 1st window is almost useless as he'll not really know his players inside out.
2. What can he achieve with players who are bought for the system he wants to implement? This take multiple transfer windows.

Some managers can be good at both of those things above, some are good at the 1st and some are good at the 2nd. The problem is to get to the 2nd without being sacked, you need to be at least adequate at the 1st. What we're seeing now is Silva is adequate at the 1st. Surely once he's gone that far you need to see what he can achieve once the players are "his"?

 

[catcherintherye]

I think we would be a laughing stock if Silva were to leave anytime soon. Ask yourself, is it more or less likely one of these top-bracket managers would want to come to us in that scenario, knowing there would be even more pressure on them than Silva being a big name?

Also, for all of the appointments since Moyes left, we haven't been linked with anyone with a record of achievement in one of the big leagues. The top managers can take up jobs and then wait for a period if they leave before going back in again. Tuchel was another flavour of the month candidate last year but if we did approach him, and we probably did, then it didn't get us anywhere. Even Koeman, who has done comparatively little outside the Eredivisie, took weeks of persuading before he joined. I wish he hadn't bothered, but anyway.

There is pressure on Silva, and so there should be. If he fails here, he will just be another journeyman manager. At least both he and us have the incentive to get things right, and in this case, I'd prefer a manager with age on his side than the likes of Pellegrini.

It will be a further 12 months on before I think we can say with a degree of certainty whether he will be a success or not. I am disappointed in how things have gone recently but that is small beer compared to the problems we will face if we are on the hunt for yet another man.

Forget top level managers, even potential prospects would think twice about us. It would greatly undermine Moshiri across the football world as delusional.

We would be sacking a manager, who took over a side who got 48 points last season, and got hammered on about 10 occasions. A side who reduced it's wage bill in the summer (though did spend a fair bit of money on transfers) though mainly on young players. Presently it's a side that looks on to improve on that score of last season, and if we continue to show improvement in the 2nd half of the season perhaps by as much as 20%.

All a prospect would see would be that you would have to reduce the wage bill, lose lots of experience in the squad and if it wasn't fixed in 6 months you get moved on. If our aim is to get the next Klopp or Pochetino they would not touch us with a barge poll. It would be career suicide.

None of this means Silva is doing brilliantly, or indeed is beyond criticism. At times we haven't converted as many points as performances would suggest. Some of it has been down to poor officiating but at times there has been a naivety from players or as a team. The fixtures have also been quite unkind to us and there are more opportunities in the 2nd half of the season . If we can work ourselves out of the slump, I really do think we can go to the end of the season losing 2 or 3 games more. There are not many fixtures I look at now and think we should be losing.

The team is exhausted though. We need to find a way to win tomorrow. Lads like DCL should be fresh. Win that, and ideally follow it up with a hammering of Lincoln to boost confidence (plus a handy draw for the cup) and we have a different feel around the place.

But you are right, sacking Silva would look a really stupid manoeuvre.

 

[Blues Harp]

Forget top level managers, even potential prospects would think twice about us. It would greatly undermine Moshiri across the football world as delusional.

We would be sacking a manager, who took over a side who got 48 points last season, and got hammered on about 10 occasions. A side who reduced it's wage bill in the summer (though did spend a fair bit of money on transfers) though mainly on young players. Presently it's a side that looks on to improve on that score of last season, and if we continue to show improvement in the 2nd half of the season perhaps by as much as 20%.

All a prospect would see would be that you would have to reduce the wage bill, lose lots of experience in the squad and if it wasn't fixed in 6 months you get moved on. If our aim is to get the next Klopp or Pochetino they would not touch us with a barge poll. It would be career suicide.

None of this means Silva is doing brilliantly, or indeed is beyond criticism. At times we haven't converted as many points as performances would suggest. Some of it has been down to poor officiating but at times there has been a naivety from players or as a team. The fixtures have also been quite unkind to us and there are more opportunities in the 2nd half of the season . If we can work ourselves out of the slump, I really do think we can go to the end of the season losing 2 or 3 games more. There are not many fixtures I look at now and think we should be losing.

The team is exhausted though. We need to find a way to win tomorrow. Lads like DCL should be fresh. Win that, and ideally follow it up with a hammering of Lincoln to boost confidence (plus a handy draw for the cup) and we have a different feel around the place.

But you are right, sacking Silva would look a really stupid manoeuvre.

Stop Making sense .... You know its Pellegrini we want....

 

[ijjysmith]

There is literally not chance on earth Silva is going anywhere this season or next, probably the one after too.

We could finish anywhere from 8th to 15th and I don’t think he’d be going anywhere.

 

[HKIV]

Let us know what he has on Moshiri? Lol.

If he finishes 9-15th this season and we are no better by November next season even Mother Teresa would give him his P45,

 

[jazzy]

It would be the height of madness to even think of getting rid of MS.

We are terribly inconsistent and when you make wholesale changes to the squad and way of playing that is to be expected.

Before the start of the season I said that I would accept us dropping a couple of league places if we could see a fluent playing style developing , the culling of deadwood and the introduction of younger players.

Yes it is dissappointing ( particularly for Moshiri ) to see the amount that we have spent and see no progress in terms of points gained but I think ( hope ) that he will see the bigger picture and give him and Brands time to make meaningful change and hopefully progress.

It is obvious to anyone , and I'm sure Silva and Brands, that we need to shift at least 5 more senior players and bring in a striker , right sided attacker , 2 midfielders and a long term replacement for Coleman before we can talk about breaking into the top 6.

Getting into the top 4 will be very very difficult unless Brands unearths a real superstar.

Sure we have spent a chunk of money but so has everyone else and we have no divine right to be higher placed than we are.

The most we can hope for in the short term would be a good cup run and I hope that MS takes the FA cup very seriously.

 

[RichardP]

The amount of improvement required to break into the top six is huge imho and we aren't close to doing that.

So, the question is, are we making progress and at least narrowing the gap to the top six?

We, generally speaking, are much more pleasing on the eye than last season but we have much to do to even be considered a credible threat to the top six, again, imho.

What we need to do now is to turn occasionally pretty football into consistent results football while retaining the style. That requires 2 quality strikers, a new right back, Gomes signed permanently and a new quality cm to push or play alongside Gomes.

So, lots to do and we are taking 2 steps forward followed by one step backwards but Silva has done enough to be persevered with, without covering himself in glory. Lots of improvement is required.

I give Silva a C+ but he needs to be targeting B+ or A- if we are to threaten the top six consistently.

 

[ijjysmith]

Let us know what he has on Moshiri? Lol.

If he finishes 9-15th this season and we are no better by November next season even Mother Teresa would give him his P45,

You miss the point.

We were broken when he got here. It’s going to take a lot longer than this season to fix it.

 

[BlueToff]

Well no actually it doesn't. It means he does not think we have anything better, hard to disagree with given those in waiting.

and @riddick

While I'm sure he does rate Walcott (because Walcott is a good, proven player) it's probably more down to the style of player. Walcott adds balance to our side. We have two players in Bernard and Lookman who want to get on the ball and drive forward from deep/link the play. Walcott's game is about stretching the opposition.

We don't currently have another player that does that, other than maybe Richarlison, who is a bit of a mix of the above types of player probably, with that added power to boot.

We've seen when Lookman has played on the right that it hasn't quite clicked. Maybe because on the other side we've had Bernard/Richarlison looking to do exactly the same thing and come towards the ball instead of moving in behind the defence.

So really, we need a player that offers what Walcott does, but it with more quality.