EFC78
Player Valuation: £25m
When Allardyce came in, the expectation was that he would sort our defensive issues out. I think it’s clear that we have been poor defensively all season, but also toothless in attack. This hasn’t really changed to any great extent under all 3 managers, and it highlights that we have major problems throughout the team that Allardyce has not been able to sort out.
Barring the short initial run of games under him, we have been shambolic defensively all season. In a notable amount of games, the opposition have had a significantly higher number of total shots and shots on target than we have. Inevitably this has been the case against the better teams with the worst being the Arsenal game at home under Koeman where they had 30 shots, with 14 on target, compared to our 9 and 3. Against City who had 10 men for over a half, they managed 19 shots to our 7, with 6 on target to just 2 from us. Allardyce sees himself as someone who can tighten things up but the facts suggest otherwise. Against the better teams, like under Koeman, we have been under a barrage of attacks with Liverpool having 23 total shots, Chelsea 25 and Spurs 20 to our 3, 5 and 7.
More worryingly even against the poorer sides, neither Unsworth or Allardyce have been able to improve this. In the 2-2 against bottom of the league Palace under Unsworth, Palace had double the amount of shots (16 to our 8), and 7 on target to our 5, and against Southampton they had 17 in total to our 5. Against West Brom away under Allardyce, a side now rooted to the bottom, West Brom had 17 shots to our 7, and Bournemouth had 18 shots to our 6, with 7 on target to our 1.
The team is imbalanced, lacking in heart, creativity and most worryingly - any real quality.
At the end of the season, what would you do? Is it as simple as changing the manager or do we have several problems? I think the latter and wholesale changes are needed. Walsh hasn't proved himself, the old players (Jags/Williams) need to be let go, we need a new captain and most of all we need to create a well balanced side with a manager who wants to try and win every game, but approaches each game sensibly. We should not be losing 10-3 over 2 games to Arsenal, we shouldn't be losing each year at Bournemouth, Southampton and Watford or have the 87th worst away record in English Football and wasting £25-£50m on individual transfers. Moshiri has to get it right in the Summer.
Barring the short initial run of games under him, we have been shambolic defensively all season. In a notable amount of games, the opposition have had a significantly higher number of total shots and shots on target than we have. Inevitably this has been the case against the better teams with the worst being the Arsenal game at home under Koeman where they had 30 shots, with 14 on target, compared to our 9 and 3. Against City who had 10 men for over a half, they managed 19 shots to our 7, with 6 on target to just 2 from us. Allardyce sees himself as someone who can tighten things up but the facts suggest otherwise. Against the better teams, like under Koeman, we have been under a barrage of attacks with Liverpool having 23 total shots, Chelsea 25 and Spurs 20 to our 3, 5 and 7.
More worryingly even against the poorer sides, neither Unsworth or Allardyce have been able to improve this. In the 2-2 against bottom of the league Palace under Unsworth, Palace had double the amount of shots (16 to our 8), and 7 on target to our 5, and against Southampton they had 17 in total to our 5. Against West Brom away under Allardyce, a side now rooted to the bottom, West Brom had 17 shots to our 7, and Bournemouth had 18 shots to our 6, with 7 on target to our 1.
The team is imbalanced, lacking in heart, creativity and most worryingly - any real quality.
At the end of the season, what would you do? Is it as simple as changing the manager or do we have several problems? I think the latter and wholesale changes are needed. Walsh hasn't proved himself, the old players (Jags/Williams) need to be let go, we need a new captain and most of all we need to create a well balanced side with a manager who wants to try and win every game, but approaches each game sensibly. We should not be losing 10-3 over 2 games to Arsenal, we shouldn't be losing each year at Bournemouth, Southampton and Watford or have the 87th worst away record in English Football and wasting £25-£50m on individual transfers. Moshiri has to get it right in the Summer.
