The makings of a good team?

[flibbyflob]

PLAY WITH WINGERS AND PACE

Bit hard when we have no wingers and no pace.

 

[Woolly Blue]

Looking at our results, they are not bad at all, but the performances are worse each week.

Through against Ruzomberok and Hajduk SPlit
Beat Stoke and drew with Man City
Lost to Chelsea and Spurs

"For a coach you always have to know that the next game could be your last" Thomas Tuchel

This quote could be directly attributed to Ronald Koeman as well, now just over a year into a 3 year deal I think it's apparent that he picks a team to get a result out of each game with only a minimal look to the future.

"I know myself that I am a manager who really gives young players a chance when they deserve it" Ronald Koeman

There have been three different approaches to signings since Koeman was appointed manager last season;

1 -- David Unsworth has not only been bringing through young players but has also been able to spend decent amounts on players for his u23 team. The main player we can look at is Dominic Calvert-Lewin who was a 1.5million signing from Sheffield United. His success is apparent but additionally we can see the great joy it brings 'Rhino' when he sees one of his prodigies make the first team or perform well for his country.

2 -- Steve Walsh as Director of football has to agree with Koeman on each deal, or so we have been told. Personally I feel that the signings of Gana, Lookman, Sandro and Vlasic were all his choices. His remit, I think has been (and will continue to be) signing players who can come into the team for the long term at a comparatively low cost.

3 -- Ronald Koeman has clearly been focused on the short term when it comes to signings. How else can the high priced signings of Klaassen, Sigurdsson, Williams and Bolasie along with the idiotic signing of Cuco Martina be explained?

There are three signings who I think both Walsh and Koeman agreed upon: Rooney, Pickford and Keane.

Our squad is like "a little horse that still needs milk and to learn how to jump" Jose Mourinho

The problems we have are the following;

A -- Our defence is usually comprised of players who are unable to get back into a defensive position if we play a high line, therefore we sit deep as a necessity and are already very far from the opponents goal and by virtue, they are much closer to ours!

B -- We play with two defensive midfielders which would be logical if we played with very attack minded wingers or on a fast counter strategy. As we are not using these tactics or playing with such players the sole reason to use two players here must be because the defence isn't trusted and there would be a large gap between our deep defence and the centre midfield.

C -- We have Six number 10s in not only Rooney, Sigurdsson and Klaassen but the unsold Barkley, the on loan Dowell and new signing Vlasic.

D -- There is only Dominic Calvert-Lewin with the skillset required to be able to hold the ball as a traditional number 9 in the team.


"It's just a question of 5 or 10 metres whether its a 442 or a 4321; you only see teams adhering to that at kick off and perhaps eight times during the game" Julian Nagelsmann

This is what I call a balanced team, the players all compliment one another;

Pickford
Kenny Holgate Keane Baines
Schneiderlin
Davies Sigurdsson
Rooney Calvert-Lewin Lookman​

Average starting age of 23.8

Here we have injured or other players who can rotate in/out even ignoring other squad players;

Robles
Coleman(inj) Jagielka Williams Mori(inj)
Gana
Besic Klaassen
Bolasie(inj) Sandro Vlasic​

Average age of 26.5


We also have Barkley, Mirallas and others I haven't mentioned and we should be able to play good expansive attacking football with this group of players.

We appear to have the makings of a good team but although Koeman keeps talking about pressing we only seem to do it for 15 minutes of a game.

Still, the players look like they can play good football...is it Koemans tactics/formation/motivating that is lacking?

People want success. it's like coffee, they want instant. Bobby Robson

We've heard Unsworth talking last year about how the 'golden generation' are ready and yet Koeman didn't seem to think so a fortnight before being forced to play Davies after ignoring him for half a season.

Personally, I just want to see us building something...there's nothing better than seeing a young player come into the side and perform well. It does seem though that they could play well and get dropped for no reason (Calvert-Lewin/Holgate/Davies) or they could be ignored for far inferior players (Kenny) and whilst I'm patient it seems to me that these players should now be brought into the team much more frequently than before.

Now is the time for the English players of Pickford, Kenny, Holgate, Keane, Davies, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Lookman to all be considered regulars and Vlasic, Sandro, Klaassen and even Besic to be brought into the side on rotation.

I don't make promises. I promise results. Joe Royle

If we can do this and keep results going well against the teams below us last season then we will be making huge strides forward and can focus on only one or two positions to strengthen. That's the key for me and none of Koemans crying about how hard it is to finish top 6.

We cant compete with the big money signings but we need to build a team from what we have and the young lads. Despite all the negativity, we have the makings of a good team.

That's actually not a bad write up. Have you ever thought about offering to write articles for the main site mate ?
Danny's always looking for people who are able to commit to writing stuff regularly.

 

[Zatara]

I agree with a lot of what you say here. Good post. My thoughts would be that 10 out of the starting 11 were purchased under this regime. It took Moyes 6 seasons to have that many players that he had purchase start. Ok they need time to gel, but I for the life of me cannot see the rationale in signing Klassan when we also signed Rooney. Add in to that we also sign Sigurdsson. Absolute madness. For me, Barkley is a better option than all 3!

Koeman wants to press, but buys players totally incapable of pressing (Klassan & Rooney etc). We needed a back-up striker last season and all we got was Valencia. 2 years we have needed strikers (plural). We sold Lukaku too early and that cost us probably £30-40m.

Gameplans. Martinez had one, Moyes had one, despite their flaws. I have no idea what type of football we intend to go out and play... in ANY game this season. It is hopeless.

3 at the back - are you kidding me. You play 3 at the back when you have competent centre-halves, the wide ones of which are comfortable in wide positions. No other manager would think that Jags, Williams and Keane would make a good, balanced trio. Add in Schneiderlin coming deep to take the ball and we have 5 players (inc Pickford) behind the ball. Absolute ludicrous.

No outlet, no passion, no tangible evidence of any team talk taking place, Rooney, Klassan and Sigurdsson standing on each others toes. It has been a shambles. Chelsea should have beat us 7 or 8 and Spurs 5 or 6. We may get an absolute hiding against Man U. I just know he will revert to 3 and the back, Lukaku will score at least 1 and it will be another absolute melt of a game.

Koeman is losing me. I am not one for knee-jerk reactions but this team he assembled for all that money isn't a patch on the Moyes 2009 team. Vast improvement needed!

We simply cant play with 3 centre backs when only Keane and Holgate can play that way, its ridiculous.

Klaassen was signed as he's Dutch and Ajax captain, theres no logic to it. Ive seen Ajax a fair bit last season and he's a good player in a league which allows time on the ball...he's not high energy like Davies or a playmaker...just passes quickly and has a cahill like ability to ghost into the box. At this level though he wont get any time...

Koeman has Lookman (who presses for England) DCL who presses and Vlasic who is full of energy and running...ive seen Sandro do it too for Spain youth. Yet none of them seem asked to do this for more than 15mins anyway...

Forward was a priority for a long long time...I think Walsh and Koeman have disagreed here on types of players to sign.

 

[Zatara]

That's actually not a bad write up. Have you ever thought about offering to write articles for the main site mate ?
Danny's always looking for people who are able to commit to writing stuff regularly.

I'm not sure what the difference is with what I knock up and an article? Just the same?

Think personally @catcherintherye writes some good stuff...

Seems a lot of doom and gloom on here but on paper the results make sense and our players 'should' form a very good side in the future..

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

DCL is 20 years old, he doesnt know how to lead a line, hes doing ok, but hes a young lad, we need a player with nous, not just a young lad who will run all day.

And we havent got a good squad, Ronny has just lashed a load of players together with no real plan, its madness unlike anything ive ever seen, the only saving grace is that we havent bought any bad players which means that hopefully when we sign the 3 players the squad needs it can be salvaged, but that wont happen till next summer with the new manager.

Yep, Lewin will run all day, put himself about, the problem is, we also need a striker to put the ball in the back of the net.

 

[riddick]

Yep, Lewin will run all day, put himself about, the problem is, we also need a striker to put the ball in the back of the net.

Which is why I think Sandro WITH DCL would be good. Let DCL do all the muck and lay the ball off for Sandro. The lad is a midget and Koeman expects him to play like a target man.

 

[Goat]

Yep, Lewin will run all day, put himself about, the problem is, we also need a striker to put the ball in the back of the net.

The side is very disjointed currently, we have played some tough games, but we havent played with any fluidity at all yet, we lack a spark, the problem is that the players are struggling to gel and the manager is struggling to field a team that can gel, so we are left with a bunch of strangers struggling to play together.

Certain players are really struggling for form, which is also adding a negative slant and its not just a case of replacing the out of form players, cos if im honest I couldnt say anybody is currently flying, its just a mess sadly, im expecting us to get a result tomorrow and then get utterly dry bummed on Sunday, cos quite frankly, they are flying and we simply aint.

After that we have 4 very winnable home games, im expecting wins in all those games and hopefully a few wins under our belt will help us find our flow.

Talk of sacking the manager is laughable and it amuses me everytime I read it.

 

[Eggs]

The lack of width and pace is frightening.

Koeman needs to grow a pair and select just one number ten each game. He seems to be throwing the lot of them on in the hope that two of them will score so it looks like we are coping with the loss of lukaku. But in reality they are all just stepping on each other's toes and it looks a clumsy mess.

Bit hard when we have no wingers and no pace.

...Spurs don't seem to have an abundance of pace.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

The side is very disjointed currently, we have played some tough games, but we havent played with any fluidity at all yet, we lack a spark, the problem is that the players are struggling to gel and the manager is struggling to field a team that can gel, so we are left with a bunch of strangers struggling to play together.

Certain players are really struggling for form, which is also adding a negative slant and its not just a case of replacing the out of form players, cos if im honest I couldnt say anybody is currently flying, its just a mess sadly, im expecting us to get a result tomorrow and then get utterly dry bummed on Sunday, cos quite frankly, they are flying and we simply aint.

After that we have 4 very winnable home games, im expecting wins in all those games and hopefully a few wins under our belt will help us find our flow.

Talk of sacking the manager is laughable and it amuses me everytime I read it.

What pissed me off more than anything Goat is, the lack of passion and fight against Chelsea and Spurs, they both didn't need to get out of second gear, after that first Spurs goal heads dropped all over the gaff. I really do hope Besic plays tomorrow (and against the Mancs) we need some leadership, and he's the man to do it.

Agree on the sacking of Koeman, he should be judged at the end of the season.

 

[Charles Hawtrey]

What pissed me off more than anything Goat is, the lack of passion and fight against Chelsea and Spurs, they both didn't need to get out of second gear, after that first Spurs goal heads dropped all over the gaff. I really do hope Besic plays tomorrow (and against the Mancs) we need some leadership, and he's the man to do it.

Agree on the sacking of Koeman, he should be judged at the end of the season.

I would like to remind everyone that the first half against Citeh was pretty good. We defended solidly/passionately and scored on the break clinically (if lucky with the final shot). If we had played that way against Chelski and Spurs then I would be happy that we adapted to a tough fixture list.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

I would like to remind everyone that the first half against Citeh was pretty good. We defended solidly/passionately and scored on the break clinically (if lucky with the final shot). If we had played that way against Chelski and Spurs then I would be happy that we adapted to a tough fixture list.

First half against City was very good, then Koeman offered the initiative to City when down to 10 men by going too negative, when he should have been braver.

 

[catcherintherye]

I'm not sure what the difference is with what I knock up and an article? Just the same?

Think personally @catcherintherye writes some good stuff...

Seems a lot of doom and gloom on here but on paper the results make sense and our players 'should' form a very good side in the future..

You should write Zat. I'm happy to offer any advise if you want to bounce ideas around on DM. The system is really straightforward too.

 

[Nymzee]

One major problem in my eyes is that whilst it's clear to see the team haven't gelled with new signings, how will they ever get the chance to gel when we're so inconsistent with the team selections.

You can't grow partnerships when the forwards are swapped about every game.

 

[catcherintherye]

I enjoyed the post Zat. Lots of sense in here.

One point of many I'd expand on is Walshs role. He is not ring fully utilised if Koeman continues to dictate he wants expensive players with PL experience.

Post Lukaku if we had circa 55 million to spend and 10 went on Vlasic (good Walsh signing) there does have to be the question could it have been spent better? Could Walsh have had a bigger influence? Could Walsh have found us an attacker, left sided centre back and wide player for 45 million pounds? Previous evidence would indicate yes he probably could.

The question then becomes do we need a manager who can work to those conditions more naturally?

 

[Zatara]

I enjoyed the post Zat. Lots of sense in here.

One point of many I'd expand on is Walshs role. He is not ring fully utilised if Koeman continues to dictate he wants expensive players with PL experience.

Post Lukaku if we had circa 55 million to spend and 10 went on Vlasic (good Walsh signing) there does have to be the question could it have been spent better? Could Walsh have had a bigger influence? Could Walsh have found us an attacker, left sided centre back and wide player for 45 million pounds? Previous evidence would indicate yes he probably could.

The question then becomes do we need a manager who can work to those conditions more naturally?

I'm certain that if we had Walsh as the only decision maker on transfers we'd be seeing a very exciting young team, certainly no major gaps and of course no Cuco.

I find it bewildering that people can 'blame' Walsh when it seems clear to me that Koeman is the one approving the transfers and pushing his own names forward...