Does anyone know how many managers have been sacked/resigned after a defeat by the Swans? Seems to have been quite a few!Pep Clotet has relinquished his managerial position at B/ham City after their 1-3 defeat to the Swans. He was due to finish at the end of the season but chucked the towel in after the defeat.
Seemed like there was a lot of discussion going on between him and his assistants during the game, not all of it looking collaborative.Pep Clotet has relinquished his managerial position at B/ham City after their 1-3 defeat to the Swans. He was due to finish at the end of the season but chucked the towel in after the defeat.
That setup is basically 3 at the back with Roberts and Bidwell as wing backs. Adding Celina to the mix is a problem as he is as big a liability defensively as Routs.Together with Routledge he was a defensive disaster waiting to happen against Wednesday. They didn't track back their men and it almost cost us points. Modern wing-backs and full-backs have to run all the time, and I'm afraid Roberts is not ready yet.
I still think we should try to play 4-1-4-1:
Naughton - Cabango - Guehi - Bidwell
------------------------Grimes-------------------------
Roberts - Ayew - Gallagher - Celina
-----------------------Brewster-----------------------
With that "stability and numbers in midfield" we conceded 20 shots. Just saying.The setup against Brum gave us stability and numbers in midfield with two purposeful players in Brewster and Ayew up top. Whether by luck or judgement, Andy Pandy May have found the magic formula.
Don't disagree with you. But what was the quality of those shots? We controlled over 60% possession and moved the ball more effectively - not Swanselona, but an uptick from previous performances.With that "stability and numbers in midfield" we conceded 20 shots. Just saying.
Worth a try. I would try Kalulu or Dhanda at least as subs and see what they can do. Neither being strong but they can be fast and cause the defenders to make mistakes.Together with Routledge he was a defensive disaster g to happen against Wednesday. They didn't track back their men and it almost cost us points. Modern wing-backs and full-backs have to run all the time, and I'm afraid Roberts is not ready yet.
I still think we should try to play 4-1-4-1:
Naughton - Cabango - Guehi - Bidwell
------------------------Grimes-------------------------
Roberts - Ayew - Gallagher - Celina
-----------------------Brewster-----------------------
We controlled possession, but also lost it numerous times. 147 times to be precise. And it's not so difficult to have 60 % possession against the Monk's disciple Pep Clotet whose team sat back and hoofed it all the time. Let's see how much possession we'll have when we play Leeds.Don't disagree with you. But what was the quality of those shots? We controlled over 60% possession and moved the ball more effectively - not Swanselona, but an uptick from previous performances.
Exactly. And our passes in the final third were sloppy.We passed the ball well in the first half, but we did not move the ball quick enough and first touches were not all they could be
I'm interested in what was the training program like. Help Cooper out. Mostly lots of running I assume. Leg strength exercises. Running up stairs? Even with all the modern equipment it shouldn't be much different than what it needs to be today. The cryo freezers or whatever they use don't look fun. Andre Ayew knows I think he forgot to wear gloves inside and almost froze his fingers.We're back to fitness issues with our patchy possession. I know from my time in football that fitness is absolutely KEY to performance, which I found to my cost as, when I grew older, business interfered with training and my performances went backwards at a rate of knots. When your lungs and legs are exhausted there's no way you can play this game properly.
Ivor was a fitness fanatic and I mean fanatic in every sense of the word. He was obsessed with it. The VERY FIRST thing he did when he came to the club was to install a brutal training regime. When I get time I'll post the type of things he had us doing. I say 'us' but by then I was only doing what I could in training just to maintain a semblance of general fitness rather than play football.
Thing is, what he did worked. From being a club that habitually struggled near the foot of the table we became one of the strongest teams in the league and this with more or less the same squad of players. Okay, Ivor coached other stuff as well but the lads were now fit enough to play football the way he wanted it. Without the required fitness levels there was no chance of them doing that.
A few years before Ivor, a former Swan by the name of Norman Lawson became our manager. He was the one who took me to the club in the first place. I didn't want to go as at that time I had lost a yard of pace and knew that I would struggle. I agreed for two reasons. Firstly, Norman and I had a business venture that we were involved in together and I didn't want to let him down as a friend. The second reason was that Norman promised me that that wouldn't be an issue as he would make sure I was fit enough to play. And he did. He introduced a professional standard of training that even worked on me and i was amazed by how sharp and full of running I felt in games.
So that's my personal take on fitness and I'm sure there are others on here with their own experiences.
PS: Norman, from the North East, was also an excellent cricketer (batsman) and he actually played for Wales as an amateur. Anyway, we eventually lost touch with each other, as sometimes happens, but by an incredible coincidence years later we met once more. I had moved to Spain and was double parked at Malaga airport waiting to pick up a friend. I was leaning back against my car glancing in all directions for the traffic wardens. About 20 yards away someone else was doing the same thing and you could have knocked me over with a feather - it was Norman!!
We said hello but had no time for a proper conversation as our people were filing out of the airport. Sadly that was the last time I saw him and was told that he had passed away a few years ago.