Match Day Thread vs Liverpool in the Naughty Moose Cup

I agree, our defensive shape and anticipation is appalling.

 

The chap sitting next to me had it spot on. Why do we insist on playing from the back? Keeper gives it to Hanley, who side passes it to whoever else is back, who passes us into trouble. It happened Everytime tonight. What not just punt the ball forward and give the rest something to chase? Every opportunity came from a long forward pass tonight - they need to be doing that more often.

 

And Gilmour really wasn't that bad tonight. He and our Greek contingent were the best performers in the first half

 

The slow passing around the back is doing my head in - they are putting themselves under so much pressure and eventual loss of the ball under a high press is almost inevitable. And how many times did Gunn end up hoofing it into touch? Unless we change it as a tactic, or speed it up/make quicker decisions, we're stuffed. Teams will hunt us down and it'll be a painful season. We have to be less predictable and get it forward more quickly.

 

Just sent a similar post.

 

On the positive side - there was nothing tonight that can't be fixed

 

Who's this Godfrey of whom you speak?

 

Our goal difference would look even worse if it wasn't for some of Krul's shot stopping this season. It's gone under the radar due to the results and in fairness some wayward distribution now and then but, Krul's still been immense keeping out some near certain goal opportunities. Gunn needed a worldie last night to unseat him.

 

Hard to believe we are so dominant at championship level yet so abject at premier league. I struggle to see us getting a win now. It seems unthinkable to get rid of Farke, but then no other manager has lost this many premier league games in a row.

I suppose it's a question of do we think he'll ever be able to crack the premier league? If not, then maybe mad though it sounds replacing him makes sense. If we go down we'd lose his promotion skills but the new manager would be able to build something new at least.

For now I'm suffering from whiplash, so quickly have we gone from being discussed as one of the best championship winning sides ever to potentially one of the worst scoring premier league ones. Its the total lack of goals from open play that really worries me too. Pukki is starting to wilight now, and Idaho doesn't look ready to be a reliable striker at this level either.

I guess we wait and see, and our games have been against good teams in the most part. But to stay up you need to get something from at least some of those bigger games really.

 

I don’t get how the signs can be there that he’s lost the players? Half of them have only just arrived!

And they all seem to be working pretty hard for him, it’s just individual errors that are happening when we are under pressure.

It’s the fans Farke is losing as far as I can tell, not the players.

 

That rant ahead of the Watford game was a sign to me.

 

Sorry, still makes no sense. Even less of them had played before the Watford game - you can’t lose players who have only just arrived.

People reading way too much into a simple scenario.

 

I think he's struggling with the pressure, which is understandable, but I don't see signs that he's lost the players.

The Cantwell situation concerns me a little, but it's no good speculating and building up possible scenarios based on a total lack of information.

EDIT: The key question is why are we making all these individual mistakes? Lack of confidence, of course, which gets worse with each loss. Lack of communication, probably. I think we underestimate the sheer togetherness of the squad over the last couple of years, with even 'fringe' players like Hugill and Hernandez playing a great part in squad unity, and people who played sporadically, like Vrançic, not rocking the boat. Lack of leadership on the pitch, probably. At some point in the future Gilmour will be that kind of leader, I think, but he seems too young now and he's also a loan player, and it's much better if the leader were a permanent member of the squad. (Cantwell may not be a helpful influence on this level, but that is unfounded speculation on my part.)

 

Next 4 games are Everton away, Burnley away, Brighton at home then Chelsea away. Brighton might have been a possible win in the past but they are a much improved side this season. Burnley away might give us a draw, but on the showing so far I can’t even see that as a result. Both Farke and the team are under so much pressure that something has to give and it’s usually the manager that goes. Eddie Howe is not managing at the moment according to my research.

 

I don’t know why people James Finbow are surprised by Farke’s style with the players when results are poor.

It’s EXACTLY what he did at the beginning of last season when results were going awry and Cantwell, Buendia etc were itching for a move. A bit of tub thumping to galvanise the troops. A bit of player criticism publicly (which to be honest he has never shied away from even in good times) but who truly knows what he says to them in his office.

Clearly, it might not work this time round like it did then. But it’s pretty obvious to me that’s most likely what he is trying to do. Occam’s razor.

 

Superman wears grantholt pyjamas in bed always did have this air of pomposity and the ability to see things that aren't there.

Farke hasn't lost the players they are just suffering a massive loss in confidence.

Handley has been ever present he needs dropping , stop with the Zonal marking from set pieces and spend a week training for corners and man marking.

Go back to 4 2 3 1 with 2 holding players .

Yesterday was another dissspointment but it was still Liverpool.


Everton went to penalties and lost Watford got beaten by Stoke .

 

Autocorrect changed Gilmour to Godfrey!

 

The games won without Buendia featuring stat is not looking good

 

I agree. Farke rarely expresses anger publicly, but when he does there's a reason. I can't imagine any manager not being angry about that because it was a turning point in the game. Tzolis was wrong to take the penalty and we're entitled to know that.

Why Robbie and others keep calling DF's impassioned defence of his players a 'rant' is beyond me. He gets damned for praising them and for criticising a player stepping out of line. Twitter is the perfect platform for oversimplified snap judgements without any argument to back them up.

Fortunately SW is not prone to snap judgements or knee jerk reactions. If DF were to leave, he wouldn't get Eddie Howe in - he'd go back to Germany to find someone who believes in the type of football we're playing, like Huddersfield did when Wagner left.

DF believes in what he's doing and won't simply walk away unless he feels it's in the interest of the club and the 'project' we're in the middle of. As PTT says, there isn't anything that can't be fixed and that's what DF will be working on now. The next four games will be tough, three of them away, but they're not as tough as our first four games were and perhaps being away will take some pressure off. Let's hope so anyway.