Jan: We're Not Playing Like a Relegation Side

[NickG]

too good to go down... heard that so many times already. I'm scared.

 

who Charlton?

[dubai_phil]

I don't think the whole "experiment" is wrong. Having an overall strategy, and making the club self sustainable seems to even have Leon's approval.

 

It is in the IMPLEMENTATION of the experiment where I think we are in trouble.

 

What I think is wrong is the fact that we seem stuck in glue and suffer a complete lack of "creativity" or innovation" in the coaching structure.

 

Lowe was renowned in his first iteration as being incredibly set in his ways - his was the only way. What I think we are seeing now is the fact that dogma is impacting the team.

 

IMHO there is nothing wrong with having a plan, having a strategy and having a style, but in ANY walk of life, not seeing what is happening around you, not taking into account external factors and influences and NOT being creative to adjust your plan to make it WORK is doomed to failure.

 

Liverpool play the same formation as us. BUT depending on the game, the opposition and the circumstances they DO change it around, we just keep plodding on with the same old tactics, and like many said, teams have learnt to sit back and when they get the ball just bang it back up front into the gaps left by our lot running around in circles.

 

A GOOD coach would be spotting this and making the adjustments to cope. Sure there are manuals that say if you are good enough then your system doesn't need to change as you impose yourself on the opposition, BUT we aren't good enough to take the chances we create and so we HAVE to adapt.

 

Sitting back and hoping that one day DMG will click in front of goal and bury all 75+ chances we make is just NOT a plan.

 

The problem of course is does JP know this, does he have the nous to actually start to tweak the system or are his hands tied by others?.....

 

JP doesn't come across as a total idiot so it leads me to believe more and more that his hands are tied.....

Edited 16 December, 2008 by dubai_phil

[NickG]

some of the comments of a couple of recent games about half time changes by Jan suggest he does.

 

I firmly believe the problem is more about players than systems.

 

When we did poorly with 4-4-2 we weren't clamouring for 4-3-3 in 2nd half

[um pahars]

some of the comments of a couple of recent games about half time changes by Jan suggest he does.

 

I firmly believe the problem is more about players than systems.

 

When we did poorly with 4-4-2 we weren't clamouring for 4-3-3 in 2nd half

 

The changes Jan has made in games would appear mainly to be like for like e.g. Paterson on for Robertson, Cork into defence (for Pearce) and Wotton replacing him in midfield etc etc etc, as opposed to changing the shape of the team.

 

For some maybe blinkered, maybe dogmatic, maybe naive reason he has almost universally stuck with his 4-3-3 total football approach, even though the return of less than a point a game is crying out for something different every now and then.

 

In one interview he stated that he didn't think the players could adapt to a different style of play, but I think that is more of an acknowledgement of the deficiencies of him as a manager to be able to get them to try something different, than about the abilities of the players themselves.

 

If 4-3-3 suits our players and we're achieving some good results, then fair play to him.

 

But if we haven't got the personnel to fit this system and it is not producing results, then surely we have to try something else (particularly at home, where this system has produced the worst results in living memory!!!!).

 

His inability to adapt to the CCC is becoming more apparent as each game passes. A good manager would adapt his teams style of play with reference to the players available, the opposition, current form, conditions etc etc etc. A poor manager just bumbles on regardless.

[egreog]

No leadership........ no momentum........no will to win until 3-0 down and pilloried by travelling support......... easy life at St mary's...... just turn up, go through the motions for 90 mins and go home with fat wage packet in pocket..........at end of season, move on to another club who will allow same........and be daft enough to pay wages for another season........

[saint1977]

I don't think the whole "experiment" is wrong. Having an overall strategy, and making the club self sustainable seems to even have Leon's approval.

 

It is in the IMPLEMENTATION of the experiment where I think we are in trouble.

 

What I think is wrong is the fact that we seem stuck in glue and suffer a complete lack of "creativity" or innovation" in the coaching structure.

 

Lowe was renowned in his first iteration as being incredibly set in his ways - his was the only way. What I think we are seeing now is the fact that dogma is impacting the team.

 

IMHO there is nothing wrong with having a plan, having a strategy and having a style, but in ANY walk of life, not seeing what is happening around you, not taking into account external factors and influences and NOT being creative to adjust your plan to make it WORK is doomed to failure.

 

Liverpool play the same formation as us. BUT depending on the game, the opposition and the circumstances they DO change it around, we just keep plodding on with the same old tactics, and like many said, teams have learnt to sit back and when they get the ball just bang it back up front into the gaps left by our lot running around in circles.

 

A GOOD coach would be spotting this and making the adjustments to cope. Sure there are manuals that say if you are good enough then your system doesn't need to change as you impose yourself on the opposition, BUT we aren't good enough to take the chances we create and so we HAVE to adapt.

 

Sitting back and hoping that one day DMG will click in front of goal and bury all 75+ chances we make is just NOT a plan.

 

The problem of course is does JP know this, does he have the nous to actually start to tweak the system or are his hands tied by others?.....

 

JP doesn't come across as a total idiot so it leads me to believe more and more that his hands are tied.....

 

Top post from the man from Dubai. I agree with 99% of this and having a strategy is fine I agree, however without any finance the academy infrastructure is suffering as well so probably best to see it as a short-term phase. If the board's alleged comments to Martin Tyler are anything to go by, it's a concern if the wages are now sustainable but the stadium debt is not. Selling more older big earners if we can to service the latter is OK but not Surman and Lallana to service SMS. You then end up with a reduced overdraft as the bank want but absolutely no way of servicing what is left of it with slumping ST sales after CCC relegation - unless our natural level is mid-lower mid table in League 1. Leicester are sustainable at that level only because of Mandaric - much as I detest the man - we are not.

 

In the same way as we had to survive in the PL to acheive the move to SMS in the late 90s so we need to survive in the CCC this season to ward off administration. Selling the only offensive options we have for £3m a pair isn't going to achieve that objective.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Results count. All the rest is flannel.