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You can tell he's not too happy about the result and the way we played the second half and I like that he's not too happy.
Very interesting and brings up almost the same questions fans had about England and Southgate. Is Marti saying the players dropped deep without his consent to defend the lead or is it coming from the sideline. I cannot recall 1 shot on target in the second half when we should be trying to get another goal and win the game . Who decides this strategy its very frustrating to watch and that equalizer was coming for a long time. It sounds like JCS is not going to be anywhere close to the player he was last year which is a pity because we need him desperatly now
You can sense the frustration with the late equaliser but Marti does well to keep a lid on his emotions and focus on the positives. With 2 home games coming up, it's important the lads back up this away point with a win or two at HQ.
Very interesting and brings up almost the same questions fans had about England and Southgate. Is Marti saying the players dropped deep without his consent to defend the lead or is it coming from the sideline. I cannot recall 1 shot on target in the second half when we should be trying to get another goal and win the game . Who decides this strategy its very frustrating to watch and that equalizer was coming for a long time. It sounds like JCS is not going to be anywhere close to the player he was last year which is a pity because we need him desperatly now
Yes, Marti's 'mixed feelings' assessment makes plausible sense: a decent first half, and a disappointing second, so the trend goes on - this time in reverse. His sober honesty made me feel a bit better about the game too. I hope he and the squad can really prove their worth to us this season.
My concern is, if the 2nd half was/is, once again, not how we wanted to play, why it happened. Are the coach's messages not getting through for some reason? Is it a lack of leadership/ captaincy on the pitch? Of course, to some extent, we were always going to have to weather a certain degree of pressure from the opponent, but we couldn't keep the ball and/or get out at all, which basically played into their hands. I hope he can help us to implement the greater stretches of possession and higher-up-the-pitch pressure he says he wants, but do we have the players and the quality to do so?
PS The Goons are indeed worthy of timeless applause like all those exemplary artists who tread the necessary tightrope between brilliance and absurdity, though I hadn't realised one of their ghosts haunts this board according to a couple of posters on this thread. (For some reason, they put me in mind of a modern rewriting of a line from Harry Secombe's Soup: 'Pepsi's better than Coca Cola. If you say different you like listening to Mein Kampf on Audible.')
Very interesting and brings up almost the same questions fans had about England and Southgate. Is Marti saying the players dropped deep without his consent to defend the lead or is it coming from the sideline. I cannot recall 1 shot on target in the second half when we should be trying to get another goal and win the game . Who decides this strategy its very frustrating to watch and that equalizer was coming for a long time. It sounds like JCS is not going to be anywhere close to the player he was last year which is a pity because we need him desperatly now
It's the players, not the manager deciding to drop deep. To push up high when winning goes against your natural instinct, couple that with a lack of real pace in the back line and you have a big problem. The lack of a ball playing central midfielder just makes it even worse. As a defender if you don't trust the guys in front, you're just going to hoof it and bypass the midfield all together.
If we had a better squad we would be playing completely differently.
We have an injury ravaged squad, running on fumes, some coming back from injury and one that doesn’t shave yet, blowing out of his arse…..and you expect that team to push on for a second goal?
It's the players, not the manager deciding to drop deep. To push up high when winning goes against your natural instinct, couple that with a lack of real pace in the back line and you have a big problem. The lack of a ball playing central midfielder just makes it even worse. As a defender if you don't trust the guys in front, you're just going to hoof it and bypass the midfield all together.
If we had a better squad we would be playing completely differently.
Totally agree.
Thought his comments were candid and spot on as well.
Very interesting and brings up almost the same questions fans had about England and Southgate. Is Marti saying the players dropped deep without his consent to defend the lead or is it coming from the sideline. I cannot recall 1 shot on target in the second half when we should be trying to get another goal and win the game . Who decides this strategy its very frustrating to watch and that equalizer was coming for a long time. It sounds like JCS is not going to be anywhere close to the player he was last year which is a pity because we need him desperatly now
All great questions, as they're open and contestable questions. At the same time, Marti said post-match that he had emphasised the need to start the second half with the same 'personality' we showed in the first (which I took to mean imposing our game and shape and not sitting back timorously the whole time), and the fact that we didn't was, for him, the game's main 'negative'. Why else would he have looked and sounded a lot less than happy at the end? It's obviously not a black and white issue balancing going forward and keeping the back door closed, but trying to defend a lead for 52 minutes with a tiring team with fitness issues and a lack of cutting edge is an almighty ask.
'One game at a time', of course, but when we look at our last nine matches, we can see four wins, four draws and one defeat; 12 goals scored, seven conceded, 16 points gained. If we were to we maintain that form until the end of the season, we would end up with 64 points. These figures guarantee nothing regarding the matches ahead, but they do, at least, put in perspective that Christmas Pudding performance at Swansea.
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