"You don't win anything with kids". Summer transfers needed to be more experienced players. I'm not saying we didn't buy good prospects but we may find we need them later on to get us back to the premiership as the showing was not good enough to convince that we will survive in the top flight this season. Albeit against a Tottenham team that were quality but Kane and Son didn't score and it was only the first game of the season,so its squeaky bum time already. Need a quality striker above anything else.
We as supporters have been crying out for a new CH, we see it, but Ralph still seems oblivious to our needs. Is this a manager or is he there for the pay off when he gets a taxi? He seems to have totally ignored what we have known for the last couple of years.
We as supporters have been crying out for a new CH, we see it, but Ralph still seems oblivious to our needs. Is this a manager or is he there for the pay off when he gets a taxi? He seems to have totally ignored what we have known for the last couple of years.
So lets be clear this match was won by Conte. He took one look at the Saints team sheet immediately realised the weak link was our left flank and then told Royal & Kulusevski it was Christmas and Djenpo was playing Santa. Helps that Kulusevski is approaching world class and does what he is told. So we had basically lost before we started. Not helped by a totally inept display by all of the back five, but again it is the same old faces just in a different formation. Back 5 might work against weaker teams but current crop just do not know how to defend the channels against any sort of quality. We will score very few goals as well since transition is just too slow. The other problem we now have is that Lavia already looks a class act. he was best defensive midfielder on the pitch by a mile yesterday. A couple of times he won / retained the ball had a quick look up for de Bruyne or Silva on the move and instead found our lot playing musical statues. So Ralph will have to play him which probably means Romeu cannot play as well and imo he remains one of our top 5. He was very ineffective in his more forward role yesterday. Ralph has a straightforward choice to make now either find a system that works with our 11 best players or decide a system and find 11 players to play it. Its going to be a long season.
So since there is no math report yet, I will add a few comments here. First, we were in the game in the 1st half and were attacking when Salisu has a brain-fart. WTF? Wow. Then we did our usual mental collapse.
Next, I have supported Rh for the last two seasons, but believe that these first 5 games should determine his future. He did a few things poorly yesterday in his set up. (1) Dnejepo should have been on the bench and Parraud should have started. RP can play the wing back and a team like Tot, you need a seasoned LB (which they exploited well). (2) Lavia should be playing the top of the triangle in the midfield and no Romeu. He has better feet, speed and looks forward first instead of back. (3) He should have exploited Dier in the back and played more over the top balls for AA to run on with his speed. Didnt do that once. (4) Aribo should have been changed at halftime.
So, if RH doesnt make these types of changes and see that a tweak is needed, then he will be gone by the end of Sept., unless the new owners do not care about staying up as they see some of the wages as a major hurdle.
Next - We should be going after Conner Coady as we need a season CB badly. Him in the middle, with JB and MS on the sides could be very good. I wont even talk about a striker as we will not spend the necessary 20-30 needed to get a proven one.
We have a run of games that we need points from and if August has us at the bottom, then I foresee a change in managers.
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