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I've seen quite a few comments along the lines of yesterday's starting formation being too negative. Whilst I understand why 5 at the back might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I don't think this is the issue.
Against Newcastle we struggled for width - we were obviously trying to get our full backs to attack, but with only two in the centre, they couldn't leave them exposed. This was poor from Clement. He obviously doesn't see wingers as the way forward, but that game showed that we had no outlet for attack. He tried to remedy this by changing to a back 5 against Watford. Now what caused us problems was not the defence, but the selection of Clucas.
Away from home, when we are putting bodies behind the ball and hoping for a counter attack, Clucas is ok. He's not required to be a play maker, but an extra body in defence. At home, he just doesn't have the ability to direct play in the way that Mesa does. Whilst we also benefitted from the width that having a front three could provide, what Mesa brought in the second half was someone to keep the ball moving, like Leon does. If Mesa had started in ace of Clucas, I believe we would have seen a performance like the one in the second half. Like Leon, he would have been trying to push us forward from their attacks, not just getting into our box to try and provide cover. *This* is where Clement went wrong, and the issue that needs addressing for our next home game. He has created a system that will allow us (hopefully) to grind out draws away from home, but he needs to drop the Clucas experiment at home. Three in the middle of defence is not a problem if you have a player like Mesa (or, gulp, Ki) who will look to keep play moving.
Personally, I think Mesa has to start at home with either Clucas or Carroll on the left, and Fer or Sanches on the right. Whether that's with a four or five man defence I don't know, because we obviously need width. What was pleasing yesterday was that Tammy and Jordan both showed they can track back and defend when needed to, so maybe an interchangable front three of those two and Bony could work, but we obviously have a long standing issue around not having someone on the wing who can ping in a decent cross on a consistent basis.
Additionally, I personally don't think we are missing Gylfi. Whilst we had come to rely on his set pieces, I don't think there was a single moment of yesterday's game where I felt Gylfi would have made a difference to us. Clucas was the issue, and that's nothing against him, that is PC trying to fit a round peg in a vital square hole.
Whether we are relegated or not, I am in the belief that our American owners want to make a profit, but long term and not by running the club into the ground. There are many things wrong with the club, but at the moment I think very little of it can be laid at the door of the Americans. I don't begrudge the old shareholders making a profit from their investment, but I do despise them for taking a well run club and turning it into a shambles over the last three year. Whilst Laudrup's tenure had gone sour, I honestly believe that we (as a club) have shown a complete lack of ambition since then and we have made poor decision after poor decision. With this in mind, if I were our American owners, this is how I would spend the next six months.
1. Find the best 'football' chairman/chief exec (whatever the title should be)' that we can afford and tempt to the club. 2. Find the best replacement for Dineen that we can afford and tempt to the club. 3. Tell Jenkins, Dineen and any others hanging on from the old legacy that they no longer have a role in day-to-day affairs at the club. 4. Find the best European scout that we can afford and can tempt to the club. We will never be able to afford players at £20m and 100k a week, we need to find another Michu, another Williams, another Rangel. Pay big bucks for the scouts and get cheaper players that will either be mainstays of the team for years to come or will turn a tidy profit in 2-3 years time. 5. Find a progressive manager that fits our 'style'. What was most refreshing about the Sunderland game was that we looked like our old selves. We attacked with pace, we didn't sit back after one goal, we pressed and we passed well. Between Jackett and Monk we hired managers that took us forward. Once we sacked Laudrup we went down a route where we lost our identity. I appreciate we had an excellent season under Monk, but he left us in a right state last season and we've been suffering ever since. 6. Carry out a full and proper assessment of the playing squad. No more four year contracts for players who are on the fringes and have a season left in them at best. Money is always going to be limited at the club and shouldn't be wasted on players who do contribute enough for the club to progress.
We are never going to win the league (Leicester was a one off, a freak result) but we should be a team that looks to compete effectively in the cups and qualify for the Europa League every 2-3 years. I think the six steps above are what needs to be done to get the club back on track and to where we were 3-4 years ago.
First half got the best support and service he's had all season. Goal gave him confidence. Tailed off a little as the team lost momentum due to Swarbrick's incompetence.
It'll never be enough for some people but today was a sign for me that he still has the ability to be a good signing for us.
I used to work with a guy that follows England all over the world. Hasn't missed a game in about 20 years, home or away. I'm still in contact with him through Facebook and his posts over the last 24 hours have been quite interesting. He is a sensible and honest lad, and I would trust what he says implicitly.
The violence that has taken place over the last few days has been planned and organised by Russian gangs, Marsaille ultras and local yobs. They have generally been 'tooled up' and have more often than not targeted groups of England fans that include families who are out eating in local cafes and restaurants. There is no denial that there has not been retaliation from England fans, but the general chain of events is as follows.
Scumbags turn up and attack England fans. England fans react and retaliate. Meanwhile, French police who have watched the attackers congregate and prepare, allow the fighting to begin before showering everyone with tear gas, followed by water cannons. At this point the majority of the attackers run away and the England fans are left with all the chaos around them to shoulder the blame. Of course, the issue with tear gas is that it affects anyone in the vicinity, not just those fighting, so the amount of innocent bystanders (French/English/whoever) who have been left with stinging eyes and difficulty breathing is disgusting, and amongst these are plenty of women and children.
The England fans themselves are incredibly disappointed with the way this has been reported by the English media, they feel that it has been totally misrepresented and that a lot of the good work that has gone on to restore their reputation since Euro 2000 is being destroyed, not just by a local police force who are not interested in protecting them from organised violence, but by a British media that is not presenting the truth.
Be as cynical as you want, but I trust this guy to be telling the truth, and what seems to be happening to the 99% of England fans who are just trying to enjoy this football tournament is disgraceful.
According to the old Swans fan with a moustache who started talking to me randomly on the walk down from Landore Social Club, the Hard is like "f***ing Karachi" these days.
Teams have survived after being in far, far worse positions than ours.
Look up rather than down. Win our next two games and we can be mid-table(ish). Lose our next two games and we'll still probably be two games away from mid-table.
Be positive. I'd much rather spend the rest of the season being positive and enjoying Premier League while we're in it, than spending the next 5 months moaning and waiting to gloat that I was right about being doomed. Seriously, the fact that some of you will not be happy until we are relegated is sickening.
Remember where we came from. All those crowing that HJ has ruined us and made so many mistakes over the last two years. HJ has been lauded, and quite rightly, for the way he's run the club since he became chairman. He's not a foreign owner who's lost interest, he's a local man who is doing his best for the club. He's made a few duff decisions, but he's got the best interests of the club at heart. Show me someone who is ready and able to do a better job.
Last night was an important game. However, that one game is not going to decide our season. We suffered some dreadful referee decisions, and the fact the Big Sam has admitted that shows that this is not some case of some fans thinking the ref picked on us because we're Welsh. The ref and his assistants were inept and potentially cost us a point if not three. We didn't play brilliantly, but we would have gotten something from that game with better officials.
If you are a supporter, the message is clear for the next 5 months. Support the team. Get behind them. Believe.
Time for a moan on something that has been bugging me since the weekend.
Do they have the off-side rule in French football?
I know it's been a running joke about Bafe's inability to stay onside, but there were three or four instances on the weekend where play was taking place in our half for a good 60-90 seconds. The ball would finally break to one of our players, they would look up and Bafe would be ambling back from somewhere around the opposition area. Not waiting for a run, not just offside, but a good 30 yards. What is he doing? Whilst we are watching the game (and therefore, not him), is he having a gentle cup of tea with the opposition 'keeper? Texting his agent? Reading l'Equipe?
How in the name of all things holy has he got to his age and this stage of his career and he not learnt that you cannot be standing 30 yards offside at all times?
...is the amount of people who think that someone at board level should be held accountable for hiring someone so completely out of their depth - as if we've gone straight from the slightly underwhelming end of the 13/14 season to this rubbish run in the 15/16 season.
I seem to remember Monk doing a pretty decent job in 14/15, and for the run of games up to the first international break of this season.. That's not to say that he's the man to turn things around now, but the guy is not the clueless, hapless idiot that so many are willing to paint him as.
For a club that is so proud of our recent history there are so many willing to re-write sections of it to suit their own beliefs.
1. Get Fernández back in to the defence 2. Stop playing Ayew on the 'wing'. It forces the full back behind him to play further up the pitch and leaves us with massive gaps at the back. 3. Tell Woy to stop picking Jonjo 4. Hope that Man City sign 2 strikers in January and loan us Wilf back. 5. Three p's - pass, protect and press - all things we've done successfully with/without the ball over the last 6 or 7 years - I agree with Monk's statement earlier in his managerial career about not passing it for passing sake and needing a better game management plan, but we can barely string two passes together at the moment, we are careless in possession and we rarely press teams anymore.
Whether this can all be done with or without Monk remains to be seen, but that's it in a nutshell.
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