We’ll you’re quite possibly right. I have to say I like your posts, even though I disagree with a good number, and I’d aspire to something as coherent as this and your other good post from a few minutes ago. I’m too angry for that level though I’m sorry to say.
That said, while it would be nice to see some organic leadership on the pitch, personally my own experience is that it’s all about clarity of message from the top. That’s what I expect from a decent leader, and I suspect that lack of authority and perhaps confidence has led to over reliance on analysis, or plain gobbledegook, which becomes counter-productive. A good deal of supposition you may reply and perhaps you’re right. Oh well, good Manager good team I say, that way round. Get a good guy in tomorrow and see an improvement, not a cosmetic or short term one either. Simple decision for me. It should be for the board too.
I'd agree a good manager will make the most of what he's got and combine it into something better than the sum of it's parts. There does seem to be a lot of suggestion though, not necessarily from yourself, than Lage is having the opposite effect and stripping any usefulness out of the players all together. Personally I don't think bad management can have such a pronounced negative effect as good management can have a positive effect. Not without wilful compliance from those acting beneath management anyway.
In the case of these team, littered with experienced pros who've been around top clubs and international sides, they should be capable of at least playing some semi-coherent football between themselves without any outside input. That should be the base level which no amount of bad coaching should ever see them dip below but he we are watching them stroll around like strangers with no-one having any real inclination to do anything proactive.
It doesn't appear at the moment that anyone could look themselves in the mirror and say they're doing their best.
If your tactics mean the ball keeps coming back at you time after time the likelihood of an individual error in your own box rises significantly. If you've got the ball the opposition score less. Teams regularly have players sent off, they don't usually throw away a two goal lead but we kept Hwang and Trincao on the pitch and capitulated.
Forgive me but there's some guesswork in this as I don't believe the data to support me exists or at least I can't find it so I've had to make some assumptions.
It's true that teams don't always capitulate with 10 men, I'd hazard it's also true that they rarely manage prolonged periods of possession as their primary means of defending that position. We've seen it countless times with Wolves on the other side of that situation, dominating possession with an opponent dropped into organised lines and waiting to see what gets thrown at them. Teams do see those games out with little more than a deep backline and a determined attitude.
Think it would be somewhat generous to give RAN the let off of mental fatigue or even pure weight of odds for his mistake given it occured less than 10 minutes after the red card. He just fucked up. As did Saiss on the rebound being caught flat footed.
Same opinion on the winner too, for me there's no fatigue at play there either mental or physical. You've chucked away 2 goals and 2 points but you're into stoppage with one last scrap of honour and reward to play for. Don't, Willy Boly, stand idly by and let me the ball from on the corner of your 6 yard box and let and opponent take it away from you. He should've cleared that 1000 times out of a 1000.
I was hoping I could find a 1st/2nd half breakdown of stats to support this final point but instead I'll have to rely on my interpretation of the game and overall stats.
Read about Wolves v Leeds in the Premier League 2021/22 season, including lineups, stats and live blogs, on the official website of the Premier League.
www.premierleague.com
Most data there is fairly evenly matched between the sides. Possession, shots, shots on target, touches, passes, clearances, not a great deal in any of those. Now whilst the scoreline was in Wolves' favour prior to the red card and they were clearly decent value for it, I don't recall them being hugely dominant up to that point. Would've killed for some 1st half stats to enlighten me. So if Leeds were so dominant for 40 minutes after the red, I'd have expected the stats to swing more clearly in their favour overall. Again, wish I had some 2nd half stats to get a clearer picture on that. I don't recall it really being a relentless barrage from the moment Jimenez departed, I don't think they can say they even earnt their goals from sheer persistence and repetition of effort. For me it was more a case of speculative balls forward and rank bad individual defending.
I respect you way too much to actually think you believe this Mark. You are 2-0 the first thing you do is put a centre forward on to hold the ball up. Is he responsible for RAN getting caught under the ball, Saiss air shotting, Sa racing out or Boly letting a ball bounce in the box? No. Did he set the agenda for all that to happen? Yes. It's also an example of Coady's on field leadership being overblown.
I think the notion of holding the ball up is something of a misnomer these days. How often really do you see a long ball go up to an isolated forward where he can back into a defender off, get it under control and hold them off for 4-5 seconds to people to get up the pitch? I don't think it's really a thing in that sense anymore, the games too fast for that, defenders too athletic to allow it to happen. Even if it were still a thing, what players in Wolves' arsenal could've done that?
We could talk about having a focal point like Fabio up there opposed to Hwang or Trincao who I guess nominally played up top second half but is the end result any different? The service to him will be dogshit by this point, he'll have next to zero support so even as someone who rates Silva as a player, I don't see what respite he really offers in this situation, it's a placebo at best.
Given it's press happy Leeds in question too, now with a man advantage, where was there likely to be any real opportunity to play out and get a breather? Even if Fabio was peak Drogba the rest of the team had already shit their ring the second they saw the red card come out, their heads had gone completely. The best you could probably hope for was Leeds over committing and maybe getting a foot race down the channels from some aimless punt upfield, something Hwang is probably better qualifed for than Fabio anyway.
