He started out with a conservative mindset from day one, he only tried to be more expansive in his 4th year in the job.We saw what happened when he tried to be more expansive, our defenders weren't good enough. It was pragmatic of Nuno to revert to a more defensive setup, if he'd have carried on we could have ended up getting spanked every week which could have run out of control very quickly. Whoever the manager is the issue we've had for ages is we've not bought any defenders for 3 years and the ones who have been playing there are mainly converted midfielders.
I’d snatch your hand off for two points at that stage.All depends on the start. Three tough games followed by a friendlier run of fixtures. If we can get through the Man United game with maybe five points on the board I would be optimistic. I do think that five point haul would be a very big ask though.
You must have missed us in the Championship when we played some of the most stylish and attractive football I've ever seen.He started out with a conservative mindset from day one, he only tried to be more expansive in his 4th year in the job.
The weak defence remained so because Nuno's system afforded it protection, when he finally made some attempt to be more ambitious the lack of attention paid to improving that defence then came home to roost.
You must have missed us in the Championship when we played some of the most stylish and attractive football I've ever seen.
we still set up in quite a conservative way, just that we were so technically superior to most teams, we had loads of possession....we still struggled at times to break defensive teams down.You must have missed us in the Championship when we played some of the most stylish and attractive football I've ever seen.
To me dominating the ball and probing for weaknesses in the opposition isn't really cautious, the quality of the football was a joy to watch IMO. If that's cautious for you fair enough, different strokes for different folks.It still wasn't overtly attacking football at that point, even with one of the greatest gulfs in ability that level has ever seen. It was considered and methodical, hell even McCarthy's promotion side was probably more attack minded in comparison.
They would've had a greater share of possession in most games, as you'd expect with the talent available, but they still probed cautiously rather than trying to batter the door down. When they lost possession it was still the same shape based system waiting patiently to regain the ball rather than press to win it back immediately.
Have we? I thought we were largely awful against Crewe and Las Palmas. With close to the best XI we had available in the latter game we didn't have a shot on or off target in the entire first half. Ok in parts against Betis, Stoke was the best performance (particularly in terms of how we kept and used the ball) but we didn't win against a moderate Championship team, very fortunate to beat Coventry and created next to nothing after it went 2-0.Well with pretty much the same players we have looked better on the pitch particularly going forward.
To me dominating the ball and probing for weaknesses in the opposition isn't really cautious, the quality of the football was a joy to watch IMO. If that's cautious for you fair enough, different strokes for different folks.
The quality of the football was fine for those first two seasons in the Prem as well. The problem is teams became wise and adapted their way of playing to negate us. That's when he tried to change it and it didn't work because we didn't have the players. There probably is a legitimate criticism to be made in the way he set us up when trying to change it up, but I personally think whoever was in charge would have struggled implementing a different style.
The only option he had then really was to revert back to the tried and tested system which was at least defensively sound, but then that offered zero entertainment as teams had worked out how to defend against it. We'll never know if he asked for a different profile of player last summer and didn't get them, maybe that's why he was such a grumpy bastard as he knew he'd been put in an impossible position.
The next four weeks are absolutely pivotal for me, if we don't get some players in I'm quite worried and I think Lage will suffer the same fate as Nuno. It's alright Fosun wanting attractive football, but that comes at a premium in terms of the players you need to pull it off.
Does pre season friendlies have any bearing on what happens this season.Have we? I thought we were largely awful against Crewe and Las Palmas. With close to the best XI we had available in the latter game we didn't have a shot on or off target in the entire first half. Ok in parts against Betis, Stoke was the best performance (particularly in terms of how we kept and used the ball) but we didn't win against a moderate Championship team, very fortunate to beat Coventry and created next to nothing after it went 2-0.
It's more about fitness than results of course but it's a serious stretch to say we've played well.