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O'Neil In, Out and Shaking it all about

We've forever been extremely open under O'Neil, hence the almost complete absence of clean sheets.

I don't know why he thought that would change, we've always been vulnerable to a shellacking, Chelsea were just very ruthless on Sunday as opposed to laughably wasteful on Christmas Eve. That one goes down as a famous win but we could easily have been 4-0 down at HT.
 
I'll give him kudos for admitting it. Lots of managers go through it and try different systems before they find something that works better than before. It's coaching.

It isn't normal for a coach to come into a club and immediately have the players all on the same page and for his first set of tactics to work. GON has only been here a year and he has an idea of the way he wants to play. He's trying to get there but building a squad capable of doing so takes far more than a year. Even Fergie, with MUFC's resources took a while and it isn't unreasonable for a selling club like us, to have issues in this regard.

I don't mind him trying it for a few games but then, like coaches before him, he will have to get pragmatic and do things that get points on the Board. Certainly not enough rope to hang him with here IMO.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
We've forever been extremely open under O'Neil, hence the almost complete absence of clean sheets.

I don't know why he thought that would change, we've always been vulnerable to a shellacking, Chelsea were just very ruthless on Sunday as opposed to laughably wasteful on Christmas Eve. That one goes down as a famous win but we could easily have been 4-0 down at HT.
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Perhaps this is why we are bringing in a defensive midfielder to sit in front of the centre backs? That means they can have a slightly bigger gap between them to cover the flanks more easily. The alternative is do keep everything narrow and that then limits our attacking options.
 
Squeak said:
Perhaps this is why we are bringing in a defensive midfielder to sit in front of the centre backs? That means they can have a slightly bigger gap between them to cover the flanks more easily. The alternative is do keep everything narrow and that then limits our attacking options.
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Not against that at all (though I know nothing specifically about Andre and wouldn't pretend to) - but it shouldn't have taken an expected defeat at Arsenal (by a scoreline we'd mostly have taken in advance) and an overdue exposure of our defensive flaws (not just the defenders) against Chelsea to make him realise that.

He should have known four months ago or perhaps even longer ago.
 
Tony Towner said:
Elements of it are system, elements personnel. Pretty clear from his post match comments that RAN's instructions on Sunday weren't to disappear off into midfield and completely vacate the left back position. Neither do I think Lemina and particularly Gomes were told to get dragged all over the pitch and lose any semblance of shape in the middle. Equally you are putting too much on them and the centre halves in the first place
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I'm not sure. I think he likes RAN being inverted like Lewis and TAA do. I also think he likes the man for man midfield Bielsa had and the murderball front press.

I don't think he's good enough to coach it, nor has the players to do so.

He really should've known that at preseason.

Edit: what Deutsch said.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
Not against that at all (though I know nothing specifically about Andre and wouldn't pretend to) - but it shouldn't have taken an expected defeat at Arsenal (by a scoreline we'd mostly have taken in advance) and an overdue exposure of our defensive flaws (not just the defenders) against Chelsea to make him realise that.

He should have known four months ago or perhaps even longer ago.
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Perhaps he did but wanted to persist until it became so obvious that it wouldn't work?
 
Johnny75 said:
I'm not sure. I think he likes RAN being inverted like Lewis and TAA do. I also think he likes the man for man midfield Bielsa had and the murderball front press.

I don't think he's good enough to coach it, nor has the players to do so.

He really should've known that at preseason.

Edit: what Deutsch said.
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The press is certainly more effective than it has been from what I have seen in pre-season and the first couple of games. Of course, pressing Arsenal is fraught with error but against Chelsea we did panic them several times. The issue is protecting the defence when you do it and when you have a bloke like RAN being undisciplined or a teammate failing to cover the gap he leaves, then you're asking for it.

As regards pre-season, it can tell you certain things but we mullered West Ham playing it and swept Leipzig away. It came unstuck with a reserve team playing against Palace so I kind of get why he tried it in a league game. You walk away from Arsenal losing 2-0 and think that's respectable but then get crushed second half v Chelsea and it certainly makes you think.
 
Tony Towner said:
You can experiment with shape in pre season, but the pace of the game isn't going to tell you much, especially if the opposition are only going through the motions
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We looked pretty good in pre-season under Hoddle. Played Villa off the park.

Turns out teams don't just let you pass round them with no resistance when it actually matters.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
We looked pretty good in pre-season under Hoddle. Played Villa off the park.

Turns out teams don't just let you pass round them with no resistance when it actually matters.
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“Best practice squad I’ve ever seen.”
 
Tony Towner said:
Giving him a little bit of slack, perhaps he thought that the system could work with a couple of additions and it's now dawned on him that they aren't coming?
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That's my take? Surprised at the negativity on his quotes. For me, he's calling out the club for not backing him.
 
We must properly mess with his head

Can I have a PL ready centre back.
Sure, budget will be approx £12m but no more
Cheers, errr going to have to be a player from a relegated club then for that price
Bad news they all want £15m+
Fine, I will change the way we set up then, will need an extra DM.
Aces, got one for you from Brazil for £22m
 
Stunned that GON has said what he's said and now seriously worried about this season.

Big few days in the transfer market now. After our early business we put ourselves in an excellent position, now we're basically in the same position as we were last year. Hopefully our panic buying isn't as poor as last time.
 
Lycan said:
Stunned that GON has said what he's said and now seriously worried about this season.

Big few days in the transfer market now. After our early business we put ourselves in an excellent position, now we're basically in the same position as we were last year. Hopefully our panic buying isn't as poor as last time.
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After the French CB, Johnstone and Andre. I will be surprised if there's any more signings for the first team squad.
 
I think he’s being quite cute, getting his excuses in early for when we’re entrenched in the bottom three at Christmas.
 
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