Apologies for the long post, but after today I feel its necessary.
There's a few things from today that just really annoy me.
Firstly, his post match comments. In one breath he says we need to 'write off the penalties as you can't win games if you concede goals like that' - I don't know what that means! What are you talking about?
He then goes on to say a few times it was crazy from the players. I'm sorry, you can't stand there last week and lavish praise on yourself for how you've improved Cunha after a 4-1 win, and then a week later say it was crazy stuff from the players following a 4-2 defeat. Taking all the praise, and none of the criticism is an awful trait.
Secondly, and most importantly, is the team selection today. I hate this idea that you can't change a winning side, and need to wait for something like today to happen before you make changes. Its such a cowardly way to manage.
Last week, we played the side we did out of necessity. Dawson and Bueno were unavailable, so Lemina had to play at the back. The following week you have your first choice centre-backs back available, but stick with the makeshift side from the previous week. Fuck that, you're dealing with professional players at the highest level, not an Under 8 Sunday side. Put your strongest side out.
What makes it worse, he's done this before. At Brighton, he admitted he didn't think keeping the same XI was the right idea but 'the boys who played against City deserved another go' - utter shit, and he got out of jail for it in a game we should have lost. So what does he do today, makes the exact same mistake. Its unacceptable.
I'm sure he's a great guy, and I'm sure the players love him, but that's not a reason to keep him in a job. He has consistently shown he doesn't know how to set up a side to defend properly. He has consistently shown he can't manage a game when opponents change tactics. He has now shown at least twice, he doesn't have the balls to make proper decisions on team selection, and waits for something to go wrong before picking the correct XI.
I personally would have got rid of him weeks ago, but for me there's no way back now. I don't want him in charge any more games, regardless of what happens going forward. I'm convinced he will take us down, if by some miracle we don't go down this year (if he stays) it will be because 3 teams have an absolute shocker of a season. I don't see us getting more than 35 points max, probably nearer 30.