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Summer 2022 Transfer Window

And given our recruitment pool is "unemployed managers in Jorge's address book", a significant improvement is unlikely
 
Dire Wolf said:
I don't get this at all. He's got us in 8th place, genuinely challenging for a place in Europe. Is he fantastic? No. Is he bad? No. He's pretty much the same manager as Nuno, getting the same kind of play and the same kind of results. The difference is Nuno did it with the squad he built, playing the way he built it to play and Bruno is doing it with a squad he inherited and playing in the only way Nuno's squad can play.

Surely the time to judge Lage is when he has had the opportunity to build the squad in his image, playing the way he wants to play? If the style and results deteriorate then you have grounds to say he isn't very good. Saying it now just makes it seem like you're saying it because that's what you said when he was appointed and because you didn't want Nuno sacked.

My opinion on Lage is that he has strengths and weaknesses, he's done a lot of good but also made a lot of mistakes. The players clearly like him and respond well to him, and he seems to be a very good coach. His downfall seems to be picking random weak teams for no explicable reason, and being quite slow/poor to make in game changes. Part of that could be that the players he has available aren't adaptable enough to play the way he wants and seem to revert to Nuno's way of playing as a safety net.

I'd give him another season with a changed squad to see if he can progress before writing him off as 'not very good'.
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Good post.

Bruno is confusing me. One week he'll do something excellent, the next something bizarre. The biggest issue I have with him is how long he takes to make substitutions or changes when it's clear a gameplan or strategy isn't working. Newcastle being a prime & recent example. And Leeds after Raul got sent off. He seems to have plan A researched and practiced before a ball is kicked, but if plan A isn't working, there's no plan B. I've heard fans say this about managers before, and it doesn't generally end well.

I like the guy, though and want him to succeed. He's clearly a very good coach - and the players seem to like him. I'd like him to cut out the waffling in post match interviews when we haven't played well, but he's hardly the first manager guilty of that. Must be a pain in the arse to get dragged out in front of the camera's to answer questions when your teams just lost.

On the whole, I am fully behind Fosun backing him financially so he can start to adapt the team in to something like he wants, in both formation and style. He's very much working with Nuno's squad and has essentially been forced to play the same formation. That's unfair and I want to see what he can do with some backing. Needs to stop picking Marcal though, doesn't he?
 
Jinky said:
Good post.

Bruno is confusing me. One week he'll do something excellent, the next something bizarre. The biggest issue I have with him is how long he takes to make substitutions or changes when it's clear a gameplan or strategy isn't working. Newcastle being a prime & recent example. And Leeds after Raul got sent off. He seems to have plan A researched and practiced before a ball is kicked, but if plan A isn't working, there's no plan B. I've heard fans say this about managers before, and it doesn't generally end well.

I like the guy, though and want him to succeed. He's clearly a very good coach - and the players seem to like him. I'd like him to cut out the waffling in post match interviews when we haven't played well, but he's hardly the first manager guilty of that. Must be a pain in the arse to get dragged out in front of the camera's to answer questions when your teams just lost.

On the whole, I am fully behind Fosun backing him financially so he can start to adapt the team in to something like he wants, in both formation and style. He's very much working with Nuno's squad and has essentially been forced to play the same formation. That's unfair and I want to see what he can do with some backing. Needs to stop picking Marcal though, doesn't he?
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Good analogy of Bruno. On the latter i think Marcal is going to stop himself being picked by leaving to go back to Brazil.
 
In the absence of Hoever and Semedo I can sort of understand Bruno's use of Marcal as an experienced pro on occasion, with Jonny on the left not an option.

Against Newcastle we were already playing Cundle and Fabio and maybe he thought throwing in RAN too (who's also had illness issues, hasn't he?) was a step too far?
 
Even if he isn't first choice going forward ( still think he has something to offer personally) we need back up. 28m dollars seems peanuts to me... dunno what current exchange rate is?
 
Hmm, $28m seems a tad on the high side for me - given we don’t really know if he is ever going to be back to what he was.
 
Re: the earlier posts...what I thought about Lage a year ago doesn't matter now. We've had nearly a year of watching what he has to offer and I don't much like it. We're sterile far too often, he talks utter nonsense at times, he throws players under the bus, we've massively overperformed in terms of points return relative to performance which isn't sustainable, he picks weird teams for no reason, we must be very close to having the worst record in all four divisions when conceding first, he looks extremely limited tactically, he has absolutely no idea how to change a game.

As such, I just wouldn't be particularly comfortable with either him choosing where to spend our money (if we are spending big in net terms this summer, which I can't see anyway but that's by the by) or even if it's a case of predominantly those above him/Mendes choosing who we buy, I don't think he'd get the best out of the new arrivals. I don't think he's a particularly good manager at all - I agree with what someone said on the Newcastle thread last week, we are where we are in the table because we have good players, not because of him.

That's just where I stand, I can appreciate plenty will disagree with that.
 
There's a lot of merit in the comments around him being let down by the board, not having his own team, having to compromise formation etc.

All that said he's been the largest contributing factor to us losing 5 games in the last 6 weeks or so. Poor selections, poor in game management, poor substitutions, poor approach to attacking the game.

As I said on Friday I wouldn't bin him, but wouldn't be bothered if he were. Del is correct though we'd just get the next manager which suits Mendes.

If we are spending money in the Summer, which in any meaningful way I think would be from a Neves sale, then we should do it on players who suit what he would ideally like to achieve. A Moutinho and Nevesless Wolves team with the current Raul would struggle whoever is manager, so that money needs investing, it makes sense to do it with the manager we currently have given the limited alternatives
 
I just can't buy the "look at the league table" argument either.

We're above all of Leicester, Brighton and Southampton as it stands. I would 100% take Brodge, Potter or Hasenhüttl over Lage. Probably Vieira too.
 
Got to give him a chance with his own players and style imo. Others disagree but that is the world. For me he's an excellent coach who is still learning, but can adapt to suit different teams. I think he can take us far with some new players. Again some people don't agree with this but shoot me, it's my opinion...:p
 
I don't think Lage is going to get the "backing" people think and I have put backing in quotations as I think some have this idea that he should be given a decent sized transfer budget to go and get a load of players that will fit his supposed idea of playing. The problem is that all the messaging that's come out of the club indicates this isn't likely at all, the only way he is going to get any substantial funds is through sales and as is always the case you're then on the backfoot already with your most saleable assets being your best players.

Sellars interview plays into this as he said they want good players but "I wont bankrupt the club" - A particularly terrible and patronising part of that particular interview, where again they see the fans as morons who will just lap up these soundbites, making it out as if the options are A) minimal net spend B) Bankrupt the club, with nothing inbetween.
 
I'm not particularly sold on 'the players have got us where we are', as if in the best league in the world managers are just window dressing, or just there to get the extra 10% out of a team?
 
Well a better manager might have us higher in the table with the same players.

We've lost five of our last eight games (none of them against the top three), that's rubbish. Most of those losses are predominantly down to Lage and the choices he has made.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
Well a better manager might have us higher in the table with the same players.

We've lost five of our last eight games (none of them against the top three), that's rubbish. Most of those losses are predominantly down to Lage and the choices he has made.
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Of course we've screwed it up when close to something special, but you could say that pre-dates Bruno (FA Cup semi and Europa qf), you could put that on the players if you were being harsh, but it's more likely just that we aren't at the level where we're 'winners'.

Just competing for those prizes, and European qualification this season, is pretty good for a club like us though?

Considering most people think Hwang, Trincao, Marcal and Traore are shite, Neto's still not able to contribute, and Raul is a shadow of his former self, I think he's done a decent job (better than almost all of us thought at the start of the season).

It's also possible that a 'better' manager might have had us a lot lower in the table
 
I would have snapped your hand off for 8th at the start of the season so from that perspective he's over performed to my expecations. Because of the instability at some of the Sky 6 this season is going to feel like a missed opportunity though part of that is on Fosun/Jeff, but more recently part of it is on Bruno.
 
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Jinky said:
On the whole, I am fully behind Fosun backing him financially so he can start to adapt the team in to something like he wants, in both formation and style. He's very much working with Nuno's squad and has essentially been forced to play the same formation. That's unfair and I want to see what he can do with some backing.
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I think I basically agree but I fear that more quality will leave than will come in. If we lose Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Traore and replace them with up and coming players on smaller wages then its not really backing the manager. We could also lose Saiss and Marcal from the first team pool too. We have used the fewest players in the premier league this season , it has been reported ( I cannot find the stat). I am still to be convinced by Trincao and HHC but we are stuck with the latter so play him up top in a two which he looks as if he would be better at.
darlowolf64 said:
Available managers on Gestifute's books are
Nuno
Gennaro Gattuso
Aitor Karanka
Rui Faria and
Nuno Capucho
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So the chant there is only one Nuno is out then?
Deutsch Wolf said:
We're above all of Leicester, Brighton and Southampton as it stands. I would 100% take Brodge, Potter or Hasenhüttl over Lage. Probably Vieira too.
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We have more Portuguese speaking players than many Portuguese teams. It probably makes sense to have a Portuguese speaking manager as well. Although Lage still doesn't seem to get the message across judging by the manic handwaving every game.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
Well a better manager might have us higher in the table with the same players.

We've lost five of our last eight games (none of them against the top three), that's rubbish. Most of those losses are predominantly down to Lage and the choices he has made.
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Who gets the credit for getting us to 8th prior to the last 8 games?
 
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