QldVilla

We can go on about winning percentages, but ultimately it comes down to the quality of players available, resources to buy new players and experience in elite European leagues. Not a fan of Fonseca personally, we should be looking for a manager who is hungry and capable of taking us to that next level of the Top 6. For this type of manager, you will be taking some risk, but if the risk pays off… Theres one or two managers in the Bunsesliga as well as the Austrian league who could be that type, but there’s smarter people than me at the club who can assess whether they could take the club forward.

In most professional sports they take the base level measurements through gps tracking, lactate thresholds etc etc and feed in all into the performance programmes and it spits out key performance data from preseason and training during the week. That’s how they track performance and whether a player is fatiguing etc. Things like sickness, travel will impact on the data as they elevate the heart rate, blood pressure, temperature etc and this is measured as well and taken into account. In rugby league they have a gps tracker that reads the heart rate etc that sits behind the shoulder blades in the jersey during play and feeds direct data to the sports performance team. Individualised training is set on this data, but also assists in decision making pre, post game and during the game. A simple thing like an elevated temperature or heart rate can make the decision on whether a player should train, play or rest.

Yes. From the data they would have received from the Brazil national team on his playing minutes and recovery and the effects of the travel, they would have made a recommendation to Smith on how many minutes Luiz would be able to play, it’s not exact to 68 minutes, but the player would also have input.

I respect your opinion, but I saw glimpses of quality, similar to Luiz who a lot of fans were bagging similarly at the same time. We'll probably never know now and I feel disappointed for him.

You can say that about any Brazilian it’s not rocket science. But you also don’t know the significance of the injury and how it has affected him personally and his career.

For me its horses for courses. Ollie is probably one of, if not the best pressing CF in the PL, he plays for the team and is not selfish. He is however still way short of being an elite PL standard striker and needs to improve his all round game and conversion rate. Ings on the other hand is an elite striker, great finisher and is a good pressing forward. I don't see how Smith play's both, even if they played 4231 and played Ings in the middle of the three, your sacrificing a playmaker/box to box player. Select the best player to suit the opposition, against teams where we need a strong press play Ollie, against teams were we can't press and may have only a couple of chances a match, play Ings who is an elite finisher and will take those chances, there's other scenarios, but you get the idea. I don't see how either player isn't happy, unless promises have been made?

I remember getting heat from a few for suggesting Mings shouldn't be captain.

Yes, but what is the problem? Players playing without confidence, or confused by what the coaching staff is asking them to do, or both?

The coaches are there, it’s whether they can be pried away from their existing clubs. The realty is the body of evidence isn’t there to warrant Smith being sacked, he has some challenges, but the next 5-6 games are important for his tenure.

For me the biggest difference is the defense this season and there are only two reasons, the change in formation or Terry leaving. If its Terry which I don't believe it is, then Smith is in trouble. He needs to change back to a back four and drop Watkins and play Ings up top. Whatever promises he's made to either player are irrelevant, he needs to make a tough decision and to start winning games, starting with tightening up the defense. Dropping Watkins will send a huge message to the rest of the squad that their positions aren't moveable, sometimes a coach needs to send a message, as for me we've seen three games in a row where the attitude has cost the team points.

For me that’s the point though, you become a better coach by the challenges you take on. What would Smith’s win ratio be what would any managers win ratio be with similar resources? IMO the better coaches are the ones that sometimes take the harder road.

What it doesn't measure unfortunately is how each manager would go with each others squad and resources. Peps been at Barcelona, Bayern and City, he's never had to do it hard, and I don't believe the stats are reflective of his actual ability. Yes he is one of the best managers, but would he achieve similar if he had to build something with limited resources like nearly every other manager? Not every manager has the luxury of buying seven world class defenders until they get it right. Klopp, Rodgers both brought teams up from the second tier and even Mourinho slummed it at União de Leiria to prove his managerial ability. Win ratios can be misleading.

Because the average person has no understanding of the nuances of coaching or what is required at an elite level. Although run like a business its foundation is sport and the metrics in sport performance are completely different to those in business.

They may be putting forward a narrative, but doesn’t mean we buy into it. They knew exactly what they were doing in seeking an advantage over other clubs. The PL can put as many rules in as possible around commercial revenue, but has no teeth when they have to rely on whistleblowers for evidence of improper acts and clubs like City have no interest in accepting their penance.

You can’t say they are accepting of the rules when they are under investigation for evidence of alleged increased sponsorship money through invoicing and hiding owner investment in sponsorship fees. They have dragged it out with the PL for the past two years and shown complete contempt for PL rules.

There are always reasons why these performances occur, whether physical, mental or both. You could see it happen in a side with little experience at PL level, but that isn’t the case anymore, as a majority of the players have 60+ games under their belt. People can read the tea leaves as much as they want, but unless your in the room it’s hard to diagnose.

People were saying the same about Luiz. There were glimpses of a player there prior to the injury, which has most likely prevented us from seeing the finished article.

Well said. Its probably Smiths most important season so far as a manager in having to replace a player who sucked the oxygen out of the club and integrate the three new players in a different formation and tactics. Nothing has really gone his way with injuries, international breaks etc and was always going to take a third of the season to bed down the players and tactical changes. But we are have seen glimpses of what the new players are capable of, we just need to start seeing the consistency and this is Smiths challenge over the next few games starting at Arsenal.

Fergie was an example, but all coaches grow and develop, its not just the last 10 years, some don't get opportunities, or have money to work with talented players. My opinion of Bruce is the game past him by a few years ago, but doesn't make him a bad manager. If an elite manager had the Newcastle squad to work with would they be breaking into the top 4, no, maybe top 10 just, but that would be about it. KMitch was making the point that sport science was why Bruce wasn't good enough and it couldn't be farther from the truth. An an elite level there's no difference between the sports departments, only how much money you get to use and in Newcastle's case they would have an average budget which isn't the fault of Bruce, but the previous owner who ran the club into the ground. People may not be fans of Bruce as a manager, but he's not a bad manager, just an average one.

Don’t agree with this. Sport has always evolved, it’s whether you have the resources available to you as a coach to evolve. Ferguson was an old school coach and still out coached modern day coaches because he evolved and had the resources to do so. Sport science is an important factor, but it still comes down to man management and being tactically astute.

The media has talked about sports washing, but what will be interesting is whether players who haven’t been shy in taking a stance on issues with racism, politics etc, will they refuse to go to Newcastle with the owners history of human rights abuses or will money talk?

I'd rather have our current owners of the club over any of the others in the PL. This isn't about money, its about building infrastructure for the long term benefit of the club and community, having the best coaching set up from grassroots to elite and the best culture for the club to be successful. It isn't built overnight, nor is it bought. It will take time and patience from supporters and when we win trophies, which we will, it will be because we did it the right way and will be long term.

Point out to me where the manager was being slated….?? The original point being made was that the team was flat against Spurs and after the month we had making 2-3 changes may freshen up the team. Maybe read all the posts before you jump to a conclusion. PS whether a player is injured, suspended or other it is still a rotation, using Leceister is just a poor argument and showing no understanding of sports science. Realty is today’s game requires some form of rotation of squad to maintain high performance levels over a season. I also made the point in my original post that Spurs have a couple of world class players in their squad that can rip apart any team in the PL on their day, so thanks for quoting me.

For me it’s the time he seems to have on the ball, you can’t teach that.

Ok champ, the comment was regarding your Leicester comment, they rotated. Yes I would have commended him for the rotation if he could have made them. As stated previously you missed the point that he couldn’t rotate in the midfield as the only choice was Nakamba and not the right player for the game and not a like for like for Ramsey who is the player who needed a rest. The experience of Young and Tuanzebe would have definitely helped. Its not the 1990’s any more the game has changed and we play a high press. It will take its toll and as good as Ramsey has been he’s still not ready to play several games on the bounce, especially against the quality teams we have played in the past month. Players also knowing that there’s small rotation will help maintain high standards as players would rather play than be rested.