Michael118
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Everything posted by Michael118
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Lambert is the only 'decent' manager we've had since O'Neil. Bruce might be the next best but falls below the line in my book terms of quality and potential.
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*accentuates
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He also said he was going to "stick around" for the next 2 home games against Sunderland and Ipswich. So it's 3 wins in a row since the motivational speech and while he was here and 2 draws against Leeds and Milwall at home since he left. Our record was 2 wins out of the last 5 leading up to the QPR game which includes the loss at home to Sheffield Wednesday which was the game before the motivational speech.
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With Whelan and Lansbury in central midfield he should be starting.
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I don't see the connection. It's one thing to be sworn at by opposition supporters at a local derby when it's expected and it's 'the norm' and part of what comes with being a professional footballer and it's another thing completely to be bullied by someone who's in a position of power and who's in a developmental role and supposed to be displaying a duty of care. It takes a lot more strength and courage to stand up to that kind of behaviour than it does to tolerate it.
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Yep, sorry JV. Gardner is the Jamaican player you were probably referring to. Okocha is Nigerian and Turkish. When I think of Bolton from that time I immediately think of Jay Jay Okocha and assumed it was who you meant. I should have checked it before posting.
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Jay-jay Okocha. I used to enjoy watching him as well and also thought Bolton were great to watch when Allardyce was managing them.
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People lump them in the same category as old fashioned, not pretty but effective bottom half Premier League managers but I think they're a fair way apart in terms of actual quality. Allardyce will keep you up but I also think can be more than that if given a decent opportunity. He has a higher ceiling than Bruce. Bruce has had some success in the Championship but I wouldn't feel confident at all surviving under him in the Premier League let alone pushing on under him in the Premier League.
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I just think he lacks invention regardless of the style of play he employs. There's not much of a comparison with Allardyce in my opinion. Allardyce could go a long way with Everton. If Bruce was at Everton he would't last long.
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Steve Bruce has always been a poor man's Sam Allardyce. I personally wouldn't have an an issue with Bruce's 'style of play' if I thought he had the same quality and potential as Allardyce.
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I watched a few Tottenham games when he was managing them and it was fairly obvious he wasn't going to last long there. I was really surprised we went for him. Although he might have kept us up I thought the decisions made after that and not getting rid of him sooner set us up for the season we had when we were relegated.
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If he wants to talk himself up I have no issue with that. Although it's probably not ideal, if what he was saying was accurate then good for him.
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It's not just the presentations but conceding late goals under RDM, regularly conceding after half time and failing to win after international breaks are other clues of an issue with motivation, levels of enthusiasm etc.
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How many matches have we won and won convincingly in terms of both the result and how we played under Bruce and RDM? If you think it's 4 times, 6 or even 8 and two of those came after Xia delivered a speech or presentation to the players that would still be telling. Xia: 2/2 - 100% RDM: 1/12 - 8% Bruce: 4-8/56 - 7-14%
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http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/xia-aston-villa-training-session-13919027
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The last time Xia gave a speech/presentation to the players was before the Rotherham match last season (RDM's only win as manager). Xia gives another presentation the day before yesterday's game and we come out the following day with an understrength team and have 26 attempts on goal (3 times the amount we had the previous week and possibly more than we've had in any other game under Bruce) and play with a vigour and attacking intent which is rarely seen. As I've always thought our problems were motivational and morale based that's a fair coincidence.
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I'd have no issue with what he said if there was any accuracy in it. I'd like to see him go back to Tottenham as manager for a couple of seasons and see what happens.
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Walters and Austin, yes. Ulloa, no.
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Wow. When I was on the Marseille forum a few weeks ago looking for Reviews on Amavi they were anything but complimentary towards Evra. Looks like they were getting stuck into him and he retaliated. Poor from both their fans and especially Evra for reacting in that way.
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Accountable or indirectly responsible...
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A lot of those things can be attributed to confidence and morale of individual players and the team as a whole. Some of it could also be attributed to a game plan that isn't working or players who are not responding to a manager's directions. It's a manager's responsibility to get those things right. Absolutely a manager can be responsible to a degree for mistakes and skill errors -- how much is debatable and subjective.
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Chances created is probably a more relevant and revealing stat. 390 last season which was equal 12th, only 34 more than QPR who were in 20th and 133 less than Fulham who were 1st. This season so far we're equal 11th with 125, already 60 behind Brentford in 1st and 20 ahead of Bolton in 20th.
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I liked Heskey but was totally the wrong player for us at the wrong time.
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He was an O'Leary loan signing. I classed him as an O'Leary signing because he was the first to sign him and because I was under the impression that we signed him permanently at most 12 months after the loan ended and it seemed more likely that he was rated by O'Leary than O'Neil. Fwiw, a fee of £4m was agreed for him when the loan ended which broke down at the last minute. Maybe O'Neil and O'Leary both rated him. It's not really clear-cut.
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I didn't realise it was that long between when we loaned him and when we signed him permanently. There's a possibility we were interested in him all along and he wasn't either of their targets or we signed him permanently because he impressed when he was on loan. Out of the two, I'd still give O'Leary more credit for being the first to sign him when his value was lower but O'Neil gets some credit for signing him permanently.
