the_eristic

Stay. He's at the absolute top end of managers available to our class right now, and the season is far too young, the game far too fickle to dispense with the services of such so readily.

Last New Year, before I grew out my Baron Münchhausen 'stache: I'm actually drinking Brooklyn Brewery's Winter Ale; the pub didn't have the correct glass. :^/

The criticism of NRC so far is both harsh and justified. He does some things as well as anybody in the game. However, those things alone often prove fruitless in the system we're playing, and those things which he does poorly are highlighted. Relying on him to carry the ball forward and distribute will not work, it seems. Playing him in the right three-man midfield would be successful, I think, as long as his ONLY responsibilities are harrying opponents and winning the ball. If we were to let him just sweep up behind a player who retains the ball and connects the play to an actual attacking mid, he'd be quite useful. With who we have now, they'd have to line up: ----NRC-------- ----------------- --------Petrov-- ----------------- --Sidwell------- Swap in an ideal new signing or two, and it could be beastly. A similar system works very well for Liverpool. Though Mascherano is a better player technically, he plays very much the same role as NRC would. In any game where the opponent is pressuring, he just wins the ball, gives it to Alonso, who in turn gets it to Gerrard or the wings. We have great wingers and a midfielder who loves hanging around the attack in Sidwell, so it could suit us just as well.

Somebody's had too much to think. Damn you edit and quote buttons being next each other. :?

Someone's had too much to think.