avfc1982am
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Posts posted by avfc1982am
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I'm fairly sure that those players whom he 'didn't want' have a pretty nice incentive to bury him over the next two games, so I don't anticipate us doing much.
It's a crazy thing to say. How are players going to be motivated playing for a manager who has told the world he doesn't want them?
Almost as crazy as calling the player losers on the eve of a cup final.
It's no wonder they're not performing really.
I have been trying to keep out of this thread but just out of interest where did he say that?
Not saying he didnt but I missed it and can't find anything.
The players not being his or the players being losers?
The latter was in the run up to the cup final. Sherwood said something along the lines of we needed a winning mentality and we needed to get the losers out of the squad.
The former is based on the rumours emerging recently that Sherwood is underperforming because he wasn't allowed to bring in his own players this summer (despite previously claiming he had a say on all the transfers)
Stevo, Can I ask you if you think claiming that the squad last season had a losing mentality was the wrong thing to do given it was the truth? personally I think he was right at the time as under Lambert they did have a losing mentality and mentioning it wasn't a revelation to us. Removing certain players I believe was necessary for the greater good of the club in the summer. If anything I am sure certain players would possibly agree with the manager on that count and if anything as a professional player most would want to prove otherwise under new leadership.
Also if as you say the other comments regarding the players not being his choices for transfers this summer are just rumours and there are no direct comments, why would the players not be motivated or bother to perform for that reason?
It seems to me that Sherwood's issues are with selection, formation and tactics, not necessarily motivation as I think all the players look like they are trying. At the end of the day what he may or may not have said is irrelevant anyway what matters are the results. Yes the results are crap at the moment and I also believe he isn't up to the job based on what I have seen but ranting and slagging over rumours seems a bit unfair on him - bellend or not.
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I bet that a fair few managers will be looking at this talk of transfer committees and thinking that they've been working under the same system for years. All clubs have head scouts, analysts, scouts, a money man who tries to get the deal done in budget, the manager who has a huge say as Lambert has said he did under Reilly, and a chairman/CEO who decides the budget. We've recruited a CEO and analyst from Arsenal, a club where supposedly the manager has all control over signings. Yet Wenger is a huge fan of scouting and recruiting young players from Europe like we have, and it's been tremendously successful, and must have done it with a lot of help. It's not as if we haven't signed experienced PL players either, in Richards, Lescott and Sinclair and Adebayor was set to sign. It was a very good, balanced summer window IMO. So we didn't get Townsend, who would have cost £15m, £60k a week and has played five matches this season. Huddleston, no thanks. Lennon perhaps, but he would have chosen Everton over us anyway. Begovic turned us down, and we didn't need a keeper anyway. I think Sherwood can have little complaint, certainly compared to Lambert who very rarely made a fuss, if at all, about the players we missed out on in his time here.
I'm fairly sure that those players whom he 'didn't want' have a pretty nice incentive to bury him over the next two games, so I don't anticipate us doing much.
It's a crazy thing to say. How are players going to be motivated playing for a manager who has told the world he doesn't want them?
Almost as crazy as calling the player losers on the eve of a cup final.
It's no wonder they're not performing really.
I have been trying to keep out of this thread but just out of interest where did he say that?
Not saying he didnt but I missed it and can't find anything.
The players not being his or the players being losers?
The latter was in the run up to the cup final. Sherwood said something along the lines of we needed a winning mentality and we needed to get the losers out of the squad.
The former is based on the rumours emerging recently that Sherwood is underperforming because he wasn't allowed to bring in his own players this summer (despite previously claiming he had a say on all the transfers)
Sharky I think Lambert didn't make much fuss because he turned into a zombie and could only mumble. Most people wouldn't of had a clue as to whether he was moaning or not anyway.
I can understand peoples frustration at Sherwoods decision making on match day's etc, however where are all the direct quotes from Sherwood himself saying he didn't want half the players etc? I am being genuine as I haven't seen any and it appears a lot of people are wound up about 'so called info' he may or may not be responsible for saying. Most of what I have read or seen is just regurgitated nonsense or 1 +1 = 3 shite from crap journo's looking for a story.
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We're more adrift now than we ever were under Lambert IIRC
Dare I say it? Lambert is a much better manager than Sherwood.
No he ain't mate. We would definitely have dropped last year as it was apparent for quite a long time that Lambert had also lost the plot. Regardless of Sherwoods management this season and although benteke was becoming fitter last season when he arrived, under Lambert we weren't creating anything to suggest he would start scoring goals. Sherwood came in and ensured we at least played to his strengths.
The truth is neither are anywhere near good enough to manage a club the size of Villa as the expectation has proved to be too heavy a burden for them to carry.
None of that says Lambert isn't still a better manager than Sherwood. Don't get me wrong, he lost it in a bad way and he had to go but Lambert did keep us up under trying circumstances and he never once threw his toys out the pram. Fair play to Tim for his part in us staying up, but I am now utterly convinced it was a result of circumstances rather than Tim's managerial abilities - as I'm not quite sure he really has any.
Paul Lambert certainly wasn't great but at least he was an actual manager, not an arrogant egomaniac pretending to be one.
It is as someone also mentioned impossible to make comparisons regarding both Lambert and Sherwoods managerial capabilities. Lambert an actual manager you claim? Well Sherwood is currently an actual manager also- regardless of opinions. I would also use the term 'Actual', loosely if I were you as both are failing to prove management as a competent skill they possess.
Lambert was a clown of the highest order and in the 3 years he "managed Villa", failed to manage his own backroom staff let alone the players. He failed to find a system to suit the team and progress the style of football he was attempting to implement. Had a top striker in Darren Bent(when he arrived) and managed to turn him into a conference player. We could go on and on and on about his continual breaking of records(the unwanted ones), and his mumbling interviews whereby you could never make head nor tail of anything he was saying. And what about all the glorious cup exits at the hands of teams costing a fraction of our own? Lambert was a terrible manager for Villa in every respect even with Benteke, Delph, Cleverly and Vlaar at his disposal.
No doubt Sherwood is an grade A idiot with his behaviour at times however he is currently presiding over the largest overhaul of a squad that I can remember and has had only 8 games, not 3 years to get things together. Okay he's had the best part of 50m yet he lost the four players mentioned above(and more) who if valued correctly would easily swallow the 50m and some. he also done something Lambert couldn't do which was get the team creating chances which ultimately led to us reaching the FA Final - with Lambert's so called shite team might I add.
Now I'm not saying Sherwood is better than or vice versa because as I mentioned in a previous post what is becoming more and more apparent is neither are good enough however the nonsense by some to slag Sherwood to the point of comparisons with Lambert is just stupid. The only comparison imo worth making is that both are complete shite at choosing a system to play picking the right players and relaying that information to them in order for us to win football matches.
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We're more adrift now than we ever were under Lambert IIRC
Dare I say it? Lambert is a much better manager than Sherwood.
No he ain't mate. We would definitely have dropped last year as it was apparent for quite a long time that Lambert had also lost the plot. Regardless of Sherwoods management this season and although benteke was becoming fitter last season when he arrived, under Lambert we weren't creating anything to suggest he would start scoring goals. Sherwood came in and ensured we at least played to his strengths.
The truth is neither are anywhere near good enough to manage a club the size of Villa as the expectation has proved to be too heavy a burden for them to carry.
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Didnt want him in the first place but I did think he had bought well in the summer and in bringing Wilkins on board.
Not sure who to replace him with either. Not Rodgers.
Hasslebank is a name that has me thinking worth a gamble!
I do know one scottish manager who has experience of Avoiding Relegation at a West Midlands Club. I think he is available as well.
Joke BTW
Hasslebank? Please...No more rookie managers, it's not worth the gamble.
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The Birmingham Mail had quotes the other day from Sherwood pretty much confirming that the signings were not his. It's a surprise really, I mean who would have thought that he does not have an extensive knowledge of Europe's young players? Tim said himself that he'd been following these players for a long time and that he had final say on the transfers. Not like he's the sort of person to lie or anything.
Have you got a link, I'd be interested to see what he actually said.
You can take the bits out of that to suit what ever view you want to go with.
As an example it says the majority of fans remain behind Sherwood!
The Birmingham Mail is whichever way you look at it very lazy journalism the majority of the time written by idiots who don't have a clue whats happening. Personally I think the majority of fans are pretty much against Sherwood now not behind him.
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Do people really believe that this is a 'big club'? Crystal Palace and Swansea are bigger clubs than us nowadays. History is completely meaningless. We've been rubbish for ages and add absolutely nothing of value to the league apart from decent pies. If I could force myself to support a different team I really would, but I can't. I can't see an end to the shambles of a club this place has become.
Spoony sorry but that is crap! History is never meaningless as it is the very essence of any club, the soul if you like.
Palace, Swansea, or even Southampton etc are NOT bigger clubs than the VILLA- period. They may well be better run internally and on the pitch at the moment however put us in their positions with continuity throughout the club and our attendances would far excel theirs. Our finances would far outweigh them also as would our general pulling power.Our club has a far higher financial ceiling than any of the 3 clubs mentioned regardless of current situation. We are and will be for the foreseeable future much a bigger club. It just needs managing correctly that's all and decent manager would be a good start.
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If he has come out and said he didn't want half the players we signed in the summer I would terminate his contract with immediate effect. Further alienating of the fans and possibly players will do nothing to help us get out of this situation and any manager stupid enough to say anything along those lines should be removed before causing further damage.
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I agree, I think should we lose to Chelsea and Swansea he will be lucky to continue as manager. I think the way Fox has gone about trying to rebuild the commercial aspect of the club and with the investment in a more youthful but potentially much more profitable squad he will not let the situation get out of hand as with Lambert under Faulkner. I think he would want to give Sherwood as much time as possible but not to the detriment of our premier league status, especially with the new tv money kicking in at the end of this season.
I think he has already lost the majority of the fans trust with his nonsense decision making and bs comments, contradicting himself time and time again. Another 2 games of it and I think it will become too hostile for him to continue in his role. It would be a shame as I have felt although a bit of a clearing in the woods he was for a period a breath of fresh air after Lambert. Watching him unravel though over the last month has been a bit cringeable and brought me to the conclusion that he just doesn't have the nous for this level of management at the moment.
I will be grateful for helping to keep us up, the cup run etc and will wish him well in the future but fear that a parting of the ways is somewhat inevitable and the countdown has already begun.
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If we'd have spent the 9m on Ayew and 6m on Gestede on Austin, we'd be far better off now.
And you say I post crap
You don't think we'd be better off with Austin rather than Ayew and Gestede?
Try to actually debate the point rather than just call it crap. I called your point absolute twoddle but at least I told you why.
110m to just about make mid table. That's crap mate. Absolutely absurd crap.
Stefan I do think you make quite good points regularly but having Austin instead of Gestede or Ayew doesn't guarantee we would be better off. If the service is poor it doesn't matter who you have up front to a degree. Our problems are in midfield not up top. Gestede has already proved if he gets the service he will score so I think personally the Austin argument is currently redundant.
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It depends what the overall think is from the board, but I can't argue that he is in a hole
every game we lose moving forward, is making a harder job for a new manager to rescue the situation.
However, I do have my doubts that anyone can rescue us.
Come on TRO you can't honestly believe the current squad are not better than results suggest - Surely?
I think we have a much better squad than last season and with the right set up could climb the table to finish somewhere between 10th and 15th and comfortably outside the relegation places. Obviously current results don't suggest that but I don't think many people were predicting we would be struggling in the fashion we are during the summer.
I am genuinely unsure.....I think we lack leaders, players with a fighting spirit....they look happy for the responsibility to be someone elses.
If they could address that and find some fight, they would look much better......I am not doubting their technical ability....its the character, I'm unsure about.
Yes thats my take on it. The players with the fighting spirit like Delph and Cleverley have been replaced by technically good players but as yet haven't shown the same character.
Not sure I agree Paul for the reasons stated in an earlier post. I think the manager isn't playing a system/line up to our or the players strengths.
You could also argue that Delph and Cleverley didn't exactly have anymore fighting spirit than say, Gana or Sanchez who I think are better ball winners. Gana has certainly shown he can put it about. As for character both the two you mentioned done a runner at the first opportunity in the summer and both were in teams that got slaughtered by the opposition at times when playing for us.
Our issues are not due to the players character if anything the managers character is more questionable imo.
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It depends what the overall think is from the board, but I can't argue that he is in a hole
every game we lose moving forward, is making a harder job for a new manager to rescue the situation.
However, I do have my doubts that anyone can rescue us.
Come on TRO you can't honestly believe the current squad are not better than results suggest - Surely?
I think we have a much better squad than last season and with the right set up could climb the table to finish somewhere between 10th and 15th and comfortably outside the relegation places. Obviously current results don't suggest that but I don't think many people were predicting we would be struggling in the fashion we are during the summer.
I am genuinely unsure.....I think we lack leaders, players with a fighting spirit....they look happy for the responsibility to be someone elses.
If they could address that and find some fight, they would look much better......I am not doubting their technical ability....its the character, I'm unsure about.
I agree with the character remark to a point but isn't the trick as a manager to allow your players to express their talents/character etc. This is where Sherwood is falling down imo. He has left our most creative players on the bench in recent games and in essence restricted the flow of a positive approach to games. The character of the players isn't the problem here I don't think. It would also not surprise me if most the players are starting to question Sherwoods methods. We all know that once the players believe the manager is talking out his arse and not playing their idea of the strongest team or tactics, they will stop listening. I think this is starting to happen and is why individual performances are now suffering and not just the team.
look, I can't say you are wrong in what you say.
Its ultimately down to the manager directly or indirectly......6 goals have cost us 18 points...... 6 bloody goals.
I struggle ,when we talk about the quality of corners or strikers or anything that is offensive....and I'm not saying folk don't have a point.....but we can't defend.
(......and yes I'm one that wants to see Gil in the team..... we need a No 10)
The attack, the midfield, the defenders......................can't defend.
See I also don't think it's that we can't defend but that we are now relying on our defence too much as we did under Lambert. The cautiousness in our approach is leading to nervousness and then a situation whereby our forward movement is restricted due to this. We then become too narrow and easy to contain for the opposition before we lose possession and put our defence under again. It's a continuing saga that plays out every Sat. We never stretch teams out wide instead trying to play through them most of the time. It's no coincidence imo that our better performances and passages of play are when utilising the width- especially at home.
What we do know is that being too cautious isn't going to breed any sort of confidence in the players, and until Sherwood starts to trust in the attacking players to do their job and allow the defence to do theirs he will continue to fall over. We will all keep questioning and debating the same stuff every week.
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It depends what the overall think is from the board, but I can't argue that he is in a hole
every game we lose moving forward, is making a harder job for a new manager to rescue the situation.
However, I do have my doubts that anyone can rescue us.
Come on TRO you can't honestly believe the current squad are not better than results suggest - Surely?
I think we have a much better squad than last season and with the right set up could climb the table to finish somewhere between 10th and 15th and comfortably outside the relegation places. Obviously current results don't suggest that but I don't think many people were predicting we would be struggling in the fashion we are during the summer.
I am genuinely unsure.....I think we lack leaders, players with a fighting spirit....they look happy for the responsibility to be someone elses.
If they could address that and find some fight, they would look much better......I am not doubting their technical ability....its the character, I'm unsure about.
I agree with the character remark to a point but isn't the trick as a manager to allow your players to express their talents/character etc. This is where Sherwood is falling down imo. He has left our most creative players on the bench in recent games and in essence restricted the flow of a positive approach to games. The character of the players isn't the problem here I don't think. It would also not surprise me if most the players are starting to question Sherwoods methods. We all know that once the players believe the manager is talking out his arse and not playing their idea of the strongest team or tactics, they will stop listening. I think this is starting to happen and is why individual performances are now suffering and not just the team.
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This thread should only be for those needing to go on suicide watch.
Long way to go yet before we should be discussing relegation and what players will be leaving!
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I think we've got a squad that should be challenging for midtable at least and Sherwood is vastly under-performing with it.
Really?? I think it's awful. Gana,Veretout,Gardner and Westwood is a very very poor midfield choice
It suits your argument, so you would think that.
Absolutely nothing "very poor" about that midfield.
I feel it's where we are weak, Sanchez is still hit and miss (more miss IMO), Veretout is struggling to find his feet, Gana looks like he is struggling after his injury, Gardner will never be a prem midfielder IMO, which leaves Westwood. It is my argument and it is my opinion which I am just expressing.
As am I. Its what the forum is for.
What do feel the main strenghts are in the midlle of the park just out of interest?
I think with some proper organisation and commitment to players we could have a decent midfield. Sanchez should always be in the defensive role with Gana playing box to box. The choice then for me is between Westwood and Veretout. Ideally it would be Veretout at home as I believe he is far more attack orientated.
We have some good players there, They just aren't being given a good enough run together.
I hope it's you that turns out to be right and not me!!! I just don't see the quality myself
I agree with sexbelowsound on this one.
I think we have a potentially excellent midfield should the right formula be found. I agree in that if we only have one designated DM it should be Sanchez if we play with 2 holding the middle I would also like to see what Veretout and Gana can do together over a prolonged period of games. To add, I also believe though that there is no reason why you cannot add either Gil or Grealish to the 3 in midfield, in a more advanced role as the link. If we play with one DM in a three, the CM's either side should be a box to box player in order to give creative balance on both channels in midfield. If we play the two holding this gives us the option of playing an AM off the CF. Ayew I think could also play this role as he is more than willing to drop back and put a shift in.
I think Sherwood has some great options tbh, he just keeps choosing the wrong ones imo.
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It depends what the overall think is from the board, but I can't argue that he is in a hole
every game we lose moving forward, is making a harder job for a new manager to rescue the situation.
However, I do have my doubts that anyone can rescue us.
Come on TRO you can't honestly believe the current squad are not better than results suggest - Surely?
I think we have a much better squad than last season and with the right set up could climb the table to finish somewhere between 10th and 15th and comfortably outside the relegation places. Obviously current results don't suggest that but I don't think many people were predicting we would be struggling in the fashion we are during the summer.
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I don't know about December tbh. I think the next home game against Swansea is massive.
If I'm honest after reflecting on Saturday and the way we set up to play Stoke he's lost my backing. Waiting until half time before switching things around done my head in as we were lucky to go in level and were getting terrorised down the flanks. I felt after about 15-20 mins he could've tried a number of variables without changing personnel in order to get some sort of hold on the game. Even dropping Amavi back as Lescott was getting pulled all over the gaff.He could've then shifted the 3 CB's along and pushed Hutton into RM in front of Crespo , pulled Sinclair to LM and pushed Veretout behind Gestede until half time. He just sat there all Lambertesk.
To start with though playing 3-5-2 against a 4-3-3 without an advanced AM was ludicrous. Then to wait for Stoke to score before bringing on Ayew or Gil killed it for me. As soon as they netted you knew they would try to shut up shop. It was just all too predictable.
I am content to hold in my frustrations at the moment but if I am honest that will switch should Swansea turn us over.
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Not sure why people pick apart interviews, if you lose 6 out of 7 matches whatever you say is going to come across as BS.
And lets face it, Lambert is only out of a job because he had an unfit Benteke. Sherwood only kept us up because he had a fit Benteke.
You've got to play your best players though Tim.
Can't agree with that. I see what your getting at but pushing blame onto the players when your formation, line up, tactics and subs are questionable to say the least doesn't help the situation. If fans could see the decisions in game are pretty sound in thought, then he would get much more leeway. He's asking for players to step up and win games yet doesn't play the creators in the squad.
Also Lambert is out of a job because he wasn't any good at it. He became complacent and couldn't fathom how to contain teams never mind attack. Even when Benteke was injured the reliance on one player to bail him out was partially his undoing as there was no plan B. Sherwood kept us up because he entered the job on a no lose situation and set us up without fear of the consequences, to attack teams something he has shifted to reverse this season.
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Do you want everything spelt out to you Stevo?
A defensive midfielder plays in front of the CHs, and cuts out the pass to bisect the CHs.Watch the goal again from sat, Westwood goes chasing the ball, and leaves the hole for an easy pass to the Stoke player.Now IF Westwood is supposed to be the defensive midfielder, then yes it was his fault, as was the goal against the Albion, as was at least 2 against Lplop.We need a defensive midfielder to play a dedicated defensive role, not sure that Westwood has the attributes to do that.
You've never played defensive midfield, have you?
I've seen the goal plenty of times. What you're saying is literally completely wrong. If Westwood was meant covering the stoke striker them his defenders would be asking what the **** he was doing.
The goal is the fault of the defenders.
There's four of them, and three stoke players pushing up. Richards and Hutton are caught marking the same man, as were Crespo and Amavi, with none of those four covering the very obvious run from Arnautovic.
You're completely wrong.
Personally I thought Richards and Crespo were to blame for the goal, more the latter for getting sucked towards Amavi and opening a gap in the line, then Richards for not coming across to cover the space and in the process Arnautovic.
Westwood was not responsible for the goal on Saturday although I would like us to see what Veretout and Gana can do together for a few games with Gil in front of them. Westwood hasn't been as bad as some are making out but I do think there is a better combination without him in the midfield at the moment.
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I think he will go the euro's if fit and he continues with his current form. Not suggesting he will start but I think he can definitely make the squad.
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Tim Sherwood has challenged Aston Villa to man up when they resume their Premier League recovery mission against struggling Chelsea.
Sherwood accepts responsibility for the claret and blues’ precarious position in the bottom three of the early season table.
But the Villa boss insists his embryonic squad must come of age quickly if they are to start their climb to safety.
Sherwood has made a dozen new signings and waved farewell to a similar number of players during a summer of huge change for the club.
They have a two-week break to address where they have been going wrong before taking on Jose Mourinho’s crumbling champions at Stamford Bridge on October 17.
“I like to try to win enough games rather than going out there not to be beat because I’ve done that a few times and you end up getting beat anyway,” said Sherwood.
“I’d rather go to win but I need to find a team out of the squad who can go to places like Stamford Bridge and not be scared and are willing to put up a fight and be brave on the football.
“I’m learning all the time about them. They train hard, they’re all good lads. I need some men to come out of the woodwork.”
Sherwood acknowledges that Villa’s situation could get worse before it gets better but maintains that it is still too early to call it a relegation battle.
“Quite possibly, yes, but I’m confident in my ability to be able to turn this around and try and get a spark,” he added.
“At the moment I’m still searching for that. Our performances earlier on in the season, certainly at Leicester for a period of time, have been okay but not been great and not been consisent.
“In the end in this league you get what you deserve. It’s too early for a relegation battle. There’s still so many points to be won. Back to back wins can send you up the league and I'm confident we’ll be able to do that.”
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-boss-tim-sherwood-10201178
It just gets worse.....
Admitting he's tried not to lose matches but still failed!?!?!?
The second bit sounds a lot like a mix up of DOL and Lambert.... Maybe if TS instructed the players on some tactics/positional play they'd fair better?
This isn't going to end well at all and it sounds like wishful thinking on TS's behalf that he'll be able to turn it around.
I can't see much wrong with admitting he has made mistakes and I think that he's right in that the players need to take some responsibility also. No matter how tactically inept we were on Saturday their lack of spirit was evident too.
Ultimately though, it all falls down on him doesn't it, I just don't think it's healthy to pick apart absolutely everything he says, it will drive you mad.
I agree with your point totally but he really isn't helping himself saying this...
“I like to try to win enough games rather than going out there not to be beat because I’ve done that a few times and you end up getting beat anyway,” said Sherwood.
And then set us up to contain Stoke on Saturday with 5 defenders on the pitch and 3 CM's at HOME! What an idiot TBH. At least just come out and say something along the lines of, "my plan didn't work, it wasn't the players fault as I set us up not to lose, and I introduced our attacking players too late in the game and allowed Stoke to tighten up making it difficult to break them down".
Personally I think he is under serious pressure, not just from us but up stairs. His last couple of interviews the cocky confident smile has been replaced by a nervous one and I would reason this is why he is continually chatting shit. He would imo be better off saying nothing at all though as continually contradicting himself and sounding like he hasn't a clue is pushing even those away that think he should be given time.
I want to back him as with all our managers but you can't defend the indefensible.
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Wouldn't have any bearing on results IMO - he's not been influential in any game he's played in so far.
Out of all the posts I have ever read this has to be the one I disagree with the most! Eh lexicon?!
Richards has been good as a Centre back ! Come on just say it once? ......
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Something happened to him yesterday because there were at least three occasions in the second half when he had loads of space to overlap in to and he didn't go. He held back and received a nothing ball.
We'd switched to a back four then so maybe he was told not to bomb on. Maybe he wanted to but was worried about leaving the space in behind that has led to goals previously. Either way, he needs to have the confidence to run past people, especially when there's easy space to run in to.
And there was a moment in the last fifteen minutes when Grealish had the ball twenty yards infield and was imploring him to bomb on so he could play a ball in.
In the end Grealish played the ball there anyway to force Amavi to run on to it - he belatedly chased it and nearly got to it but it went out of play. Before any of that had happened, Jack had already shouted "F*** off" and turned his back on it - he was clearly furious.
Now that begs two questions.
1.) Is Amavi being instructed not to make runs to the byline, even when other players think the space is available?
2.) Does our 20 year old playmaker know more about the game than his manager?
I think we've got this very talented footballer confused and tied up in knots of thinking about what he should be doing rather than just expressing his ability - by all means make sure he's doing everything right tactically in his own half, but let him play once he's in the final third surely?
He looks really, really frustrated to me.
Someone recalls that differently in the Grealish thread
That will be me then.
The way I saw it was Grealish did call Amavi on but then tried to push inside to make the space and Amavi had to hold the line otherwise he would've strayed offside. Grealish dallied with the ball instead of slipping it into space and then got smothered and lost the ball, then going off at Amavi. That was how I saw it at the time in L4 lower, but haven't seen any replays so if I'm incorrect please correct me?
No doubt Amavi is frustrated but so would anyone playing in a team that provides no decent cover out wide when he drives forward. While Lescott is his cover when he is expected to push on and deliver I think he will continue to be frustrated tbh because it really exposes him and us. Even our CB's are far to wide and apart at times. And I cannot see what the heck Clark did to lose his place to Lescott in the first place especially when we looked quite solid at the back in the opening games.
Until we address the issue of strength and cover out wide on what is a very wide pitch we will continually be questioning the performances and quality of our fullbacks until the end of days imo. We need natural width in midfield and until we sort this out our play will continue to be smothered, fragmented and will always break up easily with pressure. I think the pitch is far big for us to be playing so narrow at time especially when in possession of the ball. We just don't generate any space on the pitch with the formation.
Amavi is a class act but as with the right back position, Hutton and Bacuna there is just not sufficient cover for them out wide to get forward without exposing themselves on a frequent basis.
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I am incredibly disappointed with how things are going, as I expected a few more points, not alot more, but a few more, and a much more expansive style - and I'm confused as to whats going on. But lets see what happens in the next 2 games. As it is, we havn't been embarrassed by any team we have played, we've lost by single goals, and in most games the opposition have been penned back for large periods while we have tried to get back in the game - that is something at least.
I too wasn't expecting the world but as a minimum I would have liked to see us on 10 points (realistically 12 points) given the relatively soft start we had.
What does he need to do in the next two games to save his job?
Play Carles Gil for a start, give Ayew another start because the lad deserves to, and get Westwood off set pieces. Not play 3-5-2 again because we aren't good enough at the back or midfield to vacate spaces on the pitch. Plus, have a go at Chelsea and try to win the game next week even if we are to lose. Oh! and beat Swansea at home, anything less and I'm seriously pissed off!
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The Tim Sherwood Thread
in Other Football
Posted
For what it's worth his comments as far as I am aware were made post FA Cup final - not pre, although correct me if I'm wrong? Also I think at the time most agreed and actually thought it wasn't out of order, but just stating a fact. I don't remember many people slagging him of at the time for stating that fact either?
The second paragraph in bold makes no sense? If he claimed previously that the players were his signings and the comments stating 'they weren't' are just rumours made recently why does he need to say anything at all? It's only a lose lose if he actually said "I didn't want X, Y and Z". Otherwise he has done nothing wrong.
Also even if the players brought in are his signings that doesn't necessarily translate into winning games straight away or knowing what to do with them all. Jose Mourinho won the title last year with a team that look like anyone can beat them at the moment- Maybe not us though. It doesn't mean he hasn't got a clue.. And Sherwood has had in comparison 5 minutes with his squad who have had 5 mins with each other. Leicester were in shit street last year with everyone calling for Pearson's head, look what happened there. Any manager will take time to get to know their players in the flesh unless they have previous history together. What you see during scouting isn't always what you get when you buy.
What we do agree on is that the current squad is definitely capable of avoiding relegation.