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      1st Half-Season Critique (Owner/Management/Players)

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      bad boy bubby
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      • @KaiserQueef
      Re: 1st Half-Season Critique (Owner/Management/Players)
      Reply #23: Jan 02, 2013 12:16:41 pm
      First off I'd like to say great O.P. from A-Zed and a nice thread.

      I've had a good read through and rather than repeat things that have already been written I'll just say that s@ints post pretty much sums up, to a tee, where I am at the moment.

      For me it has been a big disappointment so far. While I didn't expect a title challenge after the poor summer, I did expect to have seen signs that we were moving forward by now.

      For me we seem to be more confused than ever. The defence that has been the bedrock of the team now looks shaky and always liable to conceed a goal. The midfield where I expected Brendan's system to excell looks fragile and easily bullied. Upfront we have Suarez fighting a one man battle against opposing defenses. Looking to change things from the bench hasn't really been much of an option as it's been more like for like rather than players bringing different qualities to the fight.

      Brendan in all honesty hasn't convinced me so far that he is the answer (or has the answers). Obviously he needs time, backing from the owners and more belief and fight from the players, but he really needs to show he is more than a mouthpiece for the owners and has more than just psychological tricks up his sleeve.

      Like last season it seems as if the players feel their places are safe no matter how they perform and only seem to perform when they feel like it. We need genuine competition for places if we are to move forward, but without money the players will continue to be picked more on reputation than because they have earned it.

      Our owners seem determined to be an embarressment. The Dempsey debacle in the summer was bad, but if the rumour that we are looking to return Sahin from loan so we can afford to buy Tom Ince is true ...... we may as well take up tiddly winks. (The saddest thing is that I half believe it! )

      On a personal note I'd like to add: From May last year to the last day of August I lost all faith in the owners because sadly the "realisation" dawned on me, for the first time ever, that I felt my team were not going to win anything. Even through the darkest days I always felt we could and would win titles/trophies but not this season. Sadly too, with these clowns at the helm, I see no light at the end of the tunnel; no golden sky, anytime soon. In my opinion, they just don't share our ambitions or our will to win.

      I hate feeling like this; I hate FSG for making me feel like this and I hate the fact that I've fallen out with so many of my fellow Reds because of them. All I can promise is that it [rowing with Reds over F***ing FSG] won't be happening again.

      All I can hope for is that; because things can change quickly in football, they do but right now that's only a hope, sadly.
      red_squirrel
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      Re: 1st Half-Season Critique (Owner/Management/Players)
      Reply #24: Jan 02, 2013 12:33:44 pm
      It's been a disappointment for me.  The problems from the start of the season (being overrun at times in the middle, defence exposed, vulnerable to counter attacks, leaking goals etc) are still there and I find it frustrating that BR has not successfully addressed this.  There have been some positives, but it surprises me that BR still plays such an open game - it's almost Keegan-esque.  I am sometimes left wondering if the team are prepared tactically for the uniqueness of each opposition team.

      The other thing that keeps coming up for me is: How do we know that BR's much talked about 'philosophy' will actually reap the rewards we desire?  We know what plan A is meant to achieve, but against some teams, do we need a plan B?  The thing is we don't know if we need a plan B as BR does not (yet?) have the track record of success we hope he will have one day.   

      I'm wondering if FSG know what they are doing with trimming the wage bill so dramatically in one go.  Is this just a short term exercise?  Surely you have to pay the going rate to attract or keep top players.  If we are signing young players on smaller wages, assuming they improve over time, do we improve their contracts or let them leave, leaving us potentially always playing catch up with teams above us with greater resources (i.e. a poorer version of Arsenal?).

      Suarez has been the one big positive, but he needs some real quality alongside him.

      reddebs
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      Re: 1st Half-Season Critique (Owner/Management/Players)
      Reply #25: Jan 02, 2013 02:54:57 pm
      Owners/Directors

      After Kenny's sacking I was in shock for most of the summer and was thoroughly underwhelmed by their actions during the transfer window.  JH's letter to the fans after it closed was a great piece of PR to take some heat away from Brendan and I hope they've learnt from the mistakes they admitted to making.

      I'm generally in favour of their policy to reducing the wage bill and making use of the Academy but the one lesson I expect them to have learnt is that "sometimes" experience is a must.  How the hell they expected us to manage after losing decades worth of PL experience and replacing it with novices, I'll never know.

      They have the opportunity this month to show that they do want us to compete, they do want us to win things, they do trust the Manager and more importantly that we, the fans, aren't mugs and don't like being treated like mugs either.

      Management

      I never expected Brendan to go on a winning streak early on, the opening half dozen fixtures put paid to that.  He's done well to keep us in shouting distance of the CL places but I fear he will fall just short of that target this season. 

      I understand he has a vision of how he wants the game to be played but I also agree with quite a few posters who have called into question his tactics and perceived stubbornness in sticking with it, when it clearly isn't working.  He hasn't had a great deal of quality to play with and I can only assume that the reason he has used Downing and Cole more in the last few games is due to the lack of experience on the pitch and the need to give Luis some support.

      I hope he's able to bring in all the players he needs to see us through to the summer so I don't have to keep hearing him telling us how thin the squad is.

      My last wish from Brendan is to find some new keywords for his interviews.  Brilliant, fantastic, outstanding, this group, are all starting to wear a bit thin now mate.

      Players

      Bit of a mixed bag for me so far.

      The defense has been disappointing so far, too many goals against considering it's the same players, give or take, as last season.  Possibly they've had more readjustments to make in terms of the style of play and also the constant changing of the full backs.  Nevertheless our defense is our most experienced part of the team and should be doing better.

      Midfield has been the most worrying for me.  Confused, unbalanced, lacking creativity, determination and drive.  We've badly missed Lucas and still are, as he isn't fully fit yet.  Joe, I believe will be excellent for us in the future, as will Jordan but they need better quality/more experience around them for them to really push on. 

      Up front Luis has been out of this world and thank god he has.  Raheem has also done well but has definitely been over used and really does need a rest.  Everybody's been saying we need more strike power but it's not just numbers we need, it's experience.  We have some of the worlds best attacking talents at the Club but most are still 2 or 3 years away from consistently scoring in the EPL.

      Raheem, Morgan, Yesil, Suso, Sinclair will all get us goals in the future but Luis for now needs more than these lads and Borini to take us further.

      In summary, the owners must show some commitment to help Brendan get the players he needs to challenge in the 2nd half of the season.  I'm not talking about spending fortunes but the difference just one real quality player could make to the morale at the Club is unquantifiable.

      Brendan needs to be a little more flexible or a little less naive and the players need to ask more of themselves every game.

      andymac7565
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      Re: 1st Half-Season Critique (Owner/Management/Players)
      Reply #26: Jan 02, 2013 03:25:47 pm
      #1 MUST DO BETTER A presence at every game for a start. Speculate to accumulate.
      #2 MUST DO BETTER Brendan needs to up his game considerably i didn't think he'd done enough to earn the job & so far it shows sadly.
      #3 MUST DO BETTER Any more displays like the one at Stoke & at home to Villa are not exceptable.

      We still have a good side in there (somewhere) but at the moment we lack structure & a plan. Piss poor management from Henry/Werner/Ayre/Rodgers IMO.

      They all need to take a good hard look at themselves in the mirror (or in the hall in Brendans case)... WE DESERVE BETTER....

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