Match Reaction v Leicester (away).

It’s the style of play that’s bugging me the most. I’m patient enough to realise that he needs a few more of his own signings first, particularly in midfield and wide areas for him to have a fair chance at moulding the team in his image.

However for the last 20 odd years we’ve always been a ball playing team but now we seem to have having a lot less possession (even against weaker teams) and if that’s the direction we are going in then I don’t believe he is going to be successful regardless of who he brings in.

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Originally Posted by Letters

This has been the biggest puzzle for me over the last 2 seasons. Da fuq is that about? At home our record is close to title winning - even in these bonkers seasons where City and now Liverpool are basically winning almost every game.
Away from home it's mid-table stuff. It's pretty pathetic, I haven't checked but we must be the team with the biggest points difference between home and away records.

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Away from home is where the title is won. I remember we went unbeaten away for the entire season on a couple of occasions when we won the league back in the 00s. It’s not that surprising we are poor away from home really when you look at the squad we have. Utd and Chelsea only have 7 more points than us in away games which isn’t a massive gulf.

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Originally Posted by SMatthews

Away from home is where the title is won. I remember we went unbeaten away for the entire season on a couple of occasions when we won the league back in the 00s. It’s not that surprising we are poor away from home really when you look at the squad we have. Utd and Chelsea only have 7 more points than us in away games which isn’t a massive gulf.

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I don't understand what you mean by "It’s not that surprising we are poor away from home really when you look at the squad we have".
We have the same squad when we're at home where our record is better than anyone bar the top 2.
Away we are mid-table (literally, we're 10th in the away only league table. Why the huge discrepancy? We don't have a crappy squad for away games and a good one for home ones.

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Originally Posted by Letters

I don't understand what you mean by "It’s not that surprising we are poor away from home really when you look at the squad we have".
We have the same squad when we're at home where our record is better than anyone bar the top 2.
Away we are mid-table (literally, we're 10th in the away only league table. Why the huge discrepancy? We don't have a crappy squad for away games and a good one for home ones.

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Because our weaknesses have to exist somewhere, otherwise we’d be challenging for the title which isn’t realistic for obvious reasons. That’s why I said the title is won away from home as it shows the real mental resilience of a group of players. I’ve heard it said by many people in a variety of sports that ability has less to do with winning than your mentality. Fergie’s final title winning season is a great example of that. The vast majority of players are of a similar level of talent when you get to this point of the game, what separates them is their mentality. The stronger it is (or the better it can be managed) the more likely you are to express it on a regular basis. That’s why team sports are so difficult because there’s so many things out of your control, let alone the things you can manage. So the more you can get into your players heads as a manager, the more you can negate all those uncontrollable ‘x’ factors.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

It’s the style of play that’s bugging me the most. I’m patient enough to realise that he needs a few more of his own signings first, particularly in midfield and wide areas for him to have a fair chance at moulding the team in his image.

However for the last 20 odd years we’ve always been a ball playing team but now we seem to have having a lot less possession (even against weaker teams) and if that’s the direction we are going in then I don’t believe he is going to be successful regardless of who he brings in.

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Just checked and we’re 4/5th highest in terms of average ball possession. As a big team I don’t think we could do anything else other than have a lot of the ball. Mostly because a common tactic of most smaller teams is to sit back and work on the break.

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Originally Posted by Letters

I don't understand what you mean by "It’s not that surprising we are poor away from home really when you look at the squad we have".
We have the same squad when we're at home where our record is better than anyone bar the top 2.
Away we are mid-table (literally, we're 10th in the away only league table. Why the huge discrepancy? We don't have a crappy squad for away games and a good one for home ones.

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Think it just boils down to how players deal with different environments and hostilities, the best players thrive under that pressure while others become more timid. We have won just 10 away games out of 37 across the past 2 seasons, there's clearly a problem with how we're preparing for these games and a lack of mentality in coping with things that don't always go in our favour. Bad days at the office can happen to everyone but we seem to be consistently shown up regardless of the opponents strength. Even the away games we have won this season have been touch and go with the exception of the Fulham 1-5.

It's just poor and until we snap out of this we're never going to find ourselves in the top 4 on a regular basis again.

Many suspected it when we briefly went above Spurs into 3rd - the remaining away games would ensure that we wouldn't be able to see the job through.

The mentality is weak but so is the trust level. At home you feel a little more confident even when you are a bit deficient technically. But these players are not technically blessed (Xhaka, Iwobi, AMN), many are on a sliding scale of ability Kos, Monreal. Some are just dumb (Mustafi). When you are technically deficient you are hesitant because you are afraid of making mistakes. Xhaka is slow and will lunge because he has no awareness, He gets a first yellow maybe in the first 20 mins if he tries too hard and the 2nd will follow soon after. It is also a matter of trust. these players dont trust each other. You look at each other and there are not many match winners on show, but the team is riddled with match losers. Basically you will feel a sense of panic anytime Xhaka, or Mustafi is on the ball. Our teams used to be on the front foot because they new that the player behind them wouldnt miss the ball, woudnt lose a tackle. You cant run forward in anticipation of a pass over the defence when you are pretty sure the dumbkoff in possession will most likely be dispossessed of flunk a simple pass. They train like friends im sure instead of practising like enemies. I would ship out 3/4 of them. Only a warrior like Simeone can fix the malaise in this club. We should be going all out to get him

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Originally Posted by Globalgunner

The mentality is weak but so is the trust level. At home you feel a little more confident even when you are a bit deficient technically. But these players are not technically blessed (Xhaka, Iwobi, AMN), many are on a sliding scale of ability Kos, Monreal. Some are just dumb (Mustafi). When you are technically deficient you are hesitant because you are afraid of making mistakes. Xhaka is slow and will lunge because he has no awareness, He gets a first yellow maybe in the first 20 mins if he tries too hard and the 2nd will follow soon after. It is also a matter of trust. these players dont trust each other. You look at each other and there are not many match winners on show, but the team is riddled with match losers. Basically you will feel a sense of panic anytime Xhaka, or Mustafi is on the ball. Our teams used to be on the front foot because they new that the player behind them wouldnt miss the ball, woudnt lose a tackle. You cant run forward in anticipation of a pass over the defence when you are pretty sure the dumbkoff in possession will most likely be dispossessed of flunk a simple pass. They train like friends im sure instead of practising like enemies. I would ship out 3/4 of them. Only a warrior like Simeone can fix the malaise in this club. We should be going all out to get him

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yes spot on - that's why i get so angry at people like Mustafi still beng around the side - surely the other players must hate his guts after all the fuckups? i bet Leno does anyway, as he's the first one Mustafi points to when he fucks up

every time you see Mustafi pass to Xhaka or vice versa you feel everyone holding their breath and thinking 'please don't fuck up'

without fail both Xhaka and Mustafi play at least one suicide ball and make one suicide tackle per match and at this level you don't get away with it

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Originally Posted by Globalgunner

Only a warrior like Simeone can fix the malaise in this club. We should be going all out to get him

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Finally something I can 100% agree with and I'm sure a few other people on here agree too. Given our problems, he was the only manager I wanted to see come in and the only one I think can fix the problem

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Originally Posted by Maestro

Finally something I can 100% agree with and I'm sure a few other people on here agree too. Given our problems, he was the only manager I wanted to see come in and the only one I think can fix the problem

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He extended his contract earlier this year until 2022. Given his history with Atletico, he won’t be going anywhere fast.

In a way, he reminds me a bit of his best player, Griezmann. I think Simeone is the type of manager happy in his comfort zone and would stay there forever if he could. There’s no doubt he would’ve had a lot of opportunities to leave but has refused every single one of them.