05 Mar 2017 08:34:09
Great result and great report thanks Ed 01,as always. All points agreed with. Quite straightforward but more pleasant to read.
The sun shines a little brighter today! However that makes last week seem much darker and more frustrating. Why is it like that? I know we keep asking and the answer seems to be attitude but again. WHY.? Surely they want to win and enjoy it. Surely they hate losing. Surely they can see what we see and are aware of the situations around.
This leads me to another point you made and one i made last year which goes back to youth football: Are players over coached and creativity removed or at least their ability to think and adapt even within defined parameters or guidelines. We even saw this last week with the England Rugby team?

{Ed001's Note - the problem is that they believe they have won before the game even kicks off. Not as in they are confident if they play to their best they will win, but as in they believe they only have to turn up to win. We have brought in underdogs who think they have made it when they reach the top, rather than ones who are aiming to be the best there is.

Players are very over coached, the academies are producing robots who lack the ability to think for themselves. It reminds me of something I once read in a history book, about why the German army was able to hold out so long against the massed ranks of Russian and Allied armies. The German soldiers were trained to show initiative and think for themselves, the rest were trained to follow orders unquestioningly. That made the German soldiers better soldiers, as they could adapt to the situation, rather than needing someone to tell them how to adapt. It is the same in every walk of life, the education system teaches us the answer to 2+2, rather than how to find the answer ourselves. Academies go the same route, teaching players how to follow all these complicated formations and tactics, rather than giving them the tools to figure out how to adapt as the situation requires.

Case in point - setpieces. There should be no need of all these complicated instructions. The players on the pitch should be given simple jobs and then figure the rest out for themselves. The opponent only needs to make minor changes to expose a defensive system when it is too rigid.}

1.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 08:54:44
Totally agree. Was having this conversation only the other day. It is in all walks of life and this is why kids are turned off school. But I think I'm just a grumpy oldish man these days!

2.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 10:06:24
Here's my twopenneth:

The reason it's like it is largely depends on the opponent.
A lot of opponents this year have had 8-9 men packed together between the edge on their penalty area and the edge of their centre circle and they've played offside.
Arsenal, and many other stronger teams like Spurs haven't done that. Look at our goals, look at the space between the centre circle and their penalty area during the build up. There's loads of space to run into.
We can play when there is that space, but we can't when that space is denied us. It's as clear as day.
The reason Suarez was so effective - he was fast, could dribble and could score from anywhere. Teams couldn't defend agaisnt him so they had to sit back leaving space for us to play in.

3.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 10:33:46
Surely somebody from within the club has also realised we are losing to the 'lesser' teams and coach the players to play to not lose.
that would be a start right?

Also the issue is the lack of space. that still doesn't explain why the doors open at the back and each of these lesser teams score with every attack. Why are the bigger teams not having same effect on us?

4.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 10:44:26
Teams score against us :
1) on the counter attack when we break down with men forward- like Arsenal and many weaker teams
2) Set pieces and the second ball
3) Lumping balls into the box exploiting our keeper

This has been the case since Rafa was sacked.

5.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 10:49:55
Ed, why is it you think that the academies are concentrating more and more on producing robots rather than independent thinkers? You'd think the 'scholars' of football can see what you are seeing?

{Ed001's Note - some are now. The problem is that it takes a long time for changes to take effect, so you only actually see the problems ten years down the line, then you have another ten years before the next set of changes have an effect and so on.}

6.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 11:02:13
Staying on the same topic ed01, what do you think about the approach of our own pep (ljinders) .
I once read an article where he talked about how he left two players in a room and they had to keep the ball up, no matter what.
I read that he is among the most highly regarded youth coaches in the world.
Thanks and keep up the good work.

{Ed001's Note - he is one of the best, he is one of those who does not want robots, he likes to let players figure it out for themselves.}

7.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 17:13:22
I wish some of the players were actually over coached. Like Mignolet, Karius, Emre Can, Clyne. They lack basic understanding of the game.

8.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 19:29:58
that's exactly our problem. Whenever something goes wrong the players have no idea what to do, and, moreover, don't really seem too keen to find an answer. We have a serious personality problem in our team, and the manager needs to sort his own out too.

9.) 05 Mar 2017
05 Mar 2017 19:10:52
Is Pep Lijinders role solely with the youth set up?

If he is that highly rated why not promote him to help our defensive frailties?