Ricey

It’s to do with World Semicolon Day, a mental health initiative.

I don't think the formation is the problem. It's hard to find another shape that doesn't have negatives that outweigh the positives. For me it's about the current personnel within the system and the overall mentality. We can play with this way and yet still... Go at teams early on. Keep the same attacking intent even after going ahead, to capitalise on the momentum and kill them off. Be quicker on the ball. Less touches, more assertiveness with the passes. More off the ball movement. Take the shot if an opportunity arises. Understand the situation we are in and leave everything out on the pitch. Make changes in-game to freshen it up if it's not working. We aren't doing enough of these things at the minute, but there is no reason why we can't do them all and still stick within Enzo's 'idea'. They aren't mutually exclusive. Against Norwich it felt like we were doing these things, perhaps because the crowd were demanding it.

If Coady comes in, Justin has to start. We already get killed on the counter, taking Faes and Justin out for Coady and Doyle will only make that worse.

I keep hearing this about Puel, but managers don't make transfers anymore. The signings we made during his reign would have happened anyway, with the exception of Diabate.

He has to start acting like a manager, not a coach or U23 manager. When you are a coach your job is to coach a philosophy and primary system on the training pitch. When you are an U23 manager it’s similar. You don’t change system or game plans before or during matches, as the aim is to develop the players within that chosen philosophy. He has to snap out of that. He’s a manager of a club that needs to get back into the Premier League. It’s good to have a strong belief in a way of playing, but any manager worth his salt will be flexible. They will use their squad, they will adapt to the strengths of that squad, they will adapt to the opposition and they will react during matches to what is going on. Anything to get the result. He’s not doing any of that.

9 points guarantees it.

We’ll out bottle them all. We are experience pros in that field.

I’ll add to this “…if the fans don’t like it they can go and watch Liverpool or Tottenham”. He’s even more arrogant and stubborn than Rodgers and I didn’t think that was humanly possible.

If this was the relegation zone we were slipping towards he would have been sacked, but it’s no different really. We have to go up. We have the players to go up, but the manager is holding us back with his stubbornness and inexperience (or sheer incompetence). Can we afford to sack him? Can we afford not to? There is not a chance in hell we get promoted without changes…and those changes are not coming from the manager. Its’s staring us in the face, but unfortunately our board can’t see things in front of their face, what with it being buried deep in sand and all.

Just take every corner quickly and short. Don’t even bother putting the defenders up.

I thought Millwall was one of the worst managerial performances I’d ever witnessed but this was another level. - Total lack of rotation. Again. - Out of form players starting. Again. - Knackered players starting. Again. - 2 subs used, despite 3 games in 6 days and despite the fact it wasn’t working. - No Iheanacho and Albrighton on the bench, the only players who offer something genuinely different. - Zero tactical changes to try and make a breakthrough. Two up top? Swap the wingers? Overlap the full backs? Nothing. - A limp performance that looks like a team who have already been relegated. Again. To lose to a team with Plymouth’s home record is sackable offence on its own. They started quite poorly and were giving KDH acres of space, but we overthought every attack and then gifted them a goal. After that I might as well have turned off. I’ve never seen a manager neglect his duties and act with as much stubbornness as this. Get him gone and release the needless shackles that he’s placing on us. The future of the club depends on it. Last season was the most avoidable relegation in history and this is the most avoidable collapse in history.

Genuinely, take every corner short and quick and don’t bother putting the centre backs up. Pointless.

To be fair we started with good intent but our decision making around the box is terrible. Trying to score the perfect goal rather than take a chance. From that point it’s been awful. Faes at fault, again, and no real threat on goal.

Ndidi is just back from injury and has looked dead on his feet last couple of matches. Still starts. Faes has been a big ball of arrogance and incompetence. Still starts. You can’t moan about the welfare of the players yesterday and then just roll out the same old team. Lack of rotation is going to cost us.

Presumably this means that if we don’t go up, the EFL still can’t deduct points for the 22/23 PL breach? …and if we do go up, the PL can’t deduct points for a 23/24 EFL breach (if we do breach)?

Imperative we start strongly (won't happen). We had a chance to turn The Den toxic on Tuesday but instead we allowed Millwall to grow into the game and grow in confidence. We have to learn when to go for the jugular and when to be more cautious. Against teams near the bottom, we have to go for the jugular. Plymouth have scored 1 goal in their last 6 home matches. We should feel comfortable being quite attack minded from the start and attempt to get ahead. Take the initiative rather than playing slow, patient football that only results in the opposition fans and players taking hope from it. It won't happen though. Maresca has admitted that his belief that is against low blocks it is best to play slow, patient football.

89th minute own goal.

I struggled at times earlier in the season as despite the winning most matches the performances were often unconvincing. But I, like many others, put that down to the players still learning this new system. We all hoped that there were several more gears to move into. The reality is that Enzo was a much needed breath of fresh air for the players in the summer and that enabled us to hit the ground running. The players adapted fairly well to the new style, perhaps because it wasn't really that new compared to Rodgers' style. But as the season wore on, it was concerning that we weren't winning more games more comfortably. I think I can count on one hand the games we have won convincingly. Most, if not every, match had a period of time where we looked toothless or all over the place. Normally at end of matches, after going ahead or whenever the opposition decided to go at us a bit more. Even when we were 17 points clear, in terms of performances, it felt paper thin. Over the course of the season more and more teams have discovered the way to frustrate us. By this point, the blueprint is so clear we might as well have faxed it around to every other club ourselves. Enzo at the beginning of the season needed to be a coach, but as the season has progressed we've needed him to be a manager. That is where he's fallen short. In regards to tactical flexibility, in-game management, rotation of the squad or instilling a ruthlessness into players, he's gone totally missing. He has incredible stubbornness for such a young manager and it's costing us. Away from results, I've struggled all season with the style of play. It's too often painfully dull and when things don't go our way, it looks pretty pathetic. That's not just on Enzo, it was also the case with Rodgers. For the last few years our teams have been slow, soft, predictable and totally lacking in any sort of mental strength. I'm sick of it to be honest.

The thing is, we cross it quite a lot. Mostly floated balls to the back post. Why not bring on a player who is one of the best around at doing that.

We have to learn from last night, as Friday will be a similar match against a team fighting for their lives. Hermansen Justin Vestergaard Coady Ricardo Winks Dewsbury-Hall Praet Mavididi Fatawu Iheanacho I can't believe we've got to the stage where Iheanacho is the answer, but I think against a parked bus at least he brings physicality. Daka is in horrendous form and Vardy can't start two matches in a few days. Praet should offer more in tight spaces compared to Ndidi and Justin should help guard against getting hit on the counter. Coady for Faes is simply a no-brainer. I'd love to see us go at them early, but it's never going to happen. If we do and we go ahead, Enzo will bring out the calm down gestures and all of our momentum will disappear.

I did wonder/fear how much the last two results were down to the fans creating an atmosphere where the players were afraid to play slowly or negatively. There was a good intent about us in both matches. Last night was back to our worst. Slow, predictable, one dimensional, soft and unambitious.

He's the perfect player to come on when we are creating nothing against a parked bus. He can play cross field passes, he can cross the ball into the box and he can whip the ball behind the back line. I get why he doesn't start, but games like last night a perfect for him to come on in the final 20 minutes.

The worrying thing is that you just know the Plymouth and Preston games will be just like this. Possibly Blackburn as well, but the fact it's on the final day and at home might mean we show a bit more intent. There is simply no excuses for last night. We looked like a team comfortable in mid-table who have a big cup game in a couple of days.

This is it for me. He's seen the inner workings of Guardiola's Man City and has come away from that thinking that there is only one way to do things. He thinks that changing shape, mixing up our patterns of play or going more direct at times is sacrilege and will cause the players and fans to believe in "the idea" less. That works when you are Pep and you have the resources to back it all up, but we don't have that luxury. He has to be more flexible and realistic to where we are are, the squad we have and the situation we find ourselves in. He feels more like a salesman for The Idea™ than a football manager who's job it is to get results.

The problem is that the system hasn’t adapted and evolved over the course of the season. Teams have sussed us and we’ve lost our fear factor. There has been no tweaks or improvements and we’ve stopped using our squad. It’s like our game plans are devised by ChatGPT.