ARM1968

So we’ve done nothing this half except give Sunderland hope and confidence. Wonder if you’re all feeling what I am?

That first 10-15 minutes were electric. We absolutely went for it and battered them. Keep that up and it’s 3/4-0 at half time. THEN you can relax. This is why I’m finding Enzo so frustrating. Grrrr

Started off like a steam train and looked like we could blow them off the park. Get a goal and go back to sleep again. Why? It’s beyond stupid.

Rum lads, give me rum. I’ve got the horrors.

I was going to say that KDH has been crap recently, but wouldn’t be fair to single him out as he hasn’t been alone. Played some of our best football against Leeds and then fell apart. Still, we go again tonight. I’m fully onboard, fired up and ready. I expect the team to be the same.

It’s the Sun, just casting about for some doom porn. Put a bit more pressure on us. Empty if you ask me. We screwed ourselves over trying to keep to FFP.

It really is. Win all of our remaining games and we go up as champions. It’s simple 🤣

Because it’s a concentration of the most ardent fans. Always has been.

It certainly could be and I have said as much yesterday. I certainly think opposition tactics are playing a part with both Mavs and Fats.

From everything I had seen and read I was convinced Mavs was actually a bit shit when we signed him. In the main he has proven me quite wrong. He has been very good, but the last few games have seen a dramatic decline in his form. Same for a number of players. This can only be mentality and that is worrying. If you can’t feel confidence being top of the league, god knows how you’ll fare in the Premier League, where we will lose more than we win.

So Sunderland are in a mess? Poor form and can’t buy a win at the moment? Next up Leicester. Oh deary me.

Let’s hope we don’t have to find out, because, if we do it isn’t going to be at all good. Imagine trying to get promoted with a team half the strength of this one. Then it will get worse. Not at all pleasant.

It’s not like he has to come up with a whole new system. He needs to play the older heads and just tweak things a bit, mix it up. Possession is fine but step up the speed of things, be a little more direct at times.

It’s not even like it does what Enzo says he wants it to, pull teams around. They just sit back, stay compact and snuff us out. We haven’t got the guile and skilled enough players to make it work, nor those up front with the whit to see what such a player might create.

Financially the FA Cup is negligible and we aren’t going to win it anyway, it’s a distraction. Promotion to the Prem is THE most valuable thing in all football. Losing Ricardo is a disaster.

We certainly aren’t mentality monsters, to steal a phrase. However, I think the issue is simpler. Teams know what we will do. They know where our threats are. We’re easy to nullify precisely because Enzo is so rigid. It will take a spectacular bit of self awareness and personal honesty for him to change his approach, which he needs to do. We need the old heads on the pitch. We need to be a little more direct and aggressive. It doesn’t need wholesale changes, but in needs adaption. We will soon see. Play like we have been and our season collapses at Sunderland.

Are you having a moment? Pep is on record saying one of his main issues is tinkering with his lineups and tactics. That suggests a manger who looks at the opposition, his own team and then, if required, changes things up. Bit of a tough one to compare as few have Pep’s resources to be fair. So I’m saying he is a good manager BECAUSE he can adapt. Said it himself.

Would you agree or disagree?

Thats just it, though, Enzo doesn’t do different. He sticks to the plan. That sort of single minded inflexibility does not make a great manager. You have to adapt to situations whether it irks you or not.

Unfair for anyone to single out Hamza. Pretty much the whole team was anonymous today. We were atrocious almost to a man.

Oversharing is a thing. Counts double here.

Don’t think Coady is better than other options in terms of footballing ability, but I think he has to play every game he’s fit for until the end of the season. We need his leadership on the pitch. It’s critical.

He has been better than I expected most of the season. The main issue is that teams have sussed that him and Fats are pivotal to our attacks and have nullified them. Enzo keeps doing the same thing when others have caught on and pretty much stopped it. So I think it’s opposition tactics and a loss of confidence because of that. He isn’t poor at all, but he is in a poor patch of form.

You have to have chances to actually be clinical with. What did we create today in reality. I saw nothing any striker could have fed off. It was utterly dire.

Ours wingers are only looking rubbish because teams are nullifying them pretty much. That is because the two lads are actually good and much that we create comes through them. Stifle that and our gnashers fall out, leaving us gumming around the box like geriatric tosspots.