Richmondfox

After this game my concerns and opinion have been confirmed to be true. He’s not just out of his depth but he’s also not an intelligent manager. The way he blames everyone else rather than his choices is telling. I believe he doesn’t think he is doing anything wrong by the way he has handled criticism. If that’s the case he will never learn, which so far has been proven correct. Sets out negative and hopes for the best, then reacts too late. Teams that’s make subs early on tend to change the flow of the game. He doesn’t appear to have any in game management or awareness. The amount of times JJ kept coming in to double up with Faes, leaving space for their winger, watching Ndidi walk around at 60 mins leaving huge gaps in midfield because he was battered. Hopefully player power can move this along quickly.

I like how he wants to bomb forward and make something happen. Imagine if he had Mavadidi, Fatawua and one of the new boys attacking with him.

What’s shocking is while we had 5atb, JJ and VK were tucking in leaving space for Palace to ping balls to their wingers. Hamza just stood still watching players walk into our half not sure what to do. Him and JJ did a lot of pointing at unmarked players and space but neither did anything about it. Ayew and Ndidi were battered at 60 mins.

Same players, same tactics, same mistakes and same excuses.

I’ve been saying this for weeks. He’s an excuse maker, nothing is ever his fault.

I’m not a fan of Ndidi in this role but he did have a better game today for 60 mins. Once tired he starts watching players run by instead of attempting to press and makes simple mistakes. He does seem to react better to chaos than slick, crafted passages of play. Cooper isn’t brave/smart enough to do anything progressive like adding energy at 60 mins. Taking him and Ayew off at 60 mins for Fatawu & El Khanouss/Buonanotte would’ve lifted the team and left 3 subs to shut up shop later on if needed.

And when Hamza got the ball he ran to the corner like he was killing time, only for Justin to lose it and we get countered.

The Hamza sub made no sense. All he and JJ did was point at a player and space that neither of them occupied. Hamza was standing off watching them walk the ball into our half, he was fresh in so could’ve tried to apply pressure from the front.

He could’ve changed Ayew and Ndidi at 60 mins when they started to make simple mistakes and stop running. Bring on attacking players to create more energy, like Palace did and he still would have 2 to park the bus late on. Out of his depth and is too scared to make a change. I still can’t decide if he’s stupid or stubborn. He looks so emotionless on the side of the pitch. The palace manager was shouting and waving but he was walking around like he was looking for the right bus stop.

No point having 8 defensive players if Justin still leaves space at the back.

Get Ndidi off, he looks battered. Not even bothering to jog now

You would think pattern recognition would kick in. He’s leaving that space to double up but ends up creating the defensive problems. Ayew should be dragged off now.

JJ is gifting them so much space every time.

He did two things well last season that Enzo drilled into him. The slot through pass to Fatawu and the cross across the goal face to the back post. In this role he is useless and finally showing his ability as a footballer.

I think the main concern is he isn’t playing 3 DMs, he playing a DM with limited skills as an attacker. If he had them in a line blocking the midfield Ndidi would be useful. In this position he just floats around not tackling and losing the ball.

What is the logic of having Ndidi play in a role he has zero skills in? He flits around the midfield, doesn’t break up play or even tackle. Watch how many times the attacks break down because of his lack of control and how many start because he won’t track runners and press.

He’s lost the fans with his choices so I would guess he’s lost the good players that can actually make a difference to the team. Senior players like Ayew, Reid and Ndidi must love Cooper, they are getting to play and JJ doesn’t have to go further than the half way line, overlap or pass the ball forward. No point having experienced players if they have limited ability. You would hope that players have already questioned the choice of playing Ndidi in the attacking role and dropping Mav/Riccy to Cooper.

How did Reid do? This cliche gets rolled out all the time. He barely scored for them so they know his threat.

That’s fair enough, we all have our own interpretations. To me, what appears as honestly is just a deflection from accountability and a detachment to what we’ve seen on the pitch. Either way he’s a shit manager that has made poor decisions.

We could pick up 6 points if playing attacking football. Against Palace, who Cooper picks for LW, RB and ATM will set the tone for the next run of winnable games. I expect him to pick Ndidi, Ayew/Reid as I’ve seen enough to form an opinion that he’s not even an average manager. I’ve worked with plenty of people like him, out of their depth and it’s everyone else’s fault. Listening to his interviews he’s an excuse maker.

Also there’s no way Cooper will play him until he’s at the end of his career.

The fans and pundits have seen it now. This is my concern as I can’t decide if he is thick or stubborn.

Another useless performance by him. His legs have caught up with his brain. He offers little now apart from jogging about, tracking runners like Soumare. Many times a player was only a few yards ahead and he drifts away rather than chasing. He doesn’t seem to make actual tackles anymore or be able to read the game and intercept passes. I genuinely can’t see any strengths and what he brings to a starting line up. At the back he just floats around getting in the way, when he tries to bring the ball out he loses it or hands off to another player to put them under pressure. Up front it obvious.

Our views are pretty much aligned. McGinn couldn’t handle Mav and got carded. Imagine that from the start, he would’ve been less effective for Villa. It would be better for a shithouse like Ayew to come on when legs are tired and players on cards. Fatawu is stranded and teamed up, JJ is afraid to offer support or even go for a loose ball if it means moving forwards. Vardy has to feed off of scraps from Ndidi, if he manages to control it and doesn’t send it back. The changes yesterday were obvious to observers from fans to pundits. The only one who can’t see that is the manager, if he can it’s a concern either way.

He won’t realise but Cooper is setting us up to fail with his poor tactics, team selection and then on top, putting less skilled/wrong players in those positions so we have even less of a chance if we do manage to get into good positions. The last 3 games he has made the same mistakes, to me that’s a trend. If he does it against Palace and we don’t start Mav, Bac, Ricardo and leave Ndidi out then I can’t see him changing and that will just confirm that he is useless. Needs to be raked over the coals by the RL for his poor decisions constantly, get actual answers not mumbling sound bites.