West Brom Post Match

[Fox92]

51 minutes ago, Rialto 290352 said:

Shaky was in an unenviable position.  After his initial spell when the club pulled clear of trouble, he was really obliged to apply to be manager.  Otherwise he seems to have no ambition and would risk being forced out when a new manager arrived with his own coaches.   Essentially I think he is a nice guy and more of a coach than a manager.  He lacks the high profile necessary for top class players to be attracted to the club.  Rudkin is more to blame for transfers than Shaky.  I think Shaky is safe until Christmas but the owners may well look for a new manager at that point unless the team are in mid-table by then.  

Not necessarily, when they gave Ranieri the job they told him he had to keep Shakespeare and Walsh.

[Happy Fox]

If the owners are still asleep, we are in big trouble.

 

The League table doesn’t lie.

[Lovejoy]

1 hour ago, Devonfox1884 said:

Not even going to read the thread, know it'll be full of negativity, and rightly so.

 

There was a real positive last night from Mahrez, however - he consistently sprinted back to help out Simmo and that really impressed me, need to see more of it from him.

He looked hungry last night. Personally, I loved his celebration too, clearly a lot of feeling in that. We'll be a much poorer club when he eventually leaves.

[somebum]

1 hour ago, hackenbacker said:

t

 there was one point in the game (I was watching on BEIN sport) when he f%$ked up or someone f@#ked up passing to him or something and the camera took a close up of his face

 

he was mumbling away to himself. Any idea what he was say'n ........

 

 

Translated from swahili something along the lines of "this lot are fcuking shit"

[lgfualol]

Makes you think about our training, before we had Ranieri and his 2 staff, Shakespeare and Stowell. Now it's just 3 of them, basically 3 P.E teachers. 

 

They're basically using all of Ranieri's title winning tactics and hoping they work, despite missing Kante and IT NOT WORKING. I really worry and don't think they're capable of anything else.

[Fox92]

Just now, lgfualol said:

Makes you think about our training, before we had Ranieri and his 2 staff, Shakespeare and Stowell. Now it's just 3 of them, basically 3 P.E teachers. 

 

They're basically using all of Ranieri's title winning tactics and hoping they work, despite missing Kante and IT NOT WORKING. I really worry and don't think they're capable of anything else.

I was thinking this.

 

If the assistant is the man to help the manager and we sacked the manager then we are just left with the assistant who's ideas weren't good enough to help the manager in the first place.

 

[drofmor55]

From that distance Kasper  would have been better without a wall. But that aside he should be stopping these.

 

Begining to think we have seen the best of him.Too short, doesnt command his area, think Shakey needs to change things but does he  have the strength of character to take Kasper and his Dad on. It would be a big call.

Saw Max Bramley play for the development squad last week..MOTM ..would like to see him given a chance in the EFL cup

[Guest CityFan 06]

Predictable. Creativity and that cutting edge play the main issue again. System needs changing, we can't keep persisting with 4-4-2 which worked brilliantly in 2015/16 - but this was two seasons ago. It is time for transition and I think 3-5-2 is the best we can go for with this squad. 

[truebluethroughandthrough]

What baffles me is our total inability to show the qualities that this squad obviously has. I watched the players warm up and when they were split into two teams and told to play one touch possession play, they looked so sharp. Intricate passing, sly flicks, tricks and backheels, honestly, it was impressive.

Then its game time and they show absolutely none of these attributes whatsoever. It's as frustrating as watching Ranieri in his second season, instructing Vardy and co not to press, instead setting illusive 'traps' that our defence couldn't/wouldn't/didn't carry out effectively.

We only have two ways of playing under shaky.

Either lump over the top to Vardy or pass between defence and midfield with backwards/sideways passing with no players seemingly even trying to find space in advanced areas which inevitably ends with us losing possession 9 times out of 10.

We should have 2/3 players that are nearest to their teammate in possession, making themselves available to receive the ball, yet this only happens in our final third/back four.

Its frustrating as hell to watch when they keep the ball like fvcking Barcelona in the warm up!

 

My only positive from yesterday was I got let down in buying a ticket off a mate for Swansea 

 

 

[Fox1norfolk]

12 hours ago, justfoxes said:

He’s been called to the Boardroom ??

Almost certainly his non appearance on SkyTV after the game said it all, leaving PS snr etc to waffle on for ages to fill in the gap. 

[Ric Flair]

Has anyone taken a moment to try and understand the thought process behind bringing Andy King on in injury time and wasting precious seconds in the pursuit of a winner? It might be the most baffling thing Shakespeare has done and he's made some howlers so far. It was extraordinary.

[surrifox]

4 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Has anyone taken a moment to try and understand the thought process behind bringing Andy King on in injury time and wasting precious seconds in the pursuit of a winner? It might be the most baffling thing Shakespeare has done and he's made some howlers so far. It was extraordinary.

I'm guessing the thought process went "don't get beat, don't get beat, don't get beat"

[foxinsocks]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Has anyone taken a moment to try and understand the thought process behind bringing Andy King on in injury time and wasting precious seconds in the pursuit of a winner? It might be the most baffling thing Shakespeare has done and he's made some howlers so far. It was extraordinary.

Its in craigs contract that he has to bring king on and that he has to play the title winning players if they are fit...... or at least he thinks its in his contract .

I thought he looked lost in the tech area ...  in the second half he was writing notes.!.. but surely he had done his halftime talk? May be he was tarting up his cv. 

 

[ZeGuy]

1 hour ago, drofmor55 said:

From that distance Kasper  would have been better without a wall. But that aside he should be stopping these.

 

Begining to think we have seen the best of him.Too short, doesnt command his area, think Shakey needs to change things but does he  have the strength of character to take Kasper and his Dad on. It would be a big call.

Saw Max Bramley play for the development squad last week..MOTM ..would like to see him given a chance in the EFL cup

How fickle a fan can be, eh?

 

Can't believe you'd ditch a man who was brillant the last two seasons and had the biggest contribution to avoiding relegation last year, based on ONE FVCKING bad performance. And to bring whom? A guy from the development team.

 

Yeah, right, throw the youngster in the lion's den with an underperforming team. Top management.

[ZeGuy]

17 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Has anyone taken a moment to try and understand the thought process behind bringing Andy King on in injury time and wasting precious seconds in the pursuit of a winner? It might be the most baffling thing Shakespeare has done and he's made some howlers so far. It was extraordinary.

Just for that decision, I'd sack him. Mind boggling, appalling and pretty much summing him up. He wanted to save the draw.

[Ted Maul]

2 hours ago, Devonfox1884 said:

Not even going to read the thread, know it'll be full of negativity, and rightly so.

 

There was a real positive last night from Mahrez, however - he consistently sprinted back to help out Simmo and that really impressed me, need to see more of it from him.

Yeah, I saw more from him than I have in ages last night- especially after he got the goal, hopefully he can kick on now. He was even winding the fans up before he took a free-kick at one point too.

 

It's been a while since he grabbed a game by the scruff of the neck, but he was a massive influence in us not losing last night.

[dedlock]

1 hour ago, foxy boxing said:

a good knockdown by Slimani and a great goal by Mahrez but another frustrating game where West Brom came with a game plan which worked for them. Kalechi again failed to impress while Iborra who did well in patches but we need a lot more from him. while Kasper made a slight error for there goal whether he would have saved it if he hadn't moved, who knows! Maguire had a decent game and clearly likes to bring the ball out of defence 

Kelechi and JV don’t seem to gel. To me they are too similar. KI did nothing in a woeful first half,it was surprising that no change was made at half time.

 

I agree Iborra did well but we need more from him. He played conservatively,mainly sort passes. He may need a few more games to grow in the side and play more expansive football. I hope it is that and not part of the general lack of confidence that seemed to affect us last night.

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, dedlock said:

Kelechi and JV don’t seem to gel. To me they are too similar. KI did nothing in a woeful first half,it was surprising that no change was made at half time.

 

I agree Iborra did well but we need more from him. He played conservatively,mainly sort passes. He may need a few more games to grow in the side and play more expansive football. I hope it is that and not part of the general lack of confidence that seemed to affect us last night.

It's fine having two fairly similar strikers if you have a system that sees enough of the ball to work openings for them. 3-4-1-2 might give us that option but it's early days and I'd argue Slimani is deserving of a place alongside Vardy as those two have at times been very effective together.

[norwichfox]

23 minutes ago, Fox1norfolk said:

Almost certainly his non appearance on SkyTV after the game said it all, leaving PS snr etc to waffle on for ages to fill in the gap. 

Must have been too busy giving his post match interview with the BBC...hopefully he's rushed home to update his CV for his new job search task along with his fookin' Appleton sidekick

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41547739

[The Horse's Mouth]

How can he switch to the 3 at the back so often but not actually try starting with it? What on earth was Kasper playing at as well? Maguire the only silver lining. As for Shakey out, I'm very close but to me he needs to win at Swansea, no excuses 

[st albans fox]

23 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Has anyone taken a moment to try and understand the thought process behind bringing Andy King on in injury time and wasting precious seconds in the pursuit of a winner? It might be the most baffling thing Shakespeare has done and he's made some howlers so far. It was extraordinary.

Made perfect sense to me. Iborra had nothing left and he and wilf were having to cover all the space in front of the three because all the others were pushing forward (inc Fuchs) with no regard to making sure we didn’t concede a sucker punch (which we would against a better side). We fought back for a point - we were pushing for a winner but they were countering us.  pullis made late changes to their formation to deal with our set up and momentum. It worked so we couldn’t afford to just have wilf in the midfield on his own and leaving Iborra on risked them getting in on goal (as Maclean did with chillers just getting in a block)

[NotTheMarketLeader]

1 hour ago, dedlock said:

A criticism of Shakey has been his lack of tactical nous. The first half last night was woeful. It was clear at half time that changes were needed yet Shakey waited until he had to respond with fifteen minutes to go and WBA one up. 

 

The change to 3 at the back lead to an improvement but it was too little too late. We do need to look at other options to 4-4-2 , either to start or during a match. My worry is that Shakey seems unable to respond quickly during a game where tactical adjustments are needed.

Yes and it’s been blindingly obvious from last season to everyone other than the manager.

 

I actually wish we’d lost the game, in the hope hope he’d get the bullet because this is going knowhere good.

 

Then you think Fat Sam etc ...

 

Ffs

[st albans fox]

5 minutes ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

How can he switch to the 3 at the back so often but not actually try starting with it? What on earth was Kasper playing at as well? Maguire the only silver lining. As for Shakey out, I'm very close but to me he needs to win at Swansea, no excuses 

Why would we expect to win there? They seem very organised now under clement.

 

to give him one game away from home to keep your faith in him seems a bit odd - either ditch him now or wait to see how he sets up and the team plays or the next home game. If we play like we did at bmouth or Huddersfield then he is bang in trouble with the owners. I think our performance there last Feb under Claudio did for him in the end. 

[shen]

We look a side completely devoid of confidence. There's will and hard work there, but little quality or ingenuity.

It's well documented that we are not a good passing side and we tend not to find good solutions when we have the ball, but there seemed to be a total lack of concept last night.

 

What was Nacho's role? You could see from the first ten minutes that he had no clue what he was supposed to do or where he was meant to be. Couple that with a complete lack of zest and we're looking at a monumental gaffe here.

 

Iborra was utterly ineffective. I expect more from a player with his pedigree. He was slow, ponderous and didn't support our forwards at all. Instead, all initiative was delegated to Ndidi.

 

Ndidi has great physical attributes and is excellent at battling in the middle, but he's woeful as a playmaker. He's still very young and makes poor decisions, especially when in possession and it's suicidal to give him that responsibility. He could be such an asset if we took the pressure off him and limited his role a bit.

 

Mahrez drifting inside and not driving forward with the ball is pointless. He ends up playing it sideways or back a lot of the time. He's our one technically gifted player and he's basically wasted. I actually thought he did well in this context, but his anger and frustration after scoring spoke volumes.

 

Vardy, how can we not exploit this guy better? He's sharp when he gets chances (he was the key to the move that set up Mahrez' big chance) and he does so much excellent work up front, most of which is wasted. Yet we are able to give him no service game after game.

 

Albrighton is a player who will do as he's told and deliver quite consistently. Yet despite knowing exactly what you get with him, we are still getting precious little end product. If the idea is that we pepper the box with back post crosses, then why the heck do we not play with big strikers and runners to the back post?! After all, it's what Marc does 9 times out of ten when he cuts inside! The one big chance we create comes from him and Vardy interplaying and Marc running into the box, laying off a low cross to an unmarked man. Why was this the only istance of that happening? Why doesn't Marc do that 9 times out of ten?!

 

We know we can get so much more out of Fuchs than we currently get. He tries crosses and looks to get forward, but he didn't get a lot of help yesterday. When he links up with a quick one-two with Marc and drives into the box, that's when he gets lethal.

 

Simpson is limited offensively, always has been, always will be. Why have we STILL not got a different option? Why are we not practising Marc at RWB more and giving ourselves more options in attack? Everything goes through the middle (where we are utterly toothless bar the long ball over the top) or through the left.

 

Even Harry Mag-effing-uire, the bright light, the 'savior', the player that would allow us to play a different way, has regressed to just being a defender now. No runs are made by others, which means he drives forward. That was punished hard against Liverpool, so now he sits back like Morgan, mostly moving it out wide or launching it long. We've dragged him down to 'our level'.

 

Didn't plan on it becoming such a long post, but we have clear problems in our style of play, which our usual lineup in this formation is only helping to exacerbate. It's stiffling the integration of new players who are forced to do something that is not natural to them.

 

I'm sure the management see it, but they are yet to prove they are able to implement new or difference ideas and correct the mistakes being made. And that is what worries me most...

[ZeGuy]

5 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Why would we expect to win there? They seem very organised now under clement.

 

to give him one game away from home to keep your faith in him seems a bit odd - either ditch him now or wait to see how he sets up and the team plays or the next home game. If we play like we did at bmouth or Huddersfield then he is bang in trouble with the owners. I think our performance there last Feb under Claudio did for him in the end. 

Playing like we do and always waiting to go one down before coming to life, we'll surely lose.

 

Wasn't it at Millwall for the Cup? That was some shit football if I ever saw one. I think that his sacking was acted there and from there on began the Ttansition.