Positive Points from te run in

[lcfc_forever]

I think Lampard and Solskjaer remaining managers of their clubs might well prove to be a positive for us. To have two such big football teams headed by coaches who have not delivered any major success yet helps us, especially when you consider the potential calibre of candidates available to them. 
 

Read an article in The Athletic about Leipzig and Nagelsmann. Lots of similarities with us, thought this bit was especially interesting (and a lot of posters here have said the same thing): 

 

They were top of the table during the winter break, then proved inconsistent, especially after the post-lockdown restart in May. Four wins in those final nine games (four draws, one defeat) left them feeling somewhat deflated.

Some of the contrasting results can be explained by the vagaries of football, Nagelsmann says, pointing out that Leipzig overperformed their xG score before Christmas and underperformed it at the beginning and in the middle of the second half of the season. But it wasn’t just bad luck. “You could see that the games without crowds dwelled on our minds a little. We weren’t entirely free in our heads. We are, generally speaking, a very young team that’s also very quiet and calm. Something was missing there. And many of our players still need to develop in training. But there was little time to train because of the Champions League, and eventually those deficits catch up with you. Some people believe that footballers can become better without training, but I don’t. It’s not possible.”

Injuries played a part as well. Less rotation meant more games for a core group of players who became very tired, he says, which, in turn, led to Leipzig’s game losing its attacking edge. “Some of the things we had worked on with the ball and which had worked out really well hadn’t become second nature yet. We fell back upon our old pattern, focusing on pressing and gegenpressing, but those elements need maximum freshness and physical presence, which we didn’t have at that stage. So both parts of our game — with the ball, and without it — weren’t that good anymore.”

More work is an answer. But maybe not the only one. In his four years as a first-team coach, and in the time before that, Nagelsmann has learned that motivation is to a large extent intrinsic, and that teams need to push themselves to a certain extent to be truly successful. He’s beginning to suspect that Leipzig’s model of buying highly-talented youngsters might have to be modified by bringing in one or two seasoned pros who are proven winners to act as dressing-room glue.

“There are players who make teams better actively, through their performances, and those who do that but also improve the team passively, if you will, through the force of their personality and their character. Buying such a player wouldn’t fit into the RB concept 110 per cent but he could improve us as a group, with all these young guns. He wouldn’t be an investment in the classic sense, but would offset that with the positive effects he would have on the development of others.”

Finding those old pros won’t be easy though. They will demand big pay packets, and Nagelsmann is loath to completely break the team’s wage structure. “Players talk with each other and find out (what others earn), unfortunately. In the interest of dressing-room harmony, everyone should be at similar levels.”

 

Edited 10 August 2020 by lcfc_forever

[urban fox]

9 minutes ago, lcfc_forever said:

I think Lampard and Solskjaer remaining managers of their clubs might well prove to be a positive for us. To have two such big football teams headed by coaches who have not delivered any major success yet helps us, especially when you consider the potential calibre of candidates available to them. 
 

Read an article in The Athletic about Leipzig and Nagelsmann. Lots of similarities with us, thought this bit was especially interesting (and a lot of posters here have said the same thing): 

 

They were top of the table during the winter break, then proved inconsistent, especially after the post-lockdown restart in May. Four wins in those final nine games (four draws, one defeat) left them feeling somewhat deflated.

Some of the contrasting results can be explained by the vagaries of football, Nagelsmann says, pointing out that Leipzig overperformed their xG score before Christmas and underperformed it at the beginning and in the middle of the second half of the season. But it wasn’t just bad luck. “You could see that the games without crowds dwelled on our minds a little. We weren’t entirely free in our heads. We are, generally speaking, a very young team that’s also very quiet and calm. Something was missing there. And many of our players still need to develop in training. But there was little time to train because of the Champions League, and eventually those deficits catch up with you. Some people believe that footballers can become better without training, but I don’t. It’s not possible.”

Injuries played a part as well. Less rotation meant more games for a core group of players who became very tired, he says, which, in turn, led to Leipzig’s game losing its attacking edge. “Some of the things we had worked on with the ball and which had worked out really well hadn’t become second nature yet. We fell back upon our old pattern, focusing on pressing and gegenpressing, but those elements need maximum freshness and physical presence, which we didn’t have at that stage. So both parts of our game — with the ball, and without it — weren’t that good anymore.”

More work is an answer. But maybe not the only one. In his four years as a first-team coach, and in the time before that, Nagelsmann has learned that motivation is to a large extent intrinsic, and that teams need to push themselves to a certain extent to be truly successful. He’s beginning to suspect that Leipzig’s model of buying highly-talented youngsters might have to be modified by bringing in one or two seasoned pros who are proven winners to act as dressing-room glue.

“There are players who make teams better actively, through their performances, and those who do that but also improve the team passively, if you will, through the force of their personality and their character. Buying such a player wouldn’t fit into the RB concept 110 per cent but he could improve us as a group, with all these young guns. He wouldn’t be an investment in the classic sense, but would offset that with the positive effects he would have on the development of others.”

Finding those old pros won’t be easy though. They will demand big pay packets, and Nagelsmann is loath to completely break the team’s wage structure. “Players talk with each other and find out (what others earn), unfortunately. In the interest of dressing-room harmony, everyone should be at similar levels.”

 

Been saying this for a while. Overall our model of bringing in young talent and nurturing it is the right way to go (and as such we should expect a few failures as well as the hits along the way), especially when we can sell one or two on for a profit which pays for the next batch etc which provides the long term sustainability that the owners are striving for.  However, we are seriously lacking a senior pro, been there got the T-shirt type of player in the middle of the park to calm things down and gee up the youngsters when needed. We have Kasper, Vardy and Evans as regular starters that provide experience but not necessarily in the right areas of the pitch.  Even in midfield our senior pro, Albrighton is a wide man and not a regular starter  anymore. 

Every time we are linked to a player over 26/27 the cry goes up too old, doesn't fit the model etc. by many posters but i think we need that sometimes, even if off the bench. A james Milner, Gareth Barry, Cambiasso, type of no nonsense battler, not afraid to take responsibility and who ain't gonna take no shit but has the ability and nous to actually take the game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen when the chips are down.

These types of player are few and far between, don't become available that often and will usually want big wages with little or no resale value after a couple of seasons, but every team needs them, and we are lacking one at present.  YT or Wilf may become that player in a few years but our collapse in the second half of the season highlights how we miss having that in the here and now.

 

[norwichfox]

The only positive point is that it highlights our shallow depth in the squad, but it's only in 3 areas...defence, midfield and attack.