The Enzo Thread

[CosbehFox]

12 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Listening to Guillem Balagué again tonight on Radio Leicester who as Enzo's friend seems to be acting as his spokesperson as well. 

 

Was an interesting listen but I wish I could see more of this genius philosophy he talks about actually working. When he starts saying he won't change his ways or personnel with someone like Vestegaard playing in a high line Vs Jackson - it correlates more with naivety and insanity than genius. It's done Kompany no favours this year either.

 

I won't accept the fact we've been top most the season as a vindication of philosophy either when anyone who's watched it will see it's been mainly down to overall quality. 

 

Where I do think it has worked is most home games where teams have sat back because purely on the basis of percentages they've had it much less and has less chance to score. But those games haven't won people over just because they've been so boring. 

 

I really like Enzo and want it to work but it's way too early to be talking him up like a genius in the way Guillem does because he hasn't done enough to warrant it.

His relationship with Enzo is effectively client journalism - Wolves fans got very tired how Balague had a lot to say Lopetugui and effectively stirred the pot 

[winteriscoming]

12 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Listening to Guillem Balagué again tonight on Radio Leicester who as Enzo's friend seems to be acting as his spokesperson as well. 

 

Was an interesting listen but I wish I could see more of this genius philosophy he talks about actually working. When he starts saying he won't change his ways or personnel with someone like Vestegaard playing in a high line Vs Jackson - it correlates more with naivety and insanity than genius. It's done Kompany no favours this year either.

 

I won't accept the fact we've been top most the season as a vindication of philosophy either when anyone who's watched it will see it's been mainly down to overall quality. 

 

Where I do think it has worked is most home games where teams have sat back because purely on the basis of percentages they've had it much less and has less chance to score. But those games haven't won people over just because they've been so boring. 

 

I really like Enzo and want it to work but it's way too early to be talking him up like a genius in the way Guillem does because he hasn't done enough to warrant it.

I worry about his lack of experience in these situations. Look at the sides around us - Farke has got promoted a couple times, McKenna has experience of promotion last season granted in league 1. Enzo has experience of winning everything sitting next to Pep. His one previous managerial experience he failed. 

[RoboFox]

14 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Listening to Guillem Balagué again tonight on Radio Leicester who as Enzo's friend seems to be acting as his spokesperson as well. 

 

Was an interesting listen but I wish I could see more of this genius philosophy he talks about actually working. When he starts saying he won't change his ways or personnel with someone like Vestegaard playing in a high line Vs Jackson - it correlates more with naivety and insanity than genius. It's done Kompany no favours this year either.

 

I won't accept the fact we've been top most the season as a vindication of philosophy either when anyone who's watched it will see it's been mainly down to overall quality. 

 

Where I do think it has worked is most home games where teams have sat back because purely on the basis of percentages they've had it much less and has less chance to score. But those games haven't won people over just because they've been so boring. 

 

I really like Enzo and want it to work but it's way too early to be talking him up like a genius in the way Guillem does because he hasn't done enough to warrant it.

 

His hesitancy to answer the question on whether Maresca was happy with the way in which the heirarchy at the club are handling the current situation and the strategy going forward was pretty telling IMO. Reading between the lines, he was indirectly questioning the "people in the office."

 

I like Balagué, but he gives very strong "the manager's my mate" vibes at time.

 

Loves to leverage his connections for a bit of clout and to plug his events, but at the same time gives very little away. 

[Nod.E]

16 hours ago, filbertway said:

Sunderland was well exciting! 

Wasn't great that one. It's also the only game we've won recently. Noticing a trend?

[Dan]

3 hours ago, filbertway said:

I just don't really see how having no flexibility is seen as a positive to be honest. Adapting to take advantage of the opposition's weaknesses and negate their strengths seems like a positive to me. Being able to adapt tactics to suit your squad seems like a positive.

 

I can understand someone having a general philosophy they want to stick to, be it trying to outscore the opposition, or keep games tight. But being wed to one tactical set up just seems like a recipe for failure, it gives any manager worth their salt the very best opportunity to set up their team to beat the system as they know exactly what they're up against. 

 

If he's come out of that game happy with us having 1 shot on target while conceding an xG of over 4 then I'm genuinely perplexed at what his expectations are when playing his system.

 

Yeah I'm on the same page really. I think you can hold principles on how to play but not look so one-dimensional in doing it and he increasingly appears to be like that which is a shame. I thought his whole thing about "my time at Juventus is where I learned about winning at all cost" would shine through more but lately with some of the stuff he's been saying it's been more of the idealism and style over substance that I've just never taken to in a manager.

 

I've long held concerns that we're never going to quite be able to sign the players to make his system really work effectively. It's become less for me about some of the principles (playing out etc..) and more that he just seems to religiously stick to this system regardless of the personnel or opposition.

[cityfanlee23]

21 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Yeah I'm on the same page really. I think you can hold principles on how to play but not look so one-dimensional in doing it and he increasingly appears to be like that which is a shame. I thought his whole thing about "my time at Juventus is where I learned about winning at all cost" would shine through more but lately with some of the stuff he's been saying it's been more of the idealism and style over substance that I've just never taken to in a manager.

 

I've long held concerns that we're never going to quite be able to sign the players to make his system really work effectively. It's become less for me about some of the principles (playing out etc..) and more that he just seems to religiously stick to this system regardless of the personnel or opposition.

Even if we had the means to do so look who would be in charge of doing it 😂 I’m still waiting for Ward to get an extension! 

[Guppys Love Child]

4 hours ago, filbertway said:

I just don't really see how having no flexibility is seen as a positive to be honest. Adapting to take advantage of the opposition's weaknesses and negate their strengths seems like a positive to me. Being able to adapt tactics to suit your squad seems like a positive.

 

I can understand someone having a general philosophy they want to stick to, be it trying to outscore the opposition, or keep games tight. But being wed to one tactical set up just seems like a recipe for failure, it gives any manager worth their salt the very best opportunity to set up their team to beat the system as they know exactly what they're up against. 

 

If he's come out of that game happy with us having 1 shot on target while conceding an xG of over 4 then I'm genuinely perplexed at what his expectations are when playing his system.

 

Spot on.. and now that we are well into the return fixtures, teams have "sussed" us out to varying degree's

 

The above is not the only reason for our "blip"  but IMO it contributes quite a bit towards it. 

 

I'd love Enzo to show a bit of flexibility with his system, tweak it just a little a bit, so that the opposition is actually kept guessing for a change,  chuck the old random over the top ball in, just for variety, occasionally stop playing the methodical, controlled, build up play and not play the now expected passback to move players about,  that's what the opposition is geared up and waiting to happen and instead play a quick desicive out of character forward  ball and catch them out. I'm also not saying we turn into hoofball merchants  just mix it it up a smidge and stop EnzoBall for spells.

 

 However, I fear this will never happen in a month of Sunday's as he is to inflexible to move away from building his identity and playing the system he so stubbornly stands by, regardless of the situation.

 

Maybe his comments of leaving the next day if his idea is questioned has taken any 'wiggle room' away , as to actually adopt a few tweaks show's the system he venomously defended at first does have weaknesses..

 

To me acknowledging this and adapting, and trying to overcome the "blip" by tweaking his system doesn't show weakness, but shows strength and intelligence to take the actual steps. 

Edited 19 March 2024 by Guppys Love Child

[Gamble92]

2 hours ago, RoboFox said:

 

His hesitancy to answer the question on whether Maresca was happy with the way in which the heirarchy at the club are handling the current situation and the strategy going forward was pretty telling IMO. Reading between the lines, he was indirectly questioning the "people in the office."

 

I like Balagué, but he gives very strong "the manager's my mate" vibes at time.

 

Loves to leverage his connections for a bit of clout and to plug his events, but at the same time gives very little away. 

Very much how I felt about it. Are his events for charity by the way? Hope so the way he was begging people to buy Winks' boots. 

[Dan]

2 hours ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Even if we had the means to do so look who would be in charge of doing it 😂 I’m still waiting for Ward to get an extension! 

Yeah exactly. I'm pretty certain we're doomed to mediocrity at best with the current regime regardless of manager.

[Gamble92]

6 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

Yeah I found this bit irritating. Guillem said something along the lines of “you expect him to tell his players to forget everything they’ve done this season for this opponent?” 
 

Yes, we’re at Chelsea, not Rotherham. 

He was very condescending to Matt Piper I thought. 

 

Yes we expect him to change things for a Billion Pound squad. 

[Lionator]

4 hours ago, RoboFox said:

 

His hesitancy to answer the question on whether Maresca was happy with the way in which the heirarchy at the club are handling the current situation and the strategy going forward was pretty telling IMO. Reading between the lines, he was indirectly questioning the "people in the office."

 

I like Balagué, but he gives very strong "the manager's my mate" vibes at time.

 

Loves to leverage his connections for a bit of clout and to plug his events, but at the same time gives very little away. 

Let’s be honest, id be more concerned about Enzo’s wellbeing if he was happy with stuff behind the scenes. Because it’s a shambles, and he’s not naive enough to not know it. 

Edited 19 March 2024 by Lionator

[Gamble92]

59 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Let’s be honest, id be more concerned about Enzo’s wellbeing if he was happy with stuff behind the scenes. Because it’s a shambles, and he’s not naive enough to not know it. 

Agreed, but he can't moan about the squad he's got this season. He's done his best to though. 

[Jimmy]

20 hours ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Get out of here you route 1 merchant 
 

I have a gut feeling we will scrape up through the automatics, but if we fail it's very simple, Enzo has gambled quite literally the future of the club on his "system" and would be unforgivable. 14 points blown and still nothing changes. I think we have the quality to drag us through. 

the **** are you on about you idiot?

[cityfanlee23]

8 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

the **** are you on about you idiot?

It was a Joke. According to many on here if you want us to have a plan B it means you want the ball lumped up field to a target man all game. 

[Pliskin]

Just to reiterate, when people refer to having a different option it doesn’t always mean plan B smash it long. 

 

You can still play possession based football and be solid. The inverted full back is now causing us problems, a simple switch to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, would benefit us at the moment. Play Justin as a proper full back and Ricardo, Winks can still play as an 8 and N’didi return to the CDM role… KDH can be a hybrid high 8/10 with Mavididi and Fatawu as the width, with Vardy in attack. 
 

The system gives you stability at the back, which we so desperately need. We can only play that inverted role when Ricardo is fit, but, it causes us massive problems when we’re not at it, because teams simply play through us and we don’t have the pace to cope. The last few games defensively we’ve been an utter shambles. 
 

The inability or lack of want to try a more conventional approach is undoing us, Brendan used to relentlessly try the same things, even if they didn’t work, there’s no shame in occasionally deviating away from your preferred style for the benefit of the team.

 

If we absolutely stack it and don’t make the top two and crash out of the playoffs

because Enzo is just sticking by his philosophy, will people be defending Enzo then? Because I probably won’t. 
 

He’s got a massive international break, to succeed he’s got to bring Coady in, and I think he has to try more conventional methods to bring about some stability in the squad defensively.

 

If he doesn’t, and we scrape through, there’s enough concerns for me to be worried Enzo managing us in the premier league, we simply don’t have the infrastructure to facilitate his vision, and things could get very nasty and ugly very quickly. I’m not in the know, but I have a feeling the board aren’t overly keen on Enzo anyway, and it wouldn’t surprise me even if we go up they part ways with him and look elsewhere, no evidence just a bit of a hunch from the way Enzo talks from time to time. 

[Happy Fox]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/68606591

[Guppys Love Child]

10 hours ago, Pliskin said:

Just to reiterate, when people refer to having a different option it doesn’t always mean plan B smash it long. 

 

You can still play possession based football and be solid. The inverted full back is now causing us problems, a simple switch to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, would benefit us at the moment. Play Justin as a proper full back and Ricardo, Winks can still play as an 8 and N’didi return to the CDM role… KDH can be a hybrid high 8/10 with Mavididi and Fatawu as the width, with Vardy in attack. 
 

The system gives you stability at the back, which we so desperately need. We can only play that inverted role when Ricardo is fit, but, it causes us massive problems when we’re not at it, because teams simply play through us and we don’t have the pace to cope. The last few games defensively we’ve been an utter shambles. 
 

The inability or lack of want to try a more conventional approach is undoing us, Brendan used to relentlessly try the same things, even if they didn’t work, there’s no shame in occasionally deviating away from your preferred style for the benefit of the team.

 

If we absolutely stack it and don’t make the top two and crash out of the playoffs

because Enzo is just sticking by his philosophy, will people be defending Enzo then? Because I probably won’t. 
 

He’s got a massive international break, to succeed he’s got to bring Coady in, and I think he has to try more conventional methods to bring about some stability in the squad defensively.

 

If he doesn’t, and we scrape through, there’s enough concerns for me to be worried Enzo managing us in the premier league, we simply don’t have the infrastructure to facilitate his vision, and things could get very nasty and ugly very quickly. I’m not in the know, but I have a feeling the board aren’t overly keen on Enzo anyway, and it wouldn’t surprise me even if we go up they part ways with him and look elsewhere, no evidence just a bit of a hunch from the way Enzo talks from time to time. 

Good post, agree with loads of it.

 

The final paragraph though.  Why do you think that?  I'm not saying you are wrong ( or right 🤪) but it's a big "hunch" my friend..  

 

I'm genuinely curious 

[winteriscoming]

10 hours ago, Pliskin said:

Just to reiterate, when people refer to having a different option it doesn’t always mean plan B smash it long. 

 

You can still play possession based football and be solid. The inverted full back is now causing us problems, a simple switch to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, would benefit us at the moment. Play Justin as a proper full back and Ricardo, Winks can still play as an 8 and N’didi return to the CDM role… KDH can be a hybrid high 8/10 with Mavididi and Fatawu as the width, with Vardy in attack. 
 

The system gives you stability at the back, which we so desperately need. We can only play that inverted role when Ricardo is fit, but, it causes us massive problems when we’re not at it, because teams simply play through us and we don’t have the pace to cope. The last few games defensively we’ve been an utter shambles. 
 

The inability or lack of want to try a more conventional approach is undoing us, Brendan used to relentlessly try the same things, even if they didn’t work, there’s no shame in occasionally deviating away from your preferred style for the benefit of the team.

 

If we absolutely stack it and don’t make the top two and crash out of the playoffs

because Enzo is just sticking by his philosophy, will people be defending Enzo then? Because I probably won’t. 
 

He’s got a massive international break, to succeed he’s got to bring Coady in, and I think he has to try more conventional methods to bring about some stability in the squad defensively.

 

If he doesn’t, and we scrape through, there’s enough concerns for me to be worried Enzo managing us in the premier league, we simply don’t have the infrastructure to facilitate his vision, and things could get very nasty and ugly very quickly. I’m not in the know, but I have a feeling the board aren’t overly keen on Enzo anyway, and it wouldn’t surprise me even if we go up they part ways with him and look elsewhere, no evidence just a bit of a hunch from the way Enzo talks from time to time. 

Agree about Enzo not being here next season whatever division we are in. With our financial restrains and possible point deduction I don’t think he’ll want to be another Kompany next season if we go up. 

[Guest Basildon Fox]

1 hour ago, winteriscoming said:

Agree about Enzo not being here next season whatever division we are in. With our financial restrains and possible point deduction I don’t think he’ll want to be another Kompany next season if we go up. 

Then he can go. Plenty of managers will want the job, they always do.

[winteriscoming]

3 minutes ago, Basildon Fox said:

Then he can go. Plenty of managers will want the job, they always do.

Will they? May well come down to quantity rather than quality wanting the job. 
Financial pressure, points deduction, mass exodus of players who are out of contract, and restrains on bringing players in. 
It will depend on what division we are in and who we’ll get. 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

2 hours ago, winteriscoming said:

Agree about Enzo not being here next season whatever division we are in. With our financial restrains and possible point deduction I don’t think he’ll want to be another Kompany next season if we go up. 

This will happen regardless - Ballague is being his mouth piece and he's effectively saying he needs an entirely new team. That's never happening even if we had a superb footballing setup.

The frustration for me is he's insisting on a style with so little margin for error and requires excellent footballers - we're just not going to be able to get them. If you're Pep and you have a blank cheque book it's a damn sight easier.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

On 19/03/2024 at 11:58, CosbehFox said:

His relationship with Enzo is effectively client journalism - Wolves fans got very tired how Balague had a lot to say Lopetugui and effectively stirred the pot 

Fascinating that Wolves have done far better without him...

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, winteriscoming said:

Agree about Enzo not being here next season whatever division we are in. With our financial restrains and possible point deduction I don’t think he’ll want to be another Kompany next season if we go up. 

I think Kompany has been the author of his own downfall not his club. Compared to certain other managers he's been well backed financially supposedly to the tune of £100m if reports are true.

[LCFCJohn]

17 minutes ago, Basildon Fox said:

Then he can go. Plenty of managers will want the job, they always do.

100%. This goes for any manager. There’s very few managers who have the ‘managerial stamina’ as it were to go on in the same role for years and year and reinvent and rebuild sides in the way the likes of SAF did at Man Utd and Wenger and more recently, Pep and Klopp. These are elite managers. You get ones at a lower level like Robins at Cov but mostly, mangers have a shelf life so this is nothing against or specific to Enzo.

 

You can also trace many of our current issues to the last time we thought we needed to secure the future of our manager. I don’t want to see us do that again. We would do better to do what the likes of Brighton do and be working hard to have options to replace rather than worry about keeping hold of individuals.

[volpeazzurro]

2 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

This will happen regardless - Ballague is being his mouth piece and he's effectively saying he needs an entirely new team. That's never happening even if we had a superb footballing setup.

The frustration for me is he's insisting on a style with so little margin for error and requires excellent footballers - we're just not going to be able to get them. If you're Pep and you have a blank cheque book it's a damn sight easier.

Yet it worked for a long time this season and gave us a massive lead! Agreed perhaps a few tweeks are perhaps now required but, in most games we've created a host of goalscoring chances that have been shamefully squandered and that has cost us dearly.