Ruud van Nistelrooy - New Manager - Official

[jonny_wright]

Gone before April, horridly out of his depth and not the manager needed for the situation we’re in, I’d rather have Cooper - at least he can organise a defence 

[Blue ROI]

I won't join I'm the kicking just yet as he has been dealt a bad hand with the keeper. 

 

But playing Ward today has set alarm bells ringing to say the least....

[funkyrobot]

1 hour ago, Chelmofox said:

You think he's picked Ward ahead of Jakub and Mads? 

Obviously not Mads who is injured. I know he picked Ward in front of Stolarcyck as that’s exactly what he did. Stolarcyck was fully involved in the warm up today but didn’t even get on the bench. Picking Ward ahead of Iversen is also a mistake. The vast majority of LCFC fans would say within this group of goalies, Ward should be 4th choice at best. Unfortunately Cooper and now RVN haven’t researched the club enough to come to this very obvious conclusion. 

[Chelmofox]

6 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Obviously not Mads who is injured. I know he picked Ward in front of Stolarcyck as that’s exactly what he did. Stolarcyck was fully involved in the warm up today but didn’t even get on the bench. Picking Ward ahead of Iversen is also a mistake. The vast majority of LCFC fans would say within this group of goalies, Ward should be 4th choice at best. Unfortunately Cooper and now RVN haven’t researched the club enough to come to this very obvious conclusion. 

Jakub was in an U21's as part of his rehabilitation back to full fitness.  Has it not occurred to you that maybe the conclusion from him and the staff is that he wasn't fully ready yet? He might still be a few weeks away from being ready. Being in the warm up doesn't mean he is being dropped. I fully expect Jakub to be no 2. 

 

Iversen we've spoken about a lot. He's not featured at this club at all since we were relegated. I think there is a behind the scenes reason for that.

[NasPb]

if ward plays next games im ruud out. should have gone for moyes

[Legend_in_blue]

19 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Obviously not Mads who is injured. I know he picked Ward in front of Stolarcyck as that’s exactly what he did. Stolarcyck was fully involved in the warm up today but didn’t even get on the bench. Picking Ward ahead of Iversen is also a mistake. The vast majority of LCFC fans would say within this group of goalies, Ward should be 4th choice at best. Unfortunately Cooper and now RVN haven’t researched the club enough to come to this very obvious conclusion. 

Agree.  But it shouldn't take any length of research to establish that Ward is stealing a living at this level.

 

Any highlights from 22/23 would ascertain this within seconds.

[The Quick Brown Fox]

He's playing what he thinks is our next best keeper in Ward due to appearances and longevity at the club. If that cheer when Ward made a save doesn't convince him he's not the man then I will be at a loss.

[dylanlegend]

Has anyone got the email address for RvN? How is he not aware that playing Ward is an instant mauling? 
 

 

[Vazman]

49 minutes ago, Filbert Fireworks said:

There was never a shred of evidence he was a good appointment. PSV finished runners up and improved when he left although arguably they sold playershe didn't want to let go. He fell out with the board and coaching staff. 4 games as caretaker at Man U with a star studded squad playing us......

 

I thought it was a dreadful choice but was accused of being a 'flask taker'. 

 

We should have gone for Moyes or Potter. 

 

RVN fraud. 

 

 

Flask taker

[VLC86]

1 minute ago, The Quick Brown Fox said:

He's playing what he thinks is our next best keeper in Ward due to appearances and longevity at the club. If that cheer when Ward made a save doesn't convince him he's not the man then I will be at a loss.

If it took him that long I’m at more of a loss.

[MattFox]

1 hour ago, Lambert09 said:

what worry’s me most is that it actually shows me a couple of things about Ruud.   That he doesn’t do research and possibly thinks he’s above that.
 

I think any detail oriented manager like maresca or Claudio , would have looked into the past enough to see how bad ward is. Your average fan already knows that he can’t be trusted and yet what I would guess has happened is this:

 

Ruud has arrived and looked to see who was number 2 keeper. It was ward (because cooper is thick as pig muck) so he has left it at that.  That shows a terrible side to a manager imo. 
 

The alternative that he actually thinks he’s better than iversen and that he made this call himself … is actually unthinkable. 

Claudio was the most vibes based manager in the business tbf

 

Not really sure he was a details guy 

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

Not sure I even trust him to bring in his own staff based on the one he’s brought in already who thinks Ward is good enough to be starting in the premier league.

 

The last thing we need is to be lumbered with aload more staff who need paying off to add to the horrible mix of Coopers crap we’ve got on big contracts like Ayew and Bobby Reid.

[funkyrobot]

31 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Jakub was in an U21's as part of his rehabilitation back to full fitness.  Has it not occurred to you that maybe the conclusion from him and the staff is that he wasn't fully ready yet? He might still be a few weeks away from being ready. Being in the warm up doesn't mean he is being dropped. I fully expect Jakub to be no 2. 

 

Iversen we've spoken about a lot. He's not featured at this club at all since we were relegated. I think there is a behind the scenes reason for that.

Stolarcyck played a full 90mins in the u21’s. He was diving around all over the shop throughout the warm up today. I hope you’re right that he is going to be ahead of Ward but there’s no proof that it will happen. That’s just an assumption. As for Iversen, he featured today, he was on the bench. He didn’t feature last season because he accepted a loan, Ward turned a similar opportunity down to leave. The suspicion is that Iversen is behind Ward because he’s not great with his feet - I’d prefer him ahead of Ward despite this because he’s visibly a much better shot stopper than Ward.

[420Hashish]

We always knew this season was going to be difficult. Why are we in full meltdown? The goal is to stay up. Was Cooper going to keep us up? We'll never know, but flipping on RvN super early is stupid. We need to see what will happen in the transfer window. 

[filthyfox]

Get rid NOW

[Chelmofox]

14 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Stolarcyck played a full 90mins in the u21’s. He was diving around all over the shop throughout the warm up today. I hope you’re right that he is going to be ahead of Ward but there’s no proof that it will happen. That’s just an assumption. As for Iversen, he featured today, he was on the bench. He didn’t feature last season because he accepted a loan, Ward turned a similar opportunity down to leave. The suspicion is that Iversen is behind Ward because he’s not great with his feet - I’d prefer him ahead of Ward despite this because he’s visibly a much better shot stopper than Ward.

Jakub is coming back from an ankle injury thats taken about 6 months to recover from. I think it's a pretty fair assumption that being in the warm up today was part of the (hopefully final part!) recovery process but he's not completely ready yet. Remember this is a young guy who has never played PL football before. Right now there isn't anything to suggest that Ruud rates Ward above Jakub. Judge that when both are completely fit.

 

When we heard about Jakub's injury in the summer, this was the thing i was most worried about. Iversen is completely sidelined and we were always a injury or a suspension away from having to play Ward. He should have left the club a long time ago and we shouldn't be in this position. The fact we are isn't Ruud's fault.

Edited 22 December 2024 by Chelmofox

[Paninistickers]

What an extraordinary day.for the  arrogant Dutchman

 

The starting xi! Ward! The (lack of) midfield! Buonnotte! The like for like subs! The subs 5 mins into second half!

 

The kind of working day that few outside of Huw Edwards or Liz Truss or Paula Vennells can relate to. 

 

[majaco]

What was he thinking?

He picked a gk that gives a two goal handicap 

Two pedestrian cbs

Left out one of our most effective attacking midfielders 

[funkyrobot]

6 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Jakub is coming back from an ankle injury thats taken about 6 months to recover from. I think it's a pretty fair assumption that being in the warm up today was part of the (hopefully final part!) recovery process but he's not completely ready yet. Remember this is a young guy who has never played PL football before. Right now there isn't anything to suggest that Ruud rates Ward above Jakub. Judge that when both are completely fit.

 

When we heard about Jakub's injury in the summer, this was the thing i was most worried about. Iversen is completely sidelined and we were always an injury or a suspension away from having to play Ward. He should have left the club a long time ago and we shouldn't be in this position. The fact we are isn't Ruud's fault.

Stolarcyck is unproven at premier league level and yet Ward has proved he’s not premier league level. So what would you prefer? If he was fit to take a full part in the warm up, after playing 90mins in the week he could’ve played. A not fully fit Stolarcyck is better than a fully fit Ward. 

We all knew when we saw the team that with Ward in goal we were likely to lose. Ruud surely didn’t do enough research to know this otherwise he would’ve selected Iversen or a not fully fit Stolarcyck to give us a chance. 

[Chelmofox]

8 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Stolarcyck is unproven at premier league level and yet Ward has proved he’s not premier league level. So what would you prefer? 

Don't disagree with any of that. Ward shouldn't even be at the club and we should have a much better option as our no 2. This problem goes all the way back to giving Ward a contract he didn't deserve. The guy was 3rd choice in the championship, and played no minutes last season in any competition. Its insane.

 

8 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

 If he was fit to take a full part in the warm up, after playing 90mins in the week he could’ve played. A not fully fit Stolarcyck is better than a fully fit Ward. 

A Prem game is a massive jump up from an U21's game. A Prem game is many times more than a massive jump up from a warm up. Neither prove he was fit and ready enough to play today. A not fit Stolarczyk playing today could have set his recovery or his career back, and that's a horrible call the player and the staff would have had to make. Ward is already toast. Lets hope Jakub is weeks away from being able to be Mads' no2, who himself is only a small recovery away from being fully fit.

 

8 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

We all knew when we saw the team that with Ward in goal we were likely to lose. Ruud surely didn’t do enough research to know this otherwise he would’ve selected Iversen or a not fully fit Stolarcyck to give us a chance. 

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn last night and spoke about the wonderful scoreline with Mads in goal. The moment the team news came through the inevitable groans outside the ground send a shockwave of negativity throughout the whole county. This is nothing about research etc - this is just the shittiest luck to chuck at Ruud, and piss poor recruitment by the club for us to have one 1 keeper we can rely on for 1/2 the season. If Iversen isn't wanted, then get rid and replace. Should have got rid of Ward a long time ago.

[funkyrobot]

6 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Don't disagree with any of that. Ward shouldn't even be at the club and we should have a much better option as our no 2. This problem goes all the way back to giving Ward a contract he didn't deserve. The guy was 3rd choice in the championship, and played no minutes last season in any competition. Its insane.

 

A Prem game is a massive jump up from an U21's game. A Prem game is many times more than a massive jump up from a warm up. Neither prove he was fit and ready enough to play today. A not fit Stolarczyk playing today could have set his recovery or his career back, and that's a horrible call the player and the staff would have had to make. Ward is already toast. Lets hope Jakub is weeks away from being able to be Mads' no2, who himself is only a small recovery away from being fully fit.

 

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn last night and spoke about the wonderful scoreline with Mads in goal. The moment the team news came through the inevitable groans outside the ground send a shockwave of negativity throughout the whole county. This is nothing about research etc - this is just the shittiest luck to chuck at Ruud, and piss poor recruitment by the club for us to have one 1 keeper we can rely on for 1/2 the season. If Iversen isn't wanted, then get rid and replace. Should have got rid of Ward a long time ago.

He could’ve played Iversen. Iversen is a better keeper than Ward. Ruud chose to play Ward. It’s a mistake by our new manager. He had a choice. 

[ian__marshall]

Early days so will afford him some time, but initial impressions aren't very positive. 

 

Today was very worrying. Horrendous lineup in such a crucial game, no idea what was going through his head. The inclusion of Ward alone is baffling, but to have two of your best players sat on the bench was also very odd given the importance of the game. 

 

I get the argument about him having to work with a poor squad but what's concerning me is that there seems to be no plan/philosophy. Shape wise we're all over the place. The one thing I hoped for and expected of any new manager was that they addressed the defensive situation and whilst I acknowledge that the players at his disposal are very limited, I'd have expected him to address this tactically and at least set us up to be organised and well drilled. 

 

Unfortunately, I feel like we're even more porous at the back. That's rather concerning given all the talk he made early doors about focusing on the defensive side of the game. Yes, it's only been 4 weeks, but you can't even see any work in progress. It's literally Cooperball MKII but worse. 

 

Thinking back to the early days under Enzo, specifically that Liverpool friendly, we took a hammering and were outclassed, however we could all see there were positives to take from the game and with more time could go on to be a dangerous outfit. I'm not seeing that under Ruud. He doesn't seem to have a clue tactically, the training videos on the website look like very generic drills. There's no clips of him pausing play and explaining to individuals what he wants them to do. It all feels a bit too laid back with little attention to the detail. 

 

I'm not one for being reactive and changing managers every 5 minutes, all clubs need stability to be successful in my view and I do think he'd benefit having his own team around him, however I'm not sure he's the right man that we need in this situation.

 

The dilemma we have is do we give him the transfer window to turn it around? Part of me thinks regardless of his ability the one area he should excel in is having the pulling power to attract decent talent if backed, which with the right players could allow us to kick the can down the road. The other part of me worries about what happens if he gets it wrong and the board then appoint someone else after the window who has to work with a squad that doesn't fit their style of play. 

 

There's some big decisions to be made that's for sure. Just hope Top has the necessary judgment and acumen to make the right calls. 

 

Edited 22 December 2024 by ian__marshall

[Father Ted]

It seems a lot are arguing about whether Stolarczyk is fit or not, whilst completely ignoring the fact that Iversen is more than capable, in fact, far more capable than Danny Ward is. I think Iversen certainly saves goals 1 and 3 today and probably gives the second a better go. 

[Bilo]

Let's be honest. Ward would be our fourth best GK even if we only had three GKs. I'd honestly back an outfield player over him. At least they'd be able to use their feet and communicate with the defence.

[Noahfence]

Really is funny in a sort hopelessly depressing way he was only appointed because Top watched his Utd side beat us twice in a week.