Sousa

[Southern Fox]

God, dare I say it but I for one dont want to lose Sousa as a Manager and I believe that if we stick with him through this, we will be a better club for it.

I have only missed 2 games this season which was the Burnley defeat and Leeds victory

On the evidence in all the other matches bar Portsmouth away Friday, we have been more than a match for every side and in theory could be much higher up the league with a little more luck. I know luck is difficult to defend but we certainty havent had the rub of it so far this season.

Changing a manager would be silly and Milan is right to stick publicly with his man

Im in my 30's and some of the football played under his management is certainly the best I have witnessed supporting City. Oddly after a 0-0 draw with Boro, I came away from the ground happy that my club is playing with a brand of football I had always hoped. Granted we are not an Arsenal, but at times, more often than not, its pleasing to the eye.

Its clear to see that certain players havent hit the form of last season (Berner, Fryatt, Morrison) but players suffer from this and the puck shouldnt always stop at the managers door. He can only put out what he views is his best team and with players coming and going, this early on in the season, Im still not sure what our best XI is?

Sat bottom is cause for concern and dont get me wrong, when confidence is low amongst management, squad and supporters we could find ourselves back in League One. I genuinely feel that the quality of player we have in the squad though we will be more than fine.

We are 8 points away from the play-offs. I know that come what March if we are still 8 points from the play-offs I will be pretty happy.

I think the hate Sousa bang wagon is a little over the top and if anything damaging to the clubs morale and will effect players performances on the pitch if taken on to the terraces, so I will be continuing to show my support in the right way and back Sousa until he is no more.

Defeat tonight and Saturday Im guessing will seal his fate, but I think he and we are better than that

Southern Fox

[Bettsj2]

Foxes talk is full to the brim with Sousa and O'Neill threads.

Pure loads.

[bluefox9er]

Sousa might be a good manager, but clearly he isn't the right manager for US.

kick him out and i guarantee you the replacement won't be much better.

this club is going to hell in a hand basket, we have an Asian ownership whose intentions have NOTHING TO DO with the club or the City and a playing staff that would struggle in Division 4 or even non league football.

it is not Sousa's fault that he has players devoid of any skill or passion apart from Howard, King, Hobbs and weghorn

[Sooper Steve's shin]

I agree, Mr Southern Fox - I made a similar point in the Norwich match thread (although you have also made the very valid point about the attractive style of football we have played in some games):

I cannot see a change of formation - that would be a waste of time if Sousa is trying to stamp his style here and an admission that what he's doing is not working. I am not suggesting that two up front wouldn't suit our players better, but I would actually be disappointed if Paulo gave up now. For similar reasons, I cannot see major changes to the personnel - Vitor will be enforced, but Abe and Moreno are Sousa signings who should (in theory) be more suited than anyone to the style he is trying to impose as he must have bought them with his 4-2-3-1 formation in mind.

In the emotion of the Pompey result, it's been somewhat lost that apart from a 2-0 defeat to a team currently steamrollering everyone, an off-day away at just-relegated Burnley and a slow first half at Palace, we have been there or thereabouts in all our games. We deserved a win at home to Middlesbrough and were only denied by King's wrongly cancelled out goal, we matched Reading in a game that could easily have gone either way but were suckered by a late goal, battered Cov but they somehow escaped with a draw and outplayed Cardiff at home. Amongst all that we've beaten Championship sides Leeds and Portsmouth in the Cup as well as Macclesfield and our last pre-season game (less relevant, but still) we won 5-1 against a Peterborough team that's looking pretty good in League 1.

Excluding friendlies, our overall record under Sousa is P11 W4 D2 L5 - not great, but this is someone who's trying (without a full pre-season) to radically alter the team from a functional 4-4-2 to a more fluid passing 4-2-3-1. Our losses have been to the unbeaten League leaders, two teams that were Premiership sides a few months ago, a Neil Warnock side (say what you like about him, he's a decent manager) and 7th-placed Reading. We've also beaten two teams in the play-off places and one of those ex-Premiership sides.

Am I happy with our start? Of course not. Would I be devastated if Sousa left? Not especially. Would I be unhappy if Sousa stayed? No, I think there is a bigger picture and if that was deemed the right way two months ago then we should have the courage of our convictions to stick with it. Getting a new manager in to bring back the old style of play might be a quick fix, but long term it doesn't move us forward with the sort of style likely to attract future fans, investment and interest in the club.

[Cheese Me]

Sousa might be a good manager, but clearly he isn't the right manager for US.

kick him out and i guarantee you the replacement won't be much better.

this club is going to hell in a hand basket, we have an Asian ownership whose intentions have NOTHING TO DO with the club or the City and a playing staff that would struggle in Division 4 or even non league football.

it is not Sousa's fault that he has players devoid of any skill or passion apart from Howard, King, Hobbs.

That's just bizarre

[Sooper Steve's shin]

Sousa might be a good manager, but clearly he isn't the right manager for US.

kick him out and i guarantee you the replacement won't be much better.

this club is going to hell in a hand basket, we have an Asian ownership whose intentions have NOTHING TO DO with the club or the City and a playing staff that would struggle in Division 4 or even non league football.

it is not Sousa's fault that he has players devoid of any skill or passion apart from Howard, King, Hobbs.

Sousa's results haven't been good but he has been using a squad that he probably wouldn't have chosen if he was starting from scratch. He is also trying to make fundamental changes, so there will obviously be a transition period - to say he's not the right manager for us is ridiculous (he might not be the right manager for certain players, but that's completely different).

I am hoping you're not classing Howard as possessing any skill - passion, maybe, but not skill. And I don't think he is lacking in players with skill (Wellens, Gallagher, Dyer, Abe, Waghorn immediately spring to mind) or passion (Wellens again, Morrison, Berner, Waghorn etc) - to say these are not (at least) Championship players is also ridiculous. The problem is that he is trying to mould them into a team that plays as he wants it to - presumably something he also sold to Milan and/or the new owners - and nobody can do that in six weeks.

[STUHILL]

God, dare I say it but I for one dont want to lose Sousa as a Manager and I believe that if we stick with him through this, we will be a better club for it.

I have only missed 2 games this season which was the Burnley defeat and Leeds victory

On the evidence in all the other matches bar Portsmouth away Friday, we have been more than a match for every side and in theory could be much higher up the league with a little more luck. I know luck is difficult to defend but we certainty havent had the rub of it so far this season.

Changing a manager would be silly and Milan is right to stick publicly with his man

Im in my 30's and some of the football played under his management is certainly the best I have witnessed supporting City. Oddly after a 0-0 draw with Boro, I came away from the ground happy that my club is playing with a brand of football I had always hoped. Granted we are not an Arsenal, but at times, more often than not, its pleasing to the eye.

Its clear to see that certain players havent hit the form of last season (Berner, Fryatt, Morrison) but players suffer from this and the puck shouldnt always stop at the managers door. He can only put out what he views is his best team and with players coming and going, this early on in the season, Im still not sure what our best XI is?

Sat bottom is cause for concern and dont get me wrong, when confidence is low amongst management, squad and supporters we could find ourselves back in League One. I genuinely feel that the quality of player we have in the squad though we will be more than fine.

We are 8 points away from the play-offs. I know that come what March if we are still 8 points from the play-offs I will be pretty happy.

I think the hate Sousa bang wagon is a little over the top and if anything damaging to the clubs morale and will effect players performances on the pitch if taken on to the terraces, so I will be continuing to show my support in the right way and back Sousa until he is no more.

Defeat tonight and Saturday Im guessing will seal his fate, but I think he and we are better than that

Southern Fox

I agree to some extents. No one can argue we are playing more attractive football. But judging by the results, is this style of Football really suited to the Championship??

I think Sousa will make a good Manager, but perhaps Leicester and more importantly the English leagues, are not where he will succeed.

Many top players move to England and can't compete as well as It is a different style and to be successful, you need to adapt. For me, It is no different for Managers.

I think Sousa never playing in England is a a key downfall. It is easy to under-estimate the subtle differences between playing in Italy and Portugal compared to playing here, and succeeding!

Do our players have the quality to be comfortable on the ball under high tempo? Well I think yes, but not for 90minutes and I think that is what we are seeing, with individual mistakes and conceding numerous goals.

For Sousa to turn this around, he needs to adapt to the English game and fast. I'm not saying he should forget about his own beliefs, but he should also be looking at the blue-prints of what it takes to win in the Championship.

I believe this is a massive learning curve for Sousa and I think he may well get there in the end, but I fear it won't be with Leicester City as in my view, he will have 2-3 games to save his job.

[Bilbo]

I agree to some extents. No one can argue we are playing more attractive football. But judging by the results, is this style of Football really suited to the Championship??

I think Sousa will make a good Manager, but perhaps Leicester and more importantly the English leagues, are not where he will succeed.

Many top players move to England and can't compete as well as It is a different style and to be successful, you need to adapt. For me, It is no different for Managers.

I think Sousa never playing in England is a a key downfall. It is easy to under-estimate the subtle differences between playing in Italy and Portugal compared to playing here, and succeeding!

Do our players have the quality to be comfortable on the ball under high tempo? Well I think yes, but not for 90minutes and I think that is what we are seeing, with individual mistakes and conceding numerous goals.

For Sousa to turn this around, he needs to adapt to the English game and fast. I'm not saying he should forget about his own beliefs, but he should also be looking at the blue-prints of what it takes to win in the Championship.

I believe this is a massive learning curve for Sousa and I think he may well get there in the end, but I fear it won't be with Leicester City as in my view, he will have 2-3 games to save his job.

Spot on. Similarly many players have gone to Italian/Spanish leagues and struggled to adapt to the style of play and this is the problem with Sousa - I don't think he is necessarily a bad manager just inexperienced and has a lack of knowledge.

[ozleicester]

God, dare I say it but I for one dont want to lose Sousa as a Manager and I believe that if we stick with him through this, we will be a better club for it.

I have only missed 2 games this season which was the Burnley defeat and Leeds victory

On the evidence in all the other matches bar Portsmouth away Friday, we have been more than a match for every side and in theory could be much higher up the league with a little more luck. I know luck is difficult to defend but we certainty havent had the rub of it so far this season.

Changing a manager would be silly and Milan is right to stick publicly with his man

Im in my 30's and some of the football played under his management is certainly the best I have witnessed supporting City. Oddly after a 0-0 draw with Boro, I came away from the ground happy that my club is playing with a brand of football I had always hoped. Granted we are not an Arsenal, but at times, more often than not, its pleasing to the eye.

Its clear to see that certain players havent hit the form of last season (Berner, Fryatt, Morrison) but players suffer from this and the puck shouldnt always stop at the managers door. He can only put out what he views is his best team and with players coming and going, this early on in the season, Im still not sure what our best XI is?

Sat bottom is cause for concern and dont get me wrong, when confidence is low amongst management, squad and supporters we could find ourselves back in League One. I genuinely feel that the quality of player we have in the squad though we will be more than fine.

We are 8 points away from the play-offs. I know that come what March if we are still 8 points from the play-offs I will be pretty happy.

I think the hate Sousa bang wagon is a little over the top and if anything damaging to the clubs morale and will effect players performances on the pitch if taken on to the terraces, so I will be continuing to show my support in the right way and back Sousa until he is no more.

Defeat tonight and Saturday Im guessing will seal his fate, but I think he and we are better than that

Southern Fox

If....and yes its a big if.... but, if we pick up 4- 6 points from the next 2 games... will people get off his back? I wasnt on the boards or in the area during the MON years, how long did it take for the boo boys to quieten down... or were they always there sniping?

I just wonder what PS has to do now to remain in the job?

[Sooper Steve's shin]

If....and yes its a big if.... but, if we pick up 4- 6 points from the next 2 games... will people get off his back? I wasnt on the boards or in the area during the MON years, how long did it take for the boo boys to quieten down... or were they always there sniping?

I just wonder what PS has to do now to remain in the job?

I think it took until about the 121st minute of the play-off final. After that, he was a hero and the only time the booing ever got mentioned was when O'Neill (fairly regularly) brought the subject up himself in post-match interviews.

[Bettsj2]

I think it took until about the 121st minute of the play-off final. After that, he was a hero and the only time the booing ever got mentioned was when O'Neill (fairly regularly) brought the subject up himself in post-match interviews.

Through the whole MON era, there were a few idiots that didnt get off his back for the entire time he was here. Whether they were too proud to admit they were wrong or they were just plain stupid, Martin never forgot the critisism and quite righly too. I remember that protest and to have 1000 of your own fans in your own ground chanting, ''**** off, Martin O'Neill" over and over again when he he'd been in the job for 2 months, I don't blame him for being bitter and I certainly dont blame him for bringing it up as often as he could.

If you think the moan in is bad now, I remember when MON was in charge. 'Why are weh spendin moneh on some Oxford defendoh?', 'E nevoh signs anybodeh weeve erd ov', 'Robbeh who?' etc etc

We'll never know if Sousa's plans would work out as he wont get the chance or the time to really concrete his blueprint on the team.

All the players that handed in transfer requests should have been shown the door. I dont care who they are, nobody is bigger than this club of ours. If they didnt like what was going on, they should have ****ed them off. All it does is make for bad atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Southern Fox - as much as I appreciate your view, Sousa has made such an elementary cardinal sin early on, that I think will end up costing him his job in a short space of time.

He came into the club spouting how things were to be done his way, and that's all very well, but he's doing this when the club have already had relative sucess under a very well resepcted (players wise) manager, so he's already causing un-needed friction between himself and the people he is depending on keeping him in employment.

We then have the DJ Campbell saga, which again, I imagine will have earked a few players further weakening his position.

Thirdly, you may have your idea's on how you want to play football, but in order to bring those to relaity you need a sufficent calibur of player(s) to do it and I for one do not think he has the players he needs in order to play how he wants. He should have spotted this in the first few training sessions and decided that he either needed to do a lot of wheeling and dealing or adopt another approach - he's gone half and half, with most of his signings struggling to hit the ground running in what is compared to last seasons standards an under performing team.

True I've only been to one game, and that was THE Portsmouth away game which was not the best to make a load of judgements on, but I instantly saw things I didn't like about the set up of the team (e.g. Zonal marking at corners, pace of play, constantly getting the ball wide but not getting men in the box to support a cross etc.)

So yes, the football may be prettier to watch some times, but if its not effective how long will you be willing to put up with it? And if it did get us up, do we stand any chance of passing teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and even West Brom (we can prove it soon too) to death and competing? No, I think we'd be better off going for the fully committed, fast paced football approach which has been a stallwart of many a succesful Leicester side.

Ultimately Sousa's fate is in the players hands - Hopefully there is a win for us at Norwich tonight, but I don't see it myself and if thats the case I don't see the point in waiting until Saturday to do whats necessary.

[Southern Fox]

Some interesting replies and for once - nobody rubbished my opinions with idiotic immature comments which is refreshing for this forum

Lets hope tonight reaps 3 points for all of us

Southern Fox

[Salieri]

Some interesting replies and for once - nobody rubbished my opinions with idiotic immature comments which is refreshing for this forum

Lets hope tonight reaps 3 points for all of us

Southern Fox

Don't tempt fate mate, the night is young.

[AaronH]

Let's hope we get 3 points tonight, but lloking at the side waggy is gunna be outta position and starting lamey doesn't look great

Cmon the foxes

[Guest Basildon Fox]

Let's hope we get 3 points tonight, but lloking at the side waggy is gunna be outta position and starting lamey doesn't look great

Cmon the foxes

But he will be an asset when MON comes back marauding up the right hand side in his favoured 5-3-2 formation.

Just a joke!!

[Guy]

Sousa might be a good manager, but clearly he isn't the right manager for US.

kick him out and i guarantee you the replacement won't be much better.

this club is going to hell in a hand basket, we have an Asian ownership whose intentions have NOTHING TO DO with the club or the City and a playing staff that would struggle in Division 4 or even non league football.

it is not Sousa's fault that he has players devoid of any skill or passion apart from Howard, King, Hobbs and weghorn

I may get slaughtered for sayign this in this day and age but I don't think it helped that we let Wayne Brown go to sign for Preston over minor political discrepancies in the summer - he held our defence together last season in the main and was partly why we hadn't shipped 20? goals by th end of last September> Our defence minus Brownie is one that is falling apart this season........

[davieG]

I may get slaughtered for sayign this in this day and age but I don't think it helped that we let Wayne Brown go to sign for Preston over minor political discrepancies in the summer - he held our defence together last season in the main and was partly why we hadn't shipped 20? goals by th end of last September> Our defence minus Brownie is one that is falling apart this season........

Well if he's been playing for them it's not done them much good.

[swans mad]

Just for your info lads, haven't come to gloat, but thought this might intrest you. This is just some of the goings on when he was with us.

http://forum.planetswans.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84601

[EnglishOxide]

Agree with the OP. Alot of people have been too quick to criticise Sousa.

And too quick to say he doesn't know English football.

I liken him to Roberto Di Matteo and Roberto Martinez in manager terms.

He could be as good, if not better. But they are getting their chances and support from fans, Sousa is not.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Some interesting replies and for once - nobody rubbished my opinions with idiotic immature comments which is refreshing for this forum

Lets hope tonight reaps 3 points for all of us

Southern Fox

What did you go and say that for you gay! You jinxed the three points.

Right, off in flying machine to do a poo on Sousa's head, hopefully he will get the message as my brown stench rolls down onto his smart and no doubt Italian Tailour suit / gillet combo. Damn the good looking nicumpoop!

[teblin]

Just for your info lads, haven't come to gloat, but thought this might intrest you. This is just some of the goings on when he was with us.

http://forum.planetswans.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84601

If that is true it sounds like we should be getting shot quickly. History repeating it's self from the year we went down.