Sven losing the plot?

[Guest BlueBrett]

Punches instead of catching, drops crosses when he tries to catch and claims a foul, consistently puts our defence under pressure by kicking it out to them when they don't want it, has now let 2 goals through his legs, doesn't command the box, the defenders have no confidence in him, kicked the ball straight out a few times today.

He has been a punhcer his whole career and that didn't stop him from being regarded as one of the best keepers in the world for a time so that in itself can't really be seen as a problem.

He has obviously been told to play the ball out through the defence instead of just booting it downfield. His distribution is probably one of the main reasons he gets the nod ahead of Weale. I also think that despite all the talk about the defence not having confidence in him they certainly seem happy enough to rely on him to cope with some pretty awkward backpasses (Bamba mostly). When that happens the keeper gets blamed if something goes wrong or the clearance isn't great but that is pretty unfair since it was never his problem in the first place he has just been saddled with it. Besides, the goals today came from two instances of non-existant marking and one penalty given away by a defender so perhaps the defence should take a look at themselves before they start playing the no confidence card.

Keepers get beaten between their legs all the time. That's just good finishing in most cases. It would be pretty difficult to spread and make yourself big whilst keeping your feet together.

[lcfcsnow]

Awful line up today but not losing the plot, or at least no more 1-2 thousand mongholes at the stadium. They should be ashamed.

[The Year Of The Fox]

BABYLON-Fail to see the question mark on the title of the thread?

[cc_star]

He has been a punhcer his whole career and that didn't stop him from being regarded as one of the best keepers in the world for a time so that in itself can't really be seen as a problem.

He has obviously been told to play the ball out through the defence instead of just booting it downfield. His distribution is probably one of the main reasons he gets the nod ahead of Weale. I also think that despite all the talk about the defence not having confidence in him they certainly seem happy enough to rely on him to cope with some pretty awkward backpasses (Bamba mostly). When that happens the keeper gets blamed if something goes wrong or the clearance isn't great but that is pretty unfair since it was never his problem in the first place he has just been saddled with it. Besides, the goals today came from two instances of non-existant marking and one penalty given away by a defender so perhaps the defence should take a look at themselves before they start playing the no confidence card.

Keepers get beaten between their legs all the time. That's just good finishing in most cases. It would be pretty difficult to spread and make yourself big whilst keeping your feet together.

did you not see the embarrassment at QPR where Bamba was dribbling the ball back with a QPR forward right on top of him (when he should have booted it clear) Ricardo came forward to make himself available for a backpass and Bamba still would have sooner got the ball tied up between his legs, do about 3 stepover & then make a dodgy, risky pass than give it coco the clown

He was considered one of the worlds top goalies about 6 years ago, coincidently when he was playing with one of the worlds best defences, if he's so frickin amazing why hasn't he played for 4 years before joining a 2nd tier team in a country that hates him?

[Babylon]

BABYLON-Fail to see the question mark on the title of the thread?

Yes I'm on a phone looking at a tiny screen.

But... You wouldn't ask the question if you didn't think it.

[Craig]

People moan about the lack of confidence that the defence have in Ricardo.

These people are the same people who have given the defence a lack of confidence by booing and making a big deal of every single thing he does.

These people are morons.

[MC Prussian]

People moan about the lack of confidence that the defence have in Ricardo.

These people are the same people who have given the defence a lack of confidence by booing and making a big deal of every single thing he does.

These people are morons.

And the worst part is that stupidity is passed on in numbers, as the amount of Happy Booers in L1/K1 is growing with each home game.

Disgusted and disappointed with "fans" like these.

Always blame it on the keeper? Yeah, that's right. That'll help the team as a whole.

King Sven never makes a mistake. Neither do the other 10 headless chickens on the pitch... Yet we had 10 headless chickens on the pitch today.

Which, ultimately, was down to King Sven's mistake.

[Ricey]

The way I see it, Sven takes all the credit for even getting us in a position to think about the play-offs.

However, he takes all the blame for that slipping away. It's bizarre to start tinkering with a team and system that was doing so well.

[Guest BlueBrett]

did you not see the embarrassment at QPR where Bamba was dribbling the ball back with a QPR forward right on top of him (when he should have booted it clear) Ricardo came forward to make himself available for a backpass and Bamba still would have sooner got the ball tied up between his legs, do about 3 stepover & then make a dodgy, risky pass than give it coco the clown

He was considered one of the worlds top goalies about 6 years ago, coincidently when he was playing with one of the worlds best defences, if he's so frickin amazing why hasn't he played for 4 years before joining a 2nd tier team in a country that hates him?

That could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in Ricardo but it could equally be seen as Bamba wanting to do a bit of showboating.

Look don't get me wrong I am not saying that Ricardo is amazing, I just don't think he is the root of all evil like people are making out and I absolutely hate hearing him booed and the moronic Weale chants.

It seems like a lot of people have already made up their minds about him, having had their opinion constantly reinforced by all the other haters and short of turning into some kind of Ninja/Mr Tickle hybrid there is **** all he can do to win them over.

Today's result was in no way Ricardo's fault. We were outplayed all over the pitch and gifted them multiple chances of which they scored 3 and yet the post match debate is dominated by criticism of a keeper who has done nothing wrong and in fact pulled off a top class save to spare us the humiliation of going 4-1 down.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

I think Sven has lost the plot. And has cost us a playoff place.

I dont care where we were before he came in, we set our stall out for the top 6 and we have blown it. Is he really that great? I tink he should have done better actually and we should be in the POs by now after all the money he has spent on wages.

I think he is tactically inept. Not having a clue when it comes to formation. What the hell was that formation today? 4 central midfielders in a home game, leaving us no width and we were easily exploited. He changes the team for no reason, and now we are paying for it. Why didnt we stick with 4-3-3?

He seems blinded by the crapness of some players. Oakley is garbage, past it at this level, yet he some how gets a game. Ricardo is wank, cannot catch a ball, or command his area, and for the majority of fans at one point today chanting 'Weale', just shows how I'm not alone in this. Yakubu seems to be immune from substitution for some reason, he could not touch the ball in the whole game yet he will always finish the game. Why? Becasue Sven signed him so he must play.

He has quite clearly alienated players. He did it with Fryatt, he went, which I thought was correct a the time, but he has repeated this with others. Its liek unless you are one of his favourites or have been signed by him you arent good enough. Hobbs was doing alright with Bamba yet he had to go, Mee and Bruma came in who are no better. Berner is the best LB at the club yet PVA and Cunningham played ahead of him despite being poor. Weale plays well consistently, yet Kirkland comes in then Ricardo, showing Sven clearly doesnt rate him.

Honestly I think Sven has lost it, and I think he just lives off reputatiom more than anything. Those 5 wins in a row were lucky, and we are finally realising we just arent truly that good.

[Babylon]

The way I see it, Sven takes all the credit for even getting us in a position to think about the play-offs.

However, he takes all the blame for that slipping away. It's bizarre to start tinkering with a team and system that was doing so well.

Whilst one of the most sensible posts in the last few hours, and I agree. People also need to take notice of who we have played in the three loses.

[Babylon]

I think Sven has lost the plot. And has cost us a playoff place.

I dont care where we were before he came in, we set our stall out for the top 6 and we have blown it. Is he really that great? I tink he should have done better actually and we should be in the POs by now after all the money he has spent on wages.

I think he is tactically inept. Not having a clue when it comes to formation. What the hell was that formation today? 4 central midfielders in a home game, leaving us no width and we were easily exploited. He changes the team for no reason, and now we are paying for it. Why didnt we stick with 4-3-3?

He seems blinded by the crapness of some players. Oakley is garbage, past it at this level, yet he some how gets a game. Ricardo is wank, cannot catch a ball, or command his area, and for the majority of fans at one point today chanting 'Weale', just shows how I'm not alone in this. Yakubu seems to be immune from substitution for some reason, he could not touch the ball in the whole game yet he will always finish the game. Why? Becasue Sven signed him so he must play.

He has quite clearly alienated players. He did it with Fryatt, he went, which I thought was correct a the time, but he has repeated this with others. Its liek unless you are one of his favourites or have been signed by him you arent good enough. Hobbs was doing alright with Bamba yet he had to go, Mee and Bruma came in who are no better. Berner is the best LB at the club yet PVA and Cunningham played ahead of him despite being poor. Weale plays well consistently, yet Kirkland comes in then Ricardo, showing Sven clearly doesnt rate him.

Honestly I think Sven has lost it, and I think he just lives off reputatiom more than anything. Those 5 wins in a row were lucky, and we are finally realising we just arent truly that good.

Anyone else want to rip this apart? More holes in this argument than Swiss cheese.

[5waller5]

I think Sven has lost the plot. And has cost us a playoff place.

I dont care where we were before he came in, we set our stall out for the top 6 and we have blown it. Is he really that great? I tink he should have done better actually and we should be in the POs by now after all the money he has spent on wages.

I think he is tactically inept. Not having a clue when it comes to formation. What the hell was that formation today? 4 central midfielders in a home game, leaving us no width and we were easily exploited. He changes the team for no reason, and now we are paying for it. Why didnt we stick with 4-3-3?

He seems blinded by the crapness of some players. Oakley is garbage, past it at this level, yet he some how gets a game. Ricardo is wank, cannot catch a ball, or command his area, and for the majority of fans at one point today chanting 'Weale', just shows how I'm not alone in this. Yakubu seems to be immune from substitution for some reason, he could not touch the ball in the whole game yet he will always finish the game. Why? Becasue Sven signed him so he must play.

He has quite clearly alienated players. He did it with Fryatt, he went, which I thought was correct a the time, but he has repeated this with others. Its liek unless you are one of his favourites or have been signed by him you arent good enough. Hobbs was doing alright with Bamba yet he had to go, Mee and Bruma came in who are no better. Berner is the best LB at the club yet PVA and Cunningham played ahead of him despite being poor. Weale plays well consistently, yet Kirkland comes in then Ricardo, showing Sven clearly doesnt rate him.

Honestly I think Sven has lost it, and I think he just lives off reputatiom more than anything. Those 5 wins in a row were lucky, and we are finally realising we just arent truly that good.

I've re-read this twice. It's actually not sarcastic is it??

You are serious and this is really your opinion.

I knew that coming on Foxestalk tonight would annoy me ......

You honestly should give up watching football, in fact sport in general.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

If 10 people were to choose a starting 11 and formation you would get 7-8 different selections. So who's formation is right? Sven's never going to please everyone, i for one think he has done a good job since he took over.

[Benji]

I think tonight has to be one of those games you hold your hands up and say we got outplayed.

QPR was gut wrenching after the way we played, but tonight for as bad as we were, Norwich caused most of it. By 70 minutes we didn't even have a formation, players were everywhere and anywhere. Hoolahan (I think) ran rings around every one of our players and they were first to every single loose ball.

That said some of Sven's decisions have baffled me recently, he does seem to be pretty stubborn, and he has to take stick as much as he took the credit when we were unbeaten for the year.

[Babylon]

That said some of Sven's decisions have baffled me recently, he does seem to be pretty stubborn, and he has to take stick as much as he took the credit when we were unbeaten for the year.

Indeed, problem is most of those doing the criticising don't seem capable of doing so without going ridiculously over the top about things.

[Benji]

Indeed, problem is most of those doing the criticising don't seem capable of doing so without going ridiculously over the top about things.

It's just as bad at the game, two in front of me swore every 3 words with a players name being sandwiched in between and the guy on my right was booing and shouting pointless comments to impress his friends. High fives all round for that comment Jim!

Personally I just don't think Sven knew when to stop tinkering. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Corky]

I think Sven has lost the plot. And has cost us a playoff place.

I dont care where we were before he came in, we set our stall out for the top 6 and we have blown it. Is he really that great? I tink he should have done better actually and we should be in the POs by now after all the money he has spent on wages.

I think you should. This football club was a complete and utter mess before he arrived, we were appallingly bad. We lost 6-1 to a team who hadn't won a game before and scored about two goals. The players were knackered after 60 minutes of games.

We had a hell of a lot of work to do, to get people's confidence back after the battering it took in the first ten games of this season.

We were a point off 6th two weeks ago, a good achievement in itself. Sven has improved the squad and we are in a far better position now.

He isn't great, but he's a good manager who will do well for this club. Just not this season.

[accessory]

I think you should. This football club was a complete and utter mess before he arrived, we were appallingly bad. We lost 6-1 to a team who hadn't won a game before and scored about two goals. The players were knackered after 60 minutes of games.

As opposed to tonight, when they kept on battling until the 94th minute and made Norwich have to work really hard for their win?

[cc_star]

Whilst one of the most sensible posts in the last few hours, and I agree. People also need to take notice of who we have played in the three loses.

Only if those same people look who we won against, such amazing teams as Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United, Direby and other highlights of bottom end of the table

If we can beat the teams that were below us, but can't beat the ones above us - then we're right where we deserve to be, mid-table... Not a great return for a few pennies short of £11m in addition to our pre-existing staffing costs

[AlphaMaleFox]

As opposed to tonight, when they kept on battling until the 94th minute and made Norwich have to work really hard for their win?

[accessory]

Only if those same people look who we won against, such amazing teams as Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United, Direby and other highlights of bottom end of the table

If we can beat the teams that were below us, but can't beat the ones above us - then we're right where we deserve to be, mid-table... Not a great return for a few pennies short of £11m in addition to our pre-existing staffing costs

And it means at least another season of multi-million pound losses.

There has to be a limit on the amount of time Top and co can keep on bankrolling us.

[cc_star]

He has quite clearly alienated players. He did it with Fryatt, he went, which I thought was correct a the time, but he has repeated this with others. Its liek unless you are one of his favourites or have been signed by him you arent good enough. Hobbs was doing alright with Bamba yet he had to go, Mee and Bruma came in who are no better. Berner is the best LB at the club yet PVA and Cunningham played ahead of him despite being poor. Weale plays well consistently, yet Kirkland comes in then Ricardo, showing Sven clearly doesnt rate him.

Honestly I think Sven has lost it, and I think he just lives off reputatiom more than anything. Those 5 wins in a row were lucky, and we are finally realising we just arent truly that good.

This is my beef with Sven, some poor tactics, dreadful man-management, needless tinkering with the team, a formation (that's better suited to Nigeria/Ivory Coast where defending is an after-thought) that's never really worked away from home apart from 45mins against the worst Derby side I've ever seen, and now we've put in 3 poor performances in a row at home as well, all at the business end when other managers have primed their teams to be coming into form.

I'm not going to say Sven has been bad for us, because the alternatives (if there were any, beyond the O'Neill rumour) could have been worse, but I'd have to question the value Sven's providing to us so far through his own ridiculous wages & a chequebook management style up there with the best of them, culminating with the owners pumping in £11m of cash in addition to the existing loss-making staffing & running costs. but that's not the end of it as they'll have to spend even more if they want to try & retain their services, so we'd essentially have paid double and then as they're tracking 7th in the league since Sven started they still aren't good enough so we'd have to sign players on top.

Just to concentrate on Sven, removing our early season woeful displays under a useless manager, thereby removing Sousa from the equation. Here is the table from October 16th.

We're 6th, but note Burnley are 2pts below us, but with 2 games in hand (they're averaging 1.67pts/game) which puts them on another 3pts (rounding down), so under Sven we're 7th.

People seem to think we're about 10points ahead of everyone else & halfway up the Prem table if it wasn't for Sousa...

[Babylon]

Only if those same people look who we won against, such amazing teams as Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United, Direby and other highlights of bottom end of the table

If we can beat the teams that were below us, but can't beat the ones above us - then we're right where we deserve to be, mid-table...

Has anyone said any different?

Oh and there is absolutely no way we have spent £11m on top of current staff costs in 8 months. Our wage bill would be £25m+.

The reports said the have invested £10m already, I didn't see or hear a thing saying that was on top of what we were already paying. And figures wise it doesn't stack up that they would have.

[Babylon]

Just to concentrate on Sven, removing our early season woeful displays under a useless manager, thereby removing Sousa from the equation. Here is the table from October 16th.

We're 6th, but note Burnley are 2pts below us, but with 2 games in hand (they're averaging 1.67pts/game) which puts them on another 3pts (rounding down), so under Sven we're 7th.

People seem to think we're about 10points ahead of everyone else & halfway up the Prem table if it wasn't for Sousa...

So we'd be three points of top spot then? Chuck in the scunny game and we'd be joint top.

Not forgetting what this doesn't point out is him having to sort out dreadful form, low confidence, poor fitness, plus the fact he's not had a summer transfer window and hasn't had a preseason unlike the others.

Yeah terrible, god knows why people think he's done a good job so far.