Lay off Nuno direct blame at players

[Parkfieldswolf]

Was it bournemouth?

Yes it was laid off to Traore I think who squared it for Raul to tap in. Seems such a simple but effective free kick yet when we tried it today it looked like Hoever didn’t have a clue what to do with it. His body movement appeared he wasn’t expecting it then once he did get on the end of it he just skewed it out of play.

 

[Parkfieldswolf]

When the manager has been sat sulking on the sidelines for the past few weeks, I find the attempts to say its the players fault and theyre letting him down a hard one to agree with. The truth is its a mixture of both. The problem has also been going on for a long time now, we have been poor since the dismantling at Sevilla last year.

I think it goes back further to the Sheff Utd loss in the last minute after lockdown. We were poor that night. We were poor against Sevilla too though granted. If Nuno is in a kind of sulk due to results is this how he reacts to bad times? If so then we’re in massive trouble. I do believe the Covid restrictions on bonding hasn’t helped as we were a tight knit group of players. Just one decent performance will kick us on I’m sure of it.

 

[Fenrir_]

When the manager has been sat sulking on the sidelines for the past few weeks, I find the attempts to say its the players fault and theyre letting him down a hard one to agree with. The truth is its a mixture of both. The problem has also been going on for a long time now, we have been poor since the dismantling at Sevilla last year.

When you're playing a 6th tier side and you have one shot on target from 35 yards in 90 minutes, that's the players, not the manager. If the players were switched on we dominate and win it comfortably. Now you can argue that maybe the players weren't switched on because of the manager, but tonight's **** show is on the players, 100%

 

[Narfolk Wolf]

Certainly lacking on field leadership.

 

[Deleted member 5340]

I blame it on the sunshine...

You ****ing boogie apologist!

 

[Ian]

Moutinho . Wow

a set piece on the edge of the box and he still managed to **** it up so we didn’t get a cross or a shot in

You changed from " positivity" " why do people need to slag someone off" to showing a lack of positivity and slagging someone off in the one thread..... impressive.
Despite all of Nuno's talk of respect for opponents before games its pretty obvious he and the players lack motivation against " lesser" teams.

 

[Deleted member 4008]

Shows to me we need 3 more players on top of Jose . Midfield was ****

 

[Krispy Kreme]

I’m not slagging the players. I’m saying only the players can dig us out of this bad run. Those 11 on the pitch have got to put more into their game and help Nuno out. Nuno ain’t suddenly become a bad coach and the players ain’t turned crap in the last few months. More effort and application and a little more positivity on the pitch. Traore instead of getting to the bye line bomb into the box, RAN the same don’t check back get past a player. Positive efforts from the players I’m hoping will bring us a much needed league win and go from there.

Shame that those gung ho tactics don't work. If only football was as simple as attack attack attack for 90 minutes.

There's a time you need to cut back occasionally and manage the game.

It's not FIFA FFS the players don't have unlimited energy

 

[sedgwolf1980]

We aren’t actually playing too different to the exact way we have played for pretty much 3 years.

The difference is we miss Raul so bad at both ends of the pitch. We never used to thrash anyone anyway, but lots of the recent narrow defeats would be draws and some of the draws would be wins.

It’s such fine margins and when you are getting results you can let the performance slide under the radar.

Personally I think we get Jonny and Podence back, bring in this lad up top, and our fortunes will change massively. I hope so anyway.

It does mean we have a massive transfer window this summer. We desperately need a top drawer centre half and midfielder.

 

[reanswolf]

Can't really blame the players IMO.
We neglected key areas of the team at the expence of 2-3 years future players.
Thats just bad management, nothing else.

 

[Supadavewolf]

Was it bournemouth?

We'll always have Bournemouth.

And Paris.

But not Casablanca.

 

[The Wolf In The North]

Havent got a clue mate. Was watching in almost disbelief at how bad the set pieces were tonight. Classic was dreadful free kick by Moutinho in the first half. Instead of getting it in the box plays it to Hoever who didnt seem to be expecting it.

Yeah, this is the one that had me fuming.

Moutinho turned and waved his arms at Hoever, but the poor bloke was just trying to stay onside, it wasn't his fault that Moutinho was taking ages to play the ball. Hoever made the run, stopped, waited half a second, stopped... he was expecting either a quick kick or a ball into the box, same as the rest of us.

Not everything has to be clever-clever, all the time.

 

[Dudleywolf]

I blame it on the sunshine...

I blame it on the Boogie !

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Yeah, this is the one that had me fuming.

Moutinho turned and waved his arms at Hoever, but the poor bloke was just trying to stay onside, it wasn't his fault that Moutinho was taking ages to play the ball. Hoever made the run, stopped, waited half a second, stopped... he was expecting either a quick kick or a ball into the box, same as the rest of us.

Not everything has to be clever-clever, all the time.

It did sort of sum up the evening but I didn't think it was quite as bad as it looked. Mouts played the ball as if he was expecting Hoever to run to the line and pull it back. Hoever made a run to drive into the box. I was more annoyed that the wall looked like ours v Newcastle and the keeper was hugging the far post. Mouts is really struggling though IMO, trying to play simple to find some form, I think it's more in his head than his legs. He had such a good relationship with the fans I think he appreciates and misses the support even more than the rest of them.

 

[Contrarian]

Some of our players are not good enough - yet. Blame them all you like, it isn't going to magically produce the 3 or 4 years of development they need overnight.

I'd say Silva, Hoever, RAN, Vitinha are inexperienced U23 players who you can probably get away with having one out on the pitch when surrounded by experienced players. Gradually develop them. We had all 4 out there and have done all too often recently.

Then Cutrone and Kilman are also still not the finished product, though a bit further along the development path. Kilman, obviously, is turning in performances that suggest he isn't far off Premier League level already. The rest are, in my opinion, some distance off. Like I said, you can get away with one of them on the field. But to have 6 youth players on, it's inevitably going to look fragile.

<EDIT> Forgot Neto, but he is clearly at the right level - after over a year of gradual introduction into a settled team. And also a superstar in the making more so than any of the rest. He's a one in a million!

So what happens to a team where so many of the players are not Premier League level, when they are forced to play in that league every week? Looks like sink or swim and so far they are sinking.

 

[Me Babbies]

Whilst I agree that once they step over the white line it's the players who should take the responsibility for their performance.
When you don't have a striker who can head the ball, why persist on attacking down the flanks and crossing it in?

Also when you have strikers who clearly want to running in behind where has our ability to play a through ball gone?
Can't do it with your creative midfielder on the toes of your centre half.