Yeah but over the last one game they have gained 3 on us! ;-)
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Six games where they played the other 3 of the bottom 4, away to the 4th worst home record in the league (spurs) and home to 4th worst away record in the league (sunderland). Against that, the perception is that they may have fixed some of their problems in the January window (striker, central defender, full backs returning from Afcon), have won three of their last 4 and were notably unlucky against us in the one before that.
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West Ham will finish above us. And I’m struggling to see who we will finish above another than Wolves and Burnley.
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You seem to be saying that the differences between leagues (and I don't believe them to be as great as you do) equate to other leagues being worse than the EPL, and I don’t buy that at all. I do think that we have chosen managers uniquely unsuited to helping players understand and adapt to the EPL, and that if we're going to keep buying players from overseas we should probably be rather smarter with the managers we hire. More Cooper, less Dyche.
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Although, but for a VAR cock up (ironically) West Ham would have beaten us and caused a 6 point swing.
That said, West Ham remain the favourites to go down because chasing is really hard.
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I'm not saying 'better', the eye of the beholder on that one. I am saying different.
If only there was some sort of data on players successful in other leagues, struggling to adapt to the EPL....oh, hang on....
As for type of managers, it all depends on what you want to do. Do you want to follow, at a disadvantage, or do something different to possibly gain an advantage? It has been interesting to see a swing back to what I would describe as more traditional footballing values. There is no objectively 'correct' way to play football. It all depends on what you have at your disposal. If you have access to the quickest strongest players, and are thus able to dominate the ball, you can dominate the way the games are played. If you don't, you have to come up with another way. The pendulum swings on that....compare the fortunes of Manshitty and Arsenal over the last few years.....there is a waxing and waning and a shift of power that is not much to do with the philisophy and ability of the managers.
Football always has been, and still is, played by the players.
Put them in the right places, get them to run about a bit, give them a few ideas about what to do and when. Then see what you get. There are no magic guarantees of success, apart from if you can put out a side better than the other side...and even then there will be a statistical variance.
Dyche has managed a lot of games, often punching above the weight of his squads. Despite widespread views to the contrary, that's not because he's shit.
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It seems to me that he isn't putting them in the right places (See balls up to Jesus with no one to lay it off to and when we do manage to break only 2 players, at a push 3, in the box to receive the ball)
They dont seem to be running around in the final third
And if they do, the idea is largely singular: cross it to the people who aren't there.
Dyche has managed us to some horrifying performances and he is currently punching waaaaaayyyy below the wight of the squad. An argument that says but over his period he has delivered.....
Depending on the results tonight and tomorrow, we could be in the relegation zone having just failed to get many points from the objectively more winnable games. The requirement is staying up, not just playing a bit better on average. -
Dyche has managed us to some excellent wins, and he currently has the squad punching waaaaayyyy above what the previous two managers this season achieved.
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I think we can stipulate that he's not as shit as Ange Postecoglu and checked out Nuno. No one is disputing that.
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Shit is better than appallingly shit. But still shit.
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Which is fine. What you are saying is that half the division is shit....which is inarguable really, given that the whole point of the premier league was to destroy a competitive level playing field. So given that we are in that shit bit, what's your plan?
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80% of the division aren't as shit as us.
The plan was don't fuck it up in the first place. That's down to Maranakis, Edu et al.
There's an argument that if the Shammers win tonight and we lose tomorrow, Dyche is gone. Who do we replace with? Caretakers?
My plan would be to stick with Dyche till the end of the season, find religion and start praying. -
Right....moan a bit. No plan. You are a better fan than me!
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Completely did not expect you to ignore pretty much everything that was written and then claim a moral victory. Aytipical. Shocked I am.
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Checked Benitez’s availability. Turns out he’s currently managing Panathinaikos, so we can take him off the list of potential firefighters.
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I’m not sure I agree with the Kalimuendo example. He never looked great when he came on. Igor Jesus looks a much better goal scorer in Europe than he does in the premiership. He’s the same player but has way more time to take an extra touch in European games. When he tries that in the premiershipleague, he gets snuffed out. So you can argue that it’s about adaptation to both the team and the league.
Certain players look better under certain managers. Nuno refused to play (or speak to) Omari and he didn’t get much gametime under Ange but has looked good, particularly off the bench under Dyche. Similarly, even you will admit Sangare looks good in a Dyche side (with the notable exception of Friday evening). Luiz looked awful under Dyche but great under Ange (and Emery).
