trailing for 55 mins, 2 strikers on the pitch for zero mins....

[sonyc 5,492]

I doubt it but they were cr*p against us. However a more interesting question...do you think our situation ( start to the season) was a dead cat bounce? And that now we are graduating now to where we were truly headed?

[morty 0]

[quote user="sonyc"]I doubt it but they were cr*p against us. However a more interesting question...do you think our situation ( start to the season) was a dead cat bounce? And that now we are graduating now to where we were truly headed?[/quote]I think there has been a mental fragility there all along. We weren''t playing with a lot of confidence, but we were getting results. So I hoped that the confidence would build.There are factors I have already mentioned, the biggest being a fair few squad players a bit too old and battered to be really up for the fight, coupled with the newer blood not quite working out yet.I think that had the players we bought, turned out as we had hoped, then we would have had a reasonable mix of experience and youthful exuberance. But because they haven''t, we look tired.

[simmo_2 6]

[quote user="morty"][quote user="sonyc"]Well....something that the best managers in the current game do. Wenger did it yesterday. At times he plays with 3 upfront.

There are so many examples of having trust in your players, capable of using so many systems ''within'' and amidst each game. It''s also about the team understanding what they are capable of. It''s about setting up and playing to your own strengths (as Wagner has just alluded to in his younger team) and your mentality.

It''s not just about 442 but being able to react, respond to influence momentum (and in Lamberts case so often, he MADE changes that led momentum.... Quit,e a few occasions he would bring on attacking subs when we were up in games). THIS in-game management is where the manager earns his money after they have crossed the white line ( which Neil alludes to). Alex has never got this right in my opinion ...maybe he continues to learn. I''m sure he is. But he seems to have lost his trust in the players or they are so over-coached ( does anyone here believe this? I do) that they cannot play the natural game and use their own intuition and know how? The trouble with being so controlling and uni-dimensional is plain for supporters to see. He needs to get some kind of guidance and have more humility and perhaps he can become a great manager. Whilst he sticks his head in the sand they way he is, we will continue to go backwards.[/quote]Sorry but comparing the calibre of players we have to Arsenal''s is like comparing cats and dogs.A manager plays the formation he thinks best suits the players he has at his disposal. Now its obvious we have issues with the balance of the squad, we have a group of ageing players, all recently relegated, and we have a lot of young blood, most of which hasn''t worked out yet, for reasons unknown to most of us. Maybe he can''t play a plan B, because there literally isn''t one, maybe his in game management is limited because he has limited cards to play?I''m not touting as some kind of tactical genius, but the reasons above are why I don''t lay 100% of the blame at his feet.[/quote]

That is where you blame Ricky Martin and his competence at carrying out his position. Everyone on here agrees the squad is very lop sided.

[nutty nigel 7,510]

I''d blame the next manager too....