Not sure what to make of this?

[shefcanary 2,393]

 

I didn't watch the match last night as other things to do, but catching up in the immediate aftermath, general conclusion was Lungi had a 'mare. It does seem he was "encouraged" to be more progressive, but with players on the pitch this seemed to have led to overhit long diagonals and hurried passing on the edge of our area (if my take on comments is right).

So extremely interesting he was put forward to handle post match reactions. Why would Smith do this unless it was pressing home the point Lungi needs to be more aware of the impact of his performances?

Interesting psychology, you could tell Lungi (even under his laidback veneer) was extremely uncomfortable with it. Will it have the impact hoped for, or will it be the straw that breaks the back of this particular camel? 

Smith obviously looking for a reaction. If it works I still believe there is a player there to build on, but realise Lungi has many who doubt him. 

 

[cornish sam 951]

Perhaps they are pushing him to be more visible, he is often said to be so laid back he is horizontal and pushing him to be more vocal and visible outside of the group may be seen as a way to get his performances to match his talent.

[Block Y Seat 176 80]

I wouldn’t read to much into it. A player on the ball needs options moving forward and clearly the first half performance generally was not of a high standard compared to previous game. That’s pre season and all players should be looking over their shoulder and be wary of competition for their place. 2nd half is a positive which confirms they have ability to find a way. 
I agree there does seem to be some mental  “man management “ going on with Todd so far the greatest example. 🤞for season ahead.

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

Could be a psychological mis-step. Fairly obvious to me here that Lungi's just naturally a very taciturn guy who only seems to want to say things when he has something to say, and stays as quiet as possible if he doesn't want to speak. As @cornish sam said, McLean and Skipp said Lungi may be the most relaxed guy in history in one of the Dafabet videos.

Come to think of it, he came over just as reluctant to speak in the Go-Pro video. Short sentences, and a couple of wry, dry asides when Hugill was struggling with the ice bath (he's not a Viking had me chuckling).

He didn't have a great game in possession last night, but it was clear with Aarons and Giannoulis as full-backs that he was expected to operate as a deep-lying playmaker in possession. He can hit long-range balls - prime example being that one against Bristol City for Pukki in the game Buendia took the ball down with his toe - but by definition those passes are riskier.

Also, as he said, there wasn't much movement. That makes it far harder for someone tasked with picking the passes to do just that.

Edited July 20, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[Fuzzar 1,702]

This interview is great for him - actually having to say words, when it so obviously pains him to do so, is character building. Make him captain.

[Yella Army 57]

Not much to read into this video imo. He's hurting as he's frustrated with his own 1st half performance. It's clear to me that Sorensen is not a CDM and is best played as a CM. Therefore he is best played alongside someone who can also play the defensive work (PLM is most definitely not this). Sorensen with Hayden or McLean would suit him much better.

 

I was very impressed with how Gibbs played last night. Always making himself available and very comfortable to take the ball in tight areas. 

[Capt. Pants 4,225]

I thought the interview was actually very good, compared to some footballers who are too thick to string a sentence together. Well done Lungi for putting himself out there.

 

 

[lake district canary 4,531]

Only been here two years?  Feels a lot longer and perhaps puts things in perspective, as he played quite a lot in his first year.  It's just seemed that he hasn't been given enough opportunities. Hopefully he'll get them this season.

[Pugin 601]

Whoever does player liaison will have thought that Lungi was an obvious choice for an intrrview following his magnificent goal against Marseille. Maybe team management would have an input, maybe not.

No more to it than that. Lungi came across as a mature and stable individual.

One or two daft questions - by all means ask him what it's like to play with novices like Gibbs, but don't expect him to talk about how the manager is introducing them into the team.

[hogesar 9,657]

4 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Could be a psychological mis-step.

If you're an incredibly laid back, quiet player then normally you have to have some really special attributes to shine at the top level of football. He doesn't have those so he needs to be taken out of his comfort zone a bit.

[jaberry2 550]

5 hours ago, shefcanary said:

 

I didn't watch the match last night as other things to do, but catching up in the immediate aftermath, general conclusion was Lungi had a 'mare. It does seem he was "encouraged" to be more progressive, but with players on the pitch this seemed to have led to overhit long diagonals and hurried passing on the edge of our area (if my take on comments is right).

So extremely interesting he was put forward to handle post match reactions. Why would Smith do this unless it was pressing home the point Lungi needs to be more aware of the impact of his performances?

Interesting psychology, you could tell Lungi (even under his laidback veneer) was extremely uncomfortable with it. Will it have the impact hoped for, or will it be the straw that breaks the back of this particular camel? 

Smith obviously looking for a reaction. If it works I still believe there is a player there to build on, but realise Lungi has many who doubt him. 

 

I thought he looked pretty poor in the first 45. Getting caught out a lot by a lower league opposition isnt great despite it being pre season. 

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

8 minutes ago, hogesar said:

If you're an incredibly laid back, quiet player then normally you have to have some really special attributes to shine at the top level of football. He doesn't have those so he needs to be taken out of his comfort zone a bit.

Can take them out of the comfort zone on the pitch though. As the interviewer said, Lungi has been encouraged to go a bit further up the pitch and not just sit around for purely defensive actions.

Asking someone who is taciturn to start being much more outgoing, on the other hand, can be counter-productive. 

[hogesar 9,657]

9 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Can take them out of the comfort zone on the pitch though. As the interviewer said, Lungi has been encouraged to go a bit further up the pitch and not just sit around for purely defensive actions.

Asking someone who is taciturn to start being much more outgoing, on the other hand, can be counter-productive. 

I think as a footballer, being asked to speak to an interviewer for a couple minutes after a meaningless pre-season friendly is probably as small a jump as they could realistically give him. 

[Monty13 2,231]

5 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Could be a psychological mis-step. Fairly obvious to me here that Lungi's just naturally a very taciturn guy who only seems to want to say things when he has something to say, and stays as quiet as possible if he doesn't want to speak. As @cornish sam said, McLean and Skipp said Lungi may be the most relaxed guy in history in one of the Dafabet videos.

Come to think of it, he came over just as reluctant to speak in the Go-Pro video. Short sentences, and a couple of wry, dry asides when Hugill was struggling with the ice bath (he's not a Viking had me chuckling).

He didn't have a great game in possession last night, but it was clear with Aarons and Giannoulis as full-backs that he was expected to operate as a deep-lying playmaker in possession. He can hit long-range balls - prime example being that one against Bristol City for Pukki in the game Buendia took the ball down with his toe - but by definition those passes are riskier.

Also, as he said, there wasn't much movement. That makes it far harder for someone tasked with picking the passes to do just that.

Not sure why it’s a mis-step. If he’s not good in front of the press what better time to practice than in a low key friendly.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,704]

To be fair it was the hottest day of the year, the players had only just come back from France and according to Smith none of the players had trained prior to the match due to the heat so fair to say they weren't going to play too amazing

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

1 hour ago, Monty13 said:

Not sure why it’s a mis-step. If he’s not good in front of the press what better time to practice than in a low key friendly.

It's basically the same as telling an introvert they should be more extrovert. 

 

1 hour ago, hogesar said:

I think as a footballer, being asked to speak to an interviewer for a couple minutes after a meaningless pre-season friendly is probably as small a jump as they could realistically give him. 

But it's off the pitch. If you want to take a player out of his comfort zone, then why not on it? We already know Lungi's been asked to go further forward. And he's clearly not that averse to going out of his comfort zone, otherwise he wouldn't have done so well at left-back in the Champs two seasons ago.

That said, none of us know if he wanted to do it or not. I just think it's odd to put someone in front of the press if they don't really want to be there.

Maybe they think Lungi could be another Zimmermann in terms of PR/coming over to fans?

Edited July 20, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[fredherring 136]

The boy is a limited non entity. 

Its only the pinkun posters that rate him

He's league one level. Get rid. 

[ged in the onion bag 855]

Hope he gets a chance with a run of games but he came across to me as very reserved and accepting of his situation (I'll play where I'm asked'), didn't seem too bothered where, came across as he will get in if he deserves too, well if that's the case his best chance is in his preferred position.... he needs to be more single-minded, make sure he knows what he wants and then fight for it.....   We are crying out for players with an attitude, with desire and perhaps he does need to come out of his shell a lot more.    Appreciate he may have a quiet personallity but football is ruthless and he needs to look after himself!   

[Indy 3,297]

That first half not one player could say they played well bar McGovern. To single out Sorensen when those around and ahead didn’t close down didn’t make space and looked knackered is a little blinkered. The changes made and Sargent addition certainly changed to top line which started to create space and made runs.

He certainly was poor but then who wasn’t!

[kirku 1,332]

There's a reason we keep signing players to play in his position - he's squad filler.

He'll do a job, won't let anyone down, but will likely never be first choice for Norwich.

Edited July 20, 2022 by kirku

[Channon’s Windmill 326]

What I did notice last night in the first half was just how much frustration was on show when things weren’t going right? Added to this thread as Lungi attempted a poor long pass and Pukki absolutely berated him, arms aloft as he was available for a simple forward pass.  Definitely something to watch if our season starts badly following last years nightmare. Aarons did exactly the same when a simple ball to him was over hit and went out. Hopefully getting it out of their system while it doesn’t matter.

[cornish sam 951]

1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

It's basically the same as telling an introvert they should be more extrovert. 

 

But it's off the pitch. If you want to take a player out of his comfort zone, then why not on it? We already know Lungi's been asked to go further forward. And he's clearly not that averse to going out of his comfort zone, otherwise he wouldn't have done so well at left-back in the Champs two seasons ago.

That said, none of us know if he wanted to do it or not. I just think it's odd to put someone in front of the press if they don't really want to be there.

Maybe they think Lungi could be another Zimmermann in terms of PR/coming over to fans?

It's not the same as that at all. It's asking them to temporarily overcome a weakness, through practice this then becomes easeir. There can also be a benefit to doing this off the pitch as if one can show that you can overcome a focus of self doubt in one area then you can encourage overcomings of them in other areas, i.e. on the pitch. Essentially force him out of one comfort zone and it is easier for him to take himself out of another.

[Monty13 2,231]

1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

It's basically the same as telling an introvert they should be more extrovert. 

No it’s not. Recognising peoples personal abilities and what they are comfortable with and what stretches them doesn’t mean then excluding them forever from anything that doesn’t suit that.

There’s absolutely no reason an introvert can’t do some things that come naturally to an extrovert with the right coaching and support.

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

25 minutes ago, cornish sam said:

It's not the same as that at all. It's asking them to temporarily overcome a weakness, through practice this then becomes easeir. There can also be a benefit to doing this off the pitch as if one can show that you can overcome a focus of self doubt in one area then you can encourage overcomings of them in other areas, i.e. on the pitch. Essentially force him out of one comfort zone and it is easier for him to take himself out of another.

Introversion is only a "weakness" in an extroverted world. It's not self-doubt at all, it's just how he is.

He's already shown he's more than willing to go out of comfort zones on the pitch - look at the sheer number of times he's played out of position for us. Left-back for us when he'd never played there in his life. Coming over to us as he'd grown up in Esbjerg before playing for them. Centre-half in the Premier after Hanley got injured against Man Utd and we had no centre-halves left.

Lungi might be a very quiet lad, and he didn't play well yesterday, but I don't think his willingness to get out of a comfort zone can be questioned.
 

19 minutes ago, Monty13 said:

No it’s not. Recognising peoples personal abilities and what they are comfortable with and what stretches them doesn’t mean then excluding them forever from anything that doesn’t suit that.

There’s absolutely no reason an introvert can’t do some things that come naturally to an extrovert with the right coaching and support.

No-one said an introvert can't do things that come naturally to extroverts. What I am saying is pushing people into moulds against their natures probably is not going to work out very well. As one former employer found out the very hard way with me when they wanted me to socialise outside of work.

You seem to think it "stretches", I think it runs a risk of "deforming".

[Monty13 2,231]

4 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Introversion is only a "weakness" in an extroverted world. It's not self-doubt at all, it's just how he is.

He's already shown he's more than willing to go out of comfort zones on the pitch - look at the sheer number of times he's played out of position for us. Left-back for us when he'd never played there in his life. Coming over to us as he'd grown up in Esbjerg before playing for them. Centre-half in the Premier after Hanley got injured against Man Utd and we had no centre-halves left.

Lungi might be a very quiet lad, and he didn't play well yesterday, but I don't think his willingness to get out of a comfort zone can be questioned.
 

No-one said an introvert can't do things that come naturally to extroverts. What I am saying is pushing people into moulds against their natures probably is not going to work out very well. As one former employer found out the very hard way with me when they wanted me to socialise outside of work.

You seem to think it "stretches", I think it runs a risk of "deforming".

Maybe not project too much? I’m not sure what socialising outside of work has to do with a basic work/life skill set but that’s something best left to you and your former employer.

He’s a professional sportsman, like it or not that makes him a public figure and it’s very much part of his role to speak publicly, something that is a skill to be coached and learnt just as much as playing is.

His interview was fine, he wasn’t a spluttering nervous wreck just clearly not natural or practiced.

If they’d thrown him under the bus I could understand the concern, but we all have things we are naturally better or less effective at than others. Being cognisant of that does not mean not pushing people outside of their comfort zones, it’s about being careful how that’s done. He might be a great public speaker in time.

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

2 minutes ago, Monty13 said:

Maybe not project too much? I’m not sure what socialising outside of work has to do with a basic work/life skill set but that’s something best left to you and your former employer.

He’s a professional sportsman, like it or not that makes him a public figure and it’s very much part of his role to speak publicly, something that is a skill to be coached and learnt just as much as playing is.

His interview was fine, he wasn’t a spluttering nervous wreck just clearly not natural or practiced.

If they’d thrown him under the bus I could understand the concern, but we all have things we are naturally better or less effective at than others. Being cognisant of that does not mean not pushing people outside of their comfort zones, it’s about being careful how that’s done. He might be a great public speaker in time.

Nope, totally disagree. His job is to play football, his role is not to be a press spokesman if not wanted. But that's where the discussion has arisen.

[Monty13 2,231]

21 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Nope, totally disagree. His job is to play football, his role is not to be a press spokesman if not wanted. But that's where the discussion has arisen.

I’d almost guarantee you that there’s something around this in his contract, even if it’s something like being available for other activities as directed by the club.

By definition a professional footballers job is not just to play football.

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

1 minute ago, Monty13 said:

I’d almost guarantee you that there’s something around this in his contract, even if it’s something like being available for other activities as directed by the club.

By definition a professional footballers job is not just to play football.

Almost isn't absolute. And that still misses a key point for me, namely you don't put people where their weaknesses are. Even then, we don't know if Lungi wanted to do this, our whole discussion is missing that as realistically none of us can know.

[Monty13 2,231]

1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

Almost isn't absolute. And that still misses a key point for me, namely you don't put people where their weaknesses are. Even then, we don't know if Lungi wanted to do this, our whole discussion is missing that as realistically none of us can know.

I mean I know almost isn’t absolute, obviously, but as I’ve never seen a professional footballers contract (and definitely not his current one) personally all I can say is almost certain. However considering the amount of extra curricular activities they do that aren’t directly involved in playing football I’d say it almost certainly has to be in there.

We are having a theoretical discussion, of course none of us know we are on a message board, but just to point out you started out making claims about his personality and demeanour that were “obvious”.

I think you are categorically wrong personally, not only is it very old fashioned to call something a weakness, to not look to coach things where people have opportunities is a massive detriment to those people.

He’s 24 years old, he’s got 10-11 years left as a footballer if he’s lucky. He wants to stay in football and do almost any other role, manager, coaching staff, pundit etc. he needs to be comfortable talking publicly. He may be great in any of those roles given the time and support to grow at it.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Monty13

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

3 hours ago, Monty13 said:

I mean I know almost isn’t absolute, obviously, but as I’ve never seen a professional footballers contract (and definitely not his current one) personally all I can say is almost certain. However considering the amount of extra curricular activities they do that aren’t directly involved in playing football I’d say it almost certainly has to be in there.

We are having a theoretical discussion, of course none of us know we are on a message board, but just to point out you started out making claims about his personality and demeanour that were “obvious”.

I think you are categorically wrong personally, not only is it very old fashioned to call something a weakness, to not look to coach things where people have opportunities is a massive detriment to those people.

He’s 24 years old, he’s got 10-11 years left as a footballer if he’s lucky. He wants to stay in football and do almost any other role, manager, coaching staff, pundit etc. he needs to be comfortable talking publicly. He may be great in any of those roles given the time and support to grow at it.

I disagree, but I maintain this whole notion of a reserved personality being a weakness is problematic, that was in response to Cornish Sam's comment saying "asking them to temporarily overcome a weakness". Not to mention none of us know what Lungi wants to do after his career expires. Tetts famously never wanted to go into management - youth team coaching at most was what he said he wanted.

Furthermore, it's known Lungi is a very quiet, laid-back player who keeps himself to himself. Skipp and McLean already said this in one of the Dafabet videos. I'm almost completely certain it was said in the EDP/Pink Un from Esbjerg journalists when he signed too. By all means give opportunities to coach where there are opportunities, but I would say they should be more in line with their natural proclivities. Now those, we don't really know fully.