Cockneyboy311 wrote:So if old Manuel does well this season (top half, exciting footy) will we get a chant of 'Manuel Pellegrini's claret & blue army' among the crowd?
When was the last time we sang the managers name? Pardew?
You mean without an "OUT!" on the end of it I presume?
Cockneyboy311 wrote:So if old Manuel does well this season (top half, exciting footy) will we get a chant of 'Manuel Pellegrini's claret & blue army' among the crowd?
When was the last time we sang the managers name? Pardew?
Ariksan wrote:Love it.
I bet Sullivan privately regrets not extending Moyes contract :lol:
I know we like to have a go at Moyes, but I vaguely remember him saying that we needed to buy before we sold this summer, needed to scout players better, needed to stop the leaks, needed to improve the training facilities etc
3 friendlies in. It will be interesting to hear what MP has to say about the level of performance and in particular defensive frailties. Only 3 weeks of training and the Pellegrini regime but i think it is evident already that we still need to be able to keep the ball better and defend much better.
getback wrote:3 friendlies in. It will be interesting to hear what MP has to say about the level of performance and in particular defensive frailties. Only 3 weeks of training and the Pellegrini regime but i think it is evident already that we still need to be able to keep the ball better and defend much better.
I only watched a few brief edited highlights of yesterday's match, but those were my observations too. Players still stationary in midfield, not expecting the ball and a few awkward touches too, but put this down to still trying to get full fitness and still coming to terms with a new way of playing
I'm loving it, he's quietly going about his work and focusing on the most important things, building his team/squad getting them used to playing his way of football. We have 4 more friendlies and a little over 2 weeks until Liverpool and the focus it spot on. Preparation for this and getting the team working on his philosophies. I just hope its working.
Probably not his shout but I would have preferred some tougher competition pre season than what we have scheduled.
We start away at Liverpool, who will have been coming off a tough pre season schedule in the International thingy. Now I understand we wouldn't have known the PL schedule when we set up the pre season games, but whomever we would have be slated to play on the first day, I would have preferred that we played a couple of tough teams closer towards the opening game. Not one tough game/opponent on slate.
Let's all pray that MP has rubbed some of his specialness onto this squad like sun cream on a ginger. Really looking forward to the future as we hopefully slowly see his philosophy really come together, however long it takes.
Anyone wondering if we're going to change our style or tactics when we play the better teams.... This is a quote from the recent article on the official site, talking about the Liverpool game...
"But we will go there and try to play. We are not trying to change our style of play depending on who we play against, so I hope the fans enjoy a good display."
And another one that's very relevant to some discussion on here. This one is from the football.london website...
""We have good players, technical players. We need to improve our defending but we need creating players because for me, the best way to defend is to keep the ball. We bought Wilshere, Anderson and Yarmolenko to do that."
Burnley Hammer wrote:Anyone wondering if we're going to change our style or tactics when we play the better teams.... This is a quote from the recent article on the official site, talking about the Liverpool game...
"But we will go there and try to play. We are not trying to change our style of play depending on who we play against, so I hope the fans enjoy a good display."
Call the style however you want, I can only see one result, us getting stuffed. Whether we lose playing attacking football or lose playing more conservatively, I just can't be positive about this game.
If we win however, I'm going to go mental, Merson style.
Burnley Hammer wrote:Sicknote... does it matter? It's not a fansite opinion, it's a direct quote from pellegrini and relevant as it regards a topic that's been discussed at length on this forum already.
I agree. Some people on here get a bit too feisty about quotes and links to other sites.
It's not like we kill a fairy every time we click on them.
1. fitness levels. last season most of our players, arnie aside, couldn't run and went backwards. outpaced by yaya toure ! we needed more pace in the team and we now have faster players who hopefully are fitter with correct fitness training .
2. defend better from midfield areas. last season the midfield gave very little protection to the back four who were then exposed by all. not just the big teams had fun against us mighty brighton, Newcastle etc stuffed us. we must be harder to beat.
3. style of play last season was comical under bilic and awful under moyes. we need a balance of attacking play with a good shape to defend properly.
4. not so reliant on arnie as we were last season. He is our best player but he was our only player most games last season. we need to have several dangerous players to keep the opposition on their toes. losing lanzini is a big blow but we have yarmolenko, Anderson, wilshere and a hopefully fully fit and focussed antonnio.
going to be an interesting season with hopefully plenty of highs . starting on sunday !
I agree with you for the most part. Fitness was a big problem the entire Bilic era. It got a little better under Moyes but he was working from months behind schedule.
Worry defending from midfield hasn't been thoroughly addressed, or may not be with the way Pellegrini likes to attack. If it ends up coming good I think it must mean Rice has had an outstanding season.
Style of play will be much improved, from the few games of preseason I've seen. Pellegrini is already paying dividends there and we're seeing more 1 and 2 touch football, building from the back, and technically proficient players brought into the squad.
Arnie wants to score more this season, and likely will playing up top all year. But I do agree that we need more goals from midfield. A lot more goals from midfield than we had last year. Manu had 8 or 9 the year before, but without him out there we suffered from a lack of production from our midfielders. That needs to be fixed. We brought in Yarmolenko, Anderson, and Wilshere, who can hopefully beef up the total. Noble can score if given the freedom to get forward, too. We saw that the last year at the Boleyn and a few other times in his career.