Gordon Strachan's Management (6 Mergered)

I want a constructive cricism thread here. No point in we are pish, the teams pish, the managers pish etc. The team basically plays nice football and the players are of a good skill level that we wont improve all that much on in our market. But there is no denying something is wrong.

Having watched the well game now:

We played some very good passing stuff for a good chunk of the game
I dont think the players lacked effort
I only thought that JVOH and Donati looked especially off form

i think in basic football terms we have a team of good players playing good overall football the way it ought to be played.

The problem to me is:

we cant break the 11 man wall thing that has become the norm this season for the first time in memory

our strikers have dried up

a few players have lost their edge-no naka goals for a while etc

we often have one or two weak link players in every game-Donati looked like he needs to visit the wizard of oz for a heart

we cant put our lack of penetration down to lack of flair because we play more flair players than most.

Whatever anyone says, the manager is by and large (one or two debatable)picking the best 11 in their best positions and playing a normal formation. certainly nothing obviously weird or whacky.

we seem to lose heart with these sucker punches


Its just baffling. I still watch these games and cant help thinking if this team just clicked another 10% we would be winning games 10-0.

I am genuinely interested in peoples opinions on what is the problem.

 

Passion, the inability to change their style of players, their dependence on certain players to perform, the defence and in some areas the team just has no skills.

 

I don't know but our form has dramtically dropped since the defeat to Barca, same thing happened last year after going out to Milan. Just seems the players lose a bit of passion and motivation after losing out in europe

 

its certainly not overall ability to play a passing game. We do look short of ideas to break down the wall. There are only a couple of controlled ways of doin that-indivdual skill or good passing movements. We look to have a bit of both but it just doesnt quite work out. I think the team is decent but just lacks a crucial player or two. i do think Donati and JVOH were very poor v well but the rest played decent and passed well as team. There is just a lack of penetration and heart. People who think the overall standard of player is a problem are bot being realistic IMO. It can be improved a bit as bringing Hinkel in shows but the basic level that our finances can buy has been reached.

 

How can you discuss the team's current problems without involving the manager?

I don't think he is picking the best 11 or anywhere near it btw, which is the biggest problem. Along with some baffling substitutions and being a slave to 442.

The players look as if they have lost faith in the manager, therefore they are not busting a gut to win games for him. End of story.

 

thats a factor as is the sheer no of games. In the last 7 years the league has been basically sown up very early on 5 occasions so this time of year didnt matter too much, The years when it went close we failed.

 

Look at they players we had on the pitch, compare them to many winning Celtic teams from the past..Not many have the same ability as players in those teams.

Hinkel has been nothing but average, yet that seems to be what we have settled for lately. Avergae performances from JVOH ( even these are rare) is made out to be performance of the season etc. We need to raise the bar and perform at a higher level.

 

spirit is defo a problem. Not sure about the formation. 4-4-2 is generally accepted as the best these days. If its all hands to the punp that can easily be a 2-4-4 with the FB acting as wingers etc.
Got to admit there is a very clear pattern:

nice passing football theatening to overrun opposition (in this phase the football is often very good on the eye)
somehow dont penetrate
sucker puch
run out of ideas
panic
big punt
lose

I think one thing is unusual. I dont remember this 11 man wall thing ever being anywhere near as common in the past. It like pinball tring to get past. We lack a midfield player who has a terrifying shot and scores with it regularly. Not much the 11 man wall can do against a postage stamp shot specialist.

 

these guys are german and dutch internationals. I think they are a lot better than we are seeing for some reason be it blend, time of the season or whatever.

 

There's your answer. The manager has run out of ideas. The manager has lost the dressing room. Therefore the players either cannot or will not give their best.

 

But face it, we havent spent more than 3 million on a player other than brown in about 5 or 6 years at a time when the market has gone crazy. Our average spend on a player has probably been well under 2 million. I think the answer is not going to be in a radical improvement of player standard unless Desmond does a Scrooge and goes mad, gives us a 50 million freebe. Would be nice though. Go on Dermot,..go on go on go on go on

 

poor finishing , jvoh is one of the worst if he's not tryin to head the ball with his shoulder he's miss timing his jump , theres also a lack of a decent petrov type midfielder to hit the 18 yard box plus i would like to see our wide men play on there natural side ie right footed player on the right

 

I can live with that view. I just dont agree with those who think the basic player standard is the main problem. Our squad since the Jan window is the best we have had in ages IMO. I think the squad needs a couple of critical additions and the team selections a bit of tweaking and there could be radical improvement. The market is going to preclude getting players radically better in standard. But a few tweaks can make a vast difference. I think whoever is the manager next season will have a good base to work with. Far better than the situation WGS was faced with when he arrived (only Stan was decent but not heading over the hill).

 

I don't think many people think the overall standard of player is poor, but that makes the manager look even worse.

That pretty much sums it up. The game at the weekend did as WGS said 'encapsulated the season' but it also encapsulated everything which he has done wrong this season. A complete inability or a complete lack of bottle to change a game when we are toiling.

 

It is all about results. If we had scored a couple, the first half passing movements would have earned high praise. The odd thing is some of our best passing football of the season has been in our recent bad run.

 

How many threads does keltoi need to express feelings ??!!

keep them in one from now on buddy , there is absolutely no need what soever for you to split things into segments , create one or nill matey.

 

we lack passion, we lack leadership and we lack tatics and are goalscorers have forgotten how to score....whats the point in having a good passing game if theres no finishing product. its alrite blaming ' this 11 man wall thing' but that is a very lame excuse for us playing so badly.....right when we need to play some of our best football and no one will step up to the plate. no guts no glory