| A team - an actual proper team! 23:51 - Oct 23 with 10078 views | OakR |
Well this feel good doesn't it. For the first time in a longtime, we have a team. Not a collection of individuals, not some people putting in more effort than others, not people not really knowing what they should be doing.
The hunger of the team tonight, the amount of times we won the ball back, fouled trying was the standout thing for me.
The team now virtually picks itself - the bench looks good also, we've got a couple of youngsters in there, and we look tough.
The defence is now settled - that's out starters if all fit - with Lumley No1.
Midfield Cameron and Luongo won the ball so much tonight. And of course we then have attacking options.
We're not perfect but we are now a unit. |  |
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 13:24 - Oct 24 with 1824 views | traininvain |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 12:21 - Oct 24 by simmo |
It's less the result though (for me) and more that you can actually see what's being done to progress and improve. You can really notice where the coaching has improved people, and not just the likes of Lumley and Eze who are getting better with game time, but also Lynch who has been managed to be more of a basic centre back with a regular partner, rather than being the step out and get turned man we've seen.
Even Freeman has improved slowly in the left midfield role he really struggled with before, it's allowed Eze to make 10 his own so they're not trying to play the same position from different parts of the pitch. Freeman remember frozen out at Bristol for not being able to adapt and rarely had a good game for Olly in that position.
Of course it’s also the progression and learning of McLaren that’s been good to see. It’s been a slow process through split centre backs to 442 to playing Eze further forward to having proper width with Wzsolek, but it’s coming together bit by bit and when you include the fact that we’ve already matched our away wins and (pretty much) clean sheets for the whole of last season, and it’s not even November, it’s pretty impressive.
Interesting to see how we raise our game (or don’t) against the likes of Villa, Brentford, Stoke, Boro, etc and also if any bumps in the road make Schteve revert to previous nonsense, but for now, I am in a much better place than a few weeks back. Genuinely believe if we can keep this group fit and stay relatively consistent in this formation / team selection, we will comfortably stay up and maybe finish top half. |
Totally agree. We're dominating games (Millwall, Reading, Ipswich, Sheff Wed etc) in a way that I've not seen since the Warnock era.
I'm sure we'll face tougher tests but for now the improvement is noticeable across the pitch. Fluidity going forward with our strikers starting to score and the flair of Freeman and Eze creating chances.
But it's the defence that impressed me last night. They look very well drilled. Rangel a pivotal part. Furlong will have to work to win his place back and that's the way it should be at an upwardly mobile football club. Competition for places.
A solid defence will go a long way in the Championship. How many clean sheets the year we won the league? |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 13:50 - Oct 24 with 1767 views | blacky200 |
I'm not getting carried away yet. Great results in the last few games but I thought SW looked a very average side and Villa will be a much tougher test. Hate to be a downer on all the positives but I've seen us far too many times  |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:11 - Oct 24 with 1738 views | PinnerPaul |
If a team looks poor/average it tends to be because you are playing well. | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:15 - Oct 24 with 1735 views | Northernr |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:11 - Oct 24 by PinnerPaul |
If a team looks poor/average it tends to be because you are playing well. |
If you're waiting for us to play a proper quality team you'll be waiting a long time in this league. The whole thing is mediocre sht. |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:24 - Oct 24 with 1699 views | timcocking |
Cardiff went up last year and they aren't better than we are on paper imo.
Mind you, they're having a bloody nightmare. I don't relish another season enduring that torture. |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:29 - Oct 24 with 1692 views | spencer |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 13:13 - Oct 24 by Esox_Lucius |
Chris Ramsey's contribution to the upturn in our fortunes seems to have gone largely under the radar. IMO he was very unlucky to be appointed manager of a team that was undergoing a sea change and trying to pull itself out of the morass created by the managers before him; it was too big a job for JFH and it proved too big a job for Ramsey too but the club, to it's credit, saw the quality he offered in a coaching role and wisely offered him a job and retained his skills. |
People will realise one day, that being a coach is different from being a manager.
Chris was way out of his depth as a manager, but has all the qualities it would appear to be able to coach players. So yes...good call to keep him on.
Steve was muted same when he joined us...( a good coach....) Someone must be talking in his ear (IMO). Has someone told him that Eze was not a winger but Pav is ? |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:51 - Oct 24 with 1653 views | BrianMcCarthy |
I don't buy this easy (Eze!) line about McClaren being a good coach but not manager. He was manager at Twente when they won the Dutch League from nowhere and he was manager at Boro where he won the League Cup and got them into Europe.
There may be some truth in the line but it's normally trotted out by journos who could do with doing some research. He may also be a better coach than manager, possibly. But he has been a good manager. He got to manage England based on being a good club Manager. |  |
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 15:10 - Oct 24 with 1632 views | spencer |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:51 - Oct 24 by BrianMcCarthy |
I don't buy this easy (Eze!) line about McClaren being a good coach but not manager. He was manager at Twente when they won the Dutch League from nowhere and he was manager at Boro where he won the League Cup and got them into Europe.
There may be some truth in the line but it's normally trotted out by journos who could do with doing some research. He may also be a better coach than manager, possibly. But he has been a good manager. He got to manage England based on being a good club Manager. |
Possibly - he did start his early career as a coach at lower level clubs. His CV tends to read " Coach" "Ass Coach" "Head Coach" Agreed he managed to win with Twente, but to be fair, Steve is half dutch hence his ability to speak the native tongue quite easily.
He gives the appearance of a hands on manager, who likes to coach his team.
Some people (IMO) are unable to manager teams , no matter what level. Our local teams are run by managers and coaches from Under 8 through to Under 16. I cringe when I hear how some of the managers talk to the youngsters, but they coaching techniques are very good.
I coach Under 10s/11s ....I go through all the drills/passing moving/ corners /tackling etc and my...manager then takes control on match day. He doesn't read this so I wont get into trouble - but he is a better coach than manager.
Anyway ....what ever is going on, clearly we can see....there is a vast improvement, including body language . | | | |
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 15:41 - Oct 24 with 1591 views | CamberleyR |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:51 - Oct 24 by BrianMcCarthy |
I don't buy this easy (Eze!) line about McClaren being a good coach but not manager. He was manager at Twente when they won the Dutch League from nowhere and he was manager at Boro where he won the League Cup and got them into Europe.
There may be some truth in the line but it's normally trotted out by journos who could do with doing some research. He may also be a better coach than manager, possibly. But he has been a good manager. He got to manage England based on being a good club Manager. |
It's also a lot harder to win the Dutch league when you're not managing one of the traditional big three. AZ did it the season before Twente but those two years had been the first time in 30 years the big three hadn't won it. In fact since the Eredivisie started in 1956 there has only been six times when the big three haven't been champions.
Before McClaren took over at Twente, in their entire history they had never won the Dutch league but had been runners up once in the early 70s and had won two Dutch cups. To put it in perspective it's similar to Brian Clough winning the first division with two small-medium sized provincial clubs who had never won much in their history before that.
Finally, I think Bobby Robson and Terry Venables are the only other English coaches/managers to win foreign titles. |  |
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 15:56 - Oct 24 with 1567 views | rsonist |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:51 - Oct 24 by BrianMcCarthy |
I don't buy this easy (Eze!) line about McClaren being a good coach but not manager. He was manager at Twente when they won the Dutch League from nowhere and he was manager at Boro where he won the League Cup and got them into Europe.
There may be some truth in the line but it's normally trotted out by journos who could do with doing some research. He may also be a better coach than manager, possibly. But he has been a good manager. He got to manage England based on being a good club Manager. |
Well it's also something several of his previous players have said about him over the years, implicitly or explicitly.
Not that I would completely agree but the devil's advocate retrospective line on his achievements is that Twente had a good squad and poor competition that year, and that Boro relied on a lot of expensive experience.
He would hardly be the only manager that isn't naturally a cliche barking general so what it might be fairer to speculate is whether he's always had the right balance of backroom staff around him. Eustace, Gardiner, and Ramsey might just be a more effective unit than Paul Simpson, Ian Cathro, and er, Steve Black. |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 16:02 - Oct 24 with 1556 views | rsonist |
Think it was pretty striking when Freeman recently said McClaren was the best coach he's worked under, even despite having been asked to accept more compromise in his play than ever before here. | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 16:10 - Oct 24 with 1539 views | BushRanger82 |
Enjoying this moment. Been a good month or so, but keeping my feet firmly on the ground. |  | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 16:13 - Oct 24 with 1532 views | PinnerPaul |
In a typically football fan way of finding something to worry about, I AM worrying if Rangel and Cameron can play 3 games in 6 days? | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 16:45 - Oct 24 with 1484 views | WatfordR |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 11:25 - Oct 24 by WestbourneR |
The main issue with Ollie is that his entire game plan revolves around an insane work rate. The fly around in their faces policy. Which was good for periods but generally led to us being totally shagged. It used to make me feel tired watching Scowen chase shadows.
Meanwhile, under Ollie, there was far too little attention paid to taking care of the ball in possession and pattern of play. The pass and move and ball in behind happened almost never. Last night it was happening all the time. We had a style and chemistry.
After lost away at Boro last year people told I was made to complain as we scored 2 goals bids we just constantly and relentlessly gave the ball away after we’d won it back - and that’s not sustainable. You have to try and control possession for periods of the game. Under Ollie we never did that. Under McLaren we do. |
I agree with all of this. I often think back to that game at Reading last season and how obvious it was that there was no plan for what we did in possession, no shape or pattern to our attacks, against opposition that was sitting there with its trousers down and @rse in the air.
In fairness that's been an issue for us going back for decades, I can't think of a manager in the last near enough 30 years that has encouraged us to take care of the ball. Probably Venables was the last? (Edit - forgot LDC!!)
The idea of us playing attractive, attacking football is what I grew up with, and if we are getting back to that philosophy, I shall be very very happy. [Post edited 24 Oct 2018 18:30]
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 17:01 - Oct 24 with 1457 views | Rangersw12 |
Have to give McClaren loads of credit as after the Blackpool result he looked dead and buried
It was very enjoyable last night and that's what football is all about
I would still like to see BOS and Little Smyth get more opportunities but all in a massive recovery | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 17:31 - Oct 24 with 1398 views | oldmisery |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 14:51 - Oct 24 by BrianMcCarthy |
I don't buy this easy (Eze!) line about McClaren being a good coach but not manager. He was manager at Twente when they won the Dutch League from nowhere and he was manager at Boro where he won the League Cup and got them into Europe.
There may be some truth in the line but it's normally trotted out by journos who could do with doing some research. He may also be a better coach than manager, possibly. But he has been a good manager. He got to manage England based on being a good club Manager. |
Perhaps your memory is better than mine but didn't he get to manage England because he'd been Assistant Manager for the two previous years under Eriksson and when the Swede 'retired' after the 2006 World Cup he was subsequently appointed Manager.
I seem to recall the FA then referring to a succession plan but I believe that was a convenient way of dealing with the Scolari - will he, won't he take the job fiasco! | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 17:41 - Oct 24 with 1384 views | Pommyhoop |
I forgot we were playing. Lovely performance and result.
So glad for Nahki getting off the mark.
Looking forward to Villa and Brentford... |  |
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| A team - an actual proper team! on 18:33 - Oct 24 with 1320 views | VancouverHoop |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 15:41 - Oct 24 by CamberleyR |
It's also a lot harder to win the Dutch league when you're not managing one of the traditional big three. AZ did it the season before Twente but those two years had been the first time in 30 years the big three hadn't won it. In fact since the Eredivisie started in 1956 there has only been six times when the big three haven't been champions.
Before McClaren took over at Twente, in their entire history they had never won the Dutch league but had been runners up once in the early 70s and had won two Dutch cups. To put it in perspective it's similar to Brian Clough winning the first division with two small-medium sized provincial clubs who had never won much in their history before that.
Finally, I think Bobby Robson and Terry Venables are the only other English coaches/managers to win foreign titles. |
Roy Hodgson has won a bunch. Swedish League (Allsvenskan) seven times, and the Danish Super League once. Not La Liga standard for sure but still European titles. | | | |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 16:11 - Oct 25 with 1118 views | Benny_the_Ball |
| A team - an actual proper team! on 08:05 - Oct 24 by BrianMcCarthy |
Nice warm buzz about the place this morning. Here's an actual picture of me walking to work just now.
That's the best I've seen us play in quite some time. |
Is that the Ready Brek ad from the 80s? Now there's a blast from the past. |  | | |
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