The mystery of Gus' obsession with playing "his" way....

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

To be honest, the moaners are doing far more to ruin my enjoyment of the Allison than the recent defeats.

Mabe you should switch to Warburtons?

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Like I said in another thread tho. I think for me PERSONALLY is that I can take defeat. f*** me have most of us seen defeats and to some real shit in the past but at the moment its all so PREDICTABLE. Team score job done. Would rather take a 3-2 defeat than a 1-0 which I know doesnt make sense but it does mean GOALS.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

The most baffling thing is how sloppy we are in the pass for a 'passing team'.

 

[maltaseagull]

I've realised something that baffles me about Gus and his obsession with playing "the right way" (passing football/possession football/keep-ball), and I think its why we are struggling so much.

He keeps signing players not even REMOTELY suited to playing in that way.

Lets look at Saturday's side against Middlesborough for example.....

The back four is fair enough. Greer, Bruno and Bridge are all very strong technically. El Abd not as much, but has improved a lot in that area.

But when you look at our midfield line-up its utterly bewildering. Okay, so Bridcutt is gifted and can pick out a pass, but Crofts and Hammond are workers, not creators. They're not exactly known for their one-touch brilliance, or range of glorious passes. They are good old-fashioned British "huffers and puffers". No shame in that whatsoever, but a baffling selection when you consider Gus' OBSESSION with passing football.

Meanwhile, on the bench sits Gary Dicker (not a Gus signing), a man who, for all his shortcomings, is suited to the passing game..... his strongest attribute, by far, is passing. In the meantime, Jake Forster-Caskey, a player PERFECTLY suited to the "Gus way"..... is playing for f***ing OXFORD.

Up front, its even more bizarre. I love Barnesy, but technical brilliance is not high on his list of attributes. He's game, selfless and works hard. But his touch and passing are probably two of his weakest areas. Then you've got Macca, who runs about a lot and can finish. However, like Barnes his link-play and passing is poor.

Of the front 6 on Saturday, only Bridcutt and David could be considered even CLOSE to resembling the sort of side you'd want if you were creating a Swansea style keep-ball philosophy.

Put simply, the players he is signing and picking are MILES away from being able to apply the philosophy he wants them to. They simply aren't those sorts of players. I haven't lost faith in Gus.... however, I've never been quite so baffled and disillusioned with him.

Up until now, we've always had a clear understandable approach.

He seems to be at conflict with himself. Something needs to give.

But Dicker started last night?

 

[One Love]

I have the feeling the fans aren't all on board with your philosophy like ours were.

Your teams philosophy was different to ours though so you can't compare them.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Thing is, he has signed some players who really SHOUD suit what we try to do.

Of the recent four, Hammond granted, is a worker, but the other three on paper are ideal.

Orlandi looks promising, David hasn't really shown enough yet, and Dobbie has me utterly bewildered. He doesn't look like he is interested.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

How long before "I didnt realise we had to be top by October"

 

[maltaseagull]

It still baffles me why we let Murray go. It really does.

But we did. Maybe it was a mistake . Can we move on please?

 

[Farehamseagull]

I know what you're getting at but it's not easy to sign those sort of players.

I don't think we have really played the way Gus wants since we were in League 1 because we have not been able to replace Murray and Bennett who were the two most important players in that side. They are outstanding players and you would have to pay a lot of money to go close to replacing them with players of similar ability. I miss them.

 

[Notters]

Just spoke to a Swansea supporting colleague who said this is EXACTLY what happened to them. Loads of possession with no goals for a few months then they started banging them in.

 

[Farehamseagull]

Just spoke to a Swansea supporting colleague who said this is EXACTLY what happened to them. Loads of possession with no goals for a few months then they started banging them in.

And Dobbie happened to get quite a few of those goals didn't he so hopefully history repeats itself. Although also having players of the ability of Allen, Sinclair and Dyer creating and scoring the goals probably helped them a lot.

 

[One Love]

Just spoke to a Swansea supporting colleague who said this is EXACTLY what happened to them. Loads of possession with no goals for a few months then they started banging them in.

I seriously cannot see how you can compare our play with Swansea's.

They have always been playing possession football with a purpose.

 

[Mellotron]

I seriously cannot see how you can compare our play with Swansea's.

They have always been playing possession football with a purpose.

When we are "on it" we play possession football with a purpose.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

And Dobbie happened to get quite a few of those goals didn't he so hopefully history repeats itself. Although also having players of the ability of Allen, Sinclair and Dyer creating and scoring the goals probably helped them a lot.

Poyet would leave them on the bench and still play Barnes and Hammond and Dicker....

 

[JCL666]

The Gus style of play when the players actually engage it WORKS.

However for ANY style to work, it needs commitment from the players and confidence.

Players are human so when things go a bit off they lose confidence, and then rather than playing possession football with purpose they play at a slooow pace and look for the safest option.

The biggest issue is the one that all teams face at every level. A striker who will consistently score. However these are tough to find hence why they are expensive or can demand high wages. Plus if ever there was a type of player that is severely affected by confidence, it's a striker... Bloody prima donnas.

 

[One Love]

When we are "on it" we play possession football with a purpose.

Yes I can agree with you there. The problem is so far in the Championship we have been "on it" in spells. So what do we do in the long periods we are "off it"?

An example of the passing without purpose is in Bozza's corner post.

Now what was the purpose in what they did there?

For me they took a short corner probably to mix it up a bit but there was no plan behind it. Do they not practice set pieces in training?

 

[marshy68]

Thing is, he has signed some players who really SHOUD suit what we try to do.

Of the recent four, Hammond granted, is a worker, but the other three on paper are ideal.

Orlandi looks promising, David hasn't really shown enough yet, and Dobbie has me utterly bewildered. He doesn't look like he is interested.

I think dobbie will be the answer as an attacking midfielder - his run when he came on against boro showed he is class - but agree with you he looks out of sorts. I think he needs a consistent run in the team which hopefully will give him confidence. I would like to see him start instead of barnes with CMS up front ( i am not a barnes knocker) I think barnes has done a great job playing out of position for most of the last two seasons. Cant ever see us playing 442 so not sure a big striker is gonna come unless Poyet has a total change of his footballing philiosophy and goes for a bona fida plan B.

 

[BBassic]

Swansea mate of mine said when we signed Orlandi and Dobbie that we'd done very well as those two were crucial to their success. I'm confident that given a bit of time those two will come good and they'll be the key to our midfield and attacking options.

I'm not sure about Barnes. I've always rated him but recently he's testing my resolve to support him. Hammond, however, is an absolute waste! Send him back where he came from.

 

[BrianSwan]

I'm fully on board with the philosophy mate.

But you can't say "we want to play the Swansea way"..... then sign Dean Hammond and Andrew Crofts.

You built your team around Leon Britton and Joe Allen. They are footballers...... Crofts and Hammond are runners.

But Joe Allen wasn't a starter really until last season and Britton went to Sheff Utd and only came back 2 January's ago. So we too had Championship class Center midfielders who wasn't that great at passing. We just had to keep to our principles and develop the club as a whole, when you go up Gus will just sign 3-4 class Spanish players (in all likelihood) to fill the gaps and you will be flying.

Then you will be so thankful for Gus and his style instead of panicking and wanting 50/50 long ball type football in the hopes of immediate success.

 

[Chesney Christ]

Thing is, he has signed some players who really SHOUD suit what we try to do.

Of the recent four, Hammond granted, is a worker, but the other three on paper are ideal.

Orlandi looks promising, David hasn't really shown enough yet, and Dobbie has me utterly bewildered. He doesn't look like he is interested.

David was our best player going forward against Boro, and then he gets dropped. While Crofts, who was utterly dismal against Boro, retained his place. Its not so much the player Gus signs as the players he PLAYS. I'd almost* rather Harley in the centre mid right now than Crofts and Hammond.

*almost