THe squad train in their new surroundings
Slaven Bilic delivered what almost sounded like a farewell speech following the 5-1 defeat by Arsenal.
Standing in front of the BT cameras he declared the team lacked intensity not only in games but on the training field as well!
It was an extraordinary admission from a manager who is under pressure in the biggest possible way and he added: “We have played well at times in other games but there has not been the intensity for 90 minutes and I have to say we don’t have that intensity in training either.
He declared: “I have to be honest and say we don’t have that intensity like we did last season. We don’t even have it on the training ground.
“We show it occasionally in games and that’s why we are so up and down and in my opinion that’s why we can’t do it consistently for 90 minutes.”
Probably time to move on then , Slaven .
Sounds like a dead man walking to admit this on national TV.
Sounds like he’s had enough.
Just back from the game, another hugely disappointing afternoon at the OS. I’ve been to every home game and even when we’ve got a draw or win, it’s been lucky or against sides as poor as us.
Now we are coming up against top teams, I can’t see us competing, I’m afraid. I can’t think of a single summer signing that has taken us forward, and die-hard players like Noble now seem to have given up.
Forget the last 15 minutes, the real problem was the first half, when we were second to almost every ball and somehow went in only 1-0 down. No fight, second to everything – in a London derby!
Like most of us, I really want Bilic to succeed, and maybe the transfers were not down to him – but I’m really worried that he seems so negative and out of ideas. God forbid we end up with BFS back, or similar.
Have to say Ruislip Hammer that reference to BFS says it all for me. Too many supporters think we are too good as a club for all that ‘percentage football’. Newcastle suffer from the same illness, and look at their last decade. Then have a look at where Pulis has got a mediocre bunch at West Brom. Look at the fact that he & BFS have managed some rubbish sides and never been relegated from Prem.I suggest you look at the squad we had in the first couple of years after 2012 & compare it to now. How often did we get hammered 5-1 away, let alone at home. Or go 4-0 down in the first half? If we want to cling to the belief that we are too great to need to bother with getting our knees dirty by building on a solid defence then we will end up back in the second tier, or worse. In spite of what some said last year, we are still in a Prem dominated by a Big 5 or 6 ( yes it hurts to include the Spuds). They just love sides who leave holes at the back!
Very sad to say that Slaven has nowhere to go. Difficult to put a finger on reasons. Getting rid of Tompkins, not playing Reece-Oxford whilst playing journeyman, Antonio played out of position, Payet probably requesting a transfer, turning new signings into complete no-hopers and not playing tactics that suit the players. It just all seems to add up to the manager. The squad is okay. Certainly comfortable mid-table. But who would come in, Eddie Howe?
Just home from the game thanks Southern for being only slightly worse than our defence. He cannot say this on national TV and keep his job, his job is to get at the very least 100% commitment it is obvious too many have lost their fight. Very sad not how it was supposed to be but……
The truth was their for all to see this season in the Europa league and games last season. Many ignored the flaws and got carried away with our success and the chairmen are most guilty of that, followed by Billic. I always knew he was not right for the job, he had won nothing in football management, but yet we seemed to go for him. Billic was a panic appointment after we had been turned down by many managers. Beshiktas qualified for champions league the minute he left, now that says a 1000 words.
Yesterday we darted without for of our best players (Kouyate,Atonio,Cresswell and Sakho/Carroll) so it was hardly a surprise to lose to a strong Aresnal team as we virtually always to at Upton Park.We lost 5-1 under SA to Arsenal and under Harry the team which ended 5th in 1999 lost 5-1 or 5-0 nil at home without the injury problems of yesterday.It is only a week since we got a good away point at Manure but my concern is Slaven talking about the lack of intensity at training, for which there can be no excuses and which he has to address.
Hmmm…how often did we get hammered 5-1 with BFS, Hammer 64? Try worse defeats in a single week…Forest and Man City?