Paul gives his take on the games against West Brom and in particular Slaven Bilic’s deployment of his players.
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Gonzo
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Funnily enough I actually agree with you. This is nothing to do with the west broom result as I still think it is a good result considering we needed some stability in our results. I still like Bilic on a personal level for his heart, his loyalty to his players and integrity in general.
However, I think mentally he is a shadow of the man when he first came to the club. His spark of creativity when it comes to tactics has completely gone. I distinctly remember his first season for the deployed formations with a 4-1-4-1 formation against arsenal, liverpool and man city and that setup overall against the top 6 sides away from home and hitting them on the break where we were so successful, his customised 3-5-2 v spurs at home completely nullifying the full backs and the correct utilisation of carroll as an impact sub spinning the game on its head when our 4-2-3-1 failed to work.
It just seems we walk into games tactically without any clear strategy of how we are setting up and hoping it will work. As good as Bilic man management skills are with the team, I really feel that he doesn’t work well under any form of pressure and makes a lot of poor panic decisions on and off the pitch (transfers included) especially due to the strained relationship with the board.
The whole relationship has broken down with the board, he still looks a bag of nerves like last season and I currently can’t see him returning to the manager he was. Whether, it is him in charge of transfers or the board, we are clearly 2 players short in the squad for midfield position, as much as noble has his downfalls, we are currently terrible at retaining possession without him and we lack flair without lanzini and I can’t believe we never snapped up ryad boudebouz for 6m in the current market, fuming!!
Anyway, I pray from some stability in the club and hopefully the board keep their beak out of the media and give Bilic a chance to let his results do the talking and let him return to the man he was and prove me wrong.
Ffs guys, what Did you expect? We’ve a manager who is the bookies odd on favourite for the sack, who is under intense pressure and we are constantly on his back. So of course his prime objective is to set us up not to lose, and that means five at the back. Four points from six after our start is not too bad a return and a point away to WBA is a good one. Sure he is struggling with finding the right structure offensively but with the best will in the world, Obiang, Kouyate and Noble ain’t Silva, De Bryune and Mane so it isn’t easy! How about we get off his back now and let him build from the back, because if we aren’t conceding we are still in games and I for one will take a couple of one-nils, see us move up the table and then we can perhaps play with more freedom. Careful what you wish for – Palace replaced their manager and look who they got!