In every game we've played this season we've played better in the second half than the first.

What's Carlo's trick? Is he just very good as assessing the opposition, working out their weaknesses and adapting our tactics slightly to take advantage?

I love it because I feel confident that, however things are going first half the opposition are in trouble in the second. Under Jose we generally played one 45 minutes better than the other, sometimes a good first-half followed by a not so good second and sometimes the other way around, but with Carlo (so far) it's always second better than first.

Keep it up guys there's a good buzz about the team at the moment - under Scolari the initial buzz very quickly died out, but I don't think that's going to be the case this time around.

Come on you blues :unsure:

It was the same last season, we usually play better as the match goes along, it must be our 'aging' squad takes longer to warm up nowadays ?

This is very true for me, I always felt confident we would "do it" in the 2nd half with Jose, I remember when we were 1-0 down to Bolton at the Bridge and we stormed back to win 5-1 with 5 second half goals - I never doubted we'd win. After last season under Scolari though I lost that... but it seems to be apparant again.

I guess it's better than having 2 dire halves, but would prefer 2 fantastic ones.

it has a lot to do with the fitness and physical strength of the squad, very few teams can live with us for 90 minutes without eventualy conceding.

Edited September 24, 200915 yr by midlandblue

It was the same last season, we usually play better as the match goes along, it must be our 'aging' squad takes longer to warm up nowadays ?

not when scolari was in charge, but then the first half wasn't great either!

This is very true for me, I always felt confident we would "do it" in the 2nd half with Jose, I remember when we were 1-0 down to Bolton at the Bridge and we stormed back to win 5-1 with 5 second half goals - I never doubted we'd win. After last season under Scolari though I lost that... but it seems to be apparant again.

I guess it's better than having 2 dire halves, but would prefer 2 fantastic ones.

I used to have exactly the same feeling which died down over the last couple of years. It'll take a while to come back though but it looks like we are slowly getting back there.

it has a lot to do with the fitness and physical strength of the squad, very few teams can live with us for 90 minutes without eventualy conceding.

midlandblue hit the nail on the head, we are an incredibly fit and powerful side and few clubs can handle that for 45 minutes. the first half softens em up, the second half seems em off.

midlandblue hit the nail on the head, we are an incredibly fit and powerful side and few clubs can handle that for 45 minutes. the first half softens em up, the second half seems em off.

Just hope that still stands against the bin dippers.

We have not had one of the hardest starts to the season, Spuds on paper should have been the toughest but they were poor. So whilst I'm really happy with our results so far, I still have reservations.

Lets see if we can keep our good form against the top four and improve on the 4 points we got from those matches last season.

In every game we've played this season we've played better in the second half than the first.

What's Carlo's trick? Is he just very good as assessing the opposition, working out their weaknesses and adapting our tactics slightly to take advantage?

I love it because I feel confident that, however things are going first half the opposition are in trouble in the second. Under Jose we generally played one 45 minutes better than the other, sometimes a good first-half followed by a not so good second and sometimes the other way around, but with Carlo (so far) it's always second better than first.

Keep it up guys there's a good buzz about the team at the moment - under Scolari the initial buzz very quickly died out, but I don't think that's going to be the case this time around.

Come on you blues :P

There was actually a very similar post to this a few years ago called "Jose's Hairdryer".

In my opinion theres two factors at play

1. teams tire in the second half so quality comes through more and

2. its the sign of a good manager who sees the game knows how to make subtle (or not so subtle) tactical adjustments in the 2nd term

fester jinxed us today.

Whatever it is Carlo adds he must have left it at home today

not true...it worked for seven minutes and then cech conceded that pen etc...it looked like we'd roll them over despite that woeful first half, but there was no way back after going 2-1 down

under Scolari the initial buzz very quickly died out, but I don't think that's going to be the case this time around.

Well, next Sunday's game will go a long way to answering that.