Honest last night about tactics and team selection being on him. But to have a go at the pitch being not easy to play on is a bit much. Not sure what he’d have thought about the Blackpool beaches we’ve had in bygone years. Last night was on initially team selection compounded by individual errors. Maybe this was a game too far, mentally we looked tired after the exploits in Madrid closely followed by a Semi Final at stamina sapping Wembley.

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

Points per home league game, Roman Abramovich era:

2.55 - Ancelotti
2.53 - Mourinho v1
2.32 - Conte
2.21 - Sarri
2.14 - Mourinho v2
2.11 - Ranieri
1.82 - Lampard
1.76 - Tuchel

That looks very grim. I feel his preferred 3-4-3 formation is culpable in this respect, as it works perfectly in cup games but can be easily nullified in the league if you can get behind the mid 2.

He was quick to point out at the end of last season that we finished 19pts behind the leaders, and we needed to get closer. The gap is 15pts with a game in hand and 6 to go, won’t be surprised if we matched that difference again but exceed our points total. IMO he needs to rethink his tactics over the summer, and probably switch to a 4-3-3 so we can have some physical presence in the middle of the park.

I hope Tuchel stays of course, but questions come into my mind on how good a domestic coach he is. In the cups we seem to have motivation, but in the league it seems a different story. Granted, Lukaku hasn't been any use whatsoever, and the injuries to our fullbacks really hindered our progress, but it seems like we've struggled to get any kind of form for a long time. We are so up and down in form, it's mad. At the start of the season I really thought we would push on, then the injuries, then Lukaku's interview, and everything started to go downhill and there was no consistency. If Ten Hag comes in and gets Utd performing next season, we may be waiting a while for a league trophy. 

Tuchel once again f**ked that right up, made the exact same mistake in formation as he did against Madrid at home, which is worrying.

1 hour ago, charierre said:

Honest last night about tactics and team selection being on him. But to have a go at the pitch being not easy to play on is a bit much. Not sure what he’d have thought about the Blackpool beaches we’ve had in bygone years. Last night was on initially team selection compounded by individual errors. Maybe this was a game too far, mentally we looked tired after the exploits in Madrid closely followed by a Semi Final at stamina sapping Wembley.

To be fair our pitch is an embarassement at this level. Very concerning as it's not going to be improved this summer. 

It does have an impact, one of the first things pep did at city was change the grass! 

The team selection is due to the state of the squad, Tuchel overestimated just how capable our squad is when it comes to playing this tactic of the high level press and the whole tactic became worse as the season went on, specially once Chilwell and James got injured and then when Kovacic started having injuries as well.

Add to that Kante that needs to be carefully managed we ended up with Jorginho playing through some kind of injury while Kovacic and Kante were not at their optimal level of fitness and suddenly Jorginho looks burned out and RLC is filling the spots for both DM and WB positions. It becomes clear that letting Gilmour go on loan and gambling with Saul to be able to put up a shift when needed simply didn't work out.

On top of that the only signing was Lukaku for a huge fee while losing Giroud and Tammy and that gamble didn't work out either despite him saying that Lukaku would offer an extra tactical option.

Tuchel is tactically a great manager but he overestimated the level of fitness of our squad for this season which is needed in order to play his tactic. On paper at the start of the season when most of the players were fresh we looked great but it was always going to be hard to maintain that level of readiness of the squad.

I mean he's had plenty time with the squad. Surely at this point if the players aren't buying into the tactics, then that's an issue for Tuchel, but also it's on him too. Klopp has players buy into his style, Pep the same, but Tuchel cannot get the players to buy into the tactics. Is it just players have low football IQ? 

Anyone else gets extremely annoyed he puts one of our most creative, and biggest goal threats in Reece James at bloody CB again last night?.

4 hours ago, Munkworth said:

I can understand being pissed off with the team Tuchel put out and letting off a bit of steam but I’m still glad he’s our manager.

How many times has the ‘Tuchel Insanity Selection’ gone right compared to when it’s gone wrong? He went a bit far with it last night but he’s usually spot on with it all. 

He knows exactly what we need, he just forgot Thiago at the back for 45 minutes!
 

 

When he brought Thiago on I thought this won't help us this time (I was not watching live and had no foreknowledge of what was to come).

We had Silva and Toni against Brentford but, like then, the attitude in general against Arsenal was rotten. We treated it like a kick about friendly and them a cup final. We had no care and made stupid mistakes. 

If the attitude is gone then does not matter who TT picks We end up losing. Why the attitude has gone at home I do not know and TT needs to figure that out.

1 hour ago, jack_super_class said:

Anyone else gets extremely annoyed he puts one of our most creative, and biggest goal threats in Reece James at bloody CB again last night?.

Its a ridiculous thing to do, its never worked with him and Azpilacueta, all it does it is negate James`s attacking and put Azpilacueta in the firing line against a pacy winger, just makes no sense at all.

3 hours ago, enigma said:

I mean he's had plenty time with the squad. Surely at this point if the players aren't buying into the tactics, then that's an issue for Tuchel, but also it's on him too. Klopp has players buy into his style, Pep the same, but Tuchel cannot get the players to buy into the tactics. Is it just players have low football IQ? 

I think its fair to say that Pep and Klopp have higher calibre players hence it looks easier to follow instructions and they actually BOUGHT those players to suit their philosophy. I mean look at the options we had against arsenal compare that to Liverpool. We deserve to be third and nothing more. We lack in so many areas and you cant make a Ford look like a ferrari. 

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Its a ridiculous thing to do, its never worked with him and Azpilacueta, all it does it is negate James`s attacking and put Azpilacueta in the firing line against a pacy winger, just makes no sense at all.

What I have found most annoying is how ridged we stick to the 343 at home. It has proven very useful away from home and in big matches at times but Brentford and Arsenal showed it does not make us any better defensively and hurts us offensively. Ramsdale and the Brentford keeper basically had no saves to make. We need to be more direct in our forward passing and have more attackers on the pitch.

We will never know now @Dean but I believe this recent run, the real exit and a likely cup final loss would have seen Roman sack TT.

The new owner may be more forgiving or less so, we shall see. Without the FA Cup this season is a few steps back and a failure.

This is not a normal season of course.

We have played the Super Cup and World Club, 1/4s of the CL, final of the League Cup and now final of the FA Cup.

Many teams have been crushed in the past with competing in so many competitions as injuries and fixture congestion mounts up in normal circumstances.

Then we also have the COV-ID situation and the Ukraine crisis particularly affecting our club.

So it would be unfair to sack him this season even if we fail to win the Cup.

Of course he still needs to get results yet talk of sacking does not seem right if you look at the bigger context. 

 

 

38 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

We will never know now @Dean but I believe this recent run, the real exit and a likely cup final loss would have seen Roman sack TT.

The new owner may be more forgiving or less so, we shall see. Without the FA Cup this season is a few steps back and a failure.

Don’t be daft, we won 3 trophies under Tuchel and he’s been here pretty much a year. He also got 2x runner ups, and we are playing another cup final.

6 Cup finals in a year and 4 months, and you think Roman would sack him if he was here!

Reece James at RCB got to do with his fitness right now.

Tuchel said it in the presser that he's not capable of playing wingback right now because his body breaks down. We've all seen this happen too. I assume Tuchel have made a decision on the back of advice from the medical staff and that his hand is forced in this regard.

 

12 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Reece James at RCB got to do with his fitness right now.

Tuchel said it in the presser that he's not capable of playing wingback right now because his body breaks down. We've all seen this happen too. I assume Tuchel have made a decision on the back of advice from the medical staff and that his hand is forced in this regard.

 

Good. Was worried it may be a permanent thing. 

He's a rock defensively but offers so much in the final third. 

25 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Reece James at RCB got to do with his fitness right now.

Tuchel said it in the presser that he's not capable of playing wingback right now because his body breaks down. We've all seen this happen too. I assume Tuchel have made a decision on the back of advice from the medical staff and that his hand is forced in this regard.

 

Just shows the difference between us and the dippers right now. If TAA wasn't up to playing his usual wing back role, he wouldn't play at all. It was pointless playing James where we did as he had a poor game and was totally ineffective. 

 

55 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Don’t be daft, we won 3 trophies under Tuchel and he’s been here pretty much a year. He also got 2x runner ups, and we are playing another cup final.

6 Cup finals in a year and 4 months, and you think Roman would sack him if he was here!

Yes, I believe Roman would have IF we lose the FA Cup final. 

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

We will never know now @Dean but I believe this recent run, the real exit and a likely cup final loss would have seen Roman sack TT.

The new owner may be more forgiving or less so, we shall see. Without the FA Cup this season is a few steps back and a failure.

Its been 12 years since a manager was sacked by Roman whilst maintaining champions league football. I wouldve have thought a manager as low maintenance and popular as Tuchel would be anywhere near the chop.

15 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Yes, I believe Roman would have IF we lose the FA Cup final. 

Can't see it Axman.

We're all aware of Roman's track record but in the past, as mad as some of the decisions seemed at the time, there were always options for replacement and we saw ourselves as top dogs and any failure was not acceptable. Now, we aren't top dogs and City have more financial clout and both they and the dippers have fantastic squads and great coaches. TT has done well to compete and win trophies in his short time here and anyone expecting us to finish top of the pile with our current squad is living in cloud cuckoo land.

TT has made errors, as do all coaches (including Klopp and Pep), but he is the best option to get us to compete to win more trophies and I am confident that is what he will do. Can't think of another coach who even comes remotely close and if Roman was still in charge I'd like to think he would reward TT with an extended contract.

Edited April 21, 20224 yr by Nibs

DiMatteo - Out of his depth and shouldn't of been given a rebuild job with no CV to back it up. 

Mourinho - Created a toxic atmosphere and would of had us finish mid table. 

Conte - Threw toys out the pram at criticised his employers. 

Sarri - Mutual consent. Wanted to leave. 

Lampard - Would of had us finish mid table and football wasn't getting better. 

 

Tuchel is genuinely the only manager in the past decade I can see being a long term option for us. Even under Roman. 

48 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Can't see it Axman.

We're all aware of Roman's track record but in the past, as mad as some of the decisions seemed at the time, there were always options for replacement and we saw ourselves as top dogs and any failure was not acceptable. Now, we aren't top dogs and City have more financial clout and both they and the dippers have fantastic squads and great coaches. TT has done well to compete and win trophies in his short time here and anyone expecting us to finish top of the pile with our current squad is living in cloud cuckoo land.

TT has made errors, as do all coaches (including Klopp and Pep), but he is the best option to get us to compete to win more trophies and I am confident that is what he will do. Can't think of another coach who even comes remotely close and if Roman was still in charge I'd like to think he would reward TT with an extended contract.

Well puts Nibs. Is just a feeling that the players might be starting to throw their toys out of the pram and Roman has always shown the manager is more expendable.

We will see if that is the case for the rest of the season, whether the players are playing for the manager still or not.

For the record I am not advocating sacking him even though I feel a season ending with an FA Cup loss would be a failure. He is entitled to a pass based on the difficulties of the season.

however I do need to see a plan B from him, and a way of making the Bridge a fortress again.

Edited April 21, 20224 yr by axman2526

Have I missed something? Why wouldn’t the players play for manager?

Axman we’re tired. We just came off a week of gruelling fight back against Real Madrid and a really important match against Palace. Last night was a step too far, especially with Rudiger injured and so many players needing a rest.

I’m not making excuses for pathetic team performance but the Arsenal game couldn’t have come at a worse time really, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

1 hour ago, dansubrosa said:

Have I missed something? Why wouldn’t the players play for manager?

Axman we’re tired. We just came off a week of gruelling fight back against Real Madrid and a really important match against Palace. Last night was a step too far, especially with Rudiger injured and so many players needing a rest.

I’m not making excuses for pathetic team performance but the Arsenal game couldn’t have come at a worse time really, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

You may have a point, let's see how the response is for the remaining league games and IF we can deliver the FA Cup.