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Thread | All this talk of "Prem experience"
at 09:58 13 Jul 2024
Surely it's Prem quality which is the more important factor?
Prem football is not a different game to that in the EFL. A higher standard, yes, but the same sport. It's not like switching codes in rugby or between red and white ball in cricket.
The approach is the same. Analyse the opposition, decide how our team can take advantage of any weaknesses and guard against their strengths. Set out how we intend to play, with contingencies. Train and drill the squad accordingly. Go out and perform. McKenna knows all that, he's been involved in doing it on a practical level many times at ManU. Plus he's not one to go into things blindly, without intense study and research.
I doubt the players themselves are blase about what they will be facing (especially starting off against Liverpool and ManC). Even if they were, McKenna will have disabused them of it. I don't quite get what one or two individuals having played there before will add, if the skill is there already and so long as our on-field leaders can rally in the face of setbacks. Which they seem very good at - how many points did we gain from losing positions last season?
I would be greatly surprised if anyone is taking this lightly.
It does seem to me that the hype surrounding the Prem has artificially elevated it into something apart from all other football. Whereas, in reality, quite a number of teams and players have moved back and forth between there and the EFL over the years. To illustrate the point: Last season we finished just one point behind the 2016 Prem Champions. At the top end, it is a very high standard, but a lot of it not so much.
For me, the most important place to have the Prem experience is in the driving seat - which is Kieran McKenna. It helps that Ashton has some as well, so he can make realistic decisions to support the manager. |
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Thread | I may be in a fairly small minority here
at 08:09 26 Jun 2024
but I didnt think the England game was all that bad, for a 0 - 0 draw*. There was much more energy than against the Danes, it was fairly end-to-end stuff at times, there were decent attempts on goal.
Granted, it's nothing like watching the current incarnation of Ipswich Town play. But we've been spoilt by some rather excellent football over the last couple of years.
Also, once again England have been favoured by the draw, which should see them well into the competition before facing anyone too ferocious.
* At the end of the group stage of a tournament, where we really only had to not lose. |
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Thread | England players not fit enough to press
at 09:43 22 Jun 2024
A shocking indictment, or just an excuse?
I suspect the latter. After all, their opponents are playing in the same divisions and even teams as Southgate's squad. How come their fitness is adequate?
If it comes down to injury, why take a player to a major tounament who is so crocked he can't run? However talented and experienced, that's going to render him pretty useless. Or, if they're considered absolutely indispensible and a situation needs managing, the bench needs to be used better. Maybe McKenna-style starters and finishers. |
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Thread | Simple way to solve the current Prem crisis.
at 08:55 5 Jun 2024
Bar English clubs from being owned by nation state investment entities. Private individuals/consortia only.
Still a vast amount of wealth for the sport to spend, but not the almost unlimited resources of a Gulf oil country - combined with the anti-democratic inclinations of their rulers. |
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Thread | If McKenna leaves, the new manager (transfers)
at 09:57 26 May 2024
People are talking as if this courting of our manager has brought all planning and transfer activity to a shuddering halt. But why would this be the case?
"The new man will have his own targets." He may do. But at so many clubs now (including Brighton) the manager has little influence over transfer activity anyway. They are given a squad to train and work with. Candidates will have come across the situation before. After all, it's no different to arriving part-way through a season and inheriting someone else's squad. Not to mention the fact that many more transfers happen towards the end of the window than at the beginning.
"What if he plays a different style?" Well, don't hire him, then. You wouldn't expect a club to sign players who didn't fit into their system. Why would you do it with a manager? Find someone who plays his teams in the style we already use and can run with our current setup.
"McKenna will have lost focus." He doesn't strike me as that kind of bloke. More the slightly obsessive kind who can't resist doing a bit more research on players or teams at any time and any place. Plus he's still under contract here and (so far as has been reported) hasn't actually had any offers from elsewhere yet. It might be distracting Ashton a bit, but he has teams of people to do the ongoing work anyway. |
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Thread | Cazoo gone bust
at 20:57 21 May 2024
All that advertising and sponsorship come to nothing. All the cars on there were blinking expensive for second hand, mind. |
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Thread | Well, that Brighton press conference
at 10:30 21 May 2024
didn't say very much. Barber batted away the mention of McKenna pretty quickly, said lots of names were being talked about.
Edit: Mostly talking about De Zerbi. And even then didn't say a lot other than praise. [Post edited 21 May 10:31]
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Thread | A bit of perspective
at 10:26 20 May 2024
I keep seeing, even on here, people talking about the Prem as if every team apart from us is going to be at or near Manchester City's quality. That is manifestly not true.
There is about a quarter of the division which is genuinely very strong. But even they can slip up to lesser teams away from home - ManC lost at Wolves, Arsenal at Fulham and Liverpool at Everton in the last season.
There is also about a quarter of the teams who are of no more than Championship standard. They swap between the two divisions on a fairly regular basis, after all. Not even necessarily top Champ standard, either. Over the ten seasons preceding that just finished, only once have all three finished in the top six post relegation. One team did in every case, another averaged 8th position, the third 13th-14th.
Then you have the middle group, who are somewhat better than Champ, but not outstanding. Quite capable of losing to Champ teams in cup games, as Wolves did to both us and Coventry during the season.
To survive, we need about 40 points. 10 wins and 10 draws will do it. If we can beat the bottom six and draw with about half the rest, we're there, irrespective of what the strongest group do to us. Grabbing a few more wins here and there could push us to mid-table or beyond. Not losing too often will be the key, something we've been very good at the last two and a half years. Don't worry about the top six (some of whom will be in transition after changing managers), they are almost irrelevant to our prospects.
Basically, we have to treat this like our season in the Championship. Trust ourselves, get a bit of confidence and push on from that. There is little pressure, almost no expectation. All we can do is excel. |
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Thread | More potentially destabilising world news
at 17:21 19 May 2024
The Iranian President's helicopter crashed (or crash-landed) in a remote mountainous area of the country's north west this afternoon. Unclear yet on whether lives have been lost.
Edit: Not looking good from latest reports. [Post edited 19 May 17:36]
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Thread | This is what you get
at 10:29 19 May 2024
from decades of governments who refuse to spend money on necessary things because it won't allow them to make tax cut bribes at election time and keep wealthy/corporate donors on-side.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/18/meet-becky-aged-14
Mental heath provision - especially residential - has been pretty much dismantled since the advent of "Care" in the Community during the 1980s. As you will know if you've ever had to plead for suicidal friends to be taken into hospital, with the response "You look after them". |
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