- Dec 6, 2006
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yeah, I think a lot of us are very divided about what should happen. I want to see how we get on when we have a full strength team available again & we have good options to impact games (Odo / Moore, Richy, Bentancur in PL). We're making far too many mistakes to write it off as poor coaching.I’m torn. The majority of my family and pals are Celtic fans. So I’ve been a fan of Ange for a good few years now.
I’m in the camp that we don’t have that much to lose sticking with him till the summer and seeing if he makes the required tweaks when we get players back from injury. Especially as there is no available candidate to replace him I’m particularly enamoured with. That said, i’m never sure if I’m being led by my bias towards him, or the fact that as a person he’s exactly who I want to represent our club.
I’ve tried to detach that bias by imagining if it was say a Nuno managing us just now, would I be so forgiving of the issues and form? I probably wouldn’t. So I certainly won’t judge anyone who thinks they have seen enough and he’s run his course.
I think it's a combination of:
- Fatigue (look at all the misplaced passes, short passes, underhit passes)
- Fear. Against rangers, every time we had a promising position in middle of the pitch with very few players around us, Biss, Madders, Son, Werner barely made a forward pass, they would simply turn back to pass to defensive players or make a lateral pass to another midfielder. If our midfielders and forwards can't go fwd, how do they expect gray or Dragusin to break the defensive lines?
- Poor technique: If you watch players receiving the ball, they'e often facing the wrong direction or are in a position to receive the pass where they can assess their own options & make a decision quickly. The net affect of it is that all the players treat the ball iike a hot potato and simply look to offload it. This is tough one, some of it may lie in a technical flaw however much of it is linked to the above & simply a function of being 1 step too slow.
There's no easy way out or miracle ahead for us. Players just need a rest & to recover not just their physical side but also the mental side. The rinse repeat nature of 2 games a week is crazy with a squad so ravaged by injuries. Imagine, they play on Sunday, rest on Monday (rest = light training usually), train on Tuesday, travel on Wednesday (and train when they arrive), light training on Thursday & full game, then repeat the cycle to get ready for Sunday game. These players must be fried mentally & emotionally - especially with all the noise around the club at the present.
The upcoming games in december are going to test us: 15, 19, 22, 26, 29 - same cycle of minimal rest / recovery and huge demand for points from all teams. We could just as easily win all games as much as we could lose every single one of them. It's truly a scary time to be a fan as none of us know what to expect!
Even if we fired Ange and replaced him - there will be zero new manage bounce as the manager just won't have players to select from. I think it's time for Ange to go for broke & introduce some fresh blood in the team this wknd.
- Start Spence. to rest Porro
- Start Bergvall, Sarr, Archie as our MF
- Drop Madders - he needs much more consistency as his hunger is debatable (I'd say same for son, but we no other options on the left)
- Dorrington to play alongside Radu
- give lankshear minutes to bed him in & manage Solanke 9efore he gets injured & we're even more fucked then)
Other posters have said it - December is going to a rough month for us. We have to see it through without falling into a relegation scrap and then hope our players coming back in Jan can help us kick on & have a super 2nd part of the season. We have a lot to play for still! COYS!