- Nov 26, 2004
- 920
- 1
Yes it is sad the Jol era has ended. Yes he did a fine job. Yes he was mugged. But the team is in freefall and it had to end.
Whoever comes in has got a quality squad to work with , much better than the one Jol had when he came in. There is a nucleus of a good team and it is now mostly down to organisation and motivation.
These are the good parts:
We still have in theory 4 strikers as good as any 4 in the Prem if they can be used properly.
We have some outstanding youngsters who can only get better ( Lennon, Bale, Hudd , Kaboul ( am I alone in thinking Kaboul could be SO much better than Zokora in MF ?) That's why I would like Peter Taylor as no 2 - he is best at working with talented kids ) .
Ledley's return is hopefully getting nearer.
We have a number of other solid players who may not be top class but can do a job given organisation - Jenas, Lee , Malbranque, Dawson.
The problems are :
Robbo ( can a new man restore his confidence ? ), Chimbonda and Berbatov who really need a kick up the backside
Bent ( his arrival seems to have made our front line situation complicated )
We are now down to 2 fit central defenders one of who is a whole lot better attacking than defending and the other who looks extra shaky because of that .
The captaincy- take it away from Keane so all our strikers are on a level field. Pre - Ledley has to be Jenas I suppose. Maybe that would bring out the best in him.
AND ZOKORA MUST NEVER PLAY FOR US AGAIN
So we need a motivator, a tactician and a strong guy merged into one. Was Jol that man ? Unfortunately not quite. Certainly I doubt that Clive Allen could pass those tests. We need not to make the same mistake as under Pleat with another caretaker - the new man must be in quickly otherwise it could be 04-05 all over again. But the raw material is there for the right management team. Forget Europe next year. 10th place and a couple of cup runs with the team uniting behind the coach , perhaps a couple of experienced signings in defence and midfield . We can then be in good shape to move on again.
Whoever comes in has got a quality squad to work with , much better than the one Jol had when he came in. There is a nucleus of a good team and it is now mostly down to organisation and motivation.
These are the good parts:
We still have in theory 4 strikers as good as any 4 in the Prem if they can be used properly.
We have some outstanding youngsters who can only get better ( Lennon, Bale, Hudd , Kaboul ( am I alone in thinking Kaboul could be SO much better than Zokora in MF ?) That's why I would like Peter Taylor as no 2 - he is best at working with talented kids ) .
Ledley's return is hopefully getting nearer.
We have a number of other solid players who may not be top class but can do a job given organisation - Jenas, Lee , Malbranque, Dawson.
The problems are :
Robbo ( can a new man restore his confidence ? ), Chimbonda and Berbatov who really need a kick up the backside
Bent ( his arrival seems to have made our front line situation complicated )
We are now down to 2 fit central defenders one of who is a whole lot better attacking than defending and the other who looks extra shaky because of that .
The captaincy- take it away from Keane so all our strikers are on a level field. Pre - Ledley has to be Jenas I suppose. Maybe that would bring out the best in him.
AND ZOKORA MUST NEVER PLAY FOR US AGAIN
So we need a motivator, a tactician and a strong guy merged into one. Was Jol that man ? Unfortunately not quite. Certainly I doubt that Clive Allen could pass those tests. We need not to make the same mistake as under Pleat with another caretaker - the new man must be in quickly otherwise it could be 04-05 all over again. But the raw material is there for the right management team. Forget Europe next year. 10th place and a couple of cup runs with the team uniting behind the coach , perhaps a couple of experienced signings in defence and midfield . We can then be in good shape to move on again.