Sage in or out

[Mark B]

Unless I’m missing the blindingly obvious, which is entirely possible on a Sunday evening, surely Sage has managed to identify the problem and then proceed to make it worse?

In his interview, he acknowledges that when the full-backs played deeper, we had more space and created opportunities. He then talks about the opposition pinging balls into the space behind us. So having identified that, why on earth would you push your wing-backs even higher and create precisely the space you’ve just admitted is causing problems?

Now, I appreciate I lack Mr Sage’s tactical genius, but surely that’s the entire bloody issue? It’s like looking at a wall, deciding the paint might still be wet, and then sticking your entire hand in it just to confirm your suspicions.

And as for highlighting the two quick turnovers against Beşiktaş that led to attacking opportunities, that’s all very well, but Beşiktaş weren’t particularly good. This is the Premier League. If you’re going to press that aggressively while leaving acres of space behind, a half-decent side will pick you apart. A genuinely good side will absolutely trounce you.

The most worrying thing isn’t even that we’re making these mistakes. It’s that Sage appears perfectly capable of identifying them in his interviews, yet seemingly incapable of doing anything about them on the pitch.

Other teams have figured us out. The question is, why hasn’t our own manager?

That is my issue with Sage right now. He knows he doesn't have the players to fully implement the system that her prefers but instead of modifying it to fit what he does have he continues to try and force what he prefers.

The hubris is becoming the issue for me. If you know your defense sucks then got to something like a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 until Henderson is back and the back three actually figure out how to work together.

 

[mtp1958]

I am in total agreement.

If Kieran McKenna wants the job, don’t dilly dally get him in ASAP - to ensure he has plenty of time to turn things around.

What like Sage has

 

[Willo]

I was sitting on the fence after the Brighton game but think he has to go. Although i think Dyche can do a job i just feel like the playing style will suffer and in 2 years' time we will be still struggling to stay up and not playing with any style making it harder to recruit players. I think Mckenna would be my choice.

Gained promotion for Ipswich from League One and the Championship (Twice) but they were relegated from the PL when he was at the helm.
He has taken a break from football management and is now a technical observer for UEFA.

 

[Lanzo-Ad]

Its all about the System, if you play with the 3-4-2-1 you basically have 3 defenders not 5, the WBs are not defenders, so you need at least 9 players to cover a system that doesn't work, if you play with a back 4, you have 4 defenders, a centre back with pace can be a FB because defending is his only priority and you only need 6/7 players, Canvot, Richards, Disasi and Mitchell as a unit is far better than any 3 CDs playing as a unit, which then gives you 3 for CM, it really is that simple, Arsenal, Man city, Bayern Munich, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid etc, all play a back 4 for a reason.

 

[Talvlad]

Gained promotion for Ipswich from League One and the Championship (Twice) but they were relegated from the PL when he was at the helm.
He has taken a break from football management and is now a technical observer for UEFA.

Thank you Willo for the insightful update. I'd never heard of this role and have just looked it up. The website says:
'The UEFA Technical Observer Group will once again monitor UEFA's club competitions this season, with stats and video assistance enabling them to deliver detailed reports on the latest developments in coaching which are shared among the footballing community to give a dynamic account of the state of the game'

I always wondered what managers do when they're not in post. Turns out they are all here watching the football working as Technical observers.

Is there any way we can join this UEFA gravy train?

Who are this season's UEFA Technical Observers? | UEFA Champions League

From David Adams to Zlatko Zahovič via Thomas Frank, Arne Slot and Sir Gareth Southgate: Meet the 2026/27 UEFA Technical Observer Group.

www.uefa.com

 

[Dadofgremlins]

The board are to blame for all of this, they are the constant overseers of who they want to run each department of the club/organisation so they are to blame.
They have made the wrong decisions obviously having used recommendations of others at certain points which in turn is still their own fault(s).
Without investment to bring the team level to what they were before selling our best players then you can't blame the new manager after such a short time.

I feel for sage, he is completely the fall guy and I'm on his side.
I don't feel he fits the club and what we need right now with what he has to play with.
If he were to pack his things and quit then I'd completely be in his corner.

I feel we sold to many too soon without real planning and again it's the hands of the board.

You simply can't blame sage. His system got him the success in France and ultimately the move to palace.
The board decided to do this and should have done their due diligence.

 

[JHB]

The board are to blame for all of this, they are the constant overseers of who they want to run each department of the club/organisation so they are to blame.
They have made the wrong decisions obviously having used recommendations of others at certain points which in turn is still their own fault(s).
Without investment to bring the team level to what they were before selling our best players then you can't blame the new manager after such a short time.

I feel for sage, he is completely the fall guy and I'm on his side.
I don't feel he fits the club and what we need right now with what he has to play with.
If he were to pack his things and quit then I'd completely be in his corner.

I feel we sold to many too soon without real planning and again it's the hands of the board.

You simply can't blame sage. His system got him the success in France and ultimately the move to palace.
The board decided to do this and should have done their due diligence.

I agree with you he has never looked like a good fit for the situation we were in and the players we have.

However, when did it become impossible for managers to adapt to circumstances? What’s all this “he has one system so can’t change”? A good manager should be capable of changing to suit what the circumstances need. It is quite literally their job to get results and put in place set ups to achieve this. The ‘system manager’ is one thing that really irks me in modern football. To me a manager who won’t change is either arrogant, incompetent or both

 

[Teddy Eagle]

I agree with you he has never looked like a good fit for the situation we were in and the players we have.

However, when did it become impossible for managers to adapt to circumstances? What’s all this “he has one system so can’t change”? A good manager should be capable of changing to suit what the circumstances need. It is quite literally their job to get results and put in place set ups to achieve this. The ‘system manager’ is one thing that really irks me in modern football. To me a manager who won’t change is either arrogant, incompetent or both

It does make you wonder what is meant by "tactics". Unless a massive club who can just flatten the opposition is involved a manager needs to work out how to get points from different teams and present them with some unexpected problems. Nobody needs to fear playing us because they know what we're trying to do, how we're trying to do it and who will be involved. It worked, when it worked, for Glasner because he had some better players available and Eze's X Factor unpredictability (and had Kamada played as he has recently would probably have been more successful).
I don't like to criticise the manager but if he can't adapt he'll be gone.

 

[NEILLO]

The board are to blame for all of this, they are the constant overseers of who they want to run each department of the club/organisation so they are to blame.
They have made the wrong decisions obviously having used recommendations of others at certain points which in turn is still their own fault(s).
Without investment to bring the team level to what they were before selling our best players then you can't blame the new manager after such a short time.

I feel for sage, he is completely the fall guy and I'm on his side.
I don't feel he fits the club and what we need right now with what he has to play with.
If he were to pack his things and quit then I'd completely be in his corner.

I feel we sold to many too soon without real planning and again it's the hands of the board.

You simply can't blame sage. His system got him the success in France and ultimately the move to palace.
The board decided to do this and should have done their due diligence.

I can assure you they did.

They knew exactly what they were getting.

Which makes it all the more galling that we are in the mess we are at the moment.

 

[Palace Old Geezer]

Despite our current situation, I'm still finding it difficult to put all the blame on Pierre. Sure, he has struggled to put together a consistent run, but he was severely handicapped by our transfer activity among other things well documented on here.

If he does go I pity the poor bloke given the job of motivating our team of second raters. A great deal of the responsibility for what's going on rests with them.

 

[johnny the eagle]

We are in Europe, and if the owners of our club can't prepare for that, with players, etc. I posted on here about 2 weeks ago that Sage wasn't the right man for the job; he ain`t. They need to take a long, hard look at what direction they really want this club to go. If they want to tread water every year, then fine; they are doing a great job.

 

[Willo]

Despite our current situation, I'm still finding it difficult to put all the blame on Pierre. Sure, he has struggled to put together a consistent run, but he was severely handicapped by our transfer activity among other things well documented on here.

If he does go I pity the poor bloke given the job of motivating our team of second raters. A great deal of the responsibility for what's going on rests with them.

If I am not mistaken, I believe you are opinion that the 'Lightning rod' might depart and if this is the case it will still remain stormy.

 

[Palace Old Geezer]

If I am not mistaken, I believe you are opinion that the 'Lightning rod' might depart and if this is the case it will still remain stormy.

You're right. Stormy is indeed the forecast. Perhaps we should give it a name.

 

[Willo]

You're right. Stormy is indeed the forecast. Perhaps we should give it a name.

It was 'Storm Willo' yesterday as I stormed out of the ground in a frightful bate.

 

[DANGERCLOSE]

Dyche is a safe pair of hands, i know some fans don't like his style of football but its a results game and he builds from the back. We need to go back to basics when defending.

 

[doombear]

I agree with you he has never looked like a good fit for the situation we were in and the players we have.

However, when did it become impossible for managers to adapt to circumstances? What’s all this “he has one system so can’t change”? A good manager should be capable of changing to suit what the circumstances need. It is quite literally their job to get results and put in place set ups to achieve this. The ‘system manager’ is one thing that really irks me in modern football. To me a manager who won’t change is either arrogant, incompetent or both

...and yet Sage started with 442 when he rescued Lyon from the relegation zone and got them into the Europa League, so he has been known to play a different system but then Glasner was reported as saying he liked either 442 or 433 (I can't remember which).

 

[ASCPFC]

...and yet Sage started with 442 when he rescued Lyon from the relegation zone and got them into the Europa League, so he has been known to play a different system but then Glasner was reported as saying he liked either 442 or 433 (I can't remember which).

Glasner said he preferred 4-4-2 which was an attempt at humour I presume.

 

[park the bus]

It's a team game. We know that the players that are performing poorly aren't bad players. Sage is asking them to do things they are not capable of doing, in a nonsensical system that has been found out. The players must wonder what is going on.
Sage, like Glasner before him, has no alternate tactics to try out. Glasner's side fell away badly in the league and Sage has just continued the poor form. Not helped by a board winging it with a raft of cheapo signings, frees, loans and sick notes.
Poor decision making and tactical chaos has affected our players to the extent that performances are very clearly suffering. Unfortunately it is always the manager who carries the can and Sage has demonstrated that he is not on the same wavelength as the players, or indeed the Premiership.

 

[Eagle-Trucker]

Vitor Pereira rumour is gathering a bit of pace now .

 

[Davepalace707]

We are in Europe, and if the owners of our club can't prepare for that, with players, etc. I posted on here about 2 weeks ago that Sage wasn't the right man for the job; he ain`t. They need to take a long, hard look at what direction they really want this club to go. If they want to tread water every year, then fine; they are doing a great job.

I think treading water would be a good outcome this season. I’d have been happy with a few quiet years, consolidating in the PL, living off our cup successes. But of course this is the Palace rollercoaster and it’s either very very good or very very (insert word of your choice)