Lyon away - Europa league

[JHB]

Sage should absolutely be given time and support. For one thing, even if he isn't quite what the board hoped he'd be, changing a manager early just creates instability. For another, he's walked into a period of significant flux where even an experienced premier league manager would need time to organise things. He did well in France, we didn't just appoint him for no reason at all. Plus, compared to his immediate predecessors he has a lot of very average players and not many good ones. Changing the manager won't change that. So yes, of course we should be behind Sage.

However...

I remain concerned at Sage's tactical approach. It's not so much that he wants us to attack more, it's what comes with that. It's the pressing game that I can't see working for us, not with our calibre of players and not given the quality of the league.

The idea that the attack is fine and we'd be ok if he could just fix the defence is, I feel, a simplistic misunderstanding. We commit bodies forward more under Sage, which means they are higher up the pitch when we lose it and there are more gaps behind them. Trying to press the opposition in their half when we lose it is the natural solution to having placed more bodies in attacking positions to begin with. They can't flick a switch and suddenly all be back in position in our half. It's the attacking strategy that creates the defensive frailty, especially the sense of chaos.

And it is chaotic. When they got their second goal last night, Mitchell seemed to have lost the scorer. However, he was the only palace defender inside the width of the goal, and he'd had to come all the way across from where he would normally be just to get close to the guy. The other four defenders, including the three 'central' defenders were outside the width of the goal because they'd all got dragged around chasing other players and trying to fill gaps aggressively rather than dropping off into a structured shape. They aren't great players anyway, so they need to work as a unit. Better defenders than ours would struggle in this system.

Perhaps Sage will make pressing work. I am concerned, however, that he hasn't looked at all the wider circumstances listed above and been more pragmatic. That much is on him.

So yes, it's very early and I'm behind Sage, but I can also see worrying signs in his work.

This is absolutely spot on

 

[Palacesince64]

As the saying goes “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!” Our back three last night consisted of a decent if somewhat slow right sided centre back, a talented young impetuous left sided centre back with attendance to go walkabout, and a sluggish central centre back with a touch like an elephant and no positional sense. We’re missing the organisation of a Guehi and the pace of a Lacroix. If Tomiyasu isn’t fit I suspect Lerma will replace Disasi. We might even have to consider playing Chilwell at centre back. He’s not the tallest but his positional sense, pace, and organisational ability would help considerably.
Our 2 right backs haven’t exactly shone defensively either but Munoz wasn’t the greatest defensively either. Selling Monoz was reasonable but selling Lacroix without signing an experienced replacement first was a mistake which will have to be rectified in January.

 

[KCeee]

I didn't think it was that bad.
Lyon away is a tough game, we didn't get embarrassed, 3-2 is a respectable defeat.

Our defense is pants at the moment, we need to find our best 3 and give them a chance to gel together... my take is that we actually need to invest in a good CB in the next transfer window as the hodge podge crew we've brought in aren't up to it.

Also, if we get beaten on the weekend I don't think it will spell disaster either, Brighton are currently the in-form team and we're going into this game as underdogs. Nobody would fancy Brighton away at the moment.

 

[Spiderman]

It’s time to lay off him though Willo. Your posts are just repeating the same nonsense week after week…’if we lose against so & so there will be spittle & fury’, ‘I have been contacted by lots of people who aren’t sure he is the manager for us’. It’s just inane twaddle and serves no useful purpose week after week.

We need to get behind the players and the manager and give them the time & support to work it through. We can all see where the issues are, let’s focus on getting it right.

It’s the same every season, whoever the manager is

 

[Spiderman]

Wharton captain isnt a issue your making it one , who would you have .

He got sacked by Textor you know that all honest guy who knows better , but he wanted his choice .
He turned Lyon around and got sacked winning games ask there fans . He is better than FDB by a mile so bad comparison really .
But agree with rest you said , im happy to stick with him until Xmas now . And has alot of people said he has only had 5 mins with the squad since joining , which is completely different to last year's team

With Hendo out, the captain should be Richards ( who captains the US) or, this may be controversial JSL. The way he was teeing up the other players and crowd against Forest was absolutely what was needed. He was also the one to put his arm around Khalaili after his mistake

 

[Teddy Eagle]

With Hendo out, the captain should be Richards ( who captains the US) or, this may be controversial JSL. The way he was teeing up the other players and crowd against Forest was absolutely what was needed. He was also the one to put his arm around Khalaili after his mistake

It's good to see players geeing the crowd up - LaCroix used to do it and Mateta has his moments.