You are the Manager

[Jackmanandboy]

Many years ago, SHOOT magazine used to have a feature called 'You are the Ref' in which you were asked to make a decision based on a football scenario. Here is the Manager version.....

Playing 532 your team starts to play badly and after a while records a number of defeats. You change formation to 433, things instantly pick up and your team starts to pass well, score goals and win a couple of games. Your next game is against a strugging side. In selecting your team do you?


A) Stick with what has been working recently (433)
B) Go back to what was causing difficulties (532)
C) Try something new 424
D) Resign

The answer can be found by asking anyone aged 3 or over.

 

[brother ben]

I'd go with A, just like Cooper did today

 

[A4Jack]

I'd go with A, just like Cooper did today

Where was Roberts? Attacking midfield?

 

[monmouth]

It's attitude and combinations, not formation. Wrong attitude and wrong combinations today. Start the same team and when Ayew is injured go Whittaker or Cullen. Send them out and tell them to attack from the first whistle, keep it on the floor, move into space and pass backwards as a last resort. If it goes wrong then, it goes wrong for the right reasons.

I'm betting we'd have won by three clear goals.

It is so frustrating.

 

[brother ben]

I'd go with A, just like Cooper did today

Where was Roberts? Attacking midfield?

I thought he was wide right, could be wrong though not long had me jab....

 

[monmouth]

Oh, and those that say the team wasn't doing what he wanted or playing as he asked - it's an even bigger criticism. If my team wasn't doing what I wanted then three of them would have been off by half time and they wouldn't fancy coming into the changing room.

 

[A4Jack]

Where was Roberts? Attacking midfield?

I thought he was wide right, could be wrong though not long had me jab....

Maybe I'm not sure. Just seemed a strange set up. Manning more a wing back and a left back, Roberts roaming, Naughton right back. Have no idea and the players looked equally puzzled

 

[mrploppy]

Nice try but what Cooper did today was play 433 just like in the previous 2 games. The back 4 was Manning, Guehi, Bennet and Naughton. Anyone who thought Roberts was playing in a back 5 wasn't paying attention. After Ayew's injury, bringing on Routledge was a mistake. He can't do it 3 times in 8 days. He was pretty awful, as were plenty of others - Lowe, Hourihane, Manning in particular. But our main problem today was we kept giving the ball away.

 

[Hammy]

He seemed to be playing CR as an attacker in a 433 formation and although he had 2 good chances in the first half I reckon Cullen would have put at least one of them away ! Lowe was also sloppy with a couple of attempts until he smashed in the penalty.

It feels like dropping 2 points today was our last chance at auto-promotion ... but you never know I suppose ... does Cooper have a lucky streak of games to come culminating in a win at Watford and getting us promoted by 1 point

 

[monmouth]

He seemed to be playing CR as an attacker in a 433 formation and although he had 2 good chances in the first half I reckon Cullen would have put at least one of them away ! Lowe was also sloppy with a couple of attempts until he smashed in the penalty.

It feels like dropping 2 points today was our last chance at auto-promotion ... but you never know I suppose ... does Cooper have a lucky streak of games to come culminating in a win at Watford and getting us promoted by 1 point

Well he somehow spawned his way into the playoffs last season (thanks Stoke) when all was lost. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than talented. Maybe other teams will help us out again, and we'll miracle our way to promotion. Fingers crossed.

Please God no new contract though. I can't take another few seasons of bleeding eyes.

 

[Badlands]

I'd go with A, just like Cooper did today

Where was Roberts? Attacking midfield?

Who knows, he didn’t seem to.
The back line appeared to be 2 1/2 full backs one CB
The whole set up was unbalanced. If Routledge was feeling too leggy for a start replace him with Cullen or Whittaker not a full back who has played 10 decent minutes in 3 games.

 

[J_B]

Nice try but what Cooper did today was play 433 just like in the previous 2 games. The back 4 was Manning, Guehi, Bennet and Naughton. Anyone who thought Roberts was playing in a back 5 wasn't paying attention. After Ayew's injury, bringing on Routledge was a mistake. He can't do it 3 times in 8 days. He was pretty awful, as were plenty of others - Lowe, Hourihane, Manning in particular. But our main problem today was we kept giving the ball away.

Quite right.

If 36 year old Routledge wasn’t able to start today for the third time in a week (which is reasonable), why was he able to come on at 7 minutes and throw the original theory straight out of the window?

We missed Ayew’s hold up play and willingness to come deep and offer an outlet. However poorly he plays (and he has played poorly at times) he is a good player to play with because he offers you an outlet.

Playing Roberts further forward didn’t work. He missed two presentable chances in the first half and didn’t understand what he was being asked to do positionally. That may be more Cooper’s fault than his.

 

[JackSomething]

He seemed to be playing CR as an attacker in a 433 formation and although he had 2 good chances in the first half I reckon Cullen would have put at least one of them away ! Lowe was also sloppy with a couple of attempts until he smashed in the penalty.

It feels like dropping 2 points today was our last chance at auto-promotion ... but you never know I suppose ... does Cooper have a lucky streak of games to come culminating in a win at Watford and getting us promoted by 1 point

Well he somehow spawned his way into the playoffs last season (thanks Stoke) when all was lost. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than talented. Maybe other teams will help us out again, and we'll miracle our way to promotion. Fingers crossed.

Please God no new contract though. I can't take another few seasons of bleeding eyes.

We somehow miracle our way to promotion and it convinces the FA that Cooper is the manager they need for the U-21's. Then we get promotion, some compo and a new manager. Win-win-win.

 

[J_B]

Well he somehow spawned his way into the playoffs last season (thanks Stoke) when all was lost. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than talented. Maybe other teams will help us out again, and we'll miracle our way to promotion. Fingers crossed.

Please God no new contract though. I can't take another few seasons of bleeding eyes.

We somehow miracle our way to promotion and it convinces the FA that Cooper is the manager they need for the U-21's. Then we get promotion, some compo and a new manager. Win-win-win.

Cooper isn’t interested in the U21 job. He doesn’t appear anywhere in the bookies lists.