@mr-beloved-slice.bsky.social
Can't create, no ideas beyond the basic when in possession, a chore to watch, players who look disengaged, a midfield that doesn't do any midfielding in possession. This isn't the guy to stick with. Failure to recognise this is just digging the hole deeper.
December 15, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Can't create, no ideas beyond the basic when in possession, a chore to watch, players who look disengaged, a midfield that doesn't do any midfielding in possession. This isn't the guy to stick with. Failure to recognise this is just digging the hole deeper.
I wish I had faith in the ability of the people who'll select the next manager to distinguish between their arses and their elbows... And that's part of the problem. We need DoF who know how to build a squad that suits the club's chosen ethos. Instead we zigzag absurdly...
December 15, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I wish I had faith in the ability of the people who'll select the next manager to distinguish between their arses and their elbows... And that's part of the problem. We need DoF who know how to build a squad that suits the club's chosen ethos. Instead we zigzag absurdly...
Football London, I think, were saying he was unhappy with Bergvall clapping the fans post match given the booing of Vicario during.
November 30, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Football London, I think, were saying he was unhappy with Bergvall clapping the fans post match given the booing of Vicario during.
Is Porro even a 'plus' passer? He can manage a respectable number of high-risk, high-reward passes (whipped-in cross, and occasional long diagonal), but his bread-and-butter passing looks no more than adequate to me.
November 29, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Is Porro even a 'plus' passer? He can manage a respectable number of high-risk, high-reward passes (whipped-in cross, and occasional long diagonal), but his bread-and-butter passing looks no more than adequate to me.
I'm sceptical that this phase of Frank's tenure is 'laying the foundation' for a more expansive approach. Think this is how he wants to play. Sure, it can get better with fewer injuries and a deeper squad, but how much better?
November 8, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I'm sceptical that this phase of Frank's tenure is 'laying the foundation' for a more expansive approach. Think this is how he wants to play. Sure, it can get better with fewer injuries and a deeper squad, but how much better?
There's a low ceiling on how we're playing now, IMO. Results overall this season have exceeded performances. When these two things converge, the conversation will change. The lack of ambition discourages me.
November 8, 2025 at 10:10 PM
There's a low ceiling on how we're playing now, IMO. Results overall this season have exceeded performances. When these two things converge, the conversation will change. The lack of ambition discourages me.
YES, so much this. Defensive gains were low-hanging fruit with more prudent pressing and not recklessly overcommitting numbers forward. A positionally disciplined six, who could pass, in a better structure would suffice.
November 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
YES, so much this. Defensive gains were low-hanging fruit with more prudent pressing and not recklessly overcommitting numbers forward. A positionally disciplined six, who could pass, in a better structure would suffice.
I skip VFTL if he's on. Seldom an original or interesting thought that bloke.
November 8, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I skip VFTL if he's on. Seldom an original or interesting thought that bloke.
Recruit players who can pass and employ a manager with demonstrated ability in coaching possession football and we might get somewhere. That would req a admin with an actual strategy tho. Until then were on a slow train to nowhere.
November 1, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Recruit players who can pass and employ a manager with demonstrated ability in coaching possession football and we might get somewhere. That would req a admin with an actual strategy tho. Until then were on a slow train to nowhere.
Injuries never help. But honestly, ask yourself what the best version of this looks like. More than likely we'll persist with this guy and his poverty football because we're conscious of our itchy-trigger-finger rep.
November 1, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Injuries never help. But honestly, ask yourself what the best version of this looks like. More than likely we'll persist with this guy and his poverty football because we're conscious of our itchy-trigger-finger rep.
From open play we go over the midfield or down the flanks, which means low-percentage long balls or blitzing crosses across the goalmouth. Combination play through the middle, guile, creativity? Nup.
November 1, 2025 at 9:29 PM
From open play we go over the midfield or down the flanks, which means low-percentage long balls or blitzing crosses across the goalmouth. Combination play through the middle, guile, creativity? Nup.
In possession our midfield doesn't do any midfielding. Of course , even if they were capable and willing to do so, they'd need to strap binoculars on to spot the blokes they could pass to. We're not set up to play a passing game.
November 1, 2025 at 9:27 PM
In possession our midfield doesn't do any midfielding. Of course , even if they were capable and willing to do so, they'd need to strap binoculars on to spot the blokes they could pass to. We're not set up to play a passing game.
Palhinha and Betancur et al are limited on the ball, but honestly our off-the-ball positioning doesn't give them much to pass to.
November 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Palhinha and Betancur et al are limited on the ball, but honestly our off-the-ball positioning doesn't give them much to pass to.
Reckon both things are true. Frank can't coach possession football AND our squad is lacklustre. Put them together and each makes the other look even worse, esp once injuries hit.
November 1, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reckon both things are true. Frank can't coach possession football AND our squad is lacklustre. Put them together and each makes the other look even worse, esp once injuries hit.
Recruit and play passers and reconfigure the formation in possession to give the fella on the ball someone to pass to who you don't need xray vision and a telescope to spot.
October 25, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Recruit and play passers and reconfigure the formation in possession to give the fella on the ball someone to pass to who you don't need xray vision and a telescope to spot.
And that comes back to game plan. Not to say we aren't sh*t at passing: we definitely are. But we seem to be exascerbating these deficits. Until we place more emphasis on passing, in selection and recruitment, we will fall short, IMO. This is a long-standing blindspot.
October 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
And that comes back to game plan. Not to say we aren't sh*t at passing: we definitely are. But we seem to be exascerbating these deficits. Until we place more emphasis on passing, in selection and recruitment, we will fall short, IMO. This is a long-standing blindspot.
I find it hard to track this when watching on TV (you see what the director allows you to see and I tend to follow the ball anyway), but it seems to me there often aren't viable targets to pass to in the middle.
October 25, 2025 at 12:36 AM
I find it hard to track this when watching on TV (you see what the director allows you to see and I tend to follow the ball anyway), but it seems to me there often aren't viable targets to pass to in the middle.
We've needed more passers since Eriksen's exit, IMO. Beyond frustrating that this is never addressed.
October 19, 2025 at 9:01 PM
We've needed more passers since Eriksen's exit, IMO. Beyond frustrating that this is never addressed.
Results are outstripping performances. There will be a reversion to the mean. There has to be a very low ceiling on any project where midfield passing is as limited as ours. I expect we will hit that ceiling like a spatula-flung turd forthwith.
October 5, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Results are outstripping performances. There will be a reversion to the mean. There has to be a very low ceiling on any project where midfield passing is as limited as ours. I expect we will hit that ceiling like a spatula-flung turd forthwith.
Just don't agree that they were good. The central midfielders don't pass to each other. They don't progress the ball through the centre of the pitch. They don't create openings. In possession, they're ineffectual.
October 5, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Just don't agree that they were good. The central midfielders don't pass to each other. They don't progress the ball through the centre of the pitch. They don't create openings. In possession, they're ineffectual.
I just despair. How can these football professionals not see what any chump with functioning eyeballs can see? The goddamn midfield doesn't do any midfielding!
October 5, 2025 at 1:59 AM
I just despair. How can these football professionals not see what any chump with functioning eyeballs can see? The goddamn midfield doesn't do any midfielding!
It might help if we Frank set up his midfield to do a bit of f@cking, you know, midfielding.
September 30, 2025 at 10:42 PM
It might help if we Frank set up his midfield to do a bit of f@cking, you know, midfielding.
Odobert 4? That baffles me. That's the best our left has looked this season. His combination play is excellent.
September 21, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Odobert 4? That baffles me. That's the best our left has looked this season. His combination play is excellent.
I have forbidden myself from looking at highlights for any of the players we've been linked to, and with the exception of Akliouche, I've stuck to it. And then in a moment of madness I watched Simons' highlights and...holy moly.
August 29, 2025 at 4:21 AM
I have forbidden myself from looking at highlights for any of the players we've been linked to, and with the exception of Akliouche, I've stuck to it. And then in a moment of madness I watched Simons' highlights and...holy moly.
Levy's stated ambition is to win the PL and CL. Wonder how we plan to do it without passers? As a club, we seem capable of joined-up thinking when it comes to infrastructure and building the club off field, but none of this ever transfers to football. Discouraging.
August 9, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Levy's stated ambition is to win the PL and CL. Wonder how we plan to do it without passers? As a club, we seem capable of joined-up thinking when it comes to infrastructure and building the club off field, but none of this ever transfers to football. Discouraging.