Are we uncoachable?

[redIndianDevil]

I agree with this. There is no great plan unfolding. We opened season with Mount and were utterly open and could have lost 4-0 to Wolves. Its remained awful so far, just different players (again ETH cant decide if McT and Maguire should be sold or first names on the team sheet..). I am utterly baffled as to what he wants to do. Amrabat so unsuited to Premier league, as is Antony who poses no threat at all. Plus a forward who cant hold the ball means we have no way of relieving pressure.

Don’t get me started on Antony. I used to hate wingers like Valencia, Walcott, Townsend etc - speed merchants with minimal end product. I wish we had speed merchants like that now, Antony is so fecking slow and utterly useless in the PL. That Antony signing shows EtH is fecking clueless when judging a league or a player.

 

[redIndianDevil]

ETH main issue is he's been building a team that is not for EPL. Hojlund, Antony, Amrabat just can't match this league physicality (in Hojlund case I'm just worried defenders on this level will be able to handle his physique, and he has nothing else). On top of that the system that is very, very difficult and RISKY to play if your team is not elite on the ball.

He needs to go back to basics imo and then think how can this be improved step by step. Rotate Casemiro and Mainoo, use Mount as actual b2b midfielder, stop shifting Bruno, make better use of fullbacks (Dalot RW?) if wingers are having a poor game, and at least increase the number of balls Hojlund can actually attack in the box. Would be nice to see some guys coming back from injuries soon.
And for feck sake play Varane if you're not going to build from the back anyway.

What is this magical system that EtH has? I cannot see anything resembling a cohesive system.

Liverpool - high pressure, quick accurate passing, crosses into the box with plenty of body in the box.

City - pretty much same as Liverpool with better passing and less intense pressing.

Everton - park the bus and hit on counters using wingers and long balls.

Us - can’t press for more than 15 mins, slow wingers, nothing from the full backs, not many bodies in the box or accurate crossing. No possession as well.

There is no system. We just played better for sometime last year when Eriksen resembled a footballer who linked up our defence to attack and Casemiro was an actual DM.

Instead of buying a proper CM to replace Eriksen, ten hag ended up buying Mount, a completely wrong fit and now we are paying for it.

 

[Borys]

What is this magical system that EtH has? I cannot see anything resembling a cohesive system.

Liverpool - high pressure, quick accurate passing, crosses into the box with plenty of body in the box.

City - pretty much same as Liverpool with better passing and less intense pressing.

Everton - park the bus and hit on counters using wingers and long balls.

Us - can’t press for more than 15 mins, slow wingers, nothing from the full backs, not many bodies in the box or accurate crossing. No possession as well.

There is no system. We just played better for sometime last year when Eriksen resembled a footballer who linked up our defence to attack and Casemiro was an actual DM.

Instead of buying a proper CM to replace Eriksen, ten hag ended up buying Mount, a completely wrong fit and now we are paying for it.

Oh but there clearly is a system this season. Mount (and now McTominay) have been playing shadow striker role, Bruno has been given more "responsible" job (what I believe is a criminal idea). The rest looks kind of random I agree (especially getting a ball-playing goalkeeper and then giving up on building from the back), but still - there is a system. I'd argue it's a shite system and last season "pragmatic" approach was far more effective, but that doesn't change the fact ETH clearly has an idea he wants to implement.

The Mount transfer I still think will turn out good, he's a right profile imo and will be useful long term but I agree this makes little sense as Eriksen replacement. It's actually quite funny that both the fans and the manager saw Eriksen as the biggest weakness that we can improve, but then Mount isn't actually asked to do his job is he? Strange move, bad idea, but we will need to make it work - probably by playing Mount in b2b role (essentially like Eriksen, but allowed to go forward a bit more).