02 Mar 2026 08:35:18
A top manager plays to the strengths of his team, Maresca saw the weakness of Sanchez playing out from the back and turned him from an accident waiting to happen with match day fans on his back into a very competent and confident member of the team who was allowed to go a little longer. Is Sanchez the answer long term? probably not but carry on playing that way this season and change things in the summer. What does Liam do? turns Sanchez back to what he was before by asking him to play tippy tappy short passes into areas which are being pressed! it is school boy stuff and further proof of Liam being out of his depth, he has destroyed Sanchez confidence.
Surely, as an incoming manager with little time to work with players mid season you keep the things which are working rather than going back to a style the previous manager had found was not working and had corrected? This bloke so reminds me of AVB and the way he calls out the players in his post match interviews (without actually naming them) will have the dressing room switching off very quickly.
02 Mar 2026 10:52:54
No goals were conceded by tippy tappy football. It was from being weak at corners. This won't change with him in goal.
That's not on the manager. Sanchez just doesn't cope with anxiety when faced with chaos. General shot stopping is ok. But the rest isn't great.
02 Mar 2026 11:51:38
I am reluctant to attribute blame for the Sanchez drop in form, but he is now being asked to do things he is not good at, and just maybe that is a contributing factor in his lack of general confidence.
He was showing improvement, but he is now looking shaky again.
I always take the view that when a player or the team is performing poorly, you support them more. That is certainly the case with our home supporters at the moment. I guess, with some justification.
02 Mar 2026 10:01:19
I completely agree with you about EM and how he improved RS Greenaway.
EM also did well tactically in many of our games against toughest opposition. Yet in the 21 EPL games he was in charge this season he only accumulated 31 points or about 1.5 points on average per game. If continued over the season this would only have got us to 57 points - though I would still have stuck with EM until the end of the season if this had been possible
Yet as Ed001 pointed out he had seemed to lose focus on CFC when bad run began and talk of him wanting to leave to City or Juventus.I would still have liked him to havce seen out the season if that had been possible.
As it is, we change manager mid-season yet again and LR chosen as within BlueCo system and had done reasonably well with Strasbourg and knew some of the CFC players.
In LR's first seven EPL games he has accumulated 14 points or an average of 2 per game. So he is still ahead of EM average at this stage. The problem is that we have a tough run in and we blew those 4 points v Leeds and Burnley.
But hard to know how to distribute blame there between players - Caicedo rash challenge for Leeds first goal, Sanchez/JoshA muddle for second one; with Burnley, Fofana getting stupidly sent off - and LR.
I do think LR could have protected RS better v Arsenal yesterday -with EM borrowed tactics which in fact LR had used in the Caraboa cup game at Emirates to good effect. But then Neto brain freeze second tackle and getting sent off a disease that both managers seem to have had and not dealt with and any manager must do.
LR will surely be given until the end of the season and if he could average 2 points a game from here on we would finish on 68 points and might make 5th place and Champions Leage qualification.
If we don't make that qualification blame has to lie between the two head coaches - I won't call them managers as they no longer are in old sense of the term - the players, and last but not least the owners/SDs.
Weaknesses in squad apparent at start of season. Partly why my prediction was for us to finish between 3rd and 7th (prediction now 4th to 6th but teetering towards 5th to 6th) for not fixing weakness in squads eg left attack - and possibly need for more experiened left back or wing back cover for Cucurella whose injury coincided with those dropped points v Leeds and Burnley and way we were wide open down our left v Arsenal esp. first half; also quality experienced CB to cover for known LC injury; better striker assistance for Jaoa Pedro given Jackson loaned and Delap injured. Guiu brought back from Sunderland loan but seemingly not trusted though given v few minutes.
I still hope LR can be a success. We don't know how much time he will be given, perhaps at least fair chunk of next season when (worryingly injury prone) Emegha arrives from Strasbourg plus perhaps squad perhaps strengthened with one or tow more additions plus will be some outgoings.
If LR is not a success - but would getting us UEFA Cup qualification not Champions League be enough? - the 'manager' merryground continues.
02 Mar 2026 12:06:22
JBS, very well balanced post, mate. I found myself agreeing with the vast majority of its content.
02 Mar 2026 13:43:24
Sounds like you like Rosenior Greenaway.
02 Mar 2026 14:28:09
I think it's a confidence thing, Finchy. Bob has gone back to being a bag of nerves playing out from the back, and that, in my opinion, is affecting his overall game. Maybe Liam will give Jorgi a game against Wrexham and see how he does.
02 Mar 2026 16:03:16
Finchy, I agree with your post re chaos.
Arsenal at set pieces, Leeds, Brentford to a lesser extent, Fulham; I regard all as teams who enjoy chaos, and we have not coped well with any of them.
02 Mar 2026 16:06:45
As far as managers go, I would give them time. I would give Rosenior all of next season, but I wouldn't have sacked Maresca or Poch.