Yeah, all very fair, and what’s interesting is that the shortlist was basically leaked in January - it was Frank. Silva and Iraola. So it wasn’t as if we were going for someone with deep CL experience. We then qualified which was a bonus, but yeah…surely we aren’t sacking our trophy winning manager for someone that can’t immediately handle the rigours of the elite schedule?
I’ve just read Frank’s post game transcript, and I must say I think the journos are doing him a disservice a bit. Constant questions about whether 5 at the back sent a message to the players that we were going to be too passive, I don’t agree with that. I don’t think Frank wanted it to be that bad in possession. You can be really fluid and attacking playing 3 cbs as we often were under Poch. I think he wanted to see something more like the PSG game. But the issue is, the players are not getting it.
With the pressure on, at the elite level, the theory has to be able to be put into practice. The players aren’t doing it. I don’t know exactly why that is. But they are not pressing in the right moments. They are not passing out through pressure in the right way. There is a total disconnect. It is not about the formation, because you can play attacking or defensive with any set up, and football is a game where it’s all connected. But something is disconnected right now. I think it’s:
A: players not understanding
B: players not buying in
C: Frank not communicating his ideas well enough
And I suspect in reality it’s a combination of A and B.
