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Risky wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2026 7:30 am
Because fundamentally, Arsenal and City play CBs who are comfortable at full back in that position and we don't. Calafiori, Gvardiol etc are still excellent full backs whereas we play JOB who's a fish out of water there pretty much.
We are not Arsenal or City.
Yeah, so what I'm saying is that playing Myko and JOB in the backline both being classed as CBs *in itself* isn't the issue, it is if we do nothing to accommodate the strengths and weaknesses of what that entails in the way we play.
I'm certainly not saying let's play exactly like City or Arsenal without the squad capable of doing what they do.
The notional formation, that only really defines what we look like from kick off (and even then it doesn't) is kind of irrelevant. I think JB JT and JOB at the back in certain phases, Myko wide, would work fine with the appropriate players in front of them. Change the holes rather than the square pegs.
I'm not saying it's solved either, except that the art/science of football tactics isn't now 'complete' since Guardiola arrived, and we can adapt by playing the best players we have in a system that accommodates them in the best way. The archetypal attacking fullback that 'everyone' seems to be craving isn't necessarily the answer.
Would we play better and finish higher with Moyes in charge but some better players or would we play better and finish higher with this squad but a better manager?
For me I think Moyes could get us around 10th-6th at best even if you gave him a new striker and a pair of wingbacks for example. I also think that even with this current squad a good manager could get us in that 8th-5th spot.
Obviously the ideal is that we do both, but I really do think that Moyes' tactics and coaching are holding us back more than the players are.
Nobody at the club is picking a new manager for the future. If they do it will be a budget safety selection that attempts to guarantee staying in the league at the lowest cost per points possible.
No point thinking about it until we have to (when Moyes is sacked) or until we have some kind of football structure that has any interest in the long term success of the club. Then we can get back to arguing DOF vs Manager and the other fruitless pointless endless shite we’ve been saying to each other for the last 15 years, only for the club to do whatever they can to ensure we stay a decade behind even average clubs in this division.
Sacking Moyes would be wrong imo as it would lead to the guys who took 4 seasons to get a right back picking out new manager give him the season phase him out pick your successor and let him start in June
He only gets sacked if we’re in a genuine relegation fight.
I find it hilarious and a bit delusional that a portion of the fanbase thinks this ownership is invested enough to actually care what we do on the pitch.
We lose the next 5 on the spin, he’s not getting sacked.
Suppose it depends on Kinnear, idiot that he is, his remit will be to ensure the value of the club doesn't dip. If we're in the relegation zone then the Friedkins would start paying attention.
StirlingBlue wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2026 9:41 am
Ultimately the biggest questions to answer are:
Would we play better and finish higher with Moyes in charge but some better players or would we play better and finish higher with this squad but a better manager?
For me I think Moyes could get us around 10th-6th at best even if you gave him a new striker and a pair of wingbacks for example. I also think that even with this current squad a good manager could get us in that 8th-5th spot.
Obviously the ideal is that we do both, but I really do think that Moyes' tactics and coaching are holding us back more than the players are.
5th-8th with this squad?!
You best be passing that good shit round for everyone to have a smoke on
You best be passing that good shit round for everyone to have a smoke on
The league really isn’t looking that good at the moment and we’ve got a good contingent of young ballers that if somebody gets the best out of we could be up there.
Brighton, Brentford etc type consistency, training and good tactics getting the best out of the squad and it’s possible IMO
Granite wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2026 10:09 am
He only gets sacked if we’re in a genuine relegation fight.
I find it hilarious and a bit delusional that a portion of the fanbase thinks this ownership is invested enough to actually care what we do on the pitch.
We lose the next 5 on the spin, he’s not getting sacked.
I think you’re wrong there, we lose 5 on the spin and we are in the deep end. Our value drops by 10s of millions if we go down, I’m pretty sure that gets their attention!
Yeah he'll play it down and say something along lines of not many teams get results there. But his lack of changes today was genuinely unforgivable and the fact that Arteta went ahead and made changes from the lead which saw them immediately get a 2nd says it all.
Of course Arsenal have better players to change things but we had options that he absoluely should have been doing something with.
2 wins in 15 now and we've been mostly dreadful since we beat Chelsea back in March.
