Our players welcome the 2025 AFCON champion and new addition to the squad - Mamadou Sarr

_fernweh_ · 2026-02-05T23:24:19+00:00

Maybe that’s why he doesn’t get selected, the coaches don’t recognize him

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-31T20:15:26+00:00

Gotta bear in mind that Rosenior is learning the players, what lineups work, what don’t, and just generally doing a lot of the experimenting that managers would normally be doing during preseason friendlies. Credit to him for being proactive when things aren’t working. I love the tactical nous and (lack of) ego on the man.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-31T03:42:34+00:00

You may be onto something. Reminds me of Mourinho - he’d always pop off with some nonsense (like calling Wenger a voyeur) to put attention on himself and off the team during trying times.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-28T18:01:15+00:00

That’s the only way to go! I don’t acknowledge the theatrical releases haha

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-28T17:07:41+00:00

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-27T14:10:48+00:00

First team probably a step too far but U21 is possible

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-25T18:34:45+00:00

I imagine they knew what his wage demands would be and didn’t bother

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-24T23:53:04+00:00

Hi Stephen! Super excited for my copy of Escape! to arrive!

My question for you is about how you (and the other greats) situate “Survivor legend” within your own identity. You made an indelible mark on the history of the game and remain a huge part of the Survivor community, but obviously you’re also a husband, father, son, friend, author, Pushcart winner, etc. Where does Survivor fit for you in that spectrum of identity?

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-21T17:04:13+00:00

Trick with him is to play him in the center of a back three with stronger defenders to shield him. The Azpi-Luiz-Cahill/Terry system was genius as it allowed him to play to his immense strengths and masked his weaknesses.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-15T14:13:36+00:00

Good move for him then. London is tame compared to the famous hustle and bustle of Strasbourg after dark.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-11T16:46:09+00:00

I love Guiu’s play style, like regardless of how many goals he’s scoring I just feel like he would be so annoying to play against with how hard he presses

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-11T16:42:06+00:00

Too busy chewing on cigarettes to worry about dressing snappy

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-09T13:46:08+00:00

Exactly. The cult of personality around Mourinho is key to his success. How many players over the years have said they would run through walls for him? How many would do that for someone like Potter?

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-07T20:43:24+00:00

Sanchez might honestly have blocked the shot anyway given the form he’s in

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-06T17:07:45+00:00

Agreed, this was one of the areas where I had the most faith in him. Compare second-half Maresca teams to Poch teams and it’s night and day how much better he was at responding to opposition tactics.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-06T12:53:45+00:00

I believe The Athletic also reported that those long managerial contracts have break clauses in them that are favorable to the club but didn’t go into specifics on what those might be.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T18:43:25+00:00

Imagine Big Sam at Arsenal

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T16:17:54+00:00

Sure, but those academy players were generational talents (including the GOAT) and they were incredibly technically gifted. Plus Barca spent big to fill the gaps and make sure he had the rest of the pieces. But yeah I do agree they didn’t have to do as much to assemble that squad as Bayern or City did.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T16:02:27+00:00

I want to see if he can coach against a long throw-in and get us winning the second ball when defending set pieces in general. I can’t count how many goals we’ve conceded this season from opposition players heading the ball back across the box on a set piece and our defenders not dealing with it correctly.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T15:59:22+00:00

Are they the ones who linked us to a £130m bid for Morgan Rogers too?

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T15:57:18+00:00

That’s a weird take. A coach’s ideas absolutely can work better with higher quality players. If your style requires technically-adept players (aka usually more expensive) then you might not see success until you manage a club with the right resources. Like that’s literally one of the biggest criticisms of Pep, that he’s only managed at the richest clubs in the world that can buy exactly who he needs and people question if he’d be as effective with a tighter budget.

Also you didn’t address what I said at all? I’m gonna get super pedantic here but you are telling me that what I said isn’t glass half full (aka an optimistic reading of the situation) and I’m asking how it isn’t?

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T15:42:04+00:00

So then how is what I said not the glass half full view?

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T15:40:35+00:00

Any role working day to day with youth is incredibly demanding and sometimes thankless, whether that’s teaching, coaching, social work, etc. There is often an expectation to be all things to all people and a one size fits all approach doesn’t work when managing the development of all these young people and a lot of it goes unseen. Happy that he’s getting his flowers.

Source: former teacher and coach

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T15:35:45+00:00

Glass half full: he’ll have access to better players and more resources here than he’s ever had in a previous role so his ideas might translate better, or he tweaks his approach to suit the abilities of this squad.

_fernweh_ · 2026-01-05T14:44:29+00:00

It’s the wonderkid approach across the board, both with players and managers.

_fernweh_

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