Lennon's backroom team and player recruitment...

I just think it was stupid and panicky mate. He was searching for an escape from the pressure he was under and he naturally tried to deflect. Whether that was on Kennedy or Neil Lennon I don’t think he really thought it through.

 

He has said it himself since: he never came close to imagining the pressure and the scrutiny he would face before he took the job. Sometimes he must have felt like a rabbit in the headlights. In that respect Lawwell really should have shielded him a bit more when it comes to the media.

 

After that little exchange with Devlin, I was just thinking that I missed Ronny and I realised that I had missed Lenny even more. Feels like we lost something important for a while there that he represents.

I haven't changed my mind about the timing of the announcement and what it implies about their intentions; but doesn't it just feel good to have Neil Lennon back? In an odd kind of way, it makes me feel happy.

Trying very hard not to worry about the window for now. They better back him, that is all.

 

I * love him mate. Just imagine him lifting the 10.

 

I'm not imagining anyone lifting the 10 until it's over the line regardless of the manager, I'm not doing that to myself; but if it happens, there's not a person on this forum that will think or feel differently.

Well, apart from lurkers, obviously.

 

wot i would say to that is fitness means f@ck all if you shipping goals like we did against psg ,players were not fit enough to get back into formations or went into hiding ,we have a manager now who if backed properly wont have his team caught out as badly or allow them to give up .

 

Fitness had nothing to do with the PSG results. We were battered by vastly superior players. The only thing Lennon could have done to change that is sit our entire team in our own box and hope for the best.

He's not some master of the European stage. He had one good campaign and was humbled in the rest.

 

yeh exactly , fitness means nothing ,you could have the fittest daftest team in the world who are so niave as to get sucked into forward areas only to be countered with virtually no cover making decent defenders look gash and players giving up chasing back , save going at superior teams for home games and master counter attacking .

 

I think part of the problem in Europe was that when the opposition got the ball there was a poor defensive shape to the team even sometimes domestically you see it in the Cup Final with the goal we lost Hayes ca!e across to cover and the midfielder who should have been covering was nowhere to be seen as they all run towards the ball leaving space

 

Aye, you're taking it to extremes there. We should be as fit as possible as a team. I don't think that's debatable.

You can be both fit and defensively savvy. We don't have to substitute one for the other.

 

under fraud we had improved our fitness vastly and was shown in the first season ,but wot i mean is it dont mean jack if you cant chase back or cover positions ,if just 1 player gives up then the deck collapses ,we were extremely niave to try to outplay teams with better players ,this is when you need a clever manager to out fox those teams and why fraud was always a manager who needed a good epl budget to implement his style.

 

yes ,fitness + smartness =much better.

 

It is very silly to think that our players are going to be unfit because Lennon is back in charge. Whatever he did the last time he was here is a world away. We may as well discuss the drinking culture of his playing days.
I don't think Lennon should have got the job either, but it feels like people are trying to find reasons to knock him.

 

No one has actually answered the initial question about whether we should keep the existing backroom team or get a new number 2 in as awell as new coaches etc

 

Ronnie banned the salt mate

 

I always think that should be up to the manager. I hate an assistant being forced on a manager, if you are going to appoint him you have to back him. With the greatest of respect to John Collins, I always felt his appointment didn't help Ronnie and I think Ronnie himself was part of why Lenny had enough of the board the last time.
The board takes a risk on the manager, the manager takes a risk on his support staff. In saying that, I think it would be sensible of Lenny to keep a few of the key players around, but I would be surprised if he didn't.

 

Regards diet I read somewhere a while back that Guardiola uses a quarters system.
Light training days it’s 2 quarters veg, 1 carb and 1 protein.
On heavy or double session days it’s 2 quarters carbs, 1 veg and 1 protein.
These are lunch and dinner. Don’t remember about breakfast but I’m sure I saw on that Man City documentary that they ate muesli with almond and coconut milk with fruit and yoghurt.
Also if they have an early kick off certain players will be told to have a late evening meal stacked with carbs - think it was those who for whatever reason can’t eat before matches (nerves I presume).
A meal is also to be eaten 3-4hrs before a match and again is the carb heavy meal.

Not saying Pep feeds his teams chips or anything but maybe Deila was getting it wrong.

 

Excellent news if we manage to get Parker in. Lennon needs his own men and i hope this is just the start of his recruitment as we go into what is a very important season

 

Would be nice to have Park back over Congerton. These last few years have made me realize I really took Park for granted, we found some absolute gems during his time. He also knows the type of player Lennon likes. Would be open to other chief scouts as well though