Neil Lennon

Klopp, Guardiola, Conte, Simeone etc must just be silly hipsters. Why waste all that time on a system when all they need to do is tell their players to go out and win?

His honours list, as a manager, shows he’s had the best group of players in the country up here in both his spells and has essentially done what he should be doing. Beating poor/average Rangers sides and the likes of Aberdeen and Motherwell to trophies.

However, perhaps he would have more success against the likes of Cluj and Ferencvaros if he put more faith into those hipster tactics.

The teams with the best players usually win the trophies because they tend to have the best managers around. Or at least managers who use a system to get the best out of their squad of players.

 

Guys the manager of a country who came 3rd in the World Cup, probably unlucky not to win it and probably the best Belgium squad ever who are in with a right shout of winning the euros if it ever gets played, granted with half their players out they lost to England recently

a can’t see a guy giving that up to be a manager in the spl

 

Well how many people thought we get Rogers as manager and the end of the day it comes down to money and offer enough you never know .
If we leave it too long it could be too late but the board need to make that choice but 10 in a row doesn't come along too often and the decision needs to be soon .

 

No, I’ve listed a bunch of managers who have a clear philosophy and system that they build a team around.

Atletico Madrid did not have the best team (talent wise) in their league when Simeone won the league with them and got them to CL finals. They had a fantastic system that suited the players and made them more than the sum of their parts. Same with Klopp getting Dortmund to a CL final and winning back to back league titles.

Guardiola and Klopp have been breaking records with City and Liverpool because they sign players to suit the system and can make good players look great, or average players look good.

To suggest tactics aren’t a big part of football is absolute nonsense.

 

I wouldn't touch ANY international manager, until they can prove sustained, levels of success for the level of club they were domestically.

To that extent, I'd stay clear of Martinez, he's done nothing long lasting domestically, was it under him Wigan one a cup but also got relegated?

If international management success meant anything, for achieving far and beyond anyone's expectations then * Chris Coleman would be the type of * we'd end up with, but as we already know, he's rancid in domestic football.

I'm not going to sit here and act like some football historian and master scout, but I'd still have every belief that if the board actually gave a *, they could, without issue get another Rodgers in no bother.

They won't though. They'd rather see Lennon stay, see out the season, effectively leaving the 10iar in the air where it could either way, if it we win, they win, if we lose, they win - because then, they'd sack Lennon and go out, make the effort to win our cash back and sign a top quality manager just like they did when they went out and got MON and Rodgers

 

You know shape is massive in modern football right?

Kelvin Wilson: "Lenny's not big on shape, he doesn't do shape"

Aye Kelvin we can see that

 

We should be beating Cluj (and I've always admitted that it was Lenny that got it wrong that night); but why on earth shouldn't we be in the same bracket as Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade? These clubs are our peers.

We had a little bubble under MON where we spent money on great players (and keeping hold of Larsson) and then we punched well above our weight under WGS due to Boruc, Naka and a rigid system. People have this backwards, they think that's the norm, it isn't. This is the norm.

 

Mental the amount of money clubs waste employing coaches and managers when it doesn’t really make a difference...



Coaching is everything in the modern game.

 

I don't want him sacked. But look at him sitting down constantly even after our 3rd goal no reaction

 

I think you're misread my point. I'm in agreement with you.

The idea that we're a big club in Europe in 2020 is crazy. We're a last 32 level EL team, if that.

 

In all honesty,to me our european game means little(performance aside)and id like us to use the Aberdeen game as platform to kick start our season.

Use the midweek game to bed in the team we will use against Aberdeen and (if it works out)try and use the same team/formation in everygame.

i think a part of our problem at the moment is the chopping and changing of our line up,ye some things cant be helped but we need stability and try get momentum and i would sacrifice europe in order to get things moving domestically.

 

His problem isn't applying tactics, it's adjusting to the tactics of other managers or changing tactics in play when things blatantly aren't working.

He's shown a complete lack of ability to change things within games and that should be a basic requirement of a manager.

 

But I don't think this reality has anything to do with Lenny, mate. Sustainably, this is our level. It will remain our level unless one of 3 things happen:

1) the TV money bubble bursts.
2) We join a bigger league.
3) Scotland starts producing a ton of talent like in the 60s and 70s.

Until one of those things happen, this is our level. The first will happen at some point, but who knows if it will be in 2 years or 2 decades? The second is highly unlikely and the third even more so.

I don't see the panic over Lenny. I think it's a weird kind of hysteria. I actually do think Lenny * up a bit today, we really need to be winning these games; but no one is wanting him gone because of one game. That's where I differ: I'm not going to defend him today, but I think that's his first * up in about a year TBH. I'm happy with that.

 

Sending them out with clear instructions, with every player understanding their role and the role of the other players, helps that, though. Obviously you'll not always be brilliant but it's beneficial.

I know it's breaking it down to a simple level, but if I was sending a team out without giving them clear and detailed instructions - I'd expect to see a disjointed performance, with players in the wrong area of the pitch, a lack of regular patterns of play. Whereas if they were sent out fully understanding their roles and responsibilities, I'd expect to see a more fluid team and performance, more often than not. This season, we've bee the former.

We've been constantly changing personnel, shape, partnerships etc. That's clearly going to have an impact on performances. Most of the time when we've been playing 352 or 3411, or whatever the * it is, our shape has been non-existent. Like the players don't have a clue what they're supposed to be doing.

And your point about Duffy. Well, of course a tactical tweak can fix that. Get players into positions to receive a pass from him, so that he doesn't have to resort to 40 yard passes. Or he could stop being thick as *, I suppose.

 

Nobody has said it's anything to do with Lennon. It's the reality of where we are as a club. Albeit, with a better manager we can have more success and bridge the gap somewhat.

Your last point though. It's hard to take you seriously when you hit out with pish like that. Today was his first * up in about a year? Are you serious with that? Even the most delusional and blinkered fans can't in all honestly believe that.

 

Every successful leader in history has employed tactics and strategies, Paul.

There are countless examples of inferior individuals or groups surmounting unfavourable odds to claim victory in every field - from business, to sport, to war - and it happens far more frequently than you think.

It is pretty much the only reason that chief executive officers, football managers, and field marshals exist.

 

I am serious, mate. A bit off with my dates though. I mean his first bad one in about 10 months. I think people underestimate what he's dealing with TBH. Both up front and at the back he has faced major problems not of his own making. None of our strikers are fully fit at the moment. At the back we're missing Julien, Bitton, Elhammed. We've been missing other key players in midfield at various points. Duffy has been an absolute bombscare, but we've had to play him. At no time this season have we been able to put out an even 80% strength team as far as I can see.

AC Milan are just plain better than us even with everyone fit. No shame in that. Clubs like Rangers and Ferencvaros are our peers, play them at less than 80% and we will find it difficult and might lose. That just seems obvious to me. Play SPL diddies at less than 80%, we should still win, but I don't expect it to be pretty...and we were, we were grinding out wins.

You get the picture. Today was different, today we dropped 2 points by gifting 3 terrible goals due to basic errors. That's on Lenny. But, yes, for me that's his first since the start of the year. I'm happy with his performance in general (obviously not today).

Edit: I feel quite confident we're going to start playing really well quite soon as key players return/gain fitness. Let's revisit this in, say, 4 or 5 weeks.