I believe last season was ultimately a culmination of things falling into place. The kids we signed in summer 2019 with zero experience gaining championship nouse while gelling together for 30-50 games each. The signing of Sollbauer in Jan 2020, the switch to 3 centre halves in June 2020 and the signing of Helik in Aug 2020 while Andersen grew tremendously. A bit of relaxtion on the no over 25 policy and being willing to loan 1 or 2 players who might not stay but can improve the team. I think Ismael.... Cut down on goals conceded by stopping passing out from the back. Found the way to deal with the physical or park the bus sides who always plagued us. Vastly improved our set piece conversion. Bringing in big & Strong attackers and utilising the giant throw ins that resulted in 2-4 goals. However I always said we'd kick on higher up the league before Ismael arrived. We had the 13th best form in the league from Dec 2019- june 2020 after all.
I wish him well and think he deserves all the credit he gets. We'd lost our way under Struber and his points goal system spurred the players and fans on. I hope Schopp is a step up on what was previously achieved. Stendel improved the attack. Struber got us moving the ball better and more difficult to beat and Val got us more streetwise and played common sense football. A mixture of all the above would go down a treat.
We can credit Ismael a lot for what was achieved last season. The player’s went out every game believing they could win, moreover, so did most of the fans and that’s something that hadn’t been apparent for a long while. This he’s a ‘one trick pony’ is way off the mark for me.
Yes, there were some things in his favour, 5 subs and empty grounds probably the biggest ones, but he still deserves huge credit. The target when he came was 50 points, he got to 78. He did it by having all the players bought in to how he does things, and we were very well organised and every player knew their role.
Huge credit goes to Val, we can only dream of what might have been if he’d had a pre season and full year with these lads last year.
he was very big on the mental attitude and psychology i reckon so I hope this new guy can motivate them to run through brick walls for him like Val did. His comments made in his first interview were a lot more reserved and less clear so that's already a step back. Val came in, said from day one what he wanted to do and did it and was very clear about it. Schopp reckons he will look to match what we did last year which is just fall short - he ought to be saying we should be aiming to go one better unless he isn't confident he can follow through. Dont want to jump on the guy before weve even kicked a ball but already a clear difference in personalities.
Strange season really, enjoyed the early part with the high press all action game, boyed by the 5 fresh substitute in the 2nd half’! bored silly later part of season when we either ran out of steam for the press or our game tactics we’re changed and it was blind hoofball up to anyone. Can’t fault results though! However personally l do like to see us press and pass then score!!!!!
We'll know more 12 games into next season. For me he's up with the best in my lifetime, Clarke, Hunter, Wilson & Bassett, in no particular order.
Or it could be that his grasp of English is not as good as Ismael’s. What Markus said maybe slightly different to what he actually meant to say
I now watch football and think - "stop fannying around at the back, lump it up front and cause mayhem with their defence" It was very quick no nonsense football and although not always the best to watch, it was also wonderful to watch when we did create chaos and reap the benefits - watching us v Bournemouth, them trying to play it fancy and use tearing into them like a pack of hungry wolves, brilliant.
I think you're taking it too literally. Saying he wants to match last season isn't exactly lacking ambition, and he probably just means in terms of being in the promotion picture rather than specifically aiming to lose a play off semi final.
A number of things dropped into place for him however nearly every player I’ve seen interviewed has said what a huge impact he had. Best man manager we’ve had for years. Only weakness his lack of tactical flexibility
I think it's about time we consigned last season to history and moved on. It was a massive achievement finishing 5th. However the 4 team Play-Off ended in failure. I think it's important to remember the 46 game season and laud it. Likewise I think it's important to accept the 2 -3 game mini season it brought about was a failure. For me it's best way to dust myself off and move forward.
I also think huge credit is due to the acquisition of Johnny Northeast, the Sports Scientists and the Physios. They managed to pretty much keep every player fit for the entire season playing games in a condensed window at full throttle