We’ve got a new Sporting Director. Maybe now’s the time to put some simple coaching principles in place across the youth and first team. Decide on team formation across the club. 3-4-3? Recruit and develop young players in youth teams to play in that structure. Coach the players and prepare them for the first team. Continue to coach them when they get in the first team squad. Ensure they are on 3/4 year contracts when they are ready for first team. If we find the occasional John Stones, that fits the model to sell at a decent price, then use that money to buy a ‘ready-made’ replacement. Core of team should be homegrown.
But isn't that the issue now? We are already too rigid in our formation and tactics and we are getting found out week in week out. Is the new SP qualified to introduce a style of play and formation? As far as I'm aware his CV shows he been no more than a senior analyst, one of JC's mates. Very little in the way of football knowledge, so again the board of set someone on that as far as a I can see adds no value as there are too many already in the boardroom that haven't got a clue about running a football club
You’re right about being too rigid in formation. It seems so basic that you change the formation if you’re losing. Haven’t done that all season.
Exactly. I was encouraged when we announced the new structure, thought we’d finally seen the light. Then I realised it was just another of James Cryne’s data chums. No doubt they’re already looking for the next Oli Shaw.
I say we save money and go all in on AI. We don't need analysts then as director of football. Machine learning is the future right ;-)
