What HAS gone wrong??

As i've said though if it is that much of a good idea why do very few teams do it? It might be a good idea in theory but in practice it probably saves you more goals than you would score. If there was evidence or stats that showed it has a benefit then everyone would do it.

 

That's a belting description, Dennis - I think I'm in your camp here.

I think we do indeed waste too much time looking for openings in a division where a bit of brute force is more apt. Not necessarily calling for blood and thunder direct ball stuff, but just playing a faster brand of football with far less emphasis on making sure Platt and Stubbs see most of the ball.

 

Tranmere also defending corners with all players back tonight same set up as Grimsby with man to man plus a zonal central player, protection against the short corner and a front post man.

 

Cook and Lewis single handedly won loads of points last year. They haven't carried the form into this season.

A terrible change of formation has led to players who do not fit in the current formation and also a loss of confidence. Add poor requirement causing a massive squad with players dropping in and out of the squad at random and disaster is beckoning.

Slow defensive football is just about ok with results. Without results it's dreadful.

 

Chaotic club with no control or plan.

On back of playoff defeat you have Sparks announcing our streamlined squad approach which seemed to last 2 mins.

Onto hughes totally unbalanced huge squad. Players disappearing for games then reappearing in starting 11.

You have a captain who downs tools at morecambe and stops running, and is dropped to the bench for next game and when he comes on his first thought is to run over and get the captains armband before doing anything else.

An owner clearly without a clue or care about whats going on. Long as we have a long list of sponsors/partners to invest in the club so he doesn't have to.

Absolute shambles from the top down.

 

Nonsense. As @Interested Bystander has pointed out, zonal marking at corners can work exceptionally well if implemented properly. Last season, using largely zonal marking, West Ham successfully defended 110 corners before conceding a goal from one!
There's a lot more to it than everyone just standing in a particular area. The smaller players, who are unlikely to win headers, are designated blockers whose job it is to make it difficult for oppo players to get momentum running in. Others hold a particular space. and, often, others are tasked with attacking the ball wherever it is delivered to (like Parky used to do with Andrew Davies when defending corners). And the tactics are tweaked on the training ground using intel on how the opposition approach attacking corners.
Whether L2 payers are capable of assimilating and implementing these tactics is, however, open to debate.

 

Worked well Saturday didn't it.....and last season when we conceded more from set pieces than open play....

 

Just out of curiosity this time last year we were beating the likes of Tranmere and Mansfield away and nobody was having a go at Rupp. I doubt he’s done anything different this year to a year ago yet now we’re supposed to Chuck tennis balls around.

 

You've said it yourself about doing nothing different this year to a year ago.

There you have it he doesn't do anything he's not interested other than wanting an inflated price to sell us.

 

Comparing West Ham using zonal marking to Bradford City is like comparing wind turbines with coal.

At this level, the players aren't good enough and aren't positionally aware enough to employ zonal marking and struggle to think out side of the box when the player they are marking leaves their zone, leaving them stranded with no-one to "mark" if another player doesn.t come into their zone.

Man to man marking is much better at this level as long as the defender sticks like glue to his man.

 

I think he’s a lot more interested than you think, he spent a week at the club not long ago and is in regular discussions with Sparks. My point is it was going well last season at this time so what has Rupp done wrong this season? He’s not a Geoffrey Richmond who dictates transfer policy,he doesn’t interfere with team selection unlike some owners. It went well last season but this season’s woes are apparently Rupps fault.

 

That was the point I was making,one defender on each post, then the rest mark a man each who is then that defenders responsibility

 

It really didn't go well last season.

We were fortunate to make the play offs imo as all the metrics seemed to indicate we were over performing and this season just feels like a regression to the mean.

 

I can't agree with that. We finished where we deserved to-not good enough for the autos but definitely top 7 where we were for pretty much the ehole season.
This season a different story for sure as it's been a massive regression

 

We were massively reliant on two players last season.
Neither are quite at the same level of form and now we're 18th.

 

But I don't see how this is Rupps fault. I would like him replaced by amore hands on, interested owner, but I don't think he is responsible for the shit show on the pitch

 

club is financially secure down to its owner which is more than a lot of clubs can say, so that is far from a shambles, the days of flogging a player off in January to balance the books seem to be over. I think the playing squad is looking a bit of a shambles , whoever signed them, their performance, their consistency, their attitude - not good enough. I think between manager and players they need to sort themselves out.

 

That's because you're only focusing on points gained and league position which I suppose, in the end is all that matters.

If you dived deeper into the stats such as xg though you'd see that pretty much every metric we had was mid table and the form looked completely unsustainable. It wasn't even as if it was a patch either, we actually looked unconvincing all season and never really went out and bullied teams, even those at the bottom, when we tended to struggle.

This seasons performances for me have been very, very similar to last season with the difference being just two players contributions. One being Harry Lewis and the other being Andy Cook.

 

Agreed but thats only part of the issue. The recruitment has been a disaster

I do get what you are saying but still maintain we were comfortably a play off team. I agree we were never a dominant team but we were generally difficult to beat, hence our excellent away record. Our inability to bully teams, was a key factor behind our home record and was also highlighted painfully at Carlisle where we turned in our worst away display of the season.
The style and general approach this season is indeed similar to last. The Lewis/Cook factor that you mention coupled with the inadequate replacements for Wright, Banks and Critchlow has contributed to where we are now.
And the breaking news thats just come through....he's gone!

 

He's gone lads