Guest post from Claret and Hugh reader ‘Ant’:
There is so much wrong with this club that cannot all be attributed solely to the manager. Nuno probably sees a different level on the training ground than he does in a competitive game, which means there is a psychological problem in the team and Nuno can only really assess in a game.
He needs to be radical to understand what he has at his disposal. I would imagine the players have shut down and devoid of all confidence due to the running of the club. They are not a team and do not have others amongst them to compliment their own skills. The reliance and chemistry is missing. This is down to such poor recruitment from the owners as they do not understand the attributes of how different players create a winning combination, instead we have a team of individuals.
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Leadership issues part of the problem
On the pitch there is no drive and you have to look at the captain and leaders on the pitch. Since Bowen has been made Captain we have a poor mentality on the field. He is a great player but he cannot be a leader. A good captain would push for more characters on the field and Bowen has too much reliance on himself to create something. This is coupled with poor communication in defence. They are not playing together and completely unaware of each other.
Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville warm up for West Ham
Eleven players, not a team performance against Leeds
The midfield is overwhelmed, it has to comprise of attack and defence and cannot switch gear quick enough. This is due to no focus, no striker puts the ownership on the midfield and wingers and without support behind them the confidence to break out of the middle isn’t there.
And finally no striker to rely on for too many seasons is just pathetic, and there the ownership again is the failure.
Put all this together then tactically there is little you can do. You can’t play a possession game because you have nowhere to go, you cannot break out of the blocks because you open up to the weaknesses around you, and you cannot be direct as you have no focus on anyone to deliver. In all you have chaos.
So thanks to our owners for not allowing a football brain to correct this. We gradually lost the unity in the team through selling the quality that made it or letting it get to an age where it can no longer compete.
I feel for that manager, he will fail more than succeed with the squad but hopefully the formula does work and we kick on. Better to make mistakes now than later on the season.