Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship ap

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Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship ap

Postby grange_end1927 » Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:48 pm

Why Cardiff City will blow the Championship apart if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stops tinkering

Wednesday Jul 30, 2014


BY PAULABBANDONATO


With the summer signings made so far, the Bluebirds boss is spoilt for choice - but Paul Abbandonato admits he doesn't know if that's a strength or weakness

Will they roar to the Championship title, as they should with the depth of squad available to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, or will they crash and burn?

The truth is I have no idea whatsoever. And I doubt too many others can call it with any degree of certainty, either.

The season opener at Blackburn looms large and Solskjaer has at his disposal a squad which must be the envy of every other manager in the division.

Thus far, only two key figures have departed since relegation from the Premier League. Steven Caulker and Fraizer Campbell, each of whom would have been huge pluses in the Championship.

Gary Medel will probably leave as well, but significantly David Marshall, Jordon Mutch and so-called Chelsea target Mats Moller Daehli appear as if they are going nowhere.

With the glut of summer signings he has made, it means Solskjaer is absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to his team selection.



Is it a strength or weakness?

But I don’t know if that is a strength or weakness, given the management style we have seen thus far from the Norwegian.

I was one of those genuinely excited by his appointment in January, believing the team had to evolve because the negative approach adopted by Malky Mackay would see the Bluebirds plummet to the bottom of the table in the closing four months of the season.

Well they did plummet to the bottom, but it was under Solskjaer’s watch, not Malky’s.

No-one should criticise Solskjaer for being adventurous, but fans reckon he tinkered far too much. With his tactics and non-stop switches in playing personnel.

It’s one thing getting to know your squad, and Solskjaer had to learn on the hoof, as such, but there was far too much inconsistency with his team selections for Cardiff to have any hope of avoiding relegation.

Alarmingly, the centre-backs often changed game by game. So too the full-backs.

One minute Peter Whittingham was in, then out, then suddenly back in again.

Kim Bo-Kyung went from starting to not even making the match-day 18 next time around. He was by no means the only one.





Things are looking positive :ayatollah:

On paper things are looking so positive.

Why is it then that I have these nagging doubts? The ones about Solskjaer having not strengthened the centre of his defence, of Fabio’s questionable defending, over whether Kenwyne really can be the real deal he should be.

Most of the lot, I worry about Solskjaer’s tinkering as he tries to keep a bumper squad happy.

Under normal circumstances, having so many players available for the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday non-stop grind that is the Championship should benefit any side, particularly when injuries and suspensions bite in the closing months of a season.

But there is also something to be said for having a settled starting XI, players who know one another’s game and who aren’t left confused by constant changes.

Rightly or wrongly, many fans reckon Solskjaer was no closer to knowing his best XI in the last match of the season against Chelsea than he was when he first took the helm in a 2-0 home defeat to West Ham.

We know Steve McClaren will mould a team at Derby, Felix Magath will grind out efficient German-style 1-0 wins with Fulham, Uwe Rosler will probably do likewise with Wigan.

The fact Solskjaer has gone for strikers rather than defenders this summer hints at a more cavalier approach and the goal power available is frightening for this level.

Supplement that with the undoubted midfield talents of Daehli and Mutch – arguably as good as any player outside the Premier League – and Cardiff City really should blow this Championship apart.

But whether they will is open to question. By the time August is over, Cardiff could be roaring away at the top with five wins out of five, having scored three goals per game.

Or they could be down towards the bottom three, a lack of system, structure and inconsistency of selection proving costly.
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Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship ap

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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby BLUEBIRD57 » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:02 pm

So this journo can't second guess Ole's mind,not a bad thing to have as a manager.He's gone on record as saying he's got a pretty good idea of his starting eleven for Blackburn so tinker all you like Ole as this chump has always been clueless and by the looks of things is struggling to find anything to write about. :lol:
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby NIBluebird » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:20 pm

Really cant wait for start of season
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby abergblue » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:28 pm

I think the reporter is correct. OGs the Tinkerman, seemed to confuse the players last season with his constant changing of players and tactics.
Stick to a flexible formation and let the players get used to it. Not swap the players, and have a system to suit whoever is playing.
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby RFMH » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:42 pm

Rafaa Benitez won the champions league 'tinkering'

Besides if which most managers 'rotate' because you have too, injuries, suspensions, the opposition all determin certain players being in or out.

Criticism of rotating, is similar to criticism of zonal marking certain people perpetuate the notion, without really understanding the system (or intentionally ignoring rebuttals) and others follow.
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby CardiffN » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:42 pm

I see the tinkering as a major advantage tbh.

I believe that if you ask 100 fans on this forum how they would set up their best City 11 before the BB match then you would get ALOT of different tactics and players.
I think that among 100 fans we would see most of our squad included in the different 11 chosen players.

So if us fans rate players over each other and feel most of our squad is good enough to play then why cant Ole tinker with the team? Are they suddenly not good enough if he picks them? Will we loose the match because he plays Whitts and Mutch instead of Whitts and Kimbo? John for Fabio? Cala for Turner?

A regular starting 11 just makes us predictable and allows the opposition to come to the match with a plan on how to neutralize our midfield and exploit the weaknesses. How shall they do that when no one knows what team we will bring?
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby BLUEBIRD57 » Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:09 pm

To put it another way you always knew what you were going to get with Malky no matter how he swapped it around.Ole came in and tried to install a different mindset to a squad used to parking the bus for the last 18 months.Unfortunatly he ran out of time.I hope fans and journos give him as much time as they gave Malky.
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby lathamgaffney » Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:36 pm

Realistically Norwich and Fulham should be ahead of us as favourites because they both finished above us in the Premier League.

Fulham and Norwich have both signed proven goal scorers in the Championship in Ross McCormack (29 goals) and Lewis Grabban (22 goals).

People are also forgetting how hard it was for us to get over that finish line and finally get into the Premier League. On top of that, the fact we're being labelled as favourites is pressure in it's own right.

In my opinion, if we don't get a stronger defence then the likes of McCormack and Grabban are undoubtedly going to punish us.

Overall, yes we are up there with one of the strongest attacking teams on paper but I don't agree we're the favourites. Excited for the new season regardless. Bring on Blackburn!

:ayatollah: :ayatollah:
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby Sladey » Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:24 pm

So what the article is saying is keep the same 11 and tactics so every team can figure us out and beat us before we kicked a ball cause well be blatently predictable. Or have a wealth of players who must know how he wants the team to play by now and switch it around when needed and also have players when others are injured or suspended? I'm glad the reporter isn't our manager we'd be in league 1 by Christmas.

Rafa Benitez won the champions league by rotating the squad and Sir Fergie won everything there was to win by doing the same thing, but Ole shouldn't because it makes him look like he doesn't know his best 11? Hmmmmm.... Interesting
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby trebuchet » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:21 pm

Sladey wrote:So what the article is saying is keep the same 11 and tactics so every team can figure us out and beat us before we kicked a ball cause well be blatently predictable. Or have a wealth of players who must know how he wants the team to play by now and switch it around when needed and also have players when others are injured or suspended? I'm glad the reporter isn't our manager we'd be in league 1 by Christmas.

Rafa Benitez won the champions league by rotating the squad and Sir Fergie won everything there was to win by doing the same thing, but Ole shouldn't because it makes him look like he doesn't know his best 11? Hmmmmm.... Interesting


Well said :ayatollah:
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby PartyWithOle » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:34 pm

What a silly article. Damn Ole for changing his team despite not knowing it, despite not knowing the strengths and weaknesses as he took over mid-season.

He has a firm understanding what his line-up will be against Blackburn. But just because it's your STRONGEST team doesn't mean it's the one that wins the most games. Tinkering can be used in the right fashion if applied correctly. For example, say we're playing one of the Championship's most attacking sides away from home, maybe we would benefit from playing a defensive team and counter attacking etc. We have a wide range of striking options and Ole is going to have to keep them all satisfied with playing time.
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby redstuff » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:40 pm

Sladey wrote:So what the article is saying is keep the same 11 and tactics so every team can figure us out and beat us before we kicked a ball cause well be blatently predictable. Or have a wealth of players who must know how he wants the team to play by now and switch it around when needed and also have players when others are injured or suspended? I'm glad the reporter isn't our manager we'd be in league 1 by Christmas.

Rafa Benitez won the champions league by rotating the squad and Sir Fergie won everything there was to win by doing the same thing, but Ole shouldn't because it makes him look like he doesn't know his best 11? Hmmmmm.... Interesting


Truth
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby taffinessex » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:08 pm

redstuff wrote:
Sladey wrote:So what the article is saying is keep the same 11 and tactics so every team can figure us out and beat us before we kicked a ball cause well be blatently predictable. Or have a wealth of players who must know how he wants the team to play by now and switch it around when needed and also have players when others are injured or suspended? I'm glad the reporter isn't our manager we'd be in league 1 by Christmas.

Rafa Benitez won the champions league by rotating the squad and Sir Fergie won everything there was to win by doing the same thing, but Ole shouldn't because it makes him look like he doesn't know his best 11? Hmmmmm.... Interesting


Truth

Hear, hear - how can we possibly stick with the same team every week, it has to be adjusted to what side we are playing and playing strategy.
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Re: Stop tinkering Solskjaer & we will blow the Championship

Postby Bluebina » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:42 pm

RFMH wrote:Rafaa Benitez won the champions league 'tinkering'

Besides if which most managers 'rotate' because you have too, injuries, suspensions, the opposition all determin certain players being in or out.

Criticism of rotating, is similar to criticism of zonal marking certain people perpetuate the notion, without really understanding the system (or intentionally ignoring rebuttals) and others follow.



I don't think a manager should tinker as such. They should only change one or two players at a time and gradually rotate, not five out and five new ones in. I think he has learned his lesson and already knows his chosen team, fingers crossed he has and we will blow the rest away...
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