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stewie griffin 10:24 Fri Aug 21
Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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The bloke just oozes class
Two matches into my first Premier League season as a manager and already there have been highs, lows, a red card for our goalkeeper and now an injury to a player in training.
Mauro Zarate was hurt, more on that elsewhere in this column, and with Adrian now banned I must make two changes for Saturday’s game with Bournemouth.
This League is exactly as I expected; demanding, physical, very competitive but also very individual.
Every side is fighting for the ball, closing you down so, on the one hand, you need to work hard as a team but you also need individuals who can break that hold and win you games.
Whether it is Sergio Aguero, Philippe Coutinho, Dimitri Payet or Christian Benteke, you need this talent. That is why clubs want to buy these type of players for crazy money because if you don’t have one or more of them, you will struggle to create more chances than your opponents.
These special players are not only strikers or No10s who find the spaces — they can be central defenders, goalkeepers, holding midfielders or players who have a presence and inspire teams with their leadership.
After our opening win over Arsenal, we were very disappointed to lose to Leicester City last weekend.
I don’t like to look for excuses. We were beaten because of our performance in the first half.
When you are two goals down in the Premier League it is very difficult to recover — maybe once in 10 games you can do that but it’s very hard.
We did well for the first 10 minutes but I was very disappointed with the rest of the first half. Leicester were quicker to the second ball, they were more aggressive, had more confidence and awareness, and were more determined to win the ball.
They played very well. Okay, it was simple football but they were very productive and it’s been that way for them in the last 11 games, credit to them.
We had a good reaction in the second half but, basically, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be doing that from the start - especially at home in front of our own fans.
It is a minimum requirement to give everything in every Premier League match. This is a tough league and sometimes even that is not enough to win but the basic is to give 100 per cent, then at least you can make it hard for your opponent.
I wanted to say these things first but when you add to that the fact some crucial decisions went totally against us then the conclusion was clear.
On the decisions - and Adrian’s red card in particular - I won’t criticise the referee. I said after the match it was possible the challenge was a red-card offence. It was not deliberate or intentional but, still, it could be a red.
What really shocked me, though, was that it carries a three-match suspension - for that?
When I heard the ban I couldn’t believe it for a whole day but when I accepted it is the rule I suspected the appeal would not be in our favour because they would have had to change the regulation.
The rule is the problem. Adrian’s offence did not warrant that ban but the FA had to enforce it.
I don’t blame the referee - okay, I can argue that he could have given Jamie Vardy a red card as well for something definitely more deliberate than what Adrian did - but to lose him for three games? It should be one match, maximum.
My opinion is that every red card should be looked at objectively and individually. Adrian’s absence for that many games is a big blow for us and definitely we didn’t deserve that.
It’s a very important issue.
ZARATE/POYET
It is a pity that Mauro Zarate will not be included in the squad for the Bournemouth game. He has injured his hamstring in training. We don’t yet know how bad the injury is but it could be several weeks before he is fit again.
We are still trying hard to be active in the transfer market and we are looking for maybe two players but they have to be of the right quality.
There could also be one or two players leaving as well. One example is Diego Poyet, who has gone to MK Dons on loan. It’s a good move for him, he will play regularly in a good league and we wish him well. We will monitor him closely because he definitely has a good future.
BOURNEMOUTH
We meet Bournemouth on Saturday and they are another team who will feel aggrieved following the circumstances of their narrow defeat by Liverpool.
Just before the season all the managers attended a meeting where we were told about a change to the offside rule.
We watched clips of matches for 10 minutes - but then came Liverpool’s goal against Bournemouth, which was so obviously offside.
For me, the offside rule remains confusing. Once they originally decided to make new offside rules and opened a Pandora’s Box, that was it — too many ifs, too many buts, too many questions.
I watched Monday’s game carefully and, first of all, Bournemouth do the basics well; closing down, pressing — the things I talked about earlier in this column.
They are also good when they have the ball, they make a good transition, they were more aggressive in both their games this season, although they didn’t create a lot of chances.
It will be a hard game for us but we are at home, we are ready and we learned our lesson from our loss to Leicester.
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
stirlinghammer
5:37 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Brentford...similiar to last week, we lost our momentum after getting key goals. Both times, the intensity decreased.
On the plus side, despite the shambles we have nearly scraped draws with come backs...must be some team spirit there. Plus our relegation radar is high and this could easily end for bilic in September or we will look back and laugh at the blip in August....hope it's the latter
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13 Brentford Rd
4:37 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Considering the response yesterday talk is indeed cheap.
Most idiotic was after getting back to 2-2 we go and gift them 2 more goals.
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Lertie Button
4:26 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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We lost 50 50 tackles all over the pitch all afternoon.
Hard to know what was worse the lack of ability on show or the lack of effort.
A man who stayed with the club for 18 months till a better offer came along will never be a legend in my eyes
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nychammer
4:12 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Trouble is, Slaven, were looking for a reaction after the Leicester defeat last week. And we got one; we managed to to be even poorer. In fact, we took it down to a whole new level. Need to sort this out sharpish.
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eusebiovic
4:05 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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chim chim cha boo 12:03 Sat Aug 22
Looks like his thumb remained firmly inserted up his own arse...
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BRANDED
4:00 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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1. I won't accept red cards
2. I won't accept poor defending
3. I won't accept a squad that's not good enough
4. I won't accept owners who create as many problems as they solve
5. I won't accept the fans not getting behind me and at least giving me a tiny chance to get this fucking thing right. INIT
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After8
3:55 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Talk is cheap
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Ronald_antly
2:20 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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1964 12:29 Sun Aug 23
Sorry mate, Bilic gets a free pass on this matter.
He's a West Ham LEGEND, not some "Northern Oaf".
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Sniper
12:40 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Might need to tone down the aggression after 5 red cards
Also just don't pick nolan and noble together for gods sake
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1964
12:29 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Bilic - Eastern European cunt
Get out of my club!
If it was good enough for my mate Allardydce it's good enough for this tosser.
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HairyHammer
12:19 Sun Aug 23
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Slaven is right the team has lacked this for over two years we never seem to want it as much as the other team or so to me it seems.
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1985
8:16 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY
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Nappy
8:06 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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As much as we were shocking with the ball, the lack of aggression and drive he spoke of when we were without the ball was truly appalling.
Once again any team with Nolan and Noble in the same team is not going to win games.
Noble looked like he had the hump in the first half that Nolan was back and given the captaincy back. Played much better 2nd half once Nolan was off.
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happygilmore
7:53 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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"stewie griffin 10:24 Fri Aug 21
Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
The bloke just oozes class"
I'm not seeing it?
a bit more discipline might help.
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Hugh Monteith
1:21 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven BILIC: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Oh yeah.THanks for an excellent threadsopening post Stewers
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Hugh Monteith
1:16 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven BILIC: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Values and principles are the foundations of teamwork unlike the bullying that was sams methodology.
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Vexed
12:30 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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He speaks well does Slav but hopefully he'll get his tactics right this week unlike last week.
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chim chim cha boo
12:03 Sat Aug 22
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Oh yes, Jenks. I forgot. My mind tries to forget horrific shit like that. Still, as much as I love Tomka it did help that Arsenal played so narrowly that we never really needed him as a right-back. I've a feeling Leicester's wingers would have ruined him last Saturday as they made Cresswell look a mug too.
Maybe more controversially I think Jenks took his form at the end of last season into this one. Nobody exactly covered themselves in glory in the second half of last season but some of Jenkinson's performances were pretty shocking. I hope he pulls his finger out tomorrow.
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whufcroe
11:00 Fri Aug 21
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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The reason is neither here nor there, he was very poor.
Still I would have made that change and I would stick with him tomorrow.
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Hammer and Pickle
10:42 Fri Aug 21
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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Wasn't Jenks just a bit leggy after the summer break?
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whufcroe
10:41 Fri Aug 21
Re: Slaven Bilic: I will not accept the lack of aggression, confidence and drive....
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"he started with the same team that had won the previous Saturday."
No he didn't and his change was about the worst player on the pitch.
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