Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: TheMalandro on August 02, 2021, 12:53:32 PM
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Our new assistant manager, I’m told.
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It's "MacPhee".
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Never heard of him, looks like a member of a covers band.
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Great in Crossroads. Welcome Austin
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Was assistant coach at Midtjylland, who just knocked Celtic out of the European Cup, and Northern Ireland. Not sure if he will have to give the latter post up.
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Wikipedia
Austin MacPhee (born 11 October 1979) is a Scottish football player and coach who is currently an assistant coach of the Northern Ireland national team and FC Midtjylland. MacPhee holds his Pro Licence and has a reputation for his work with set-pieces leading to his appointment with Danish Champions League side FC Midtjylland who are famed for their focus in this area
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Ooh set pieces expert, that'll be good.
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Like Ken McNaught born in Kirkcaldy so CL here we come.
Currently NI assistant coach so may have been brought in for his 'Sweet Caroline' expertise.
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Was assistant at Hearts in the past
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Ooh set pieces expert, that'll be good.
Several reports on those in Spring 2019. Like this one
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/latest-hearts-news/stats-highlight-austin-macphees-impact-hearts-set-pieces-123473
at 1 minute in for the one mentioned against Kilmarnock
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Great in The Groundhogs. Welcome Tony.
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Are we sure it is not Nanny MacPhee
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Nothing anywhere on this.
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He's younger than me *sobs*
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It's "MacPhee".
Cheers. I’d never heard of him. Is it a Brentford connection?
Looks like he worked at the Brentford owner’s other team.
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Nothing anywhere on this.
I’m a lucky guesser.
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Austin Powers and Nanny McPhee crossover? Sounds horrific.
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Ooh set pieces expert, that'll be good.
I thought you were a proponent of sexy non-wingback football? I don't want us playing % football and looking to win knock-downs at corners and free-kicks. It's a bit MON/Southgatey.
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It's "MacPhee".
Cheers. I’d never heard of him. Is it a Brentford connection?
Looks like he worked at the Brentford owner’s other team.
No idea, mate. I'd never heard of him until Googling him two seconds after you started the thread. 😁
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Ooh set pieces expert, that'll be good.
I thought you were a proponent of sexy non-wingback football? I don't want us playing % football and looking to win knock-downs at corners and free-kicks. It's a bit MON/Southgatey.
I'm happy for us to play like Holland '74 but score the occasional shithouse goal, too. It would, at least, be nice to score a free kick for the first time since Stan Lynn left.
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Might actually mean we beat bastard Burnley, it's true.
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Great in Crossroads. Welcome Austin
Yes welcome. Let’s hope he starts well and drives us forward.
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Features heavily in the first episode of BBC Scotland's not very exciting three hour documentary series on Hearts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pdj2/this-is-our-story-inside-hearts-series-1-episode-1
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Great in Crossroads. Welcome Austin
My dad's second car. 5 speed gear box, 8 track player, walnut veneer. Lovely.
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Great in Crossroads. Welcome Austin
I thought the Germans put a couple hundred bullets in him, when he was trying to escape, in The Great Escape.
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Austin Powers and Nanny McPhee crossover? Sounds horrific.
The state of his Washwoods.
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Our new assistant manager, I’m told.
Kinda right, announced as a set-piece coach.
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Our new assistant manager, I’m told.
Kinda right, announced as a set-piece coach.
Ah got a name at least!
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He looks like Catweazle
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With a name like that I thought he might be the new head of our new computers/technology department.
Either that or a moody Scottish chef previously employed at the Crossroads motel.
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Our new assistant manager, I’m told.
Kinda right, announced as a set-piece coach.
Ah got a name at least!
I'll give you that, still, a good guess.
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Great in Crossroads. Welcome Austin
My dad's second car. 5 speed gear box, 8 track player, walnut veneer. Lovely.
Mine too, a shit brown Austin 1100 with tan velour seats, don’t remember the veneer.
I do remember him buying a Princess Van Den Plas from an Austin worker for cash in the car park at Longbridge, never seen so much money in all my days before.
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Be good to have a Villain with his own personal limerick.
There was a young man named MacPhee
Who was stung on the neck by a wasp.
When asked 'Does it hurt?'
He replied 'Not a bit.
It can do it again if it likes'.
Milligan S.
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Welcome Austin.
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Seems like O'Kelly made way for McPhee.
Hear good things about Austin and if truth be told never heard anything about acumen or innovative stuff from O'Kelly . Just he was affable. Best of luck to him.
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The ability to be affable in between the manager and staff and make things work is a real quality.
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Dean Smith head coach not a manager. So this go between isn't the same as what maybe you're suggesting
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He's the manager of a group of people. Dress it up how you like. As a manager you need trusted people around you. I hope Dean has a couple of coaches coming in. It is not all about their technical coaching abilities, their people skills are vital too.
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He's the manager of a group of people. Dress it up how you like. As a manager you need trusted people around you. I hope Dean has a couple of coaches coming in. It is not all about their technical coaching abilities, their people skills are vital too.
And to add on that theme Dean And Richard had a good partnership as it were going back years to Walsall if not longer in coaching.
So there is much puzzlement on things. I'll bring any more chat on O'Kelly thread to honour him
I think he seemed and seems like very capable coach and Dean worked well with him.
Maybe Purslow got involved again like he did with Jack.
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That surname makes me think of
(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03044/lennie2_3044512b.jpg)
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That name plus the fact he looks like Rick Wakeman with a beard leads me to conclude he's going to be a genius appointment.
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It does sound like a name that would be in a film or book. IMO.
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It does sound like a name that would be in a film or book. IMO.
It will be in years to come. A Richard Curtis version of Moneyball
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Has he actually joined? If the club have issued something, then I have missed it.
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Has he actually joined? If the club have issued something, then I have missed it.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2021/august/MacPhee-joins-as-specialised-set-piece-coach/
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It does sound like a name that would be in a film or book. IMO.
It will be in years to come. A Richard Curtis version of Moneyball
Hopefully not 'Bean'.
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Has he actually joined? If the club have issued something, then I have missed it.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2021/august/MacPhee-joins-as-specialised-set-piece-coach/
He's also been in a few of the videos and pictures that they've posted in the last week.
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Isolating, not going with the Scotland squad. Its hitting us again.
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I can't see how we wouldn't have loads of people who have to isolate if he is.
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I can't see how we wouldn't have loads of people who have to isolate if he is.
Can only hope he kissed goodbye to Martinez and Buendia at the airport.
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I can't see how we wouldn't have loads of people who have to isolate if he is.
He's been working on the long throws so only Matty Cash.
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I can't see how we wouldn't have loads of people who have to isolate if he is.
He's been working on the long throws so only Matty Cash.
Oh well good job we have Guilbert as cover...
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Our set pieces have improved and especially our corners look excellent with Doug and Bailey for a bit whipping them in. Mings unlucky not to score and then we have the OG from Digne. Defensively we will continue to improve also in defending them, but early days some very encouraging signs.
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The freekick that was was sent backwards, to swiftly end up in their box and nearly a wonder goal was a good sign of things to come.
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Our set pieces have improved and especially our corners look excellent with Doug and Bailey for a bit whipping them in. Mings unlucky not to score and then we have the OG from Digne. Defensively we will continue to improve also in defending them, but early days some very encouraging signs.
Indeed. Our throw ins, corners and free kicks have been embarrassingly bad for years, and now they show definite signs of being quite good. Up your bollocks, Danny Murphy.
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Our set pieces have improved and especially our corners look excellent with Doug and Bailey for a bit whipping them in. Mings unlucky not to score and then we have the OG from Digne. Defensively we will continue to improve also in defending them, but early days some very encouraging signs.
Indeed. Our throw ins, corners and free kicks have been embarrassingly bad for years, and now they show definite signs of being quite good. Up your bollocks, Danny Murphy.
The third goal started from a throw in, this is wizardry in itself.
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It was interesting watching a Leeds game and seeing how much movement there was for the throw-in taker. Always found it frustrating when players have just stood still and not giving the taker any options.
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It was interesting watching a Leeds game and seeing how much movement there was for the throw-in taker. Always found it frustrating when players have just stood still and not giving the taker any options.
Even through the 'good' years, lack of movement off the ball has been something we've struggled with for decades, I reckon. It's like a congenital disorder that has survived managers and squads.
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I still remember when Robbie Keane came on loan and laid into players over their lack of movement.
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I still remember when Robbie Keane came on loan and laid into players over their lack of movement.
I remember being hugely underwhelmed at bringing in an ancient Robbie Keane, only for him to clearly be the best player at the club by miles.
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I cannot wait for one of those "bamboozle" free kick moves comes off. The Ings chance was just sublime.
The crowd actually groaned when it first went to Targett then ping, unmarked header, 2nd header by Mings and then fabulous Ings effort
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Yeah, hopefully Nanny has more deadball tricks up his sleeve.
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4D free kick chess. The absolute scenes when one of those goes in.
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Yeah, hopefully Nanny has more deadball tricks up his sleeve.
His dear old Dad was the best chef Crossroads ever had and wasn't to be messed with ;)
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Everyone around me in the Holte end, was asking whats Konsa doing next to Targett on saturday, then he peeled off and that move, sublime, as has been said when one of those goes in!
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Get the fuck in Austin!
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Agreed TV, all the others were static and Hause had Cavani running in rings then went in for the kill. 8)
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Agreed TV, all the others were static and Hause had Cavani running in rings then went in for the kill. 8)
It’s a similar corner to the one Mings nearly scored vs Everton. Doug’s deliveries from that side have been excellent
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Agreed TV, all the others were static and Hause had Cavani running in rings then went in for the kill. 8)
It’s a similar corner to the one Mings nearly scored vs Everton. Doug’s deliveries from that side have been excellent
Makes a change though when you know the runs to aim for rather then loading it into the 6 yard box and hoping. And I expect we will have a few others when people have sussed this one out.
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What a signing.
I'd also like to point out, just in case anyone had forgotten, that Danny Murphy is a massive twat.
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He was watching the pen incident back as well on the monitor. I wonder if he has coached more shithousery into Emi?
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He resembles Bjarni, although his enthusiasm is completely different!
It has been markedly noticeable how the set pieces look better drilled, rehearsed and with innovation, so well done so far!
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What a signing.
I'd also like to point out, just in case anyone had forgotten, that Danny Murphy is a massive twat.
He’s more than massive, a ginormous twat.
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Agreed on Danny Murphy.
I don't remember Dougie taking any corners last season. Have I just completely forgotten our set-piece routines from last season or did he take them and they just weren't to the same standard?
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Agreed on Danny Murphy.
I don't remember Dougie taking any corners last season. Have I just completely forgotten our set-piece routines from last season or did he take them and they just weren't to the same standard?
It was Barkley for the most part hitting the first man.
For all the praise ultimately all it took was a whipped in inswinger towards six yard box and Hause getting a yard and it went in, sometimes the simple routines are the most effective.
We should've scored first half aswell from similar one when Konsa got a run and headed over.
Spare me all this short corner and floated towards back post nonsense we've had for last decade. That's certainly an area where football coaches needlessly overcomplicate things.
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I was sat just behind the dug outs today, and this chap is really involved, all of the time, and not just at set pieces. Doesn't look like he takes any shit either.
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A very good appointment I think.
Certainly seems very involved and switched on.
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A tremendous job so far. It’s not just attacking, we look better defensively from set pieces too.
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I’ve no idea what he earns but if he get £200k a year and every player knows where to be for all free kicks and throw-ins then that seems decent value for me. Amplify that by coaching the youth too and it’s steel.
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I used to play on my phone during set pieces. You sexy long haired beast!
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A great appointment for us.
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At one point in the game you could hear him screaming at a Villa player in very colourful language, he is making a difference.
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He also looks like he's in a Chilli Peppers tribute band.
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He also looks like he's in a Chilli Peppers tribute band.
Or Rick Wakeman has someone else said yesterday.
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I used to play on my phone during set pieces. You sexy long haired beast!
ha ha yes it was a case ‘oh well we are up the right end ‘
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The Danks-MacPhee combo seems to be working very well.
What I like about this season is our willingness to take the game to the oppo: we didn't see it so much against the Barcodes or Brentford at VP, it's a developing approach - perhaps resulting from the growing influence of these two new coaches - and it's great for the team and the fans watching.
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Yeah, agree with everyone here that Danks-MacPhee, along with sounding like a small town accountancy firm or solicitors, also seem to be an absolutely top notch coaching pair - at least from the improvements in the first few weeks of this season. Along with Neil Cutler, we've got a formidable coaching staff.
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He also looks like he's in a Chilli Peppers tribute band.
Or Rick Wakeman has someone else said yesterday.
A Prog’ rock band yet to be formed I think. If we keep scoring from set pieces we should get a collection organised to buy him a twin necked guitar.
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McPhee Danks Smith. Sounds like some sort of swimming accident. Seems to be working well, long may it continue.
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During a stoppage in play he appeared to be giving Ramsey a right bollicking.
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McPhee Danks Smith
Mary Whitehouse would not approve, that sounds filthy.
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McPhee Danks Smith sounds like a provincial advertising agency to me.
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The Danks-MacPhee combo seems to be working very well.
What I like about this season is our willingness to take the game to the oppo: we didn't see it so much against the Barcodes or Brentford at VP, it's a developing approach - perhaps resulting from the growing influence of these two new coaches - and it's great for the team and the fans watching.
I think shuffling the coaching staff every few seasons is something Ferguson did at United to keep things fresh
He didn’t do so bad
I think it’s a good idea to get new ideas and new perspective
That’s one of the things I’ve always liked about Dean Smith he’s never been threatened by bringing others in and around him if he thinks It will benefit the team
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I wonder if the import of Danks and MacPhee played a part in ROK leaving.
Not as in they were brought in to replace him. but to work with him, and he didn't like that.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
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I wonder if the import of Danks and MacPhee played a part in ROK leaving.
Not as in they were brought in to replace him. but to work with him, and he didn't like that.
It's certainly possible, although I reckon it started with Shakey coming in as number 2. I think it also does show that Terry leaving wasn't the disaster that one or two thought it was. We've basically replaced a well-meaning trainee coach with highly regarded specialists in their areas, and I say that with no disrespect intended to Terry who I thought was mostly a surprisingly positive influence for us.
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Shakey?
Ah yes CS. Fuck, my mind just went totally blank
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I think it was stated on here quite often that many people felt that they were of the opinion that along with his willingness to learn his coaching at the bottom first, possibly his greatest asset was instilling a professional and winning mentality along with his defensive nous. For that I shall always be grateful to him.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
...which, given how well MacPhee scripts set pieces, was probably a message to give to Emi telling him what to say/do when Man United got their inevitable penalty :)
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
...which, given how well MacPhee scripts set pieces, was probably a message to give to Emi telling him what to say/do when Man United got their inevitable penalty :)
It was Fergie's autograph to give to Kortney, something to keep in his pocket along with his wallet, car keys, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
...which, given how well MacPhee scripts set pieces, was probably a message to give to Emi telling him what to say/do when Man United got their inevitable penalty :)
It was Fergie's autograph to give to Kortney, something to keep in his pocket along with his wallet, car keys, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Maybe a note to pass to Mason Greenwood to tell him if he ever fancies playing for a proper team, instead of being a workhorse at the Manchester Home for Elderly Strikers, he knows where we are.
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…including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch.
It would so amuse me to do that one day at safely three up, to just pass meatball one saying “We’ve got McGinn, Super John McGinn”
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
...which, given how well MacPhee scripts set pieces, was probably a message to give to Emi telling him what to say/do when Man United got their inevitable penalty :)
It was Fergie's autograph to give to Kortney, something to keep in his pocket along with his wallet, car keys, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
If he had given that to Randy Lerner he’d have framed it.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
Solskjaer seemed to be getting angrier and redder but did nothing about it, apart from at one point storming down to the touchline to help one of the subs put his boots on and roll his sleeves up. Reminded me of someone less exotic, especially with that post-match excuse list.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
Solskjaer seemed to be getting angrier and redder but did nothing about it, apart from at one point storming down to the touchline to help one of the subs put his boots on and roll his sleeves up. Reminded me of someone less exotic, especially with that post-match excuse list.
I was thinking the same, they just have a more aesthetically pleasing Bruce in charge.
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
Solskjaer seemed to be getting angrier and redder but did nothing about it, apart from at one point storming down to the touchline to help one of the subs put his boots on and roll his sleeves up. Reminded me of someone less exotic, especially with that post-match excuse list.
I was thinking the same, they just have a more aesthetically pleasing Bruce in charge.
John Merrick?
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I was sat behind the dugouts on Saturday, and it was really noticeable the difference in styles between Smith and his coaches; and OGS and his. Smith was on his feet the whole time, talking to the coaches and they were constantly giving the players instructions, including a handwritten note given to McGinn at one point, which he then tore up and scattered on the Old Trafford pitch. OGS on the other hand was sat down with his head in his hands next to Carrick for most of the match, rarely seeming to do anything at all.
Solskjaer seemed to be getting angrier and redder but did nothing about it, apart from at one point storming down to the touchline to help one of the subs put his boots on and roll his sleeves up. Reminded me of someone less exotic, especially with that post-match excuse list.
Garth Crooks on the Beeb website......
As for Solskjaer whinging about an infringement by Ollie Watkins on David de Gea for the goal, I have never heard such tosh
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I’ve just seen the last man Maguire pull down of McGinn utterly shocking, no VAR?! !
https://twitter.com/avfc_vilr/status/1441819792604864512?s=21
And they moan about that non-infringement ha!
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It's also shite defending by slabhead, something he's very prone to. I'd have Mings over him any day of the week.
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He also looks like he's in a Chilli Peppers tribute band.
When you think, every corner we used to give it away, give it away, give it away now!
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He also looks like he's in a Chilli Peppers tribute band.
When you think, every corner we used to give it away, give it away, give it away now!
Boom boom!
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I’ve just seen the last man Maguire pull down of McGinn utterly shocking, no VAR?! !
https://twitter.com/avfc_vilr/status/1441819792604864512?s=21
And they moan about that non-infringement ha!
First time I’ve seen that. What happened next? Did Maguire get booked or was it just a freekick…or neither?
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What do you reckon happened? I bet you have the right answer.
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It looked like a foul was going to be given by the way the defenders slowed down, but my educated guess is the ball ran through to De Gea and they just played on?
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It looked like a foul was going to be given by the way the defenders slowed down, but my educated guess is the ball ran through to De Gea and they just played on?
They discussed it on Ref Watch this morning - all they spoke about was whether it was a red or yellow card. Not one of the fuckers pointed out the irrelevance of the discussion given we didn’t even get a bastard free-kick.
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It looked like a foul was going to be given by the way the defenders slowed down, but my educated guess is the ball ran through to De Gea and they just played on?
They discussed it on Ref Watch this morning - all they spoke about was whether it was a red or yellow card. Not one of the fuckers pointed out the irrelevance of the discussion given we didn’t even get a bastard free-kick.
Interesting because the co-commentator on Saturday said that De Gea would have got to the ball first, justifying the lack of any sort of card, free kick or VAR check. Both Watkins and SJM were clean though. SJM to Watkins for a simple tap in. De Gea was stuck on his line dithering at the prospect of having to take on John McGinn. Shocking refereeing, total knobshite Mike Dean. Crap referee.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
Another reason to give smith credit.
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It looked like a foul was going to be given by the way the defenders slowed down, but my educated guess is the ball ran through to De Gea and they just played on?
They discussed it on Ref Watch this morning - all they spoke about was whether it was a red or yellow card. Not one of the fuckers pointed out the irrelevance of the discussion given we didn’t even get a bastard free-kick.
Interesting because the co-commentator on Saturday said that De Gea would have got to the ball first, justifying the lack of any sort of card, free kick or VAR check. Both Watkins and SJM were clean though. SJM to Watkins for a simple tap in. De Gea was stuck on his line dithering at the prospect of having to take on John McGinn. Shocking refereeing, total knobshite Mike Dean. Crap referee.
I think De Gea would have got to it first, although probably having to deal with it outside the box under pressure. But was still a very professional foul from Slabhead who didn't know anything about the ball path, defenders behind or keepers readiness and pretty much right in front of the ref.
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It looked like a foul was going to be given by the way the defenders slowed down, but my educated guess is the ball ran through to De Gea and they just played on?
They discussed it on Ref Watch this morning - all they spoke about was whether it was a red or yellow card. Not one of the fuckers pointed out the irrelevance of the discussion given we didn’t even get a bastard free-kick.
Interesting because the co-commentator on Saturday said that De Gea would have got to the ball first, justifying the lack of any sort of card, free kick or VAR check. Both Watkins and SJM were clean though. SJM to Watkins for a simple tap in. De Gea was stuck on his line dithering at the prospect of having to take on John McGinn. Shocking refereeing, total knobshite Mike Dean. Crap referee.
I think De Gea would have got to it first, although probably having to deal with it outside the box under pressure. But was still a very professional foul from Slabhead who didn't know anything about the ball path, defenders behind or keepers readiness and pretty much right in front of the ref.
It was such a shite decision that Mike even had to wave play on when slabhead dived for a penalty from a corner shortly after the rugby tackle. He knew from McGinns reaction he'd got a really obvious professional foul badly wrong.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
I'm not sure either. Our set pieces have been absolutely dire for years. Corners failing to beat the first man more often than not, free kicks into the stratosphere, no movement at throw ins etc. McPhee hasn't fine tuned these, he's gone straight past making them competent and actually made us a threat and dangerous.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
I'm not sure either. Our set pieces have been absolutely dire for years. Corners failing to beat the first man more often than not, free kicks into the stratosphere, no movement at throw ins etc. McPhee hasn't fine tuned these, he's gone straight past making them competent and actually made us a threat and dangerous.
Have a few Cardiff-supporting mates. They'd said they got 5-8 goals a season as a direct result of Andy Legg's throw ins. Said for them, a throw in level with the penalty area was better than a corner. Their corners at the time were atrocious, but Legg could pretty much throw the ball to the head of any player he chose in the penalty area, such was his range & accuracy with them.
Thought at the time it was odd that teams higher up the league didn't try to coach that type of thing in to their throw-in takers. You'd think, if something gets you half a dozen goals a season, it's worth getting pretty good at it.
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
Yes, then?
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
Yes, then?
Specialist coaches have been all the rage in most sports for years. This is just another type. It really isn't rocket science. Look how well England used set pieces in 2018 World Cup
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
I’m sure Liverpool employ a throw in expert. No comment by D Murphy on that I expect.
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
I’m sure Liverpool employ a throw in expert. No comment by D Murphy on that I expect.
They do - Thomas Gronnemark
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do you know what else has made a big difference?
grealish not taking set pieces. he was shite at it.
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do you know what else has made a big difference?
grealish not taking set pieces. he was shite at it.
So true, remember his interview at the Euros saying something like Villa aren't too good at set pieces? No fault of his of course!
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
Who the fuck is Danny Murphy ? Is he a national hunt jockey?
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
Who the fuck is Danny Murphy ? Is he a national hunt jockey?
One of those words rhymes with what he is.
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Danny Murphy is a miserable prick
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
I'm not sure either. Our set pieces have been absolutely dire for years. Corners failing to beat the first man more often than not, free kicks into the stratosphere, no movement at throw ins etc. McPhee hasn't fine tuned these, he's gone straight past making them competent and actually made us a threat and dangerous.
Okay, I may be wrong. My point was more along the lines of ‘paralysis of analysis’ where the day to day clusterfuck of changing systems and individuals means the player’s brains are too full to absorb new (arguably peripheral) information. I think a certain amount of stability give you the time on the training pitch and the players have the head-room to absorb it.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
I'm not sure either. Our set pieces have been absolutely dire for years. Corners failing to beat the first man more often than not, free kicks into the stratosphere, no movement at throw ins etc. McPhee hasn't fine tuned these, he's gone straight past making them competent and actually made us a threat and dangerous.
Okay, I may be wrong. My point was more along the lines of ‘paralysis of analysis’ where the day to day clusterfuck of changing systems and individuals means the player’s brains are too full to absorb new (arguably peripheral) information. I think a certain amount of stability give you the time on the training pitch and the players have the head-room to absorb it.
I agree with you, by the way. I think a big difference is that this season we've fielded sides that look very similar to ones we could've put out last season. That stability is something I'd guess Dean hasn't had before (either at us, or to a large extent any of his previous clubs).
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Totally impressed by the addition of MacPhee to the team. He's made a big, big difference already.
You have to wonder if other teams have noticed? Not the specifics of the set-pieces themselves, but that having a specialist set-piece coach has demonstrably improved us so much in such a short space of time.
Should we expect to see other teams employing set-piece specialists in the very near future?
Danny Murphy says no.
Who the fuck is Danny Murphy ? Is he a national hunt jockey?
One of those words rhymes with what he is.
You're right, he is cocky.
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And he is certainly irrational.
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Irrational cocky ******. Seems fair enough to me.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
Houllier could have done with one. We went from conceding one goal from set-pieces in MON’s last season, to 28 in Houllier’s season. With the same defenders we went from the best in the league at defending them to the worst.
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A small observation but before Smith and during the preceding 5-10 years appointing a set piece coach such as MacPhee would’ve made minimal difference. Marginal gains such as this can only really work once the team already has a structure and organised base to build from.
I'm not sure about that. I would have thought improving set pieces (both attacking and defending) with a potenial 5-10 goal swing in a season would improve any team, whatever lever they're playing at.
Houllier could have done with one. We went from conceding one goal from set-pieces in MON’s last season, to 28 in Houllier’s season. With the same defenders we went from the best in the league at defending them to the worst.
Ah yes I remember those days. Didn’t someone on this site refer to them as cornalties.
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I think it was a bit later, Millwall away in the Cup under Lambert rings a bell as when we first saw 'cornalty' enter our lexicon.
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Even the poorest team can rehearse and practise taking corners. Set-pieces should create chances - the team taking are in control of the situation and can deliver the ball into the right areas. It was one of SGT's tactics.
Remember the buzz around the ground when Cowans used to take the corners. It's been a long time since that happened...
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I also loved the period with BFR when the fashion was to hit front post man and he would get "Eyebrows - tm BFR" on it for a thundering 2nd header to pile it in
Very difficult to defend against
Arsenal were masters at it
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Noticed he was very involved and barking orders and instructions with Smith looking a bit sheepish behind him
And I'm wondering how much alternate there is with the long throw which needs to be flatter as well as several corners first half that were all put to the near post.
I think he's introduced some extra vantages with some of our play but I don't know how much of this is a Dean Smith philosophy of football
It's certainly not mine.
The long throws are too much of thing. And a thing which didn't cause enough issue today from what I saw.
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The long throws today looked very much as harmlessly high and floaty as Ashley Westwood corners used to.
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He failed in his contribution today to be honest. Everything we did after the first 15 mins when we were fantastic was predictable, from the throw ins, to the near post corners, to the high balls forward to the wings (rugby style) - needs to offer alternatives to the team in every game
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I said to my mate when watching, that now the media have picked up on it we could fall into the trap of thinking we have to try new inventive stuff all the time and the moves become more style over substance
Variation is good but effectiveness is better
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There was one moment yesterday when we had a throw in their half. All of the Spurs players were in the area, as were most of ours, and another useless long throw came in. I thought then that a short one would have worked really well because there were no opposition players near Cash at all. We should be mixing them up, because when things become predictable they stop working.
edit: I am a twat!
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Well no wonder we lost if man u were there too 🙂
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Well no wonder we lost if man u were there too 🙂
Ha ha, thanks, edited.
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Well no wonder we lost if man u were there too 🙂
Ha ha, thanks, edited.
We know that you just say the same thing over and over.... I just hadn't realised it was Cut and Paste. ;)
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Well no wonder we lost if man u were there too 🙂
Ha ha, thanks, edited.
We know that you just say the same thing over and over.... I just hadn't realised it was Cut and Paste. ;)
Ha ha, thanks, edited.
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But your point stands the occasional long throw is ok, but sometimes there is a simpler throw in that keeps possession.
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Formations and tactics aside, I have another bone to pick with Dean. Actually it's partly exacerbated by Sky, BT, etc. It's down to the fact this is modern football and they have set piece coaches. It's also down to the fact we even know, and hear regularly about Austin MacPhee. He's mentioned on commentary repeatedly, no matter which outlet I'm watching. It's becoming less regular with continued lack of success as the myth fades, but have our set pieces really improved? Is MacPhee not also responsible for how we defend set plays? (Our defending of set plays is shocking lately).
I'm glad a long throw led to an Ings bicycle kick. I'm loath to quote Andy fucking Gray but I heard him analysing that goal a while back and they brought up the MacPhee impact. His response, quite rightly was, 'any manager could tell you a long throw can be effective.' The point was also made that if Fat Sam or Tiny Penis score goals via a long throw, they're a dinosaur. If a side with a set play specialist does it, they're ingenious and progressive.
Initially we saw a few cute, if ultimately ineffective routines. Hause scored a good goal from what was ultimately a simple corner and a bit of movement (does this require a 'specialist?') That was also as much down to Hause being better aerially than our other CH's (in fact Hause had swapped roles with Mings in that particular play, a call from Mings apparently).
Of late though, our set plays have been as monumentally shite as they've always been. Partly the fact no one can deliver a decent ball (hopefully Bailey changes that as his display against Everton teased), but some of the routines have been a bit secondary school playground.
We need a coach to work on passing and movement has modern football invented such things? I'm hoping going to a back four will see our defensive solidity get better, because I'm hoping we're not missing JT that much.
I've no problem persay with MacPhee, but he's getting too much reverence. Maybe that's coming largely outside of the club from the media. He seems influential on the touchline with Smith, and results and performances are suggesting we're not as good as last season and Joe aside, a big change in the coaching staff must have had an effect.
If there is still a myth about our set play specialist appointment being some stroke of genius, can we put it to bed now? Sky...et al...enough...
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He's been noticeably less visible on the bench since we've conceded 4 goals from set pieces in the last two games. It hasn't taken teams long to suss out the long throw to Mings from Cash in their area either, so I hope he's got a bit more than that in his locker.
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There was one 'long' throw from Cash against Arsenal that was so lacking in distance that it barely made it half way towards the nearest Villa player, and was duly gobbled up by an Arsenal defender with no Villa player anywhere close.
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I think MacPhee may be the problem with his tactics all of which would work lower down in the leagues but easily picked out in the premiership.
The long throw - might work once or twice to begin with but every team we are playing now are on to it. Time to give it a rest.
The long punt to the corners (what I call a rugby kick) it is desperation tactic not one you wish to use.
We simply need to be playing with the skill our players have got not turning into a Wimbledon/Watford/Wolves/stoke/west brom/blues depending on what era your identify with
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There was one 'long' throw from Cash against Arsenal that was so lacking in distance that it barely made it half way towards the nearest Villa player, and was duly gobbled up by an Arsenal defender with no Villa player anywhere close.
I saw that, it didn't even make it into the penalty area.
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I'd like if we never saw a long throw again. Those are the tactics of a different era. If we could focus on retaining possession from throw ins that would be a welcome change.
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I've got no problem with a long throw every now and again but fuck me, not every time. As soon as Cash gets the ball on the touchline everybody is in the box waiting for it and the past few games they have become easy to defend against because the opposition no what is coming, why is nobody coming short in these circumstances to take advantage of the space left from the defending team?
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I've got no problem with a long throw every now and again but fuck me, not every time. As soon as Cash gets the ball on the touchline everybody is in the box waiting for it and the past few games they have become easy to defend against because the opposition no what is coming, why is nobody coming short in these circumstances to take advantage of the space left from the defending team?
Where it worked for peak era Stoke for example, was in having a team of absolute monsters in the box. Couldn't play football at all, but they were brick shithouses. Mings aside (who isn't actually that good in the air considering), we don't have that, which makes the whole exercise far less effective. Not that i'd want this at all.
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When your RB comes across to LB to launch a throw in, you know its gone too far.
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I've got no problem with a long throw every now and again but fuck me, not every time. As soon as Cash gets the ball on the touchline everybody is in the box waiting for it and the past few games they have become easy to defend against because the opposition no what is coming, why is nobody coming short in these circumstances to take advantage of the space left from the defending team?
Where it worked for peak era Stoke for example, was in having a team of absolute monsters in the box. Couldn't play football at all, but they were brick shithouses. Mings aside (who isn't actually that good in the air considering), we don't have that, which makes the whole exercise far less effective. Not that i'd want this at all.
The game at this level has moved on since Delap
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It's a useful weapon to have, but surely the key to it is to mix it up and keep opponent.s guessing
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It's playing the percentages. It causes panic, it did on Friday after we'd scored. We can't take a decent throw in anyway.
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I'm all for inventive set-pieces but for me there's nothing that screams shit tactics more than the long throw. I appreciate it can occasionally be a useful weapon.
I might be football snob but it's not something I've ever associated with Aston Villa.
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I'm all for inventive set-pieces but for me there's nothing that screams shit tactics more than the long throw. I appreciate it can occasionally be a useful weapon.
I might be football snob but it's not something I've ever associated with Aston Villa.
I agree and it's not as if Cash is our Rory Delap. His throws are far too lofted to really pose a threat.
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No point saying your one of the best set piece coaches around if your good for 2-3 games then utter turd in the following three
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A long throw into the box is similar to having a corner. It gets the ball into a danger area quickly.
There was one that slipped out of his hands, yes, much like a scuffed corner not passing the first man. Annoying but it happens.
Anyway, just because we've lost a couple doesn't mean everything has gone to shit.
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No point saying your one of the best set piece coaches around if your good for 2-3 games then utter turd in the following three
A coach is just what it says on the tin, it’s down to the players to implement it. In any case it’s a bit fanciful to think that even with a specialist in place everything is going to automatically come off. It just means that the players have a plan for each dead ball situation.
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With a set-piece coach, you would think we would be better at defending them as well as creating chances. I think i'm right in saying that we've got some of the worst stats for goals conceded from set-pieces so far this season. West Ham have got one of the best records from scoring from set-pieces and are a very physically strong side so it already doesn't look good.
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Not sure if this point has been made but are we not accommodating the wrong players but actually playing players/formation to accommodate the set piece coach?
I'm all for adopting different styles at times but our football has gone to absolute shit and for all the good McPhee has done it appears to have been outshone with rubbish in the last few weeks.
Perhaps we are looking at the wrong person on the bench.....
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Great point Nev, there is far too much emphasis on this new coach in our play. We’ve suddenly lost the identity we have been trying to bring to the club, up through the ranks.
What’s happened to the high press and fast flowing attacking football?
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But in the movie and books Nanny McPhee discipline and a little magic transformed the family's lives!
This is what we're after with magical set pieces!
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But in the movie and books Nanny McPhee discipline and a little magic transformed the family's lives!
This is what we're after with magical set pieces!
He needs a cane that he can bang on the floor when things are going wrong
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But in the movie and books Nanny McPhee discipline and a little magic transformed the family's lives!
This is what we're after with magical set pieces!
He needs a cane that he can bang on the floor when things are going wrong
And teeth like a row of condemned houses.
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Not sure if this point has been made but are we not accommodating the wrong players but actually playing players/formation to accommodate the set piece coach?
I'm all for adopting different styles at times but our football has gone to absolute shit and for all the good McPhee has done it appears to have been outshone with rubbish in the last few weeks.
Perhaps we are looking at the wrong person on the bench.....
That’s an interesting point, and one I hadn’t considered.
Do you think our recent tactics/ formations are heavily influenced by McPhee and what he wants/ needs for set pieces?
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I'm looking for the reason Smith has appeared to abandon his ideology that has served him so well for most of his managerial career. The odd game I can understand but to persist with something that clearly isn't working is baffling. We now play alehouse football, reliant on set pieces rather than good football complimented by set pieces.
There has to be some reason...
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But in the movie and books Nanny McPhee discipline and a little magic transformed the family's lives!
This is what we're after with magical set pieces!
He needs a cane that he can bang on the floor when things are going wrong
And teeth like a row of condemned houses.
Very good!
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I'm looking for the reason Smith has appeared to abandon his ideology that has served him so well for most of his managerial career. The odd game I can understand but to persist with something that clearly isn't working is baffling. We now play alehouse football, reliant on set pieces rather than good football complimented by set pieces.
There has to be some reason...
Something happens at our club to bring out a horrible stubborn streak in our managers. I can’t put my finger on why, perhaps it is the expectation that they should do better than they usually do.
One thing I’ve noticed has changed with Smith (who I like), he used to talk a good game. I’d usually learn something when I listened to his interviews. But not now. Maybe he’s worn out.
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Our setpiece coach ,seems to have missed a trick ,on the defensive side of things. Why don’t we leave two pacey or even sluggish players ,on the halfway line ,giving us an out ball and restricting the amount of players the opposition could send forward.
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Our setpiece coach ,seems to have missed a trick ,on the defensive side of things. Why don’t we leave two pacey or even sluggish players ,on the halfway line ,giving us an out ball and restricting the amount of players the opposition could send forward.
As Wolves did. The only team I can recall that has done that recently - they left 3 out, giving their keeper more space to operate and their opponents more to think about immediately after the kick.
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The tactical genius that is Lee bowyer did this against Albion recently. It’s not that hard to spot.
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Our setpiece coach ,seems to have missed a trick ,on the defensive side of things. Why don’t we leave two pacey or even sluggish players ,on the halfway line ,giving us an out ball and restricting the amount of players the opposition could send forward.
I'm no tactician, and have never even seen a copy of Inverting the Pyramid, but I can't understand why we don't do this. I'd leave three men up.
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Our setpiece coach ,seems to have missed a trick ,on the defensive side of things. Why don’t we leave two pacey or even sluggish players ,on the halfway line ,giving us an out ball and restricting the amount of players the opposition could send forward.
I'm no tactician, and have never even seen a copy of Inverting the Pyramid, but I can't understand why we don't do this. I'd leave three men up.
I'm not an expert either, but the Dogheads did it, whilst we brought everybody back. One team has conceded a lot of goals from corners recently.
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I've always thought you should leave at least one player up the pitch, otherwise you have to try and play out from a congested area, hoof the ball or make sure your keeper gets possession.
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The thinking in the last decade seemed to go towards bringing everyone back and then breaking at pace into wide open spaces as invariably the opposition would leave one or two back and that players would be running onto the ball rather than having to pass the ball to transition up the pitch. I think there were some statistics that backed this approach up that more goals were scored breaking onto the opposition through pace rather than passing phases and having an out ball.
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I've always thought you should leave at least one player up the pitch, otherwise you have to try and play out from a congested area, hoof the ball or make sure your keeper gets possession.
That's surely coaching 1.0? We even do that on a Tuesday night 5-a-side. Having everybody back just crowds the area, and keeps the pressure on with no outlet to relieve it. And in the specific case of Villa, it usually ends up with Mings wandering around like a lost child in a supermarket, or a fart in a spacesuit.
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Our setpiece coach ,seems to have missed a trick ,on the defensive side of things. Why don’t we leave two pacey or even sluggish players ,on the halfway line ,giving us an out ball and restricting the amount of players the opposition could send forward.
As Wolves did. The only team I can recall that has done that recently - they left 3 out, giving their keeper more space to operate and their opponents more to think about immediately after the kick.
I sit at the back of the North Stand and can see the formations really clearly.
As soon as we had possession Wolves dropped into a 5-4-1 formation, too. Hoping to catch us on the break, which they nearly did a couple of times.
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I would back Bailey in a foot race against anyone virtually in the league and certainly defenders so any half decent ball out of defence towards the centre of the field is bound to give us at least a chance as well as improving us defensively? Maybe I’m not being scientific enough.
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I would back Bailey in a foot race against anyone virtually in the league and certainly defenders so any half decent ball out of defence towards the centre of the field is bound to give us at least a chance as well as improving us defensively? Maybe I’m not being scientific enough.
Alright tactics Tim
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We're not doing well in XG, if that's the kind of thing that bothers you.
https://twitter.com/experimental361/status/1454704982427586564
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I would back Bailey in a foot race against anyone virtually in the league and certainly defenders so any half decent ball out of defence towards the centre of the field is bound to give us at least a chance as well as improving us defensively? Maybe I’m not being scientific enough.
Alright tactics Tim
I was trying to be amusing and reading it back it looked arsey. Sorry.
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It’s okay…..bar steward :-)
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Against Brentford we left 2 up when where defending corners. I think we'll see similar today.
I don't think we've permanently changed our philosophy, otherwise the youth & u23's would also have changed & they haven't. We'll be back to 433 today.
We've toyed with 532 simply been because we haven't had the players to choose from, unless we're saying we be playing El Ghazi.
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I'd leave 2 right on the halfway line pushed right out to the wings and have it as the 2 quickest players in the team. On top of that I'd have someone with a good touch and decent range of passing float in the space about 20-25 yards from goal with the job of getting the ball forward quick if it comes to the edge of the box. Bailey and Watkins as the 2 and Luiz as the 3rd would be my first choices.
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Buendia instead of Luiz today.
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Buendia instead of Luiz today.
Yep, he's no use marking in the box anyway.
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Buendia instead of Luiz today.
Yep, he's no use marking in the box anyway.
None of them are whilst we continue to use zonal marking. So easy to get around.
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Dinosaur.
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Great appointment we look so much better.
One of the best in the business? Horse shit
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I haven't seen us kick off like that in 40 years. Booting the ball into the corner?
I rest my case.
He is a malevolent and toxic influence that will see the manager out of a job.
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More genius innovations from our long-haired genius. Bailey taking throw ins. Both went straight to a West Ham player. Innovation canned.
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Well I guess he's got Matty Cash throwing about 5 yards further, and faster and flatter than at the start of the season. The difference was notable today and presumably it's a definite tactic. However it was worrying how much I thought a throw in was a good opportunity for us today ☹️
There was definitely an element of kicking the ball towards the touchline up the field to increase the likelihood of a long throw in. We went very Wimbledon at times and certainly not great to watch.
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Let's hope he doesn't watch a video of Harry Kane taking corners at a Euro's or we might see Olly taking them soon. I've seen nothing to suggest he's worth employing long term. Lose O'Kelly and Terry and replace with the son of Pulis. Garbage appointment.
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‘Sling it long lad’
That’s it.
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Get him out of the football club immediately and bring in a proper coach.
Absolutely ridiculous appointment. Terry and ROK for this clown. Something isn't right and I said it months ago and got ridiculed.
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I have a feeling this guy is part of the problem…and if not, then he’s definitely responsible for some really shit non league standard tactics we’re seeing over and over again. Get rid.
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Where did he coach before us?
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I like it when we do that thing where the ball comes in and we head it and score. Shit... was Murphy right?
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Doesn’t have a history of high profile clubs…Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Heart of Midlothian and FC Midtjylland. Also assistant coach for Northern Ireland before moving to Scotland. Basically the level of domestic and international teams that you’d expect the kind of shit tactics we’re now seeing at Villa Park being used.
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Something seriously changed with our style of play by this appointment. What I don’t get is we are trying to establish a style of play throughout the club so how the hell are any of our youngsters going to adapt to this 1980’s style. We pass the ball out from the keeper, play it nervously two or three times then punt it down the channels. The long throw is used too much and what’s happened to the set pieces?
I hate to say it but Danny Murphy may have been right at the start of the season when this was discussed on MOTD.
We’re so hard to watch, even at two nil against Wolves it wasn’t a confident performance, Wolves were woeful that day.
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Does he work for Scotland national team too. Sure I saw a bloke who looked like him on their bench?
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He does.
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Does he work for Scotland national team too. Sure I saw a bloke who looked like him on their bench?
Can they please take him back. He is absolutely hopeless.
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He still works for them. He’s only part time with us I think. Or them I’m not sure.
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The time to worry is when he starts to say ‘Bingo’ around the training ground.
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Does he work for Scotland national team too. Sure I saw a bloke who looked like him on their bench?
Can they please take him back. He is absolutely hopeless.
How do you know that?
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He still works for them. He’s only part time with us I think. Or them I’m not sure.
The other coach he works with at Scotland is the legend that is John Carver. With those two on board no wonder Scotland are such an international force to be reckoned with.
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He's a total Mickey Mouse appointment. We're meant to be one of the richest clubs in the world, then we employ some clown who was at Cowdenbeath, I hope this isn't going to turn in to another MON era, all the money in the world and buying Marlon Harewoods and Emile Heskeys.
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There is nothing wrong with the appointment but his brief appears to have gone way beyond set pieces. I sit level with the edge of the technical area and he was the furthest forward at times barking at the players. Either his influence is too great or Dean Smith has decided to completely abandon his style of play in favour of a rudimentary and, frankly outdated approach.
I leave you to decide which is which.
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And what about the other new coach - he seems to have delivered bugger all!!
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And what about the other new coach - he seems to have delivered bugger all!!
I was thinking that yesterday, I can't recall seeing much of him on the touchline....
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And what about the other new coach - he seems to have delivered bugger all!!
Who is the other new coach?
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Why don't they incorporate Davis into the team if long throws are going to be the way to go?
At least five a presence in the box if we insist on such nonsense
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Why don't they incorporate Davis into the team if long throws are going to be the way to go?
At least five a presence in the box if we insist on such nonsense
A fair question Footy.
I don’t mind the long throws as an option, but using them every single time makes therm very predictable and ineffective.
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DS has been trying to incorporate him into the team the last few seasons but he’s made of glass and only just back from his latest injury…plus he’s clearly not as good as Watkins, Ings or Archer.
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Why don't they incorporate Davis into the team if long throws are going to be the way to go?
At least five a presence in the box if we insist on such nonsense
A fair question Footy.
I don’t mind the long throws as an option, but using them every single time makes therm very predictable and ineffective.
It's also not the Dean Smith way.
OK we lost a heck a lot of assists with seeking 100m man but trying this brand of football isn't the culture and identity that Smigh has worked on the last 3 years
I know Deano likes to develop and progress with things however this set piece thing is a concern.
It also needs to be reserved for desperation rather than a go to
If only because we don't have any one who is getting on end of it let alone some questionable launches in first place.
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If he loses his job, Deano will have a lot of regrets if he hasn’t been true to himself and has in fact let himself be influenced by stronger personalities and perhaps persuaded to play in a different style/system. That would be a gutting way to lose your dream job.
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As useless as he has been lets not forget who bought them in. The buck stops with smith.
It shows to me o reilly and terry added alot of value last year when you see how hopeless we have been the last month
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As useless as he has been lets not forget who bought them in. The buck stops with smith.
It shows to me o reilly and terry added alot of value last year when you see how hopeless we have been the last month
I would imagine it was a decision made mainly by the sporting director but with Deano's input.
I wonder if part of the issue is Lange wanted to refresh the coaching set-up, hence intending to sideline O'Kelly ( I think the Terry departure was geniunely his choice) and the balance has now skewed.
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As useless as he has been lets not forget who bought them in. The buck stops with smith.
It shows to me o reilly and terry added alot of value last year when you see how hopeless we have been the last month
Did Dean Smith appoint MacPhee and Danks though or were they appointed by someone else (Lange perhaps)?
Still would like to know what happened with Terry and O'Kelly over the summer, as something just didn't seem right about their departures.
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As useless as he has been lets not forget who bought them in. The buck stops with smith.
It shows to me o reilly and terry added alot of value last year when you see how hopeless we have been the last month
Did Dean Smith appoint MacPhee and Danks though or were they appointed by someone else (Lange perhaps)?
Still would like to know what happened with Terry and O'Kelly over the summer, as something just didn't seem right about their departures.
I would say Terry is ambitious and just felt it was time to move on. The ROK one was more interesting, wasn’t there rumours he was offered a role with the youth set up, practically a demotion if true. None of us know, but this doesn’t strike me as totally a Smith decision, gives his long term ties with O’Kelly, i would of thought the sporting director had a great deal of input. Must of been a very hard conversation to have with a friend as well as a colleague.
The worrying thing for me, is when i read the Ashley Preece piece, with all my reservations about the bham mail and he’s not exactly Percy, but even with all that, it all just struck me as accurate. A hectic touchline, lots of noise and different messages, Dean Smith sticking with Shakespeare whilst McPhee runs up and down the touchline.
It just all seems a mess and to be honest far from easily resolvable. When i read the article my heart sank a bit as i thought there is literally no way out of this for Smith, other than losing his job. It’s not feasible to sweep the board with his coaching team and start again mid season, the only way to do this is, if he goes as well. Southampton now has disaster written all over it, a place we traditionally struggle, no Luiz, Ramsey, Ings, Konsa, Sanson possibly not if there is a covid link. It smells of a comprehensive defeat and that has to be the end then. I never want to see us lose and I’ve been a strong supporter of Smith on here, but even if we somehow get a draw or unlikely win, it feels like prolonging the inevitable, part of me really doesn’t want to see Deans last stand at Villa Park.
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If there are lots of voices then Smith needs to tell someone to shut up. However, we don't know what everyone is saying,unless they are shouting that loud that we do?
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He is in charge, it’s down to him to determine who talks and who doesn’t. And when. Previous profiles of him have him down as a very inclusive and co-operative type of manager who very rarely loses his temper. Well it sounds to me like he needs to go into a bit of directive management and start drawing some boundaries with his coaching team and the players, until he gets clarity and a sense of purpose around the direction we need to be heading. From the outside it does look like a bit of a confused mess. Come on Deano, time to find your inner Malcolm Tucker.
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Doesn’t have a history of high profile clubs…Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Heart of Midlothian and FC Midtjylland. Also assistant coach for Northern Ireland before moving to Scotland. Basically the level of domestic and international teams that you’d expect the kind of shit tactics we’re now seeing at Villa Park being used.
Midtjylland are that Danish club Brentford own aren't they? So can only guess DS was sort of aware then of him and perhaps recommended him as a replacement once Terry and O'Kelly went.
Our coaching set up was very strong last season, again nowhere near this season.
When you look at the long throws the only one that has really worked was the Ings one v Newcastle and that was an amazing finish that rarely happens.
It's not like someone is flicking on and we're getting headers in on goal so I'd ditch it now unless we play a team really weak at defending headers.
Wonder what the hell Leon Bailey thought on Sunday that we signed him for 25m and are training him to be the new Rory Delap.
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If we welly the ball into touch again from the KO I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the rest of Friday's game....
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At every set play we seem to stop and get out the instruction manual for whatever cunning idea has been cooked up. And then we cock it up because the opposition has plenty of time to sort out their defensive shape. There’s nothing wrong with taking a quick throw to an available player (preferably a Villa teammate).
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At every set play we seem to stop and get out the instruction manual for whatever cunning idea has been cooked up. And then we cock it up because the opposition has plenty of time to sort out their defensive shape. There’s nothing wrong with taking a quick throw to an available player (preferably a Villa teammate).
This is interesting, and I think it is potentially at odds with the coaching philosophy of Danks.
Danks seems to be friendly with a guy called Russell Earnshaw (I watched an interview they had), who came to the rugby club where I coached and ran a session. He was very keen on player empowerment, and playing the situation as the player sees fit.
I think that a well drilled and innovative set piece can sit alongside a more pragmatic playing philosophy, but perhaps it takes a bit of time.
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At every set play we seem to stop and get out the instruction manual for whatever cunning idea has been cooked up. And then we cock it up because the opposition has plenty of time to sort out their defensive shape. There’s nothing wrong with taking a quick throw to an available player (preferably a Villa teammate).
This is interesting, and I think it is potentially at odds with the coaching philosophy of Danks.
Danks seems to be friendly with a guy called Russell Earnshaw (I watched an interview they had), who came to the rugby club where I coached and ran a session. He was very keen on player empowerment, and playing the situation as the player sees fit.
I think that a well drilled and innovative set piece can sit alongside a more pragmatic playing philosophy, but perhaps it takes a bit of time.
Danks coming in when he did - just after the season started - was not helpful if his philosophy is player-empowerment: that takes a while to persuade players who are probably used to being told what to do that they can 'make it up as it goes along'. Perhaps that's why we're seeing less effort / fewer kms being run?!
What this squad seems to need is a clear and compelling footballing strategy and an explanation of their role in it. Instead, we seem to have the chaos so well summarised by RamboandBruno above.
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The one thing about McPhee (and apologies if this has been touched on already, I've not read it all) but it is quite strange to see a member of the backroom being as vocal as he is on the touchline. I'm not sure how much of that helps. O'Kelly, Terry and Shakespeare tended to take a step back and observe.
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The one thing about McPhee (and apologies if this has been touched on already, I've not read it all) but it is quite strange to see a member of the backroom being as vocal as he is on the touchline. I'm not sure how much of that helps. O'Kelly, Terry and Shakespeare tended to take a step back and observe.
Presume he has been asked to be vocal and on the touchline, otherwise Dean would have told him not to do this
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The one thing about McPhee (and apologies if this has been touched on already, I've not read it all) but it is quite strange to see a member of the backroom being as vocal as he is on the touchline. I'm not sure how much of that helps. O'Kelly, Terry and Shakespeare tended to take a step back and observe.
I noticed that, I sit level with the dugouts in the UH. So did a mate of mine who watched the game in the pub (Sandwell Town "fan"). He asked me who the bloke with the long hair was and noted that he looked like he was running the show.
Of course my over active imagination has me half hearing McPhee shouting "knock it long", "hit the corners" and "get rid".
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The problem is I think the whole new setup probably needed a complete summer working together - to have any chance.
It like when we first came up again - too much has changed. I in the short term it feels like dean should go back to his formula of last year as close as possible and then mix it up from there.
Currently it feels like they are just trying everything and ending up with nothing.
For example - with set pieces - I naively thought we might start with getting the basics right before moving onto the advanced stuff
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He was better off when he was a Chef on Crossroads.
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Absolutely guaranteed that Poland score from the first long throw Matiusz Cashki takes.
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The one thing about McPhee (and apologies if this has been touched on already, I've not read it all) but it is quite strange to see a member of the backroom being as vocal as he is on the touchline. I'm not sure how much of that helps. O'Kelly, Terry and Shakespeare tended to take a step back and observe.
He looks one of those annoying "super keen" members of staff desperate to prove how important he is. He went absolutely ballistic at Martinez on Sunday for not immediately going to take a free kick when we were down to 10 men.
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Absolutely guaranteed that Poland score from the first long throw Matiusz Cashki takes.
It helps that Lewandowski is the recipient.
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... I sit level with the dugouts in the UH...
Sorry, I cannot picture that at all! You're in the Upper Holte and you're level with the dugouts?
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... I sit level with the dugouts in the UH...
Sorry, I cannot picture that at all! You're in the Upper Holte and you're level with the dugouts?
Above the corner flag, TR side so as I look straight ahead I'm looking down the touchline, the technical areas are directly in my eyeline.
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If we welly the ball into touch again from the KO I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the rest of Friday's game....
It gives me flashbacks of Steve Sims
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... I sit level with the dugouts in the UH...
Sorry, I cannot picture that at all! You're in the Upper Holte and you're level with the dugouts?
Above the corner flag, TR side so as I look straight ahead I'm looking down the touchline, the technical areas are directly in my eyeline.
Aaah, got you ;D
For some reason I read that you were closer to the dugout than that, but - yes - it now makes sense to me.
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If we welly the ball into touch again from the KO I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the rest of Friday's game....
It gives me flashbacks of Steve Sims
Those were the days!! Steve Sims straight out of play just over the head of super David Hunt!!
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If we welly the ball into touch again from the KO I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the rest of Friday's game....
It gives me flashbacks of Steve Sims
Those were the days!! Steve Sims straight out of play just over the head of super David Hunt!!
David Hunt. Nice tan, nice hair, terrible footballer.
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David Squires nailing MacPhee perfectly in this week's cartoon.
Guardian linky (https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2021/nov/02/david-squires-on-spurs-and-more-premier-league-managerial-hijinks).
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David Squires nailing MacPhee perfectly in this week's cartoon.
Guardian linky (https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2021/nov/02/david-squires-on-spurs-and-more-premier-league-managerial-hijinks).
Michail Antonio's 'David'. ;D
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Any mention of this guy or others on the coaching staff being culled too?
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
How has he remained and Smith and Shakespeare gone? I can’t believe for one minute the shit long ball and emphasis on set-pieces is anything other than this fellas doing.
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
How has he remained and Smith and Shakespeare gone? I can’t believe for one minute the shit long ball and emphasis on set-pieces is anything other than this fellas doing.
Im not entirely sure that’s fair, he was bought in to improve our set pieces and has had mixed results, but surely he wasn’t important enough to have the team playing to get those set pieces above anything else in the first place?
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
How has he remained and Smith and Shakespeare gone? I can’t believe for one minute the shit long ball and emphasis on set-pieces is anything other than this fellas doing.
Im not entirely sure that’s fair, he was bought in to improve our set pieces and has had mixed results, but surely he wasn’t important enough to have the team playing to get those set pieces above anything else in the first place?
Maybe presumptuous of me but since the start of the season we’ve had a very big change of style. Maybe it’s Shakespeare, but I don’t remember Leicester playing the ball down the channels like we’ve tried after tapping it around the back line a few times.
Our whole game plan is just so different to what it was or what Smith did at Brentford. The influence has come from somewhere.
I’m just surprised any of them have survived.
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If he gets a single game in charge as a caretaker then we'll be a laughing stock against Brighton. He's so in over his capability I'm amazed he was appointed in the first place. Track record you could scribble on the back of a stamp.
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He did get his 15 minutes of fame when we scored that goal from one of the long throws
He can dine out on
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The win at Man U wasn't bad.
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Ditching Shakespeare even though he was caretaker at Leicester for three months suggests it's certain we'll have someone in place for Brighton, I expect new manager in place by middle of the week.
McPhee is very lucky to be here given some of the rubbish tactics he's inflicted on us so far. I expect new manager to call him out and him to depart very quickly.
Don't know enough about what the other guy does to state if he should remain.
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I find it a bit weird that he's seemingly getting the blame for how we've performed. He is hardly responsible for how we have played in open play this year. Yes, everyone should take some responsibility, but it does seems a bit ott to me
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I find it a bit weird that he's seemingly getting the blame for how we've performed. He is hardly responsible for how we have played in open play this year. Yes, everyone should take some responsibility, but it does seems a bit ott to me
Making Leon Bailey take long throws v West Ham was comical, was barely making the box and not like Cash ones go near six yard box if he's chucking them in from 30 yards out.
And after a couple of games in September when we looked dangerous from corners we've reverted to type and hardly every look like scoring so given that's a big part of his remit we're not doing too well currently in that area.
Look at the carnage West Ham caused from set pieces today v one of best teams in europe.
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I find it a bit weird that he's seemingly getting the blame for how we've performed. He is hardly responsible for how we have played in open play this year. Yes, everyone should take some responsibility, but it does seems a bit ott to me
It might not be him, could be Danks but something fundamental has changed in our approach in the last few weeks. It could be Smith suddenly decided to ditch what had served him so well in the last 10 years of management but this seems fanciful I would suggest.
Of course, we're looking at the whole year in terms of results in which those two weren't always involved but it was obvious that our style changed recently. We became more aggressive, more direct, every throw in the oponents half became a long throw and the variation went out of the window. I've not seen us boot the ball into touch from the KO since Sir Graham was in charge first time around.
McPhee appeared far more prominent in the technical area than you would think necessary.
Ultimately Smith was in charge and paid the price but there is more to the story I'm sure.
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
How has he remained and Smith and Shakespeare gone? I can’t believe for one minute the shit long ball and emphasis on set-pieces is anything other than this fellas doing.
Presumably he and Danks are still in post to run training sessions during the International break.
Shaky has gone - presumably - because Purslow is confident of bringing in a new coach who will then decide whether to keep MacPhee and Danks.
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Surprised McPhee hasn’t already been given his marching orders. We have regressed since he came in.
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I think he is a symptom of the mess of the last few months, rather than the cause.
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It would seem not. I really, really hope we appoint somebody before we have to give him the caretaker job.
How has he remained and Smith and Shakespeare gone?
Agreed.
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I find it a bit weird that he's seemingly getting the blame for how we've performed. He is hardly responsible for how we have played in open play this year. Yes, everyone should take some responsibility, but it does seems a bit ott to me
Agreed. Also, we've only won three games this season, and in all of them we scored from a set piece. The attacking set pieces haven't been too bad at all. Defensively they've been much worse recently, but I see this as more down to confusion since ditching the tried and tested four at the back than to MacPhee's coaching.
Will be interesting to see if the new manager keeps him on.
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I’d sack him and get new pitchside towels instead.
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I think our problem is Shakespeare. And Smith being influenced by him. Those two are the ones in charge (obviously Smith but Shakespeare is No. 2)
A
It's a typical trait to look to find blame, and I'm doing it too, but in reality there have been a whole number of mitigating factors and I don't think McPhee should carry the can.
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I think our problem is Shakespeare. And Smith being influenced by him. Those two are the ones in charge (obviously Smith but Shakespeare is No. 2)
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It's a typical trait to look to find blame, and I'm doing it too, but in reality there have been a whole number of mitigating factors and I don't think McPhee should carry the can.
I think he's a symptom rather than the main cause. I think it's quite obvious that his introduction hasn't helped matters though.
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I think our problem is Shakespeare. And Smith being influenced by him. Those two are the ones in charge (obviously Smith but Shakespeare is No. 2)
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It's a typical trait to look to find blame, and I'm doing it too, but in reality there have been a whole number of mitigating factors and I don't think McPhee should carry the can.
What I'd like to know is where the change in approach came from, I suspect McPhee and may be wrong (could well be Danks) but even when we struggled under Smith and indeed after Shakespeare joined we never really played alehouse football of the type witnessed in the last few games. The bigger picture is our results in this calendar year but as we toiled recently, watching the junk served up just made me even more angry.
It is of course a culmination in factors that has lead us to where we are and I suppose what I'm saying is we have enough good players not to resort to knocking it long all the time, I have no problem shithousing when neccessary but I loved Dean's style of football and am stumped as to why it vanished so quickly, particularly when the kids are still employing it to great effect.
I support the idea of a set piece coach so have no problem with McPhee remaining at the club but whoever comes in I'd like to think that they are progressive rather than regressive in our style of play.
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I think our problem is Shakespeare. And Smith being influenced by him. Those two are the ones in charge (obviously Smith but Shakespeare is No. 2)
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It's a typical trait to look to find blame, and I'm doing it too, but in reality there have been a whole number of mitigating factors and I don't think McPhee should carry the can.
I think he's a symptom rather than the main cause. I think it's quite obvious that his introduction hasn't helped matters though.
But it did to start with?
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The first thing I would do with McPhee is give him a good wash and haircut then type out his CV and say tar ra - made us look like a conference side with the long throws, big hoofs
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The first thing I would do with McPhee is give him a good wash and haircut then type out his CV and say tar ra - made us look like a conference side with the long throws, big hoofs
Obviously we never know what happens behind the scenes, but I'm minded to agree with you.
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The first thing I would do with McPhee is give him a good wash and haircut then type out his CV and say tar ra - made us look like a conference side with the long throws, big hoofs
It was slightly embarrassing at the West Ham game as Cash and Bailey launched long throw after long throw all to no availl. No disrespect to Bailey but he stuggles to reach the box. I don't think he took one against Southampton so it can't have been deemed a success.
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The first thing I would do with McPhee is give him a good wash and haircut then type out his CV and say tar ra - made us look like a conference side with the long throws, big hoofs
It was slightly embarrassing at the West Ham game as Cash and Bailey launched long throw after long throw all to no availl. No disrespect to Bailey but he stuggles to reach the box. I don't think he took one against Southampton so it can't have been deemed a success.
They ran the stats after the game and it suggested the tactic wasn’t optimal.
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I’d sack him and get new pitchside towels instead.
The fact he looks like Paul Weller should by itself be a sackable offence.
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I’d sack him and get new pitchside towels instead.
The fact he looks like Paul Weller should by itself be a sackable offence.
More like Paul Weller's embarrassing younger brother who got into Deep Purple rather than the Kinks.
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What I didn't get with Bailey's ateempts at long throws was, didn't they try them in training first and see that he could only launch it about half the distance that Cash could?
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The more you think about it we was becoming desperate and a shambles .
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If Gerrard brings his own set piece coach from Rangers, presumably MacPhee will be out on his arse?
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It appears he'll have his own backroom team so yes, McPhee, and Danks to go, Cutler too I guess.
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Hopefully he's clearing his desk & folding up his white board as we speak. Will be sorry to see Cutler go though. Danks? No real opinion to be fair!
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Cutler is only one I'd keep. Probably best keeper coach we've had for over a decade but guess issue there is he'll go and join DS at whichever club he ends up next (as he did coming here). I'd want to keep him though until that actually happens.
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Cutler is the one we need to keep hold of
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I’d sack him and get new pitchside towels instead.
The fact he looks like Paul Weller should by itself be a sackable offence.
More like Paul Weller's embarrassing younger brother who got into Deep Purple rather than the Kinks.
Nowt wrong with long hair.
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Cutler is the one we need to keep hold of
Agree
A goalkeeping coach was not mentioned in Gerrards team, so might not be necessary for him to go.
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Hoping for a video of Gerrard grabbing him by his hair and, hammerthrow-style, spinning him and hurling him out of the training ground further than a long throw.
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I’d sack him and get new pitchside towels instead.
The fact he looks like Paul Weller should by itself be a sackable offence.
More like Paul Weller's embarrassing younger brother who got into Deep Purple rather than the Kinks.
Nowt wrong with long hair.
I wish I had the option.
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Hoping for a video of Gerrard grabbing him by his hair and, hammerthrow-style, spinning him and hurling him out of the training ground further than a long throw.
With me in the background shouting "and fuckin' stay out".
I await the truth but until proved otherwise I will remain of the mind that had he not been here, Smith might still be, albeit under pressure. But it's time to move on and I'm sure everyone on here, and who know me will be glad that I will be ending my one man campaign against the regression of our football and the identification of the chief culprit.
Not sure about this Beale character though......
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What I didn't get with Bailey's attempts at long throws was, didn't they try them in training first and see that he could only launch it about half the distance that Cash could?
Ah, you see, it was a cunning plan to fool the opposition that it was going to be a long throw, and then throw it short <taps nose knowingly.>
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He's an easy target to blame really. None of us know who wanted him in or whether the last guys leaving affected us results wise, rather than injuries, ratboy, a premature end to our transfers dealings, and a crap pre-season. I'd be a bit worried about who was running the show if he's still here by the next game though.
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Cutler is the one we need to keep hold of
Agree, Aaron Danks was highly thought of too, hence recently appointed .
Who recruits performance dept ? Will that be down to Lange to decide on current employees or Gerrards call ?
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He's an easy target to blame really. None of us know who wanted him in or whether the last guys leaving affected us results wise, rather than injuries, ratboy, a premature end to our transfers dealings, and a crap pre-season. I'd be a bit worried about who was running the show if he's still here by the next game though.
To be fair, looking hopeless at both defending and attacking set-pieces and Leon Bailey on long-throws does not suggest a job well done.
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He's an easy target to blame really. None of us know who wanted him in or whether the last guys leaving affected us results wise, rather than injuries, ratboy, a premature end to our transfers dealings, and a crap pre-season. I'd be a bit worried about who was running the show if he's still here by the next game though.
To be fair, looking hopeless at both defending and attacking set-pieces and Leon Bailey on long-throws does not suggest a job well done.
He should be stuffed and placed next to other dinosaurs at the National History Museum. Tacticsoutdatedasauras
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This might be and almost certainly is based on nothing tangible at all, but he looked to have ideas above his station from the word go. Running all over the technical area and gesturing to the players all game, like he was the manager.
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This might be and almost certainly is based on nothing tangible at all, but he looked to have ideas above his station from the word go. Running all over the technical area and gesturing to the players all game, like he was the manager.
This was definitely the vibe.
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I NEVER EVER again want to see a Villa team resort to long throws.
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Nanny McPulis has hopefully gone.
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I NEVER EVER again want to see a Villa team resort to long throws.
I don't think they're a problem now and again. We did tend to overdo it though because it worked that once.
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There's nothing wrong with having a long throw as a possible tactic, it's just that when it's used every single time, it becomes very predictable and therefore easy to defend against.
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they just don't work very often
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Also if your style is built around trying to win them. For one thing, it'll diminish your ability to see quick throws and build dangerous situations in the final third, if you're myopically focused on lobbing it in.
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There's nothing wrong with having a long throw as a possible tactic, it's just that when it's used every single time, it becomes very predictable and therefore easy to defend against.
I didn't ever see us using it as a decoy to get the opposition in retreat to allow one of ours room for a shot from distance. That would've been worth trying once, surely.
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There's nothing wrong with having a long throw as a possible tactic, it's just that when it's used every single time, it becomes very predictable and therefore easy to defend against.
I didn't ever see us using it as a decoy to get the opposition in retreat to allow one of ours room for a shot from distance. That would've been worth trying once, surely.
Ooh get you with your crazy ideas!
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There's nothing wrong with having a long throw as a possible tactic, it's just that when it's used every single time, it becomes very predictable and therefore easy to defend against.
I didn't ever see us using it as a decoy to get the opposition in retreat to allow one of ours room for a shot from distance. That would've been worth trying once, surely.
Ooh get you with your crazy ideas!
I have submitted my CV and started listening to Emmerson, Lake and Palmer. I await the club's response.
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Someone in Four Oaks is selling a job lot of towels if anyone is interested.
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This might be and almost certainly is based on nothing tangible at all, but he looked to have ideas above his station from the word go. Running all over the technical area and gesturing to the players all game, like he was the manager.
This was definitely the vibe.
Yeah, very odd behavior that.
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This might be and almost certainly is based on nothing tangible at all, but he looked to have ideas above his station from the word go. Running all over the technical area and gesturing to the players all game, like he was the manager.
Well, we'll be watching our new Head Coach do that next week.
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This might be and almost certainly is based on nothing tangible at all, but he looked to have ideas above his station from the word go. Running all over the technical area and gesturing to the players all game, like he was the manager.
This was definitely the vibe.
Yeah, very odd behavior that.
That's one of the planks that my theory about our decline was built upon. Dean should've told him to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up and he might still be in a job.
I link that descent of our team spirit, culminating in Matt Targett's desperate interview to something with the coaching staff, something upset the apple cart from last season. Targett was at pains to defend Smith, so I think it was down to the changes made in the summer....
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I agree Nev, it looked to me like like Smith had been fatally undermined. He didn’t help himself of course, but it made it harder for him to turn things round.
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All this reeks of unwarranted intrusion by Lange et al. Once that starts, the writing is usually on the wall. I would expect that Gerrard would have made the lines of responsibility very clear from the off.
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All this reeks of unwarranted intrusion by Lange et al. Once that starts, the writing is usually on the wall. I would expect that Gerrard would have made the lines of responsibility very clear from the off.
He'd be stupid if he didn't.
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Uts really gojng to be exciting to see how gerrards 1st team lines up. He wont tolerate any of the stupid mistakes mings makes thats for sure
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All this reeks of unwarranted intrusion by Lange et al. Once that starts, the writing is usually on the wall. I would expect that Gerrard would have made the lines of responsibility very clear from the off.
The only counter to this conspiracy theory is that Smith had worked previously (or certainly had some association) with MacPhee via Brentford and their Danish club. I do agree that the leaping-around bit by MacPhee was unseemly, to say the least.
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All this reeks of unwarranted intrusion by Lange et al. Once that starts, the writing is usually on the wall. I would expect that Gerrard would have made the lines of responsibility very clear from the off.
The only counter to this conspiracy theory is that Smith had worked previously (or certainly had some association) with MacPhee via Brentford and their Danish club. I do agree that the leaping-around bit by MacPhee was unseemly, to say the least.
MacPhee joined the Danish club long after Smith had left Brentford though.
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I think that it's been reported this morning that he along with Cutler and Danks is staying.
'Specialist set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who also holds a senior position with the Scotland national team, and first-team coach Aaron Danks are likely to stay. Both of them were brought in by the club, rather than by Gerrard’s predecessor, Dean Smith'
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Early season McPhee was rightly seen as an asset to our play, hence the Danny Murphy thing but then what he may have added then became policy throughout so 3 in five long throws from certain positions became 5 in 5 and it started to go wrong. What was successful at Old Trafford, as part of a game plan, became the game plan.
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Fuck's sake. Well, hopefully Gerrard and Beale put him in his place on the long throws.
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Do we really need 6 coaches ?
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I'm very pleased Cuttler is staying, delighted in fact.
I don't mind the others staying whilst Gerrard runs the rule over them to see if he thinks they'll fit in, but this is on the assumption that Beale is head coach of course.
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All this reeks of unwarranted intrusion by Lange et al. Once that starts, the writing is usually on the wall. I would expect that Gerrard would have made the lines of responsibility very clear from the off.
yeah very worrying especially if they're keeping him over Mr Gerrard's say so. I guess we'll never know what interference Smith experienced because he's too much of a gentlemen to spill the beans but I think we all got the feeling something wasn't right pretty much from pre-season.
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I think that it's been reported this morning that he along with Cutler and Danks is staying.
'Specialist set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who also holds a senior position with the Scotland national team, and first-team coach Aaron Danks are likely to stay. Both of them were brought in by the club, rather than by Gerrard’s predecessor, Dean Smith'
This would back up my theory as well as making me very, very fucking angry.
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I think that it's been reported this morning that he along with Cutler and Danks is staying.
'Specialist set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who also holds a senior position with the Scotland national team, and first-team coach Aaron Danks are likely to stay. Both of them were brought in by the club, rather than by Gerrard’s predecessor, Dean Smith'
This would back up my theory as well as making me very, very fucking angry.
Are you getting angry Nev
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I think they’ll keep Cutler and ditch MacPhee.
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I can see Danks and Cutler staying but MacPhee I’m not so sure.
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I'm very pleased Cuttler is staying, delighted in fact.
I don't mind the others staying whilst Gerrard runs the rule over them to see if he thinks they'll fit in, but this is on the assumption that Beale is head coach of course.
Gerrard is head coach.
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I agree Nev, it looked to me like like Smith had been fatally undermined. He didn’t help himself of course, but it made it harder for him to turn things round.
Well those of us who have recruited staff in our lives will know you sometimes get it wrong, and then find it I,possible to get rid of them once they’re in
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I think that it's been reported this morning that he along with Cutler and Danks is staying.
I find that bizarre - disturbing, in fact - because it offers plenty of opportunity for confusion, infighting and finger-pointing.
Crazy.
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Culshaw apparently is a set piece coach. Nanny Pulis is only part time isn't he? Not sure we'll see much of him at all if he is still on the books. Danks has the short of CV Gerrard looked for in some of his coaching team, so I can see him taking him on.
Big Cuts has been brilliant with our keepers.
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I think keeping them on is a positive. If we've got big ambitions, we need a big team to help achieve them. As long as the Head Coach is strong enough to put his ideas forward, and take a lead, then I'm all for it.
I'm not sure our failures can be put down to Danks and McPhee; Smith carried the can as the top man but Shakespeare must have played a big part.
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I think keeping them on is a positive. If we've got big ambitions, we need a big team to help achieve them. As long as the Head Coach is strong enough to put his ideas forward, and take a lead, then I'm all for it.
I'm not sure our failures can be put down to Danks and McPhee; Smith carried the can as the top man but Shakespeare must have played a big part.
Funny how things fall apart when Shakespeare is involved after a while.
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I think keeping them on is a positive. If we've got big ambitions, we need a big team to help achieve them. As long as the Head Coach is strong enough to put his ideas forward, and take a lead, then I'm all for it.
I'm not sure our failures can be put down to Danks and McPhee; Smith carried the can as the top man but Shakespeare must have played a big part.
Funny how things fall apart when Shakespeare is involved after a while.
He is not where he eats, but where he is eaten.
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I think keeping them on is a positive. If we've got big ambitions, we need a big team to help achieve them. As long as the Head Coach is strong enough to put his ideas forward, and take a lead, then I'm all for it.
I'm not sure our failures can be put down to Danks and McPhee; Smith carried the can as the top man but Shakespeare must have played a big part.
Funny how things fall apart when Shakespeare is involved after a while.
He is not where he eats, but where he is eaten.
So says Confucius
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I agree Nev, it looked to me like like Smith had been fatally undermined. He didn’t help himself of course, but it made it harder for him to turn things round.
Well those of us who have recruited staff in our lives will know you sometimes get it wrong, and then find it I,possible to get rid of them once they’re in
This is so true.
I hope the long haired yahoo (Alf from home and aways quote circa early 90s, not mine), stops running up and down the touchline like an angry 80s prog rocker with a hangover. Thats my hope for McPhee if he stays, that he’s just quiet.
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"Austin MacPhee, Aaron Danks and Neil Cutler will also remain at the club."
Hmmmmm.
Oh well, clean slate for everybody I suppose.
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He's got a raw deal. It can't be his decision for us to use the long throw every time.
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Fair play, at least you know there will be be lots of one-on-one coaching with there being more staff than players.
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He's got a raw deal. It can't be his decision for us to use the long throw every time.
true - he just needed to train players to be able to do them.
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MacPhee staying... I guess a previous career that involved lugging around Marshall stacks makes him the ideal candidate for getting the kit basket out from the back of the bus.
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Clear that he wasnt a smith appointment then.
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He's got a raw deal. It can't be his decision for us to use the long throw every time.
It wasn't the long throws as such, it was their continual use (whether that was him or Smith, I don't know) but more than that, just him generally running round like he was the boss. Hopefully Gerrard puts him on bibs and cones for a bit until he learns his place.
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We’re going to need a bigger dugout.
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He's got a raw deal. It can't be his decision for us to use the long throw every time.
It wasn't the long throws as such, it was their continual use (whether that was him or Smith, I don't know) but more than that, just him generally running round like he was the boss. Hopefully Gerrard puts him on bibs and cones for a bit until he learns his place.
That might have also been Smith's choice. Some managers prefer to have a "sargeant major" coach that barks at the players during the game, rather than do it themselves, like Allardyce and Lee.
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That didn't look like it was the case to me.
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I personally think they kept them so norwich have to pay compensation to take them if smith becomes manager
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I don't think either McPhee or Danks were Smith's choice, otherwise they would've left when he did as is usually the case.
What is fascinating is how they fit in with the new manager and indeed over in East Anglia, the style of play that our former boss adopts. I think it will possibly reveal much about the last months of Dean Smith's reign. Back here will Gerrard employ the long throw? The long punt into touch at KO or the long punt in normal play. I can see the former being used whether McPhee is here or not but I expect Gerrard to impose his own style which hopefully will be more appealing on the eye.
If we do kick ball out purposely from the KO this time next week, watch for a balding, angry, middle aged man vacating his seat in the Upper Holte and storming down the steps in an entirely unnecessary and ridiculous over reaction.
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That wouldn’t be an overreaction though.
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My main problem with Macphee wasn't so much the long throws, but the increasing inability to defend set pieces and attacking set play routines that looked like they were plucked out of a primary school B team. Not to mention a frustrating and continual inability for our set piece takers to beat the first man. For his first few games the routines, at least at the right end were a novelty that almost paid off here and there and sometimes did (Hause/Ings). Teams got wise to it very quickly.
I hope he ups his game but conversely, if he's more a cog in an engine rather than taking significant control over how we attack and defend at set pieces. I'm sure a coach like Gary Mac has some ideas on that front to at least improve the delivery.
I suspect MacPhee are being given a chance to prove their worth as recent arrivals. If they don't gel with Gerrard and his staff, they'll be out before the end of the season.
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MacPhee staying... I guess a previous career that involved lugging around Marshall stacks makes him the ideal candidate for getting the kit basket out from the back of the bus.
;D Love it
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I personally think they kept them so norwich have to pay compensation to take them if smith becomes manager
Or maybe its a combination of paying up newly signed contracts and it being a bit shitty on the individuals involved. Danks was only announced the 1st of September so the poor sod had probably just moved his family from Holland to find himself potentially jobless
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I'd feel bad for him, tempered slightly by the fact he's Blose...
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My guess is that those two in particular are good coaches, with good reputations. Just because the start of this season hasn't been great doesn't. Ean they are crap.
In fact, I'd say that all the tiger factors, injuries, Covid absences, etc have been the issue this season. I'm sure if they are crap, they will soon depart, however, I reckon they will be around a while.
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He's showing his value now, which is great.
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He's showing his value now, which is great.
I was going to post the same. Dean Smith seemed to use him mainly as some sort of long throw specialist. It’s is clear he has a lot more to offer than that. In attack and defence. We’ve been creative and Gerrard has also acknowledged what he brings.
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It was clear Leicester have issues, as Palace did with set pieces and fairplay to Austin, Gerrard et al, we targeted that and really caused problems. Not to mention the goal against City which was nicely worked and finished too. He's back. But I think generally, across the pitch we seem a bit more 'coached.' Fresh ideas and impetus that had been lacking.
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So, the hoofing from KO and the overuse of the Cash throw and the punt from our centre back might not have been his call after all?
I wonder what when so wrong with Smith’s approach this season?
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The long throws should be used occasionally like against Manchester City. I put the blame all on Austin but clearly Smith was entertaining the idea to use it every time we had a Throw so Apologies to Mr Macphee as it seems his skills are really being used in the right way now
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No one said that McPhee wasn't any use in his role, we saw that in the first few games culminating in the victory at Newton Heath. From there the sort of tactics that were used sparingly and to good effect appeared to become the default setting and we know what the result was. With the new manager it appears to have reverted back to a considered and nuanced approach to set pieces, directed by the specialist coach. So we saw a couple of long throws in the Stockport City game but none yesterday. Fewer long balls are being hit and booting the ball into touch has gone as well (apart from errors). I haven't seen any silly notes being passed around. McPhee quite rightly pops up every time we have a set piece but his notably absent from the technical area during open play, he was increasingly visible in Smith's last few games.
What baffles me is why Smith let this bizarre change in approach happen? He never played it before in his managerial career, and to the best of my knowledge isn't doing so at Norwich and given the awful result whatever possessed him to persist with such a flawed policy? I suspect we will never find out but my hunch is that he lost control, became too easily influenced by others and didn't trust his previously reliable instinct.
The new manager is demonstrably in charge and using his backroom staff intelligently, and the set piece coach is certainly worth his position but I will always wonder whether Smith would have lost his job if he wasn't appointed in the summer.
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I just think Smith had taken us as far as he could. No shame in that because we were mid-championship when he came, got us up straight away, kept us up (with help from the first lockdown) and made us a mid-table Premier League team. Gerrard and his staff seem like they're on another level so we should be able to push on over the next couple of years.
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Posted on the post-match threade but the second goal was a brilliantly-orchestrated corner.
Deep corner to the back post, crowd the keeper with little 'uns (Marv and McGinn), have two big centre-backs towering at the back post, ready to pounce with their noggins.
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Posted on the post-match threade but the second goal was a brilliantly-orchestrated corner.
Deep corner to the back post, crowd the keeper with little 'uns (Marv and McGinn), have two big centre-backs towering at the back post, ready to pounce with their noggins.
It certainly was.
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Posted on the post-match threade but the second goal was a brilliantly-orchestrated corner.
Deep corner to the back post, crowd the keeper with little 'uns (Marv and McGinn), have two big centre-backs towering at the back post, ready to pounce with their noggins.
It certainly was.
Wasn't it Cash? What the hell is he doing marking the keeper? Some sort of witchcraft?
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Take a
bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
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Take a bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
It's funny isn't it? People were wanting him out for being useless earlier in the season.
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Take a bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
It's funny isn't it? People were wanting him out for being useless earlier in the season.
Well, when Matty Cash is running over to the opposite side of the pitch to dry the ball off with a towel and take the throw-in, I think people were right to question the wisdom of what we were doing. Thankfully that seemed to stop around the same time that Deano left.
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It felt as if he was being used for the secondary role as one of about fifty Assistants to Smith, getting in his ear all the time. He seemed to be the most vocal one out there, I personally felt his influence was spread too far. As the set piece guru, it seems things are working well. McGinn looked fantastic reclining as a draft excluder.
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Take a bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
Where's that info from? We weren't even in the top 5 at the start of January.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/5-teams-scored-goals-set-pieces-premier-league-season-2021-22
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Take a bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
It's funny isn't it? People were wanting him out for being useless earlier in the season.
I didn’t think he’d last 5 minutes when Gerrard came in
Especially as he bought in a massive bunch of his own people at the time
but in fairness to SG he’s letting the fella show what he can do
he credited Austin with his work in one interview i saw after the Everton game
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Take a bath bow, son, Villa have scored more set piece goals this season than any other team in the league.
It's funny isn't it? People were wanting him out for being useless earlier in the season.
Well, when Matty Cash is running over to the opposite side of the pitch to dry the ball off with a towel and take the throw-in, I think people were right to question the wisdom of what we were doing. Thankfully that seemed to stop around the same time that Deano left.
Absolutely. It seemed to be our number one tactic for a while. We went three at the back and went long. It seemed odd that we employed this fella and Smith seems to allow a massive shift in original football values.
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Are there any interviews out there of him? Looks like he should be in a Shane Meadows film, playing Paddy Considine's psychotic brother.
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I always see him as henchman #4 in a Stephen Seagal flick
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It's notable that those awful tactics have not been continued by Smith at Norwich. He never played it at Walsall, Brentford or with us until this bloke arrived. I was one of the most vocal critics of McPhee and I still maintain his influence was too great but you can only blame Smith for that, he was the boss.
The long ball, over aggressive, note passing, long ball shithousing has all but disappeared and one can only presume that Gerrard has a tighter grip on his staff. McPhee certainly isn't as prominent on the touchline either.
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Are there any interviews out there of him? Looks like he should be in a Shane Meadows film, playing Paddy Considine's psychotic brother.
Any excuse:
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To be honest - I wanted shot of him when Dean went, cos I thought are set pieces became too bigger part of the game.
But, credit where its due - we have been better from attacking set plays since hes been here - I read somewhere that we have the second most Goals from set pieces - and given were not exactly banging them in from open play, they have been pretty important.
This clearly reasserts the golden law - I know nothing
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To be honest - I wanted shot of him when Dean went, cos I thought are set pieces became too bigger part of the game.
But, credit where its due - we have been better from attacking set plays since hes been here - I read somewhere that we have the second most Goals from set pieces - and given were not exactly banging them in from open play, they have been pretty important.
This clearly reasserts the golden law - I know nothing
The bloke clearly has something about him, but I think Gerrard did the right thing and put him firmly back in his box for a while.
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This season we had 2 coaches under Smith and Craig Shakespeare. Gerrard's brought in a coach load to supplement them. No wonder they're playing a smaller role.
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He always reminds me of the train man from the matrix.
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He always reminds me of the train man from the matrix.
So will I now!
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Has the long throw stuff been knocked on the head? Can't recall any of it v Everton. Watkins it must be said was defending the front post well at set piece time.
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Are there any interviews out there of him? Looks like he should be in a Shane Meadows film, playing Paddy Considine's psychotic brother.
Any excuse:
Paddy's come out (not like that) the other day saying he's a musician first and foremost. Apparently his band have an album out soon if you want to support him...
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For a set piece expert we seem to be regressing, every time I see Luiz over the ball on a set piece I never think oh good this will be a good delivery. Obviously MacPhee works with the players all week at BH, Digne is meant to be a set piece expert so was expecting a bit more because we have had success earlier in the season.
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I think without actually naming names Gerrard was speaking about Austim when discussing staff improvement
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The stupid corner routine where we put 8 in the 6 yard box, lots of pushing and shoving and inevitably give away a foul.
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If it works it's genius and if it doesn't it's stupid.
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We had a corner against Leeds late on and we couldn't understand why there weren't more Villa players in the box, completely the opposite of today,no need to be pushing and shoving today, use your damn brains if they got them
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The set pieces were abysmal today. Everything overhit, or straight to an opposition player. And we've got two set piece coaches now haven't we?
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I Think it’s easy to blame the set piece coach, but some the routines today were awful are the players listening
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I Think it’s easy to blame the set piece coach, but some the routines today were awful are the players listening
Never mind listening, are they executing them? Can do all the fancy routines you like but if you balloon the ball over everyone's head it's fucked.
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Can we not just inswing it hard and fast under the goalkeepers nose a few times !
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Sounds a bit kinky.
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Hours a practice you'd hope...
Whipped in near post
Whipped in back post
Short to change the angle
One aimed between the penalty spot and six-yard box.
Simple
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Our trick of hanging a corner to the back post and having a couple of players hovering there and in front of the goalie on the line, blocking him in the process, seemed to have been spotted by Newcastle leading to that kerfuffle at the end of the first half.
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You’d like to think if the same players practice the same thing again and again you’d gain a bit of muscle memory and execute better.
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You’d like to think if the same players practice the same thing again and again you’d gain a bit of muscle memory and execute better.
This seems to make sense doesn't it. Does it work in practice?
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Whoever is responsible for setting up that wall the way we did for their goal yesterday needs hauling in. It was a good two yards out of position (half the wall weren't even blocking the goal), and was basically inviting Trippier to hammer it at goal. Even before he took it I was screaming at the TV, it was an absolute disaster waiting to happen.
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A wall was and I presume still is the keeper’s responsibility. Can’t blame Austin for that.
As for our other free kicks, I’m completely baffled why Dougie has suddenly stepped up when we have Digne and Phil on the pitch. What’s that all about?
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Whoever is responsible for setting up that wall the way we did for their goal yesterday needs hauling in. It was a good two yards out of position (half the wall weren't even blocking the goal), and was basically inviting Trippier to hammer it at goal. Even before he took it I was screaming at the TV, it was an absolute disaster waiting to happen.
It was abysmal. Even without the unlucky deflection off Buendia, they still gave one of the best free kick takers in the league a free hit through a six foot gap from 18 yards. Never mind all that new fangled player lying on the floor bollocks, just make sure their two players find it hard to move out the way to make a huge gap.
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The wall looked really bad, there was no left footer near the ball but it looked as though it was set up to prevent a left footer curling it from about 20 yards further out. Woeful.
We did have that decent atacking set piece where it was worked for McGinn to hit it from the edge of the box and it was deflected just wide
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Aston Villa have learned to love set pieces – and the man who devises them
Tuesday April 25, 2023.
By Gregg Evans - The Athletic
Before Unai Emery arrived at Aston Villa, he had done his background checks on their set-piece coach Austin MacPhee.
In the week between agreeing to leave Villarreal for another crack at the Premier League and taking training for the first time, former Arsenal manager Emery assessed MacPhee’s work with Villa and Scotland, and his spells at Danish side Midtjylland and Northern Ireland too.
It was not a standalone research project. The Spaniard wanted to know about every player he was inheriting from Steven Gerrard, as well as other staff members. Then, when Emery began work officially on November 1, he effectively put them all on trial — a clean slate for everyone.
After receiving positive feedback and seeing how thorough MacPhee was in his approach, it wasn’t long before the 43-year-old was handed greater responsibility.
His role under Gerrard had become slightly diminished. Set-piece training was not aligned in the way it is now. Emery, however, recognises the importance of every facet of the game and while additional time is now set aside to work on new attacking routines and sharpen up in defence, the key change is the head coach’s authoritative voice. Rather than leaving MacPhee to talk through the plans, Emery gets heavily involved to reaffirm the expert’s message.
There’s greater buy-in from the players, too. Douglas Luiz and John McGinn spend extra time working on their deliveries while others do walk-through routines in preparation for using those moves in games.
Each player knows his role, from acting as a blocker to making a fake run, or being the main target when on the attack.
MacPhee is also granted the freedom to instruct from the technical area on a matchday when Villa attack or defend set pieces. All of Emery’s other assistants remain on the bench as observers, leaving the head coach to set the tone.
His message to the players is that if they put in the work with MacPhee between games, they will be better equipped and stand a greater chance of scoring more often when matchday comes.
That the winning goal against Fulham on Tuesday came from a first-half corner highlighted as much.
It was a move straight off the training ground. McGinn’s job was to send a delivery to the near post for Tyrone Mings, Villa’s tallest and most aerial dominant player, to attack.
McGinn said: “To be fair to Austin, we have been working on the front area, trying to get the ball to Tyrone. I kicked the first two corners too long but managed to get that one right, so we’re happy.”
Mings, laughing, said: “The manager has been telling me that if I don’t score then he’s going to drop me!”
Emery added, “I am pushing him, telling him, ‘You are a tall player and we have to use you. You have to believe in yourself. You have to do it!’.”
Villa also have plenty more ideas to turn to if plan A isn’t working. The set-piece taker uses hand signals to remind players of the plan and initiate whether to go long or short. Villa have become more creative at attacking corners and set pieces, as explained further in this article.
“We do a lot of set-piece work on a Thursday and Friday,” midfielder Jacob Ramsey says. “We’re showing that we’re good at them. The boss has got loads of experience. Him and Austin are working hard together, showing they both have different ideas.”
Villa are also shooting up the rankings. Of their 46 league goals this season, more than a quarter (26 per cent) have been from set pieces. They have scored in all 22 games under Emery and have set a record — currently at 20 — for scoring in consecutive Premier League games under a new manager.
It’s the defensive side of the game that is perhaps the most impressive, though.
Villa have won the last five home games in a row — all without allowing a goal. During their 10-game unbeaten run (eight wins, two draws), they’ve only conceded twice from open play.
In the fifth of those 10 matches, Villa went to Chelsea and defended like warriors during an onslaught at their goal. Rarely did they look like conceding, even when facing 13 corners at Stamford Bridge. It was the same against Newcastle in the 3-0 win 11 days ago. Villa prevented the side who win the Premier League’s most corners and have the highest expected goals at set pieces from scoring.
Efforts have also been made to reduce the number of corners conceded, with Emery recognising the importance of volume when analysing the numbers.
Statistics still show that 39 per cent of the goals scored against Villa are from set pieces (including penalties) but in recent months there’s been a huge improvement, largely in terms of organisation.
Emiliano Martinez plays a big part in this, because he’s so dominant in his penalty area. No goalkeeper in the Premier League has recorded more catches (46) and that’s particularly useful because overall Villa have the shortest team in the division. In the closing stages of last night’s win, Martinez came out to collect a cross in commanding style to relieve the pressure.
Minutes later, the back line were high fiving each other to celebrate an offside that further ran down the clock. It isn’t just set pieces where Villa are now so strong, it’s across the board and they’re worthy of their fifth position in the table, even if the teams above and below them have games in hand.
Emery’s ability to squeeze “an extra five or 10 per cent” out of people around him at the club is the key to this charge to within touching distance of qualifying for Europe.
MacPhee was not so much underperforming under Gerrard, but was perhaps undervalued. Now he’s a vital part of the grand plan and nights like this one show his worth.
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It always concerns me how aggressive we are defending corners, so much pushing and shoving leading up to the kick being taken. I just hope we continue to get away with it.
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It always concerns me how aggressive we are defending corners, so much pushing and shoving leading up to the kick being taken. I just hope we continue to get away with it.
Everyone does this don't they?
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I lost faith at "as explained further in this article".
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I've noticed recently that MacPhee has been more active on the touchline at games (I commented on the AVvsNU post-match thread how he had effectively man-marked Tindall when he was trying to unsettle the 4th official).
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He got a lot of abuse from Villa fans and many wanted him out but every manager wanted him part of the coaching team and I'm very pleased he has proved us all wrong . He is VERY involved throughout the game and you can see his contributions
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I lost faith at "as explained further in this article".
I'm sure if you had a pint with Gregg you'd bond over something . C'mon, he's a gentle soul.
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It always concerns me how aggressive we are defending corners, so much pushing and shoving leading up to the kick being taken. I just hope we continue to get away with it.
Everyone does this don't they?
No, otherwise I wouldn't be concerned. It's a this season thing, we're almost wrestling with opposition players, holding, pushing and shoving inside the box. I'm just waiting for the ref to give them a penalty and you know when and where it will happen. Next game is..
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I lost faith at "as explained further in this article".
I'm sure if you had a pint with Gregg you'd bond over something . C'mon, he's a gentle soul.
I'm sure Greg(g) is a lovely man, and he's welcome to buy me a pint anytime.
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It always concerns me how aggressive we are defending corners, so much pushing and shoving leading up to the kick being taken. I just hope we continue to get away with it.
Everyone does this don't they?
No, otherwise I wouldn't be concerned. It's a this season thing, we're almost wrestling with opposition players, holding, pushing and shoving inside the box. I'm just waiting for the ref to give them a penalty and you know when and where it will happen. Next game is..
Come off it Rudy, that lot will get a penalty if someone in the away end sneezes too loud.
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It always concerns me how aggressive we are defending corners, so much pushing and shoving leading up to the kick being taken. I just hope we continue to get away with it.
Everyone does this don't they?
No, otherwise I wouldn't be concerned. It's a this season thing, we're almost wrestling with opposition players, holding, pushing and shoving inside the box. I'm just waiting for the ref to give them a penalty and you know when and where it will happen. Next game is..
Come off it Rudy, that lot will get a penalty if someone in the away end sneezes too loud.
True but I'm more concerned the assistant referee on Sunday, Constantine Hatzidakis will kick five shades out of Watkins.
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I'm guessing that McPhee is a details man just as Emery is. It's hardly a surprise that they should get on so well.
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I'm guessing that McPhee is a details man just as Emery is. It's hardly a surprise that they should get on so well.
I'm sure they both agree that the little details can make all the difference. ;)
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He got a lot of abuse from Villa fans and many wanted him out but every manager wanted him part of the coaching team and I'm very pleased he has proved us all wrong . He is VERY involved throughout the game and you can see his contributions
He’s certainly had his fair share as did a few others in the playing side. They all deserve huge credit as well now. I must admit I was concerned with MacPhee towards the end of Smith’s days and was surprised Gerrard kept him on and even more surprised when Emery did.
He’s definitely doing a grand job now. Fair play.
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It always made me laugh that his presence wound people up so much. If he had a short back and sides, no body would have batted an eyelid I'm sure. But the fact that he looks like he could burst into a 12 minute keyboard solo made him stand out, leading fans questioning 'what he was fucking doing all week' on a scale not usually reserved for a member of the backroom staff.
He is obviously a leader in his field, respected by players, valued by managers. None of us have even heard him speak let alone have a working knowledge of what he does on the training pitch apart from the odd positive snippet we get from players or Neil Cutler. Having a set piece coach doesn't mean you score from all your own set pieces while successfully shutting out the opposition's.
Now we're winning, he's a bit easier to like for the wider fanbase. Let's hope it continues!
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I liked him as soon as I heard Danny Murphy criticising the very idea of a set piece coach.
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It's easy to say all that now but when we were shite, seemingly getting one set piece right in a hundred, people were asking what the fuck he (and the players, the manager and the other coaches) was doing all week. I don't think his appearance counted for much to be honest. Although, he was good for a bit of piss taking, clearly.
Now that we are doing things properly, he is now ace.
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It's easy to say all that now but when we were shite, seemingly getting one set piece right in a hundred, people were asking what the fuck he (and the players, the manager and the other coaches) was doing all week. I don't think his appearance counted for much to be honest. Although, he was good for a bit of piss taking, clearly.
Now that we are doing things properly, he is now ace.
People didn't seem to question the other coaches in the same way. MacPhee definitely got disproportionate stick in some quarters, with people questioning why he was so prominent on the touchline (the answer to which is 'he's doing what the manager asked' of course). It was always a bit weird. That he's getting a bit of love now is further proof of big Unai's revolution of positivity.
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The other coaches were getting the piss taken out of them for huddling round their iPad wondering what to do.
But that's football. Under Unai they are all highy efficient cogs in the machine.
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I liked him as soon as I heard Danny Murphy criticising the very idea of a set piece coach.
That's good enough for me too. Why not have one?
They have defensive coaches, attacking coaches, goalkeeper coaches, fitness coaches. A set piece coach doesn't seem like a crazy idea.
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I was amongst the most prominent in questioning his influence in the latter days of Smith's reign because his arrival coincided with some really odd and out of character tactics, never employed by Dean before and as far as I can tell, since.
He seemed less involved under Gerrard and now pops up, as you would expect, during set pieces for Emery. His appearance makes him an easy target to some extent but it has to be noted that before Emery arrived we were hardly world beaters at either attacking or defending set pieces.
When all is said and done, if Emery wants him then that is that.
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I liked him as soon as I heard Danny Murphy criticising the very idea of a set piece coach.
That's good enough for me too. Why not have one?
They have defensive coaches, attacking coaches, goalkeeper coaches, fitness coaches. A set piece coach doesn't seem like a crazy idea.
I’ve long given up trying to fathom how that bonehead’s mind works.
https://www.teamtalk.com/news/liverpool-coach-thomas-gronnemark-explains-role-after-danny-murphy-rant
I kind of agree with BE too, we’ve gotten better at defending set pieces but mostly by not conceding as many of them.
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I was amongst the most prominent in questioning his influence in the latter days of Smith's reign because his arrival coincided with some really odd and out of character tactics, never employed by Dean before and as far as I can tell, since.
He seemed less involved under Gerrard and now pops up, as you would expect, during set pieces for Emery. His appearance makes him an easy target to some extent but it has to be noted that before Emery arrived we were hardly world beaters at either attacking or defending set pieces.
When all is said and done, if Emery wants him then that is that.
I'd be fascinated to know what happened in the latter day's of Smith’s reign all round tbh. ROK and Terry both leaving not long before the new season started, Jack had already gone so everyone knew it would be tough for Smith.
Agree MacPhee seemed to have less involvement under Gerrard than Deano.
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I liked him as soon as I heard Danny Murphy criticising the very idea of a set piece coach.
That's good enough for me too. Why not have one?
They have defensive coaches, attacking coaches, goalkeeper coaches, fitness coaches. A set piece coach doesn't seem like a crazy idea.
I’ve long given up trying to fathom how that bonehead’s mind works.
https://www.teamtalk.com/news/liverpool-coach-thomas-gronnemark-explains-role-after-danny-murphy-rant
I kind of agree with BE too, we’ve gotten better at defending set pieces but mostly by not conceding as many of them.
Murphy referencing having Phil Thompson as a coach, so why do they need specialist coaches. Don't get me wrong Thompson was a good player and captain, but Klopp's coach's quote is spot on.
“If the specialist coach has been researching his/her subject for 17 years…every day, like I have, then an assistant coach will never have a single chance to have the same knowledge around that subject.
“They are more generalists. That’s why they bring me in.”
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The Leon Bailey long throw was a bit special.
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ROK was told to run the U23s, said no, Smith agreed with the decision, so ROK left.
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When all’s said and done, when football is no than a memory and the scorched earth surrounds us, Austin McPhee, the great survivor, will still be standing on the side of something growling instructions to invisible football spirits. He’ll outlast us all.
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The other coaches were getting the piss taken out of them for huddling round their iPad wondering what to do.
But that's football. Under Unai they are all highy efficient cogs in the machine.
Austin copped the most for his hot hair.
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Austin looks too much like Paul Weller when he wakes up for my liking.
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Super John putting inswingers into the near post from the right is a thing of beauty.
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The other coaches were getting the piss taken out of them for huddling round their iPad wondering what to do.
But that's football. Under Unai they are all highy efficient cogs in the machine.
His hot hair and his funny name
Austin copped the most for his hot hair.
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I'm as fickle as fuck and I love MacPhee now.
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Positive comments in his Wicki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland
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Positive comments in his Wicki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland
Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.
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I'm as fickle as fuck and I love MacPhee now.
David O’Leary was right about you
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Positive comments in his Wicki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland
Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.
I was ramdomly watching a Youtube video of the St Mirren league cup win mentioned in that Wiki the other week, and wondered what had took that very decent looking Portuguese lad that I'd never heard of to a club like that and it turns out it's prog-rocking set piece guru.
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Positive comments in his Wicki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_MacPhee#Scotland
Interesting - I hadn't checked him out till you posted this. So he worked with young John McGinn at St Mirren.
Certainly he's had some useful experience, especially as N Ireland assistant coach at the time when they were doing well.
I was ramdomly watching a Youtube video of the St Mirren league cup win mentioned in that Wiki the other week, and wondered what had took that very decent looking Portuguese lad that I'd never heard of to a club like that and it turns out it's prog-rocking set piece guru.
They bought him from Portugal but Esmaël Gonçalves is from Guinea-Bissau.
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I like the way Unai is prowling the technical area for most of the match, then steps back when Villa re either attacking or defending a set-piece, and Austin steps forward to direct operations.
Unusual, but seems to be working well.
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Sugar bags.
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I like the way Unai is prowling the technical area for most of the match, then steps back when Villa re either attacking or defending a set-piece, and Austin steps forward to direct operations.
Unusual, but seems to be working well.
There’s mention of this in an Athletic article. He is one of the few coaches that’s allowed a say during games. The article suggests that Emery also observes the set piece coaching (whereas Gerrrad never paid any attention) which has given MacPhee greater credibility within the squad/club. In summary, Emery is a fan according to Greg Evans.
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How dare you leave out the second g! ;)
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An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;
https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/ (https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/)
Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.
"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."
"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."
"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."
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An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;
https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/ (https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/)
Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.
"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."
"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."
"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."
This was mentioned after the RedManc game in which Digne scored: MacPhee had realised that many efforts were not hitting target because the refs are not fully marking out the 10 yards (avg wall-distance is - apparently - about 8 yards, because the refs do not stride out the full distance). So, vs RedManc the players asked the ref to stride it out, and they also moved the ball back slightly ... IIRC.
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An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;
https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/ (https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/)
Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.
"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."
"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."
"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."
I can't see what any of the training has to do with scoring direct to be honest. You've just got to kick it so it goes straight into the goal.
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An interesting article on how Villa use Trackman to work on set pieces;
https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/ (https://theathletic.com/4634460/2023/06/29/villa-trackman-golf-free-kicks/)
Villa were the first Premier League team to start using it when Austin MacPhee introduced it in 2021. He also uses it with the Scotland national team.
"At Villa, set-piece training was detached from the main sessions and not fully aligned under previous managers."
"In the first week at Bodymoor Heath, Emery watched MacPhee’s sessions closely and liked what he was seeing."
"Both Digne and Luiz scored from direct free kicks, establishing this as the first Villa team for nine years to score two direct free kicks in a Premier League season."
I can't see what any of the training has to do with scoring direct to be honest. You've just got to kick it so it goes straight into the goal.
I can see what you mean. Thew other free kick goal was because the Spurs keeper had chocolate wrists. You can't coach that.
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Our set piece coach is proving his worth. Clear evidence of it in an attacking sense and we appear to have improved in defending set pieces.
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Danny Murphy was still having ago at having a set-piece coach on MOTD last night. "I used to come up with routines like that myself", "Why can't other coaches do that as part of their job?".
Why has football changed so much since you played Danny. Because different methods are happening now.
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Danny Murphy is such a useless wanker. I don’t see how or why he is kept on in any capacity to provide commentary on football today. He is such dour prick too. He’s the miserable version of Micah Richards who masks his lack of knowledge with that stupid fucking laugh and need for constant “bantz”. Fuck off the pair of them.
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Danny Murphy can do everything !!! Didn't you know ? Set Pieces, Refereeing , Var official !! everything comes easy to him
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Danny Murphy can do everything !!! Didn't you know ? Set Pieces, Refereeing , Var official !! everything comes easy to him
Apart from growing hair.
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Villa, after years of not being good at set pieces employ a set piece coach. Set pieces dramatically improve.
Danny Murphy: “yeah but players”.
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Danny Murphy can do everything !!! Didn't you know ? Set Pieces, Refereeing , Var official !! everything comes easy to him
Apart from growing hair.
Danny Murphy looks like that potato you forget about in the cupboard that starts sprouting. Except the potato makes more sense
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Fair play to the guy. At one point he was possibly even less popular than Gerrard, but Emery doesn't strike me as suffering fools gladly, so I assume he's still here on merit.
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Fair play to the guy. At one point he was possibly even less popular than Gerrard, but Emery doesn't strike me as suffering fools gladly, so I assume he's still here on merit.
The greatest of all the great survivors, he’ll be here long after we are all gone, still coming up with over elaborate but enjoyable set piece routines
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
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Fair play to the guy. At one point he was possibly even less popular than Gerrard, but Emery doesn't strike me as suffering fools gladly, so I assume he's still here on merit.
Amazing to think the transformation in opinion of him and Bailey in recent times. I said it at the time but i thought the stick he got was very ott considering his very specific role. There were enough examples, even back then, of set pieces leading to goals.
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Maybe the buffoon we had before didn't provide him the ability to flourish.
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Danny Murphy can do everything !!! Didn't you know ? Set Pieces, Refereeing , Var official !! everything comes easy to him
Apart from growing hair.
Danny Murphy looks like that potato you forget about in the cupboard that starts sprouting. Except the potato makes more sense
Stealing this as my Danny Murphy description
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
So are you saying he's shite then?
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Because his arrival coincided with everything going to shit I questioned his value on here and was surprised when the previous Manager retained him, and even more surprised when Emery did the same. Considering he was happy to boot long standing and respected members of coaching staff such as Cutler, his retention of McPhee was a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I believe Emery was right to get his own staff in but McPhee is something of an outlier in that respect.
But, just like he does with players, our Manager is brilliant at getting the best out what he inherits and the Nickleback throwback can stay as long as Emery wants him.
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
So are you saying he's shite then?
I thought that. Revealing kryptonite to superman would make him run a mile, he doesn’t like that stuff does he
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Because his arrival coincided with everything going to shit I questioned his value on here and was surprised when the previous Manager retained him, and even more surprised when Emery did the same. Considering he was happy to boot long standing and respected members of coaching staff such as Cutler, his retention of McPhee was a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I believe Emery was right to get his own staff in but McPhee is something of an outlier in that respect.
But, just like he does with players, our Manager is brilliant at getting the best out what he inherits and the Nickleback throwback can stay as long as Emery wants him.
That Nickelback throwback was married to Avil Lavigne. My younger self would have been very jealous of that.
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
So are you saying he's shite then?
I thought that. Revealing kryptonite to superman would make him run a mile, he doesn’t like that stuff does he
Just trying a post in jest but failing miserably
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Anyone else notice on Saturday - Luton have a corner and MacPhee screams at 3 of our players to all go to the half way line which in turn instantly dragged 3 of their attacking players out of our box to cover them. I think it was Bailey, Diaby and possibly McGinn
This has boiled my piss for seasons when we defend a corner that we have everyone back and nothing as an outball as i could no9t see what the smallest / fastest player on the pitch could do to defend against huge centre halfs
Little changes make a huge difference
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Same here. All 10 outfield players in the box do is get in each others way AND means their players can push closer in and pick up any second ball from a clearance.
Interesting the story in the Atlantic states he has also worked with Luiz on penalties as well.
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I think his start was more the first set piece goal we scored was a long throw and we couldn’t defend set pieces for toffee. Then it seemed the next season, the grand tactic was getting Luiz to shoot from corners.
As others have said, he wouldn’t have kept his job under Emery if he wasn’t talented, and we are getting more rewards from his work.
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Anyone else notice on Saturday - Luton have a corner and MacPhee screams at 3 of our players to all go to the half way line which in turn instantly dragged 3 of their attacking players out of our box to cover them. I think it was Bailey, Diaby and possibly McGinn
This has boiled my piss for seasons when we defend a corner that we have everyone back and nothing as an outball as i could no9t see what the smallest / fastest player on the pitch could do to defend against huge centre halfs
Little changes make a huge difference
Totally.
We've tried some more expansive set pieces this season - Was it against Palace when the freekick ball was flicked over the wall for (I think) Diaby to volley toward goal. The corner on Sunday that created SJM's goal was a little different too.
MacPhee is coming into his own now.
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Emery seems more than happy with him so that'll do for me. Long live "Nanny McPhee"
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
Trackman seems so obvious for set pieces, with hindsight. If you've ever played golf and used one, you'll know it tells you everything like speed and elevation angle of the ball, even rotation. I would imagine with enough data, you'd know exactly what speed the ball needs to be hit in order to optimise the chances of it going in, from all distances - then you coach the to that. i.e. "You hit that 2mph too hard Dougie, it'll never drop enough to go in", and "not enough spin on that free kick".
It's all marginal gains though, and us being one of the best teams with set pieces is proof it works I guess.
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that Trackman thing was gonna be the ace up his sleeve
He knew Unai would love it to death it was like revealing kryptonite to superman
He got him hook line and sinker with that master plan
Trackman seems so obvious for set pieces, with hindsight. If you've ever played golf and used one, you'll know it tells you everything like speed and elevation angle of the ball, even rotation. I would imagine with enough data, you'd know exactly what speed the ball needs to be hit in order to optimise the chances of it going in, from all distances - then you coach the to that. i.e. "You hit that 2mph too hard Dougie, it'll never drop enough to go in", and "not enough spin on that free kick".
It's all marginal gains though, and us being one of the best teams with set pieces is proof it works I guess.
It only works if the ref knows how to mark out 10 yards (as we saw when Digne scored one last season: we got the ref to re-set the 10-yard distance). W-Prowse also sussed it when moving the ball back 2 yards when attempting a freekick against us. Hopefully, MacPhee will have briefed all the key players to ensure that the distances are honoured so that the training-ground work can deliver.
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Same here. All 10 outfield players in the box do is get in each others way AND means their players can push closer in and pick up any second ball from a clearance.
Interesting the story in the Atlantic states he has also worked with Luiz on penalties as well.
Can you be more specific on the details?
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Let's be totally honest, a good slice of the reason he used to get stick on here was because he stood our with that insane, frankly unacceptable, Rick Wakeman haircut.
He seems to be really important to Emery, despite not being one of his original group, you can tell that by how much time he spends getting into the coaching on the sidelines, and not only for set pieces.
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Let's be totally honest, a good slice of the reason he used to get stick on here was because he stood our with that insane, frankly unacceptable, Rick Wakeman haircut.
He seems to be really important to Emery, despite not being one of his original group, you can tell that by how much time he spends getting into the coaching on the sidelines, and not only for set pieces.
and because for a long time under Gerrard he was the only one on the bench who was clearly doing anything, so people started thinking that he played a much bigger part (outside set pieces) than he really did. The truth was he was the only one who watched things falling apart and said something.
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Same here. All 10 outfield players in the box do is get in each others way AND means their players can push closer in and pick up any second ball from a clearance.
Interesting the story in the Atlantic states he has also worked with Luiz on penalties as well.
Can you be more specific on the details?
The details for Luiz and McPhee? Main article is in the Luiz thread, however the part I was mentioned is quoted below.
When Ollie Watkins was taken off penalties after missing spot kicks in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield in May and then during a pre-season friendly, Emery went searching for a replacement.
There was a clear gap and lack of experience that needed addressing. Douglas Luiz was chosen because of his accurate and consistent technique. Alongside MacPhee, he has worked on a routine where he runs slowly before winding up and striking the ball at speed.
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Let's be totally honest, a good slice of the reason he used to get stick on here was because he stood our with that insane, frankly unacceptable, Rick Wakeman haircut.
He seems to be really important to Emery, despite not being one of his original group, you can tell that by how much time he spends getting into the coaching on the sidelines, and not only for set pieces.
Does this mean we can't call him Catweazle any more? :-/
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Let's be totally honest, a good slice of the reason he used to get stick on here was because he stood our with that insane, frankly unacceptable, Rick Wakeman haircut.
He seems to be really important to Emery, despite not being one of his original group, you can tell that by how much time he spends getting into the coaching on the sidelines, and not only for set pieces.
Does this mean we can't call him Catweazle any more? :-/
Or the set piece Afghan Hound
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Our own, personal, bibs and cones, Jesus.
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I apologise for my absolute dismissal of him when Steevie G was in charge.
If Emery is happy to keep him, well good for him and I support it wholeheartedly
No more, fuck off you Cat weasel looking twat from me