Marcel Brands (DoF)

[Bailey]

On 26/10/2021 at 16:31, Palfy said:

We have got in more and better forward positions this season per game I feel without looking at the stats, previous seasons we may have had slightly more possession but in our own half with sideways passing, for me Digne has been poor in all departments for over 2 seasons with the odd decent game now and then, nothing that can be blamed on Rondon he’s just played a handful of games, Digne has been pants for a very long time. I agree Godfrey isn’t the final answer but with no one else to put him and us out of our misery I believe Godfrey would be no worse and slightly better, after all he played there quite a few games last season and did a far better job of it than Digne imo. 

I agree that Digne has been poor for both seasons, but that is because both seasons we have played similar football, albeit this year getting forward on the counter attack more. Early last year when we were playing attacking football, Digne looked back to his best.

I am not blaming Rondon, but it certainly doesn't help him as a left back who whips in crosses for players that attack.

I also don't agree completely about Godfrey being better. Godfrey sat on the edge of his 18 yard box bar the odd raid forward and didn't have to worry about his positioning. He also didn't need to worry about joining the attack. Digne is an attacking full back and if we want to see the best of him again, we need to get on the front foot. If we just want to defend for 90 minutes, then by all means wheel out Godfrey.

[Palfy]

4 hours ago, Bailey said:

I agree that Digne has been poor for both seasons, but that is because both seasons we have played similar football, albeit this year getting forward on the counter attack more. Early last year when we were playing attacking football, Digne looked back to his best.

I am not blaming Rondon, but it certainly doesn't help him as a left back who whips in crosses for players that attack.

I also don't agree completely about Godfrey being better. Godfrey sat on the edge of his 18 yard box bar the odd raid forward and didn't have to worry about his positioning. He also didn't need to worry about joining the attack. Digne is an attacking full back and if we want to see the best of him again, we need to get on the front foot. If we just want to defend for 90 minutes, then by all means wheel out Godfrey.

We need defenders to defend and he can’t defend, I can’t remember his last game when he had a positive effect on the game with his forward play? We break at speed with players with pace, preferably with when all fit DCL Richarlison Doucoure Gray and Townsend, between them they offer all the pace width and ability to break teams down we need, what we need then is for the holding MF and 4 defenders to do there jobs and defend, that’s why I believe Godfrey would be much better at that than Digne who is our poorest defender until we can get another LB in. 

[StevO]

3 hours ago, Palfy said:

We need defenders to defend and he can’t defend, I can’t remember his last game when he had a positive effect on the game with his forward play? We break at speed with players with pace, preferably with when all fit DCL Richarlison Doucoure Gray and Townsend, between them they offer all the pace width and ability to break teams down we need, what we need then is for the holding MF and 4 defenders to do there jobs and defend, that’s why I believe Godfrey would be much better at that than Digne who is our poorest defender until we can get another LB in. 

But we won’t bother buying a full back who can defend and not attack. They just don’t cut it anymore. 
Our attacking threat needs to come from the full backs as much as the wingers. 
We have seen in the past Digne can attack and defend. But for quite some time he’s struggled to do both. We won’t be looking for a replacement any time soon, and we’d probably still make a tidy profit if we sold him. 

[Palfy]

3 hours ago, StevO said:

But we won’t bother buying a full back who can defend and not attack. They just don’t cut it anymore. 
Our attacking threat needs to come from the full backs as much as the wingers. 
We have seen in the past Digne can attack and defend. But for quite some time he’s struggled to do both. We won’t be looking for a replacement any time soon, and we’d probably still make a tidy profit if we sold him. 

I think you need to watch him a lot more than you are doing he’s bordering on embarrassing, King took the piss out of him, I expect King said I’ll put myself on and around Digne trust me he’s there weakest defender, I use to regularly run rings round him in training Trust me we will be looking for another LB now we can’t carry on with one that can’t defend and is producing next to nothing going forward. So whilst we are playing the style of football we are and hopefully only until Benitez can start to get the players in he needs, I would be starting with Godfrey as LB you have far less chance of people getting past him. 

[Romey 1878]

5 hours ago, Palfy said:

So whilst we are playing the style of football we are and hopefully only until Benitez can start to get the players in he needs, I would be starting with Godfrey as LB you have far less chance of people getting past him. 

If it was the Godfrey of last season then it would probably be worth a go but the Godfrey of this season is making defensive mistake after defensive mistake, and doesn't look like he can keep up with the game (yet). So I'm not sure we'd be any more solid at LB with him there at all.

[Palfy]

57 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

If it was the Godfrey of last season then it would probably be worth a go but the Godfrey of this season is making defensive mistake after defensive mistake, and doesn't look like he can keep up with the game (yet). So I'm not sure we'd be any more solid at LB with him there at all.

Possibly not but to try something different is surely better than doing nothing. I’d rather try than accept what we are getting from Digne. 

[Romey 1878]

58 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Possibly not but to try something different is surely better than doing nothing. I’d rather try than accept what we are getting from Digne. 

But we know Godfrey isn't playing well either. It's not like he's sat on the bench and not been involved in our calamitous defending; he's been a big factor in it.

If anything, he's someone that needs to be taken out of the firing line, not played out of position.

[Bailey]

19 hours ago, Palfy said:

We need defenders to defend and he can’t defend, I can’t remember his last game when he had a positive effect on the game with his forward play? We break at speed with players with pace, preferably with when all fit DCL Richarlison Doucoure Gray and Townsend, between them they offer all the pace width and ability to break teams down we need, what we need then is for the holding MF and 4 defenders to do there jobs and defend, that’s why I believe Godfrey would be much better at that than Digne who is our poorest defender until we can get another LB in. 

All I can say is that I disagree with this, pretty much all across the board.

1. We need footballers who need to be able to defend and attack in almost all positions.

2. Early in the season, someone quoted back to me his high level of involvement in chances created etc. I haven't checked but I expect this has taken a downturn since we have started to wobble.

3. We haven't shown an ability to break teams down outside of the counter attack. We need more players in the side like Digne who don't shit their pants when the ball comes to their feet.

4. Godfrey isn't proving to be a solid defender at the moment, so I do not understand why he would be any better than Digne when he is out of position and on his "wrong foot".

[StevO]

On 29/10/2021 at 03:15, Palfy said:

I think you need to watch him a lot more than you are doing he’s bordering on embarrassing, King took the piss out of him, I expect King said I’ll put myself on and around Digne trust me he’s there weakest defender, I use to regularly run rings round him in training Trust me we will be looking for another LB now we can’t carry on with one that can’t defend and is producing next to nothing going forward. So whilst we are playing the style of football we are and hopefully only until Benitez can start to get the players in he needs, I would be starting with Godfrey as LB you have far less chance of people getting past him. 

Why do I need to watch more of him? I literally just said he’s struggling to attack and defend. 

[Aidan]

Interestingly enough Digne is creating more Key Passes per match than last season at 1.9 (compared to 1.5). I agree he doesn't seem to be at his best this campaign, however DCL's omission through injury can't be helping him.

More to the point, the counter attacking style we have seen so far appears to be more reliant on our forwards creating chances. With such a quick turnaround from back to front it would be difficult for Digne to be in a possession to influence the play. This may be a reason he is being starved of creating chances, however that being said his all round play offensively and defensively hasn't been anywhere near as good as we have seen in the past.

[Bailey]

18 hours ago, Aidan said:

Interestingly enough Digne is creating more Key Passes per match than last season at 1.9 (compared to 1.5). I agree he doesn't seem to be at his best this campaign, however DCL's omission through injury can't be helping him.

More to the point, the counter attacking style we have seen so far appears to be more reliant on our forwards creating chances. With such a quick turnaround from back to front it would be difficult for Digne to be in a possession to influence the play. This may be a reason he is being starved of creating chances, however that being said his all round play offensively and defensively hasn't been anywhere near as good as we have seen in the past.

There is definitely something "wrong" with him in that he isn't playing anywhere near as good as he could, however, I have no doubt that the style of football we have been playing these last two years is restricting his best attributes and highlighting his worst.

[Romey 1878]

Well, it’s going fantastically well having Godfrey at LB tonight. 

[Bailey]

If anyone subscribes to The Atheltic there is an article about Brands role at the club. I don't have access but the vibe I get from the little I have seen / heard is that his hands are being tied. 

[Bailey]

There are little snippits in this link.

 

[Palfy]

5 hours ago, Bailey said:

There are little snippits in this link.

 

Good let’s hope he completely disappears.  

[DownUnderToff]

He should have quit as soon as it was clear he wouldn't get a chance to implement his own vision.

Now he's just providing coverage for Moshiri's bad decisions.

[Palfy]

The guy is an absolute fraud like his owners. 

[Makis]

Why?

[BedfordBlue]

I don't know how anyone can defend this guy needs to go

[Hafnia]

5 hours ago, BedfordBlue said:

I don't know how anyone can defend this guy needs to go

Got to agree.

Iwobi on his own is reason enough. 

[c1982]

22 hours ago, DownUnderToff said:

He should have quit as soon as it was clear he wouldn't get a chance to implement his own vision.

Now he's just providing coverage for Moshiri's bad decisions.

Part of me thinks this is going on but, if it is, why hasn’t he left?

Maybe his style/‘blue print’ just isn’t suitable for this league or club.

What I’m certain of is hiring a new manager every 12months and each time allowing them to bring in ‘their’ players and ‘their’ tactics isn’t the joined up thinking that this club needs and it’s the reason we’re experiencing this shit show currently.

The DoF should surely be directing the football unless I’ve really misunderstood that title… direct a style, a recruitment strategy, academy to 1st team, etc. I don’t see a lot of that at EFC.

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, c1982 said:

Part of me thinks this is going on but, if it is, why hasn’t he left?

Maybe his style/‘blue print’ just isn’t suitable for this league or club.

What I’m certain of is hiring a new manager every 12months and each time allowing them to bring in ‘their’ players and ‘their’ tactics isn’t the joined up thinking that this club needs and it’s the reason we’re experiencing this shit show currently.

The DoF should surely be directing the football unless I’ve really misunderstood that title… direct a style, a recruitment strategy, academy to 1st team, etc. I don’t see a lot of that at EFC.

This is absolutely what he should be doing. I thought that when Walsh was sacked, Mohsiri had realised his fuck-ups and wanted to get someone in to properly manage the footballing side of the club. 

That doesnt look to be the case and it is more like Walsh part 2.

[StevO]

I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I feel a bit sorry for him. Not for the transfer side of things, he can live and die by that, but the football style. 
We were all made up when we got Carlo, but bringing in a manager like that took any control from Brands. He couldn’t tell Carlo how to play. And now it seems like we’re in a similar situation with Rafa. There is no way Brands is involved in this shit style of play. 
We needed a young manager to come in and work inside a framework set up by Brands, that was the remit the club talked about. If he isn’t setting up a framework then he’s not really doing much as it seems Rafa is bringing in his own players too. 

He’s needed up just being another one of the many problems we’ve got now. There isn’t really any point having a director of football if he won’t be doing the job anyway. 

[Gwlad]

46 minutes ago, StevO said:

I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I feel a bit sorry for him. Not for the transfer side of things, he can live and die by that, but the football style. 
We were all made up when we got Carlo, but bringing in a manager like that took any control from Brands. He couldn’t tell Carlo how to play. And now it seems like we’re in a similar situation with Rafa. There is no way Brands is involved in this shit style of play. 
We needed a young manager to come in and work inside a framework set up by Brands, that was the remit the club talked about. If he isn’t setting up a framework then he’s not really doing much as it seems Rafa is bringing in his own players too. 

He’s needed up just being another one of the many problems we’ve got now. There isn’t really any point having a director of football if he won’t be doing the job anyway. 

So, they didn't do it but that would mean DOF setting the agenda. We are a club shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Let's hope we don't sink.

[StevO]

30 minutes ago, Gwlad all over said:

So, they didn't do it but that would mean DOF setting the agenda. We are a club shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Let's hope we don't sink.

The idea of a dof is that they do set the agenda. It’s all a bit late now anyway. 

[Matt]

8 hours ago, StevO said:

I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I feel a bit sorry for him. Not for the transfer side of things, he can live and die by that, but the football style. 
We were all made up when we got Carlo, but bringing in a manager like that took any control from Brands. He couldn’t tell Carlo how to play. And now it seems like we’re in a similar situation with Rafa. There is no way Brands is involved in this shit style of play. 
We needed a young manager to come in and work inside a framework set up by Brands, that was the remit the club talked about. If he isn’t setting up a framework then he’s not really doing much as it seems Rafa is bringing in his own players too. 

He’s needed up just being another one of the many problems we’ve got now. There isn’t really any point having a director of football if he won’t be doing the job anyway. 

I'm with you on the Hill. Id even add; How was he supposed to do his job with Moshiri constantly making the decisions? DoF in title only, he's not exactly been able to work properly. 

[Palfy]

8 hours ago, StevO said:

I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I feel a bit sorry for him. Not for the transfer side of things, he can live and die by that, but the football style. 
We were all made up when we got Carlo, but bringing in a manager like that took any control from Brands. He couldn’t tell Carlo how to play. And now it seems like we’re in a similar situation with Rafa. There is no way Brands is involved in this shit style of play. 
We needed a young manager to come in and work inside a framework set up by Brands, that was the remit the club talked about. If he isn’t setting up a framework then he’s not really doing much as it seems Rafa is bringing in his own players too. 

He’s needed up just being another one of the many problems we’ve got now. There isn’t really any point having a director of football if he won’t be doing the job anyway. 

Why if what you are saying is true that Brand’s should be in control of signings and the we play don’t we just make him the manager, that seems logical to me, and if Matt is right he is DoF only in title and is carrying the can for Moshiri’s decisions then he needs to have some respect and balls for himself and resign after all he’s great at his job and wouldn’t struggle to find a position else where. On the basis he hasn’t resigned I don’t believe that’s the case he’s really just not up to the job in hand, it’s alright doing a decent job in the lower leagues in Europe and dealing average or below average players for very little money, but when you step up to the elite dealing with millions it’s a very different story and one that has been to big for him to handle, and if the case is that he is being told by Moshiri what he can and cannot do then that just proves he’s to weak to be in the job that requires someone strong enough to stand up and fight for their beliefs, weak management breeds a weak team and the last 3-4 years has been very evident that’s the case. 

[StevO]

5 hours ago, Palfy said:

Why if what you are saying is true that Brand’s should be in control of signings and the we play don’t we just make him the manager, that seems logical to me, and if Matt is right he is DoF only in title and is carrying the can for Moshiri’s decisions then he needs to have some respect and balls for himself and resign after all he’s great at his job and wouldn’t struggle to find a position else where. On the basis he hasn’t resigned I don’t believe that’s the case he’s really just not up to the job in hand, it’s alright doing a decent job in the lower leagues in Europe and dealing average or below average players for very little money, but when you step up to the elite dealing with millions it’s a very different story and one that has been to big for him to handle, and if the case is that he is being told by Moshiri what he can and cannot do then that just proves he’s to weak to be in the job that requires someone strong enough to stand up and fight for their beliefs, weak management breeds a weak team and the last 3-4 years has been very evident that’s the case. 

We’ve done this dance before. That’s the job of the director of football if a club has one. It’s about making an identity for the club and bringing in people who work within it. 

[DownUnderToff]

16 hours ago, c1982 said:

Part of me thinks this is going on but, if it is, why hasn’t he left?

Maybe his style/‘blue print’ just isn’t suitable for this league or club.

What I’m certain of is hiring a new manager every 12months and each time allowing them to bring in ‘their’ players and ‘their’ tactics isn’t the joined up thinking that this club needs and it’s the reason we’re experiencing this shit show currently.

The DoF should surely be directing the football unless I’ve really misunderstood that title… direct a style, a recruitment strategy, academy to 1st team, etc. I don’t see a lot of that at EFC.

Completely agree and can't answer as to (if he is being sidelined) why he wouldn't have left.  I certainly would have and think he should have.

He was initially hamstrung by Walsh's profligacy and then the new managers and them selecting their own targets.  Clearly hasn't been a case of a singular direction for the club's vision and player selection. 

It also seems to be considered fact that the manager selections came down to other people's preferences.

If you're going to hire a DoF, then leave them to do the job.

Maybe he needs to go but his biggest failing seems to be allowing himself to get sidelined.  So I can't see any improvement coming from him leaving.  Club will still be in the same crappy financial position with the same shit decision makers still making decisions and the manager merry-go-round likely to continue. 

I'd rather see Moshiri and Kenwright f*off to the background and full responsibility left to a DoF.  Rangnick was the one I always wanted, maybe at the end of the season.

 

[Bailey]

15 hours ago, StevO said:

I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I feel a bit sorry for him. Not for the transfer side of things, he can live and die by that, but the football style. 
We were all made up when we got Carlo, but bringing in a manager like that took any control from Brands. He couldn’t tell Carlo how to play. And now it seems like we’re in a similar situation with Rafa. There is no way Brands is involved in this shit style of play. 
We needed a young manager to come in and work inside a framework set up by Brands, that was the remit the club talked about. If he isn’t setting up a framework then he’s not really doing much as it seems Rafa is bringing in his own players too. 

He’s needed up just being another one of the many problems we’ve got now. There isn’t really any point having a director of football if he won’t be doing the job anyway. 

I'll be with you and @Matt on that hill as well. We seem to have too many people pulling in different directions.