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"It's the team that wants it the most", "Go out there and enjoy yourselves", and other useless cliches to disguise a complete lack of understanding of what's actually happening on the grass.
I thought he was not keen on Sheehan for manager and tried to get someone else in. The club waited for a time window when it really doesn't matter then got shut.
Given that transfers are a major part of his job description, going on holiday during the window has to be grievous misconduct. My guess is he's arrogant like Martin and was sure the new signings would be a disaster, so went on holiday so he couldn't be blamed when the club "came to it's senses". I doubt he reckoned on a P45, unless he has another job lined up. We'll see, people making encouraging noises and telling you how wonderful you are isn't an actual offer.
I also note that Sheehan seemed a lot more comfortable in the presser yesterday.
If I remember correctly when Sheehan was up for the post there were all sort of 'options' being leaked to WoL and that seemed to come from Montague, given their occasional non-attributable attribution. I got the definite impression that Montague wanted his own man and that wasn't Sheehan. It seemed he wanted a 'keep it on the floor except for crosses' manager, i.e. Martin MkIII.
I have been impressed by his work in the transfer market, but if it turns out it wasn't him getting the job done then I'll not be too sorry if he's gone.
As usual I am guilty of wrongthink. I would only allow those teams within 5 points of the 3rd placed team, with a maximum of 4 and a minimum of 2 in the playoffs. The idea of a team 10 points behind the no. 3 team getting the promotion spot is just not right. It's a league, not a cup.
That's normal, I don't know why. The worst I found was coming back from San Francisco with 9 hours, it always took me a week to recover. Buenos Aires at 3 hours I didn't even notice.
He'll be flying back, probably direct, business class, overnight flight.
Get on plane, have a drink, have supper, put the seat to 'lie flat', go to sleep and wake up 8 hours later near London and have breakfast before getting off. Get into comfortable sedan provided by the club and get chauffeured back to Swansea. 4 hours time difference which doesn't really notice.
Burgess has a tougher journey, a stop over and 23 hours flying time. Plus NZ is 12 hours time difference, so jet lag. The exact opposite side of the world from Swansea is a small town at the bottom of the south island.
It's not clear he got injured at all while on international duty. He already had a slight strain and was assessed by the club physios as fit to go. As soon as he got there he was turned around and sent home. These days if a player is injured on international then when he's out for more than 28 days the club gets compensation from FIFA for loss of service. I think FIFA then requires reimbursement from the national side he was playing for.
It's quite possible the NZ physios looked at it, didn't fancy the risk, and sent him straight back.
Yes, but it's not the player. It's the player in the team with the team management. If any of those three is wrong you don't get performances. Given that Vipi was asked to play in a way that didn't fit his style, it's not surprising he didn't get results.
And you can add 'the town'. If the player dislikes the town where he's living it will have a negative effect. Players are like that, full of emotions.
We have yet to see how deeply Sheehan has a concept of "1st eleven". It seems to me (yes, that weak) Idah might well get battered against very physical teams, whereas Vipi would be in his element.
I think they are very different strikers who can do very different jobs. If the Celtic fans saw Idah get muscled off the ball, they wouldn't like that. It's not easy to do that to Vipi (or Stamenic).
OTOH if Idah can genuinely function in the 'fox in the box' role, that would be wonderful. No one else can.
As a matter of interest, Google Translate tells me that Vipotnik means 'high speed train' in Slovenian - well he is that kind of striker. OTOH Vipi means 'whip'. I wonder which he prefers.
It's always worth checking that the shortnames we give foreign players aren't actually insulting in their own language.
These reviews always think about transfers as chess pieces and analyse the moves they can make. They never ask "How does that look as a team now?".
If you look at Swansea as a team, how are you going to attack? What is the weakness? Route 1? No chance. Hoofball? Ditto. So it's down the wings, but this defence deals with crosses very efficiently so wingers will find themselves needing to carry the ball into the area. And thank heavens the old days of Martin and Williams with the rush press are gone, just forget it,
Then at the other end, this team can I think play three very different styles of attack. So a defence holding things OK against us, a couple of substitutions and suddenly they are facing a completely different kind of attack. I think that's a nightmare for them.
It is going to be very interesting how Sheehan deploys it all. I was worried about Montague when he came in, but he has proven his worth.
And BTW I saw a site with 'AI' table predictions that had Swansea as 23rd, above Sheffield United. AI? It usually stands for Arrogant Ignorance.
I liked the way Sheehan set up the team the first time around, and would have been happy to see him get the job then.
But the game changer for me was the Derby game last season. Of all the managers at the Liberty (for it always will be) in my view the only other one who might have won that game with the resources available was Rodgers. Sometimes it's just about fight and grit, sometimes it's about flowing elegance. The first of those has not been a Swansea strength.
It's not clear at all that he will get a pay off. He was chosen by the Americans and American coaching positions have tight, almost unachievable performance measures. Fail one of those and they can sack you at no cost.
Why do you think Luke Williams took a job on the floor at Bristol Airport just after he left here?
Why do you think Martin said plaintively "Judge me in March"? Because he has a review point coming up soonish and wants the Board to let it ride and give him more time.
The days when a sacked manager always walked away with loadsmoney are long gone, unless the Board were desperate to get him and he could negotiate. Martin was out of work and being offered promotion.
The Derby game under Sheehan last season was a revelation for me. Looking at the midfield now we almost have two complete midfields, one traditional style of quick and short passing, but easy to bully off the ball, the other solid and physical which you need against some teams.
I think that Vipotnik might (might) do very well playing in front of Stamenic. Strikers are always a bit mercurial. Change how they get service and suddenly it's a drought, but then again a guy who's doing nothing useful, given support that fits suddenly becomes prolific.
He always gets jobs with clubs that are owned by Americans, many of whom are not that sophisticated in their understanding of football. He sells them the idea that 'their team' will be Barcelona 2010, majestically sweeping all before them and winning everything in sight.
The fact is, Barcelona 2010 would not today play the way they did in 2010 and they'd lose if they tried. Also, the Yanks do love a good bullshit merchant, but ... but they review based on results alone.
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