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2 wins in 10 after an international break under Neil

norky84

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It's a very poor record. For someone who is as thorough as Neil is, you'd expect our record to be better. Bizarrely, our last 3 games against Reading have all been after an international break, and we've lost every one.
 
2/10 is too poor a record for it to be coincidental, imo.

Someone actually asked him the question once around a year ago regarding the same thing, and he just brushed it off.

Totally agree with this, and we usually play shit as well. Someone mentioned earlier that we looked knackered. That is one thing we surely shouldn’t look after a 2 week break.
 
Totally agree with this, and we usually play shit as well. Someone mentioned earlier that we looked knackered. That is one thing we surely shouldn’t look after a 2 week break.
That was me, they looked absolutely dead on their feet in the last 15 mins
 
2/10 is too poor a record for it to be coincidental, imo.

Someone actually asked him the question once around a year ago regarding the same thing, and he just brushed it off.
It's a strange record for an exceptional manager who is so thorough in his preparations for games. I would have expected the longer we have to prepare for a game under him, the better our results would be.

Perhaps the players are given too much time off in the 1st week, and it takes a while to find our rhythm again?
 
It's a strange record for an exceptional manager who is so thorough in his preparations for games. I would have expected the longer we have to prepare for a game under him, the better our results would be.

Perhaps the players are given too much time off in the 1st week, and it takes a while to find our rhythm again?

Gaffer said, according to iFollow, he wasn't sure what to expect from a Mark Bowen managed side. That and, as you say, recovering the rhythm cost us big time.
 
Bizarre record really. Ok we have a couple of lads go play for Ireland but most other championship sides will have one or two internationals, and perform quite well comparatively.

Given the emphasis AN puts on game preparation, you’d think an extra week would help and not hinder us the way it seems to
 
Gaffer said, according to iFollow, he wasn't sure what to expect from a Mark Bowen managed side. That and, as you say, recovering the rhythm cost us big time.

I like the attention to detail that AN gives his players about the opposition, but I’d prefer us to play on the oppositions weaknesses rather than try to annul their strengths. IF he was unsure about Bowen’s tactics he should have gone for broke today and shown them how good we are. The table doesn’t lie. Before today’s game, we were in the top 3 and they were in the bottom 3. AN has got his tactics spot on quite a few times this season but he missed a trick today imo.
 
I like the attention to detail that AN gives his players about the opposition, but I’d prefer us to play on the oppositions weaknesses rather than try to annul their strengths. IF he was unsure about Bowen’s tactics he should have gone for broke today and shown them how good we are. The table doesn’t lie. Before today’s game, we were in the top 3 and they were in the bottom 3. AN has got his tactics spot on quite a few times this season but he missed a trick today imo.

We're not winning games by being a fantastic side, we're winning them by tactically out-thinking them. We don't create that many chances. AN finds weaknesses to exploit and as such raises our team's level beyond the sum of its parts. There are precious few actual poor sides in this league- we can't play Wigan and Barnsley every week.

And yes, the table does lie, pretty often. Look at Stoke.
 
We just seem to lose momentum with these international breaks.
IMO the leagues should Cary on during internationals. Tough on the likes of Man City etc but they have so many players from around the world and it would have a leveling effect across the leagues. Rugby and cricket manage it ok.
 
We're not winning games by being a fantastic side, we're winning them by tactically out-thinking them. We don't create that many chances. AN finds weaknesses to exploit and as such raises our team's level beyond the sum of its parts. There are precious few actual poor sides in this league- we can't play Wigan and Barnsley every week.

And yes, the table does lie, pretty often. Look at Stoke.
As the saying goes, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Stoke are where they are because they have consistently not been good enough. If they continue to improve they may finish up mid table and because of how shit they were at the beginning of the season that will be where they deserve to end up.
 
Big giveaway for me was the number of players going down with cramp towards the end of the game. Recently spoke to an ex-player who advised against ever backing PNE to win the first game after an international break as there is a culture of treating it as a jolly and clearing off to a beach somewhere for several days ....
 
We're not winning games by being a fantastic side, we're winning them by tactically out-thinking them. We don't create that many chances. AN finds weaknesses to exploit and as such raises our team's level beyond the sum of its parts. There are precious few actual poor sides in this league- we can't play Wigan and Barnsley every week.

And yes, the table does lie, pretty often. Look at Stoke.

Stoke are pretty terrible to be fair.
 
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