It was clear that he was going to have a terrible night in the first half, it was either a red card or a penalty to come… he should’ve been subbed off in the second half or at least should’ve had Rekik as a back-up there in a 3 at the back, while we could mimic what we did vs. Valencia.
Just not good enough.
It was painful to watch. Why such conservative tactics even when we were 1-0 down against a bottom 3 side?
Dreadful. We certainly didn’t look like title contenders and a real chance blown there to go top.
Every single team can turn into a bogey team as long as we keep doing the same thing over and over.
The problem is that if we were to sack Lope, who do we replace him with? There aren’t any realistic options on managers who would do better
How often Lope relies on 2nd half changes just shows how poorly he prepares for these games.
On second thought, I’m available, and I feel I couldn’t do much worse than Lope did today
I agree it’s not acceptable. Very bad performance in all aspects from the players and manager. As usual they leave things too late to get going. Way too slow and no ideas first half. We went too conservative to start and cost us the match.
Yeah I was about to say that at HT. He is not properly preparing the games and that could be due to either laziness or nonchalance, or both. - but I really can’t stand it at all.
Yeah these results and performances are the reason we can’t make the next step. Had it all in our own hands but couldn’t take the chance. Poor approach to the game and lack of quality in final 3rd.
It’s worrying that when we concede first I really don’t fancy us to hardly win any match.
Being honest, the moment we went 1-0 down I feared the worst.
You wonder where the goals are coming from especially away from home. That really shouldn’t be the case with the quality of players he has. Buck has to lie with the manager.
You definitely can’t. You could only switch to a more creative formation that can attack or set the team up properly for counter-attacks like Simeone does with Atletico and you’ll win more matches than Lope, that’s for sure. The squad is there, with the depth and everything - it’s the coach…
Not trying to sound too knee jerk but I’m actually starting to switch into the Lope out crew. Some bad performances and one that resulted in a loss tonight and a poor start to the Champions League. A couple more bad results and questions have to be asked. Against the targets we’ve set and with the quality of squad we have, is Lope really getting the best out of the players? Plus the football is boring to watch.
Can you imagine how exciting Sampaoli’s football would be with this team? Loved watching us then. This is dull.
That’s all it took, you got my vote: Lope out - User1115 in
Also another negative thing if anyone hasn’t seen it. Acuna got into a verbal confrontation with Oscar… ending up in Oscar telling him to shut up as seen from the hand and face gestures. Acuna also previously had a small misunderstanding with Munir and said to him ‘mira me’, meaning look at me when I have the ball.
Is the atmosphere in the locker room as good as we think it is? I doubt so…
You’re right, at least it was fun to watch. We were not very productive with him either, at times ending up having 70-80% of possession without winning the match or scoring but it was still way more fun than this.
I understand what you and others are saying. I’d still keep him and I still think he’s earned the right to continue at least for rest of season then we see.
However, I agree he’s not learning from his mistakes in terms of setting up his team. When you are away to Granada you go to win from the first whistle. Teams who are going for the title and top serious teams don’t play 3 defensive midfield players in games like this.
This loss is on lope and he needs to realise his mistakes or he will come under more pressure. I still think he deserves to continue due to his record and overall decent Start this season but for me he’s setting a worrying trend and if he doesn’t change then we could go backwards and his job could come under big threat.
He’s okay for now and I hope he does change as I like him and his passion. Still this football and away form had to improve or things will get less secure for him.
I agree that serious teams who are going for titles and want to entertain go to win every game. At Granada away who have not won a match to play 3 defensive midfield players from start is unacceptable.
Lope deserves to continue due to his record but if he doesn’t learn from his mistakes soon his position will become a lot less secure for sure.
If anything, this game, Acuña did had to shut up. Always so provoked. He needs to be above that.