If you want to know the exact problem with Bob, go look at those passing maps Mr. Inbetween just posted in the New England game thread; they are very telling.
New England's is very simple: run the ball up the wings, particularly the left. Collectively, Dejuan Jones just ran by Bernie, Servania and Laryea all game, as if they weren't even there.
Now look at our passing map. A million ways to go sideways. Look how many types of passes we're trying without even exiting our own end. Zero play through the middle? I'm sorry, that's not great defense, that's tactical foolishness. That's being set up and told to get it to the wings as quickly as possible, and then waiting until the wingers show deep and ARE ALSO TRAPPED IN OUR END.
It's clear; we tried absolutely ZERO diagonal movement in the center of the park and concentrated 100% of our forward movement on the wings. Our midfield passing pattern is literally a rectangle in our end of the pitch.
That's by design. That is a BAD gameplan.
If anyone thinks Coello was overwhelmed, I'll note he was our statistically best player on the day outside of Richie; he just barely saw the ball all day.
Servania or Kaye or the fullbacks got it... and immediately tried to headman it to either insigne or Bernadeschi... even when they had to come back into our half to show for it. At no point did Sapong come back far enough to show for the ball, and at no point did any of the midfielders try to penetrate the attacking third to offer the other two mids a triangle or advance man to pass to between the lines.
We were completely one-dimensional. That's largely why we were spanked. The team's actualy underlying numbers -- we still passed at an 80% clip and had 20 shots -- all showed we had plenty of possession, so we weren't played off the park. We just gave the game up tactically.
I have zero faith in the guy anymore. I know he's had winning teams, but they seem like good alchemy; he got the exact players for his system in LA. Still, even then, he had to leave for them to go all the way.
I think shit like this is why.
I don't trust his judgment in players -- I think the arguments about giving Shaffelburg a chance to start elsewhere are largely bullshit, good teams don't give up good, young depth just to give players opportunities -- and I don't think he is a good tactical coach. Within his system, he does not prep us adequately for the teams we're playing.
We were completely tactically outcoached. That's what that passing map says. No team fails to land a SINGLE diagonal pass into the offensive third unless it's by design. And it was a stupid design.
Literally, the game we'd just won, was predicated on the mids stepping up into the middle third and winning challenges high, and then advancing through the headman, Sapong. But if we have no one IN the middle third, and no one passing to them, because we're immediately going lateral to the wing no matter how deep the ball, how the fuck are we supposed to unbalance their defense?
How do you have transitional goals if the other team can just maintain their defensive positioning in transition? You can't. How do the Italians shed constant double pressure with no central outlet? They can't.
He tried to adjust what we were doing to a new opponent and in doing so, eliminated the things that had made us successful a week earlier.