HendoURZZZZHendo One for those who say Pauno should’ve changed it/bought players on.
Who exactly? What else could he have done?
His hands are incredibly tied at the moment
Don’t think anyone could disagree his hands are tied but there’s pretty much always an opportunity to change things up
The entire midfield were a shambles the second half (poss Swift excluded). I’m not sure it could have got worse. Could have used Holmes as a third CB with the persistent crossing in from them. Doesn’t mean you have to be ultra defensive, adjust to the system. Could have given Puscas a strike partner, press from the front, stop the flow of Blackpool’s pressure. Push Yiadom further forward and play a wider game, try and give the opposition something else to think about rather than an insistence on cramming through the middle all game. None particularly ideal but persevering with something that clearly wasn’t working was daft and ultimately didn’t work
Anyway, it was evident last season that Paunovic didn’t change things up quickly enough when it wasn’t going our way (even with perceived “poor” first team players - they weren’t a bunch of kids). In game tactical decisions a big part of the game. Seem to struggle with it
If he had bought Holmes on, he would’ve copped so much flack for making a “defensive” substitution as he so often did last season/has done earlier this season.
I just don’t think with the players he had available last night there was a whole lot else he could’ve done.
Maybe he is set in his ways, but so are plenty of other managers and for the most part, over the last 2 seasons, his way has worked, whether people want to admit it or not.
I think most people understand how the flow of the game works though. Against QPR, for example, we were on top so replacing the ST with a CB didn’t make much sense as it invites pressure (which it did). Yesterday, we were under huge swathes of pressure so IMO a change was necessary to try and stem the flow. You’re right that he still may have been criticised but that’s football fans for you
Under no illusion that Paunovic has done a good job overall but there are recurring mistakes which is a major concern