The Enzo Thread

[Paninistickers]

Start of the season Neil Warnock joked that his scout told him Leicester hadn't got one team capable of promotion, but 2! 

 

Allowing a bit of poetic licence for lack of balance, he ain't far off; 

 

Stolarcyk/ Iversen 

Doyle Coady,  Souttar, VK

Praet & Hamza & McAteer, 

Kels & Daka & Cannon

 

 

 

[Paninistickers]

3 minutes ago, Danno said:

😂 all failed, which is why we’re in the championship, and no one wanted them in the summer. Musa had a good game once in the PL, doesn’t make him a PL player 

How many players did Hull have today who've played multiple times at the top.level?

[cityfanlee23]

14 minutes ago, sbfox said:

"Worked in some games", yeah, not like we been top of the league all year. "Some"! Laughable.

 

What system better fits out squad? 

Yeah, in some games it worked and we looked fantastic, in most it's been the bare minimum for a team of our quality in the championship, 
Hermansen is a premier league keeper already I think most of us can agree,
Ndidi
Vardy
Coady
Ricardo
Winks
KDH is one of the best midfielders in the division and arguably a lower prem player for many
Iheanacho is a premier league level striker 
Vestergaard is arguably the best CB in the division
Dennis Praet is better than the championship
Callum Doyle is proven at this level
Faes is more than good enough for this level 
Souttar proven at this level and has had some decent games in the prem
Mavididi and Fatawu are 2 of the best wingers in the division, Fatawu could very likely step up as could possibly Mavididi with the right setup and some confidence. 

This is a top 2 team minimum.
Regarding which system is better, it's not my job to decide that, but i'd suggest we would very likely improve if we played a system that didn't actively play against the strengths of our players collectively. Even if we wanted to play possession, Alonso has a very aggressive possession based system that utilises overlaps and fast flowing attacks, something that would much better suit many of our players, we both have the same average possession this season. 
Too many times this season we have been below par for our level in this division. 

Enzo is in the minority of managers playing this style in worldwide football, there are plenty of alternative systems that would work with the squad we have, what we are doing right now is exacerbating our own flaws by playing a way that our players can't play to a high standard consistently enough, we've been let off the hook by opponents missing chances on many occasions this season, but we have also made a hash of many of our own chances this year too. 

[Finn Claw II]

I like what Enzo  is trying to achieve but we do have the best squad in the league.  
 

Bot getting promoted would be a failure and it’ll be harder next year with the teams that go down and us having to sell players / loose them at the end of their contract.  Next season if we are in the championship will be a real test for Enzo.

 

 

[Tommy Fresh]

6 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

I did actually yes. I’ve said throughout that I’ve held some reservations about Enzo’s reluctance to be flexible. You learn nothing about a team and manager when you’re winning, but you do when you’re losing, and at the moment Enzo doesn’t appear to be dealing with it very well. Is it lack of experience or stubbornness. 

Not my point really, your point alludes to us being better this season had we played with a different style of play, as we aren't playing to our strengths and that we struggle to play it. But based on the winning runs and the fact that with 9 to play we're top we probably are fairly good at playing it. I'm not debating whether he could mix it up a bit more in games like against QPR.

[Muzzy_no7]

I’ve said this on another thread somewhere but he’s got 9 league games to decide whether his next job will be a Napoli/Sevilla or Sampdoria in Serie B. 

[Paninistickers]

4 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Yeah, in some games it worked and we looked fantastic, in most it's been the bare minimum for a team of our quality in the championship, 
Hermansen is a premier league keeper already I think most of us can agree,
Ndidi
Vardy
Coady
Ricardo
Winks
KDH is one of the best midfielders in the division and arguably a lower prem player for many
Iheanacho is a premier league level striker 
Vestergaard is arguably the best CB in the division
Dennis Praet is better than the championship
Callum Doyle is proven at this level
Faes is more than good enough for this level 
Souttar proven at this level and has had some decent games in the prem
Mavididi and Fatawu are 2 of the best wingers in the division, Fatawu could very likely step up as could possibly Mavididi with the right setup and some confidence. 

This is a top 2 team minimum.
Regarding which system is better, it's not my job to decide that, but i'd suggest we would very likely improve if we played a system that didn't actively play against the strengths of our players collectively. Even if we wanted to play possession, Alonso has a very aggressive possession based system that utilises overlaps and fast flowing attacks, something that would much better suit many of our players, we both have the same average possession this season. 
Too many times this season we have been below par for our level in this division. 

Enzo is in the minority of managers playing this style in worldwide football, there are plenty of alternative systems that would work with the squad we have, what we are doing right now is exacerbating our own flaws by playing a way that our players can't play to a high standard consistently enough, we've been let off the hook by opponents missing chances on many occasions this season, but we have also made a hash of many of our own chances this year too. 

Great post

[StriderHiryu]

41 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

He's been given 15 or so premier league players and the biggest budget ever at this level (by a mile) to play at a level below and finish in the top two. 

 

I'm not having a pop at him. But it's a stark reality that literally any normal manager should be able to win promotion when dealt  a hand like that. 

I'm a big Enzo fan, but this comment is the truth. Scott Parker, Daniel Farke, Dean Smith even... any manager we hired should be expected to get us promoted given how good the squad we have is.

 

Enzo still might do it. Up until the second Boro game we were cruising and I'm not really sure how we've gone from certainties to get promoted to clinging on. That Leeds game is the stuff of nightmares, we should have won 3 or 4 nil!

 

One thing I find odd is that a system based manager usually has a slow start but comes on strong towards the end of the season when the team fully understands the gameplan. We started a bit slowly, but then really picked things up and started cruising the league. Even AFCON didn't really derail us too badly in the end. So it's weird that after the window closed we have struggled so badly.

 

And that *might* be a reason we don't make it if things go that way. Ipswich massively reinforced their squad and look at the effect it's had. Leeds signed a few players, one of whom scored against us. Hull today had Carvalho who we 110% should have signed, a player who is probably a contender for most talented in the division. FFP issues are clearly why we weren't able to do this, but I'm just calling it as I see it. We lost Casadei, Ndidi was out injured and Akgun and Praet haven't really stepped in as we would have liked in terms of results.

 

Anyway, let's see where we are at the end of the season, but my point is that being critical of the manager is fair game in my book, even as a fan.

[cityfanlee23]

7 minutes ago, Finn Claw II said:

I like what Enzo  is trying to achieve but we do have the best squad in the league.  
 

Bot getting promoted would be a failure and it’ll be harder next year with the teams that go down and us having to sell players / loose them at the end of their contract.  Next season if we are in the championship will be a real test for Enzo whoever replaces Enzo.

 

 

If we don't get promoted he will be gone imo.

[Lcfc-1992]

Im not looking forward to playing the Enzo way in the prem, if we make it. 

[sbfox]

12 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Yeah, in some games it worked and we looked fantastic, in most it's been the bare minimum for a team of our quality in the championship, 
Hermansen is a premier league keeper already I think most of us can agree,
Ndidi
Vardy
Coady
Ricardo
Winks
KDH is one of the best midfielders in the division and arguably a lower prem player for many
Iheanacho is a premier league level striker 
Vestergaard is arguably the best CB in the division
Dennis Praet is better than the championship
Callum Doyle is proven at this level
Faes is more than good enough for this level 
Souttar proven at this level and has had some decent games in the prem
Mavididi and Fatawu are 2 of the best wingers in the division, Fatawu could very likely step up as could possibly Mavididi with the right setup and some confidence. 

This is a top 2 team minimum.
Regarding which system is better, it's not my job to decide that, but i'd suggest we would very likely improve if we played a system that didn't actively play against the strengths of our players collectively. Even if we wanted to play possession, Alonso has a very aggressive possession based system that utilises overlaps and fast flowing attacks, something that would much better suit many of our players, we both have the same average possession this season. 
Too many times this season we have been below par for our level in this division. 

Enzo is in the minority of managers playing this style in worldwide football, there are plenty of alternative systems that would work with the squad we have, what we are doing right now is exacerbating our own flaws by playing a way that our players can't play to a high standard consistently enough, we've been let off the hook by opponents missing chances on many occasions this season, but we have also made a hash of many of our own chances this year too. 

Well. That's certainly an opinion. 

[Paninistickers]

I'm.noy anti Enzo per se. And there may well be long term benefits of the system, as evidenced at Bournemouth. 

 

But, I've had this nagging feeling from the that a  much more pragmatic conventional 4231, with full backs bombing forward, would have blown this division away. 

 

Mads

 

JJ and VK as full backs 

 

Vesty, Coady, Faes, Big H (pick any 2) 

 

 

Ricky Wilf Winks and KDH

 

Kels and Vards

 

 

....Rotation and tactical changes for game changing pace and and legs with Mavididi, Fatawa, Hamza, Daka 

 

We'd literally destroy teams

 

 

[Tuna]

1 minute ago, Paninistickers said:

I'm.noy anti Enzo per se. And there may well be long term benefits of the system, as evidenced at Bournemouth. 

 

But, I've had this nagging feeling from the that a  much more pragmatic conventional 4231, with full backs bombing forward, would have blown this division away. 

 

Mads

 

JJ and VK as full backs 

 

Vesty, Coady, Faes, Big H (pick any 2) 

 

 

Ricky Wilf Winks and KDH

 

Kels and Vards

 

 

....Rotation and tactical changes for game changing pace and and legs with Mavididi, Fatawa, Hamza, Daka 

 

We'd literally destroy teams

 

 

I've thought the same over the last couple of weeks

[sbfox]

2 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

I'm.noy anti Enzo per se. And there may well be long term benefits of the system, as evidenced at Bournemouth. 

 

But, I've had this nagging feeling from the that a  much more pragmatic conventional 4231, with full backs bombing forward, would have blown this division away. 

 

Mads

 

JJ and VK as full backs 

 

Vesty, Coady, Faes, Big H (pick any 2) 

 

 

Ricky Wilf Winks and KDH

 

Kels and Vards

 

 

....Rotation and tactical changes for game changing pace and and legs with Mavididi, Fatawa, Hamza, Daka 

 

We'd literally destroy teams

 

 

JJ who, best will in the world, isn't a ball player and can't cross. 

 

VK. Unknown quantity. Could be shit. 

 

Your two CBs are what we have now. Fine. 

 

Two holding midfielders? Why? Who is ripping through the lines at this level? We only have Wilf and Winks that naturally play there anyway. 

 

KDH as the only out and out attacking midfielder. 

 

Kels been woefully for years. Vardy, the GOAT, is on his last legs. 

 

Like I said, it's definitely a opinion.

[Number 6]

5 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

I'm.noy anti Enzo per se. And there may well be long term benefits of the system, as evidenced at Bournemouth. 

 

But, I've had this nagging feeling from the that a  much more pragmatic conventional 4231, with full backs bombing forward, would have blown this division away. 

 

Mads

 

JJ and VK as full backs 

 

Vesty, Coady, Faes, Big H (pick any 2) 

 

 

Ricky Wilf Winks and KDH

 

Kels and Vards

 

 

....Rotation and tactical changes for game changing pace and and legs with Mavididi, Fatawa, Hamza, Daka 

 

We'd literally destroy teams

 

 

Sort of agree with this. I think this system is about long term payoff, if it fails in the Prem (should we get there) then it will have been a terrible route to go down. We've probably made it more challenging for ourselves this season.

 

Having said that, a month or so ago we looked on course to set the points record.

[Paninistickers]

1 minute ago, Number 6 said:

Sort of agree with this. I think this system is about long term payoff, if it fails in the Prem (should we get there) then it will have been a terrible route to go down. We've probably made it more challenging for ourselves this season.

 

Having said that, a month or so ago we looked on course to set the points record.

Fwiw, I think we'll go up! 

 

But my (many) points are we've made awful heavy weather of a division with a squad that was largely designed for a top 10 PL campaign 

[The_77]

I like Enzo (a lot, I might add). But I don’t know if he’s got the experience to see out this mission successfully. 

[Gamble92]

24 minutes ago, Finn Claw II said:

I like what Enzo  is trying to achieve but we do have the best squad in the league.  
 

Bot getting promoted would be a failure and it’ll be harder next year with the teams that go down and us having to sell players / loose them at the end of their contract.  Next season if we are in the championship will be a real test for Enzo.

 

 

They'll sack him if we don't go up 

[LinekersLugs]

Sadly 

 

no plan B 

 

we have so many same same players 

 

would love a big rock hard center forward to smash em up 

 

Enzo’s managerial career literally rides on the next 3 months 

[coolhandfox]

3 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Fwiw, I think we'll go up! 

 

But my (many) points are we've made awful heavy weather of a division with a squad that was largely designed for a top 10 PL campaign 

Not a chance this squad gets top 10 in the PL.

 

[Paninistickers]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

Not a chance this squad gets top 10 in the PL.

 

Agree. But it was designed to do so

[cityfanlee23]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

Not a chance this squad gets top 10 in the PL.

 

I think the point was more that the players were signed for that level, even though many of them have not performed at that level, they are miles above the championship regardless of the poor few seasons they have had. 

[sbfox]

1 minute ago, Paninistickers said:

Agree. But it was designed to do so

No it wasn't. 

[Nod.E]

1 hour ago, Paninistickers said:

He's been given 15 or so premier league players and the biggest budget ever at this level (by a mile) to play at a level below and finish in the top two. 

 

I'm not having a pop at him. But it's a stark reality that literally any normal manager should be able to win promotion when dealt  a hand like that. 

On paper, yes. But when we got relegated most people on here feared the worst. 

 

I'm not saying he's perfect, and there's still time to go yet, but we sit above Leeds and Southampton in the table who also have Premier League players in abundance. 

 

It isn't all bad.

 

Ultimately I think Enzo's game is highly dependent on having technically gifted players, and coaching. With the volume of fixtures recently, we'll have barely trained shape and routines.

 

Meanwhile, it's not surprising that the loss of Pereira has coincided with us looking a little ordinary. He plays a key role in the midfield. He's intelligent, nippy, and has real quality. Without him we can look sluggish, and it's an awful lot easier to double up on Winks with no Ricardo to worry about. 

 

I think we'll see an upturn in form after the international break. A bit of time on the training pitch, and hopefully N'didi and Pereira starting, will make all the difference.

 

Hopefully next season we'll be able to recruit a core of quality midfielders of the Sensi profile, potentially funded by a KDH sale. 

 

To write him off after a two week wobble is ridiculous.

[Paninistickers]

Just now, Nod.E said:

On paper, yes. But when we got relegated most people on here feared the worst. 

 

I'm not saying he's perfect, and there's still time to go yet, but we sit above Leeds and Southampton in the table who also have Premier League players in abundance. 

 

It isn't all bad.

 

Ultimately I think Enzo's game is highly dependent on having technically gifted players, and coaching. With the volume of fixtures recently, we'll have barely trained shape and routines.

 

Meanwhile, it's not surprising that the loss of Pereira has coincided with us looking a little ordinary. He plays a key role in the midfield. He's intelligent, nippy, and has real quality. Without him we can look sluggish, and it's an awful lot easier to double up on Winks with no Ricardo to worry about. 

 

I think we'll see an upturn in form after the international break. A bit of time on the training pitch, and hopefully N'didi and Pereira starting, will make all the difference.

 

Hopefully next season we'll be able to recruit a core of quality midfielders of the Sensi profile, potentially funded by a KDH sale. 

 

To write him off after a two week wobble is ridiculous.

Not writing him.off. But it is unacceptable to fail with promotion with the hand he was dealt..

 

It'd be the equivalent of Man City finishing fifth and in the Europa. Totally unacceptable.