After that first half against West Ham, I think there were a lot of people questioning whether we had another FdB situation. Whilst harsh, it's likely to be the go-to analogy for any manager struggling to immediately implement his ideas.

It's always struck me that losing 4 games isn't that bad. Being the first 4 of the season really magnifies it, but it's not as if Hodgson, Pardew, Holloway and others haven't had worse runs mid-season. My vague recollection is we were quite good against Burnley, but lost because of Lee Chung-Yong's shocking back pass and an inability to score.

So presumably there was more to it than merely poor form.

We're now four years on. What happened? And just how unimpressed were the players and directors with what they saw from him?

[Link]

[Link]

Yes we did play well against Burnley but lost 3-0 at home to Huddersfield and 2-0 at home to Swansea before then. De Boer was also sacked early in his roles for Inter Milan and his national team.
Difficult to know the reason's but i suspect player power might have something to do with his sacking at the time but in hindsight it was the right decision and Roy was able to keep us.
The difference this time is that with so many out of contract players at the end of the season the management team have been able to bring in a lot of new players who can help the squad adjust to a new playing style quickly.

That clip of FdB doing press ups made me chuckle

Obviously, I don't know FdB but the impression I've gained is that he's his own worst enemy. He seems to insist on doing things his way even when he doesn't have the tools,

It was noticeable in the Euros that he deliberately adopted his own system at the expense of the one traditionally associated with the national team.

I don't think FdB can do evolution, only revolution. That kind of attitude tends to lose the dressing room pretty quickly not to mention the fans.

Although Vieira is bringing revolution rather than evolution, it is very much with the blessing of SP (and presumably the rest of the board). It is clear from the way we got much of our business done early this window that Parish and Freedman had been tracking players who can play a more possession-based style of football. The running down of so many contracts at once was probably deliberate as it has enabled the club to bring in a sufficient number the right type of players to make it possible to adopt the new style from Day 1.

I think FDB was sacked over more than just the poor start.

There were lots of rumblings at the time about fallouts with senior players.

A big part of managing a team is about how you build a relationship with your squad and get your ideas across to them and reputation alone won't do it and above all else you need your senior players to be on board.

PV seems to be much better at this and the training ground clips seem to show a much happier ship.

To be totally fair to FDB he probably didn't get the backing in terms of bringing in players to implement his new style but I don't think he managed the players he had particularly well.

Its going to take time but the basic stuff seems to be in place so as long as everyone is patient and doesn't panic after every defeat, I think we have every reason to feel positive about the future.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.

Let’s just be honest, de Boer isn’t a very good as a manager and has very poor people skills. It’s as simple as that, as time has shown since he was sacked by Palace.