But surely there's a piece of paper somewhere in his folder that says "This is what we do if the other lot play five at the back", and another one that says "This is what we do if the other lot play three at the back", and so on?

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The Ferret
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He would have has 45 minutes to see how it panned out,how did anyone Bilic included know it was going to work?We might have gone out and ripped them apart,always so many experts on here using hindsight to justify their opinions and question the manager. The players could see the problems after the first 45 and it becomes a much easier process to deal individually and as a team even in ten minutes.I started a thread weeks ago suggesting that we might try a 3-5-2 after we had signed Remy and I still think we will at some point.Those saying we should have changed formation and tactics before the game need to understand that we are still limited squad wise and this makes it a lot harder to change things around. Like I said,the same people that are on here digging at AP for not panic reacting would be the same ones ripping him apart if he had done just that and we had lost 4-0.Its reactive and uses hindsight to try and make AP look like hes not good at his job while also ignoring the many positives.

Citizensmudge does the fact that many people on here all saying broadly the same thing not have any impression on you and that AP should be versatile enough as a PL manager and with his many coaching badges to be able to change the formation and with it if needs be personnel quickly given that he is getting an overall view from the sidelines?

It was like watching England in the first half so we must have been bad.

Bring back Brolin

Excellent comments. It happens in football. They knew they had to stop the rot. Local derbies wherever they are played tend to upset the form book. I bet come Christmas we will still be above the Spammers

On this thread alone I have said he should have taken Ledley off after 15 minutes as well as my problem with Punch playing in the deeper role.That is me disagreeing with AP,one is a long term problem and one was something I feel he should have done quicker on Saturday.If he had started with Cabaye and not Ledley on Saturday you would have been the first to criticise him and after the last 6 games it was never going to happen.We had no Dann,our skipper and most influential defender so having named his 11 before getting the Wetspam team sheet exactly what does everyone saying he should have had a back up plan suggest he should have changed in 30 minutes before the game? I see loads of "he should have had a plan B" but seemingly none of you can suggest what that should have been. And apparently if he doesn't change things in the first 45 then it doesn't count,as he changed it at half time and we dominated the second half.How many sides that play 4-4-2 week in week out do you think will change to a 3-5-2 against us on the back of what Bilic did against us?Not many if any I will guarantee you that,and why?Because teams play to their strengths,the vast majority don't suddenly change their system for one game unless of course like Wetspam they have pretty much nothing to lose after a run of horrendous results.AP will have trained all week to play against the team that Bilic had been putting out all season,i know you put our run of form solely down to every game being against s*** opposition which is the bit that pisses me off more than anything.We win its nothing to do with AP getting it right but as soon as we lose its because he got it wrong.That attitude can only be because of an underlying issue with the manager,closing your eyes to the positive but soap box the negatives.What makes me laugh out of all this is you keep putting in "I don't even blame Pardew" in every so often in between your "where he got it wrong" comments.Funny as....

One thing I think this game in particular shows is our lack of a leader on the pitch.someone who can get the players going when we start slowly, and even tweet the formation during play if things are going badly wrong.