Originally Posted by
animallittle3
This is a battle Hecky couldn't win with Cryne two seasons ago and I'd expect Stendel won't have any more joy either .
Hecky finally got fecked off with it and that contract in front of Stendel remains unsigned .
Ajax had one of the best young teams in europe last season but still had the nous to have a couple of older heads within the team .
At this stage of the season it would be churlish to dismiss the new players as not up to it , we will see soon enough .
There's always the thought that history is about to repeat itself but we have kept the nucleus of last seasons squad .
I do have my concerns defensively I have to say , last seasons success was built on a rock solid back four which allowed us to play a very expansive style of football , the whole high press philosophy goes out of the window if you are shipping goals at two and three a game .
Even with Pinnock and Lindsay remaining at the club it would still be tough to dominate the ball like we did last season at this higher level .
Teams in the championship will be far more accomplished at beating the press than teams did last season and when they do we have to be on it defensively or we will struggle massively .
On top of that the team are expected to play out from the back , relatively easy when Fleetwood , Rochdale and Gillingham have only the one up top and came to Oakwell more defensively minded .
We saw how playing out from the back can work out playing against higher level opposition when England came up against Holland recently .
Stendel could be the best coach on the planet but without the necessary quality on the park to carry out his philosophy then he will look a total clown too just as Hecky found out .
Interesting times ahead and all will be revealed in the weeks and months ahead .