Valérien Ismaël: Blackburn Rovers Head Coach

[Dreams of 1995]

I cant say I particularly like Val either. I can give him credit for changing the formation though. Before that, I felt like he was the type of manager to be stubborn and expect players to adapt to his system

For that I give him credit. Get us in the play offs and I’ll warm to him 😎

[Bronzed A Donis]

I dont listen to manager interviews since Mowbrays claptrap. However what ive heard i find grating and i havent warmed to the man.

As a manager, I give him the same view. They are doing a job with their hands tied behind their back, even if he chose to be complicit in that. He's gone 5-3-2, hes won 6 out of 7. Hes doing better than I expected him to do, i still think we might have an implosion with someone of his personality.

[KentExile]

14 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Given the hand he’s been dealt I think he’s doing a good job. There’s no lack of effort from the players. That hasn’t always been the case over the past few years.

Generally agree, although it depends if this is the hand that he was dealt or the hand he got to look at in advance before he took the job and willing signed up to when he accepted the position

But given the downsizing, and with the players he has at his disposal.  He is doing better than expected

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

You used to bang on about 'communication', but now media comments are a 'non-issue'.

Communication shouldn't be a factor but based on results and performances. 

I like Ismael's open and honest approach to the media but its not a factor in judging him 

Edited 1 hour ago by chaddyrovers

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

It isnt a factor, I specifically said it doesnt matter.

Points per game is the important one, obviously. Im guessing you think that 18th in the table is above or at least on par with where youd place this set of players in the table.

I think our performances have been better than our league position but we only 6 points off last season points at this stage, so considering the overhaul of the squad this summer we aren't doing that bad. 

If we could finish around 10th to 12th this season then I think we had a good season 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

I think our performances have been better than our league position but we only 6 points off last season points at this stage, so considering the overhaul of the squad this summer we aren't doing that bad. 

If we could finish around 10th to 12th this season then I think we had a good season 

If we had the 3 points from the Ipswich game we’d only be 3 points off. However it’s soul destroying to maybe battle our way to safety knowing any of the players who have come good will be sold off asap to keep the lights on. It’s like playing Russian Roulette, sooner or later you’re dead.

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

I think our performances have been better than our league position but we only 6 points off last season points at this stage, so considering the overhaul of the squad this summer we aren't doing that bad. 

If we could finish around 10th to 12th this season then I think we had a good season 

I dont think most clubs would go from 7th to 10th/12th and consider that a good season but it shows the direction of travel here.

10th-12th is good but being 18th isnt doing that bad.

[Mattyblue]

Open and honest. Aye, ok. Not said a single critical thing towards the regime since he joined… fair enough, he’s here to earn a wage and they pay it, but open and honest, he ain’t.

[Commondore]

18 hours ago, StHelensRover said:

I still think he's shite. We're 18th in the league, we've won one home game and got knocked out the cup by a lower league team. If I was appointed instead of him last year I think I could have made a better fist of getting us into the playoffs than he did. Anyone being smarmy about him because we won a local derby can jog on for me. I never wanted him appointed and my jaw will go through the floor if he ever musters anything measurable as 'success', which would be qualifying for the playoffs, he won't.

 

Edit - I don't want to see anyone using transfer policy as an excuse for him. When he interviewed for the job, that was his chance to interview the club about it's plans to progress. If he didn't ask, didn't listen, or simply waved through their shambolic, tinpot, unambitious plans then he doesn't get the excuse of "doing well with a poor squad".

Tosh. I assume you take personal responsibility for every failure from other departments at your place of work then? For me the jury is still out on VI, we know he can get the team into a purple patch but it’s not worth much if they follow it up with five straight defeats. I appreciate that he’s not precious about formations or tactics though, he saw that his chosen formation wasn’t effective and switched to one that fit our squad better. A lot of our former managers could learn from that.

[chaddyrovers]

13 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I dont think most clubs would go from 7th to 10th/12th and consider that a good season but it shows the direction of travel here.

10th-12th is good but being 18th isnt doing that bad.

what your opinion and post doesn't take into account is the overhaul of the squad and bring in mainly players overseas so you would normally have a drop off in results in that first season

After overhauling the squad like we did, and to be only 6 points behind last season points total shows that we aren't doing as bad as plenty would have thought including yourself 

[roversfan99]

39 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

what your opinion and post doesn't take into account is the overhaul of the squad and bring in mainly players overseas so you would normally have a drop off in results in that first season

After overhauling the squad like we did, and to be only 6 points behind last season points total shows that we aren't doing as bad as plenty would have thought including yourself 

Do you genuinely believe we are at the "start of an overhaul" which is very much parroting the guff that Gestede came out with, when he also said that the squad is now stronger which I am guessing even you disagree with.

18th probably isnt far off what I expected before the season started. At one point, it did look that such a finish would be beyond us. But 6 points is quite a lot so soon into the season.

But I dont think its the platform for us to grow and become stronger season on season. We will probably lose more key players next summer. And we are due another "project" change.

[RevidgeBlue]

Massive over-reaction on here, we're 18th!

The season could go one of two ways now, either we'll sort the home form out and have a fairly comfortable season or we won't and be in trouble. I can't see us continuing to win away games at the rate we have done recently.

VI is fully "aligned" with the "transition" so if we more or less match last season's finish then it can be considered a relative success. If we finish well short of what we managed last time out then it has to be considered a failure.

Every other Club in the Country would have been looking to build on last season's  seventh place finish, not rip it up completely and start again.

Apart from chaddy who seems to think what happened is completely normal, the Club can't expect to be cut any slack for being "in transition" because it's completely self inflicted and a conscious choice.

[K-Hod]

If we’ve just finished 7th( we should be then going for 6th at a minimum the next season, not selling all our best players and shrugging our shoulders.

Not here though, save a few quid and hopefully don’t get relegated in the process.

Exciting times, eh?

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

I like Ismael's open and honest approach to the media but its not a factor in judging him 

Yes, he's been really open and honest about Brittain, Travis, the reasoning behind selling Hyam in the last few hours of the window without a replacement, Baradji, Cantwell, why Tavares has disappeared off the face of the earth etc etc......

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

If we’ve just finished 7th( we should be then going for 6th at a minimum the next season, not selling all our best players and shrugging our shoulders.

Not here though, save a few quid and hopefully don’t get relegated in the process.

Exciting times, eh?

I mean whist we were still in the playoff picture last season Gestede actually admitted the priority was not getting in to the play offs but "building" for this season in the Championship!

You wouldn't get that at ANY other Club anywhere at any level.

[chaddyrovers]

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Do you genuinely believe we are at the "start of an overhaul" which is very much parroting the guff that Gestede came out with, when he also said that the squad is now stronger which I am guessing even you disagree with.

Yes I think we are at the start of building the team that Ismael wants us to be. 

strange comment from Gestede that one. Would like to know what he meant by that one

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

18th probably isnt far off what I expected before the season started. At one point, it did look that such a finish would be beyond us. But 6 points is quite a lot so soon into the season.

not really. League is very close and no stand out team apart from Coventry.