[jjamez]

Its a new dawn, a new day, a new life for us and well, I'm not feeling 100% good but I feel like we may have a chance in this one, but mainly due to the new manager bounce rather than anything else.

So obviously it has been a WHOLE week now since the Man City game where Hudson took us up against the reigning champions, naturally we lost, but we also saw a few changes in the way we set up, with Kachunga, Mbenza and Diakhaby switching between the main striker role. Now against Manc it was more of a 4-5-1 but I believe it was supposed to be a 4-3-3 when we attacked it was just against a side like City we were hardly ever likely to attack.

In that week since the game, town have appointed Martin from Wakefield, allowed him to get settled into his office, put his favorite picture up, only to then tell him that it was a case of mistaken identity and that they actually wanted his half brother from Waldkirch (he is actually from Mayen, just Waldkirch sounded the closest to Wakefield) and low and behold he was back to the day job with Jan the man to try and save town. In his first training session the cameras went to give us fans footage (it has since been removed) and to summerise, in that footage, the man can be heard shouting that he doesnt want to see horizontal passes, the ball must go forwards or diagonal, which for some town fans will almost be music to their ears. He can also be seen getting them to try some different shooting drills, whilst encouraging the players to follow every single strike on goal up in case of possible rebounds.

Since then we have appointed the Fonz to his backroom staff from Barnsley and subsequently gone on holiday, sorry training camp, to Portugal to allow everyone to get to know each other without the cold or prying eyes of the press. By looks of it, it has been double sessions and quite intense fitness work, but we only see what the club allow us. The players are due to return sometime today in build up to Tuesdays game.



So what do we know about Jan?

At only 36, he is now the youngest manager in the Premier league and with that age comes the obvious lack of a long playing career. In his short career he played as a midfielder but quit playing early to focus on a coaching career. He started off training the German national teams youth sides before moving on to become manager of Rot-Weiss Essen, he was appointed in june 2015 but by april 2016 he was sacked with the club nearing the relegation places, however, some of their fans have said he was on a hiding to nothing due to the lack of funds available to him and players leaving the club, that being said, some have been highly critical due to the clubs he has gone on to since then.

After leaving Essen, he moved on to coach in youth set up at VFL Bochum, managing their under 19 side before moving on to be assistant in to their first team manager Gertjan Verbeek and left when the dutchman was sacked.

He moved back into management with our feeder club Borussia Dortmund II replacing Daniel Farke at the helm after he left to join Norwich. Whilst it was at Bochum when town first started talking to Siewert, it was at Dortmund when he first starting having first team players at his disposal. In one game, ironically against Essen he started former Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who assisted in all five of BVB's goals. Siewert guided them to a 4th placed finish and has left them sitting second in the league.

In his 29 games in charge of Essen, he had a win % of 24.14, winning only 7 games at the club. His % at Dortmund is much better sitting at 45.45, winning 25 of the 55 games played. It has been noted that Siewert has used multiple formation, mainly switching between 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 and 4-3-3, which raises the question as to whether Hudson played that formation against Man City with that in mind. Some fans have said he plays the almost stereotypical german style of football in wanting to be on the front foot and press from the off, whilst others have said that he does sometimes favour a more direct style of football, which doesnt mean route one and I think some fans get that impresson when direct is mentioned, all it is, is that the ball will be moved into spaces quicker than the more possession based football when the ball is recycled amongst the back line.

When Siewert was appointed, in his first press conference he made a painfully clear that he is not David Wagner and will have his own style of football and will be doing it his way, not being a clone of our former manager.



So what can we expect?

In short, I havent a clue, its part of the joys of appointing an unknown entity as manager. I would however, expect us to attack and be quite fearless in the way we go about it, possibly having mounie being flanked by pace so we can hit on the counter attack and have the option of switching the flanks when we are attacking, using the space behind the fullbacks to move into. I personally could see us going with the 4-3-3 formation with Kachunga and Mbenza either side of Mounie, a midfield three of billing, hogg and puncheon, although Mooy has been back training, I would still expect Tuesdays game as being too soon, with his comeback more likely to be against Chelsea or Arsenal. The back line I wouldnt be disappointed if it was the same as against City, although I could also see Durm coming in having probably known Siewert during their time at Dortmund.

Elsewhere in the squad, it appears all are back fit bar Williams who went to Dubai for further treatment whilst the rest of the squad were in Portugal, I would also say that if Grant does sign tomorrow as has been reported by various media outlets, he too would probably miss out on Tuesday, although he may be allowed to do the half time draw!



So what of our opponents?

Well they didnt have the weekend off and instead had to head to the capital to play Milwall. Having been 1-0 and 2-1 up, the Toffees ended up being part of a cup upset as former Town defender Murray Mint Wallace fired in an injury time winner. The lions are currently struggling in the Championship but found the premier league defence at sixes and sevens when it came to defending set pieces. The premier league side also struggled to have chances on goal, although of course some are blaming the bad weather on their performance.

It should also be said that the Toffees didnt put out a weakened side, with most of their first team starting. Richarlison opened the scoring whilst alleged town target Cenk Tosun scored their second goal. World cup defender Yerry Mina went off at half time so if he is injured he may be missing for Tuesdays fixture.

Now obviously they will make some changes as Walcott and Bernard both were on the bench so one would expect them to be back starting against us. The one thing that has to be said is that Everton arent the biggest side going, so set pieces again for us could be a key factor so expect the likes of Mounie et al to possibly have some luck if we get some decent attacking set pieces, although we would have to beat the first man in the process.

There is also fears in certain sections that Marco Silva is starting to be under pressure considering the money that was spent in the summer on the likes of Mina and Richarlison.



So who to look out for?

1) Richarlison- the former watford man joined the Blues for £40million and has been their main focal point. Whilst he is hit and miss, he is still young, but he is very much capable of producing a moment of magic, whilst equally being capable of producing a moment of madness.



2) Gylfi Sigurdsson- another big money signing, this time from Swansea a season or two ago, the former Tottenham man has made a reputaton for himself as a player with a wide range of passing and an eye for a spectacular goal or set piece, he does however seem to vanish when the going gets tough.



3) Jordan Pickford- Englands world cup goalkeeper that signed for Everton from Sunderland. Capable of producing top class saves and not overly terrible with his feet, he does however seem prone to brain fades as shown in the Mersyside derby this season




A boot in both camps.

Now these are all in anagram form, kudos to those who get them

1) draw voids hunt

2) Zulu jaw kicks tie

3) as calmly dare

4) crepe talker

5) enviable kink

6) minder before jack

7) here out thinks

8) hydrant groaner

9) Red Canadian marty

10) herb or yarn

[Lord Snooty]

Very good article, jjamez. Nice informed piece on our new manager. Better than owt the Unexamined has produced.

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No9 Danny Cadamateri

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No1 David Unsworth

[jjamez]

you have three correct there snoots...

[Lord Snooty]

Idrissa Gueye could be missing for this one. PSG have just tabled a 20 odd million pound bid for him.

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We have Stuart Atwell as referee for this match.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

5. Kevin Kilbane

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6. Jermaine Beckford

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2. Lukas Jutkiewicz

If I have spelt that right, it will be the first time.

[WakeyTerrier]

Little known fact.....I went to school with Martin from Wakefield

[jjamez]

Billing is out injured for tomorrows match

[Amelia Chaffinch]

4. Peter Clarke

[theo_luddite]

Nice one to get the next New Era underway jjamez


1 David Unsworth - one of the 'champagne football for fish and chip prices' signings I believe - might be wrong.

[jjamez]

So far all correct