Sure it probably is a bit early to push the panic button, and I have always been one who is on the side of giving the Manager/Coach a good length of time and "for sure" Farke hasnt really had long enough.
That said....some serious improvements need to be shown very soon, because what we witnesed at Villa and then more so at Millwall was a disgrace when it comes to basic defending.
Now we had 72% possesion yesterday and until we lost the ball due to individual mistakes each time, actually played some decent looking football, the midfield when going forward and not sideways looks capable and we certainly have quality in Nelson or Jerome up front. Indeed, Millwall actually seemed to be enjoying watching our pretty football, and clearly knew that if they were patient we would mess up and give the ball away....which we did many times, and then knowing our defence is all over the place, like Villa, they found it very easy to score against us.
Gunn is totaly exposed by the defence, and the defence is totally exposed by the midfield, who having made pretty patterns whilst keeping the ball so long tend to end up in postions where they are unable to provide support for any break or attacking move from the opposition.
What frustrates me in particular about the defence, is first of all, that Russell Martin keeps taking the flack/blame from many of our supporters regardless of how he personally plays, and in reality he has probably been our best defender so far this season, yes....I'm serious, thats "best" out of a bad bunch. Then its the fact that, it is very clear that the club simply hasnt replaced the majority of those players released with BETTER players, in particular the defenders, right now for example I would welcome back both Bassong or Bennett as thats how highly I rate Franke, he looks lost and totally out of his depth, and Husband too looks like we must have only watched a video of him when he actually had a very lucky day and looked like he could play a bit.
Hopefully after the international break we will see Klose back and at last see if Toffolo can cut it at this level, I'm guessing he can when compared to Husband.
Oh, and dont get me started on what appears to be the zonal marking system we attempt....just take a look at Millwall's fourth goal and freeze frame when the corner is taken, the majority of our team simply stand and watch the ball fly over their heads without making any attempt to do anything, just spectatators watching a Millwall player come in unmarked to notch one of the easiest opportunities he will have this season. Lets be honest, only the very top teams seem to get zonal marking right, it's a risk way of defending and I dont think it fits the Championship.
To play the way Farke is coaching us is fine, if we had the quality of players to carry it out, players who are not prone to mistakes, sure we have plenty of possession and against lesser sides like Charlton and Swindon it works, but in The Championship (and it appears a strong league this season),mistakes are jumped on and often lead to giving the opposition a goal scoring opportunity.
Now, Farke impressed us all initially and more recently his rousing press conference hit the spot.......BUT, this is now a huge test for him, after the break he will have two home games to demonstrate to us all that improvements are happening and what we have witnessed so far is just, shall we say, the team getting used to the new system and ideas..."growing pains"........let's see shall we, because right now I'm thinking that the rest of the Championship sides cant wait to play us, watch us pass the ball around as they wait patiently for us to present them with chance after chance to win the match. Over to you Daniel......
