With respect, the fact that I'm newer gives me a little a different way of looking at things, and perhaps that's useful. As I said, this isn't me saying Frank is the worst. In fact, he's part of why I became a supporter. This is me identifying areas where I hope he improves.
1) I am very much aware of why we use the planned subs. In fact, if you look back on GPG I discussed this extensively at the start of the season and was super excited about it. Thomas has used subs much more aggressively than our opponents and it's served us well. Plus it's a very valuable recruitment tool by showing players we want to come to the team that they will get playing time.
The problem, as I outlined, is that we now have 5-6 players in that rotation injured, so in order to keep that same strategy going he has had to use players that aren't as capable (Ghoddos). When you don't have the personelle for your system you have to adapt.
In fact, I think if I have one overall theme of my post is that Frank has not adapted very well to player injuries this season.
Another example: Norgaard is such a special player (as many have noted) you can't try to replace his role with a like-for-like as we have done for weeks now. He should have been considering another body in midfield.
Now I'm not a football expert (as you noted) so maybe my solution of an extra body in the midfield won't work for some reason. That's fair. But trying to replace Norgaard with Janelt or FTT without any other major adjustments seems like it was always doomed to failure.
2) You make a fair point here, and I didn't phrase my point very well. I think my issue is that all the flexibility he is demanding, the backup players haven't shown they are capable of doing it. So two things can be true at the same time: a) Yes Frank's moves for more felxibility at the season were vital and important but b) it's not working now because of personnel issues. Time to adapt.
3) We can agree to disagree on this one, but a reporter has looked into the point I made, so I feel like me making a similar point isn't reflective of my significant ignorance as a new fan.
4) We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one too. I'm fully aware of Josh's injury and how close to career ending it was. He's a great guy who is beloved by the fans. Unfortunately, I think that's causing folks like yourself and Thomas to be too patient. My support for this argument? To my eye, his poor play has had less to do with fitness or capability than decision making. The number of times he's killed possessions with unwise launched shots or crazy long balls is very frustrating, and no one has explained to me what that has to do with his injury.