If our form for the past four games goes on until the end of the season we will go down. But, with a realistic, knowledge-of-the-real-world head on, that isn't going to happen, is it? Vin
If you think we WILL (your caps), you can still get 100/1 with Coral for us to be relegated. Bung £100 on it. The £10,000 return will soften the blow of a season or three in the Championship.. Vin
Yes, that is a shame. But short of risking the very existance of the club by paying wages we can't afford, I really don't see what we can do to prevent it, at least in the short term.
I personally think using "bad luck" as an excuse for our poor goal return is crazy. We've got such a big sample size now that it has to be Puel's tactics. If we had gone through any sort of patch where we scored a few, I would maybe accept the bad luck thing. The fact is, we set up in such a way that we rely on players that can't shoot to score our goals.
Yes, I did read your post. I guess I am a bit odd in that I don't pass judgement on a performance, particularly a negative one, which I haven't actually seen with my own eyes..
I'd also be tempted to start Sims soon, he did more in his 5minute cameo than tadic has done in 5 weeks.
So the fact that we create at least as many chances as clubs around our position in the table, but can't convert them, is the manager's fault? Are you saying he deliberately coaches the strikers to miss chances? That's the only way it could be down to Puel that we can't score!
All I'm saying is that I watched the game yesterday, and I don't think we had as many clear cut chances as people are making out. I accept that Burnley away is a tough place to go, as they always sit back. I'm saying if it was purely bad luck at fault, we would have had a few games where we bang goals in...which simply hasn't happened. That's why I think there is more to it.
You said earlier that Puel has to rely on players who can't shoot. If that's true, how is that Puel's fault? And if it isn't true, why aren't they converting chances? When you say there must be more to it, what do you suggest that is?
Well my first thought about yesterday is that playing Shane Long was ridiculous. Jay Rod is starting to show glimpses of his former self. Long has been awful in this system. It's not necessarily Puel's fault that he has to rely on players that can't finish, I do agree there. It's also my opinion that a lot of the players don't look that happy under puel. A lot of negative body language. He deserves more time but The evidence right now is that his coaching is making us worse.
Well we have lost 4 in a row! If that form continues for the rest of this season AND next season we will be in league 1!! Some people
But we haven't lost 4 in a row....I know the Liverpool and Norwich games butter no parsnips, but it shows we can play well and we are capable of winning a game.
One bit of shining light, IF Everton lose today, we'll still mathematically be closer to 7th then we will be to 18th. That's all I've got for today.
Rodriguez can't start every game, and Long is the only other striker we have currently. As for the rest, you're just making that up, or repeating stuff other people have made up. No evidence at all. Whatsoever.
If the players look unhappy, they should look at themselves and not for a scapegoat. No proof they are specifically unhappy with Puel....this is the sort of thing that just gains credence with repetition.
Yeah, you're right. Everything this entire season has gone brilliantly. Why would I even bother trying to discuss potential issues
If we lose to Leicester we're down at least one place. If Watford get a result against Bournemouth, then we're down to 15th. Sorry.
No problem with discussing issues, but in my opinion you're focussing on the wrong ones. Most people were worried we didn't sign a striker last summer, but hoped that Long, Rodriguez and Redmond would score enough goals. They haven't, for whatever reason. That, for me is the whole problem right there. 19 Premier League goals isn't anywhere near enough after 21 games. Only Middlesbrough have scored less, and we've conceded more than them. Failing to score goals puts the defence under more and more pressure, and other teams don't need as many chances as we do to score. That's why we are where we are. Not the tactics, not the manager. The strikers not scoring. Not Puel. If we had taken all our chances against Tottenham, for example, we would have won easily. We could be going into the second leg against Liverpool 3 or 4 goals to the good. We wouldn't be playing a replay against Norwich. We could easily be in the top 6 if we had scored 7 or 8 more goals this season, at the right times. We didn't. That's why we are where we are. Not the manager.
I agree with what you're saying to an extent. But I strongly feel like this team has more goals in it than we are getting. I truly believe that under a different manager (I'll use Poch as an example) we would have mor goals and more points. The tempo is so slow, we are so negative, so many times under Puel we slow down a quick break in favour of turning on the spot and passing sideways. So I think at the moment we have a combination of bad management as well as a worse squad.
