I've always been impressed with his thoughtfulness and clarity in the news conferences. Actually I've suspected all along that he is one 15-goal-a-year striker away from being an excellent manager - the margin between success and failure is that narrow. The problem is that once you get on the down escalator, every flaw is amplified (for whoever was asking whether there was anyone left who didn't think he should go - that'll be me then )
And me. I'm as depressed as anyone about current situation but the modern trend to sack those at the top whenever anything goes wrong simply results in the dross rising up to replace them. This is not FIFA 18 and in the real world we have set backs. It's how you deal with them that matters. Every year 3 clubs get relegated and have to rebuild. Sometimes it benefit the overall health of the club (as we did in 73/74). Naturally I'm not saying I want us to get relegated but we have no right to expect it will never be us. MP is in a difficult situation for sure but I see no sign of him losing the dressing room as some have alluded to. I just see a team with no confidence. Tuesday we saw a team quite capable of being 3-0 up at half time. The second half was a disaster and the equaliser marked a collapse of confidence. I've seen the same in so many games this season.
I’m not sure about the dross comment. Was Poch the dross that rose to replace Nigel? Was Nigel the dross to replace Pards? Was Harry the dross... ok, ok, I’ll give you that one
I appreciate your point of view about the trend to sack managers at the first sign of problems but I feel so frustrated when MP keeps making the same mistake. As you said in the first half against Palace, despite the appalling state of the pitch we were all over them and with a bit of luck we could have been out of sight and we all know the lack of goal scoring attacking midfielders and strikers is the major cause. However, Uncle Roy brought on a sub and changed his formation to 4-4-2/4-2-4 and went direct. MP saw this and did nothing despite the fact that we were being over run and forced back to our box. Uncle Roy then brought on two more subs to reinforce this tactic as it was obviously causing us huge problems. What did MP do? Same as he did against Burnley and a few others....nothing until it was too late and then brought off two of our most effective players on the night, PEH and JWP and that caused even more of a problem and we folded MP isn't learning and keeps making the same daft decisions that are causing us to loose points
Yes, strange subs indeed although I've not always felt that way about his decisions. The constant rotation of players and the slow build up in play are the two things that drive me mad but I do think we are only one or two players away from maybe turning this around. Whether that comes from the January transfer window (Walcott or Dembele) or from the academy I don't know but I'll continue to get behind everyone at the club.
If he hasn't lost the dressing room then he is a terrible, terrible manager. The team do not look like they're playing for him. Either way he has to go, the team are either not following his instructions or the instruction is rubbish.
Fair comment but the club was on a fairly steep rise during those transitions. In the face of mass criticism from fans I remember Cortese saying that actually if you want to keep moving forward, its when things are going right that you think about upgrading your manager. Anyway bringing it back to the match thread, I think it will be an interesting back four with Pied out. A chance for Gardos or Bednarek perhaps or play Targett / JWP at RB?
My back four would be: Youngster. Jack. Maya. Ryan Or three CBs with Beddie and JWP and Ryan as wing backs
It was noticeable that when Mauricio listed the few players who had scarcely played or not played at all, he still didn't mention Gardos.
The only other time where things have looked bleak for us, and we were anticipating a change of management mid season, would have been around November 2012 under Adkins. Dreadful start to the season, immediate return to the Championship looked on, and the press had the knives out for Nigel. Dropping Danny Fox for some teenager called Luke Shaw, away to WBA I recall (or maybe it was the game straight after) looked like a desperate last-ditch attempt by Nigel. Shaw pretty much played every match thereafter. (Although in this case, RB is the least of our problems - when Cedric is fit again)
