But the manager we had went to Middlesbrough, had £50m to spend, and was sacked because they were worse than us.
The main reason being that the 3 clubs relegated from the PL have been dire which has really opened things up. Lost or missed opportunity for sure but we had a disrupted close season due to Monk leaving. Blame who you will for that but I don't believe he had any intention to stay long term.
I think he did, but he was sacked because he's ****. I think Rads knew our fans would be outraged if he was sacked after our best season in years, so he forced him to quit. Just because the relegated teams have been poor, it doesn't mean the rest are worse. You can only call it a missed opportunity if we don't make the play-offs, unless you were expecting us to be top 2.
True at this point in time the opportunity is still there to make the play offs. After yesterday if we play Pennington and De Bock for the rest of the season and the new guy in midfield is not completely useless then you never now. One thing for sure though is we need more options up front both to start and off the bench.
Everyone was calling for a striker because Lasogga wasn't fully fit. If he can stay fit and play at his best then we're not so desperate for one.
Yep but when he was knackered we did need another one to take his place. Pablo up front on his own was ridiculous and we missed his presence in midfield to retain possession coming out from the back.
That was nothing to do with us not having a striker, though. The problem with playing 1 up top is that it's almost like goalkeepers, you can have 3 or even 4 top strikers for 2 positions, but when it's 1 it becomes harder. Man United, Spurs and Chelsea don't have many options up front.
To be fair to Soggy, he put in more miles in that match than any other this season - thanks for that, Coops! He's also returning from injury, so not quite match fit yet. And of course, he got injured during the match in our penalty area. Ref played on, so he had to hobble to the bench for treatment. It was shortly after that he got subbed as he was not just knackered, but injured too & had no more input to give to the match. Unfair to blame him from being subbed, IMO. Now Ruth is a different matter - he asked to come off because he was knackered. That should raise some eyebrows - and yet Soggy is the one being targeted here & elsewhere. I do believe that TC made a mistake with his final sub. I can see what he was trying to do, and no doubt it was a well-practised exercise on the training pitch, but the players let him down again. They more often than not fail when it comes to closing out a match. Cibicki & Sacko were available to take the pressure off up front, but he chose not to. Tbf, we all make mistakes. It happens. He had good intentions, it should have worked, and he was let down. But will he learn from it?
I have 2 concerns going forward from this match, and Cooper is not one of them, I might add. I'm actually a big fan of the 2 players that worry me. Berra - his flaws at RB were shown up yesterday. He was directly responsible for 1 goal, & prolly for at least one more. He disappointed me yesterday. I've seen indifferent performances, red cards, you name it, but I've never been disappointed before. Strangely, he was fine again at CB! Answer? Replace, but with whom? I mentioned elsewhere on here that Pennington impressed yesterday by rampaging up & down the wing. Possible. Anita? I place Berra before him. Nessi? Believe he can play RB, but I have no idea what to expect. Finally, my choice - Coyle. Recall him. Vieira - not sure if it was the injury layoff, the lack of games in general, or the youth-related inconsistency you can expect from a kid. Or possibly all 3! But I just cannot understand those who advocate that he should be our #1 DM choice. If we could guarantee one of his good performances, then fine. But we can't. And yesterday was possibly his worst ever. He really disappointed me. I don't think he even completed one pass, and let's not talk about Morison humiliating him for their second goal. He couldn't even make the rugby tackle work. Answer? Toughie. Got to develop him ourselves IMO, so no loan out. He needs game time, but needs to be fitter, physically & mentally to get a start. And not at #1. He also need to play alongside someone far more experienced than Philips if he's going to learn - and that's not a dis on Philips. Philips is another subject altogether - I actually think he could benefit from experience beside him. Hopefully the new guy is exactly what we're looking for. Just occurred to me that perhaps that's the reason Klich isn't favoured. Perhaps he expects & assumes too much of a fellow midfielder, rather than being the nurturing type. Not every player can coach, and that's exactly what the two youngsters still require to get through the games.
The gospel according 2 glory. Every year at this time the league is the poorest its ever been and we re underachieving massively. Every July/august all other 23 teams have strengthened and we re certainties for relegation. When January comes around and there no chance of relegation the league is the poorest its ever been. The table doesn't lie unless we re in the top 6 , then it does lie
Am a season ticket holder and we are and have gone backwards from last season And muck is a poor manager and we have still gone backwards No chance in hell we are getting in top six and be surprised if we do again this season Not with this manager and this set up You only need to look at the result to see how bad we are, how bad we have been with this manager We been poor all season, it’s poor football to watch to, we don’t get on the front of teams at all So many games we only got points because of a set peace We have only won one team against the top six sides Lost 4 drawn 1 won 1 And that was down to them having a off day Against top 15, 7 teams down from 6th 4 Won 3 Drawn 4 Lost Ipswich x2 Forest x2 Millwall x2 We just got beat by bottom of the table Birmingham and got beat in the Cup by a mid table league 2 side We only beat Middlesbrough because it was mucnks teams and the players and fans was up for it more then a normal game We are garbage and going drop like stones And going finish lower then last season
We haven't gone backwards. Muck would have shut up shop and taken a 2-0 defeat like he did against Newcastle and Liverpool, and everyone would have been happy because the score was kept down, like they were then. A good Muck performance was soaking up pressure and Chris Wood getting on the end of something to nick a win. A good Christiansen performance means we're on the front foot, dominate games and win comfortably. There have been too many bad performances, but we have made progress.
Clive I have another view of the Monk situation: we were shyte after Xmas again last season and stories about fights between Pontus and Monk, upset dressing room and a fall out between Pep Clotet & Monk. Cooper earlier in the season said after Xmas last season players were upset because 8 were regulars every game, even when they were tired. We have a similar situation with Tommy too although now forced into changes plus new boys. Clotet who was Monks No2 was the only one not to follow him to Mids. Something happened which killed last season. Jock agree mostly with your view on the defence and was shocked to see our specialist right back not having a good game. Pennington is a class act and its now confirmed that we are trying to make his seal permanent but it may be the Summer. LVB looks great but we need midfield to be another layer of defence and Viera and Phillips failed to do that in the first half. Nessy I just cant see where he fits in and he shouldnt have come on yesterday as every time he does we concede. Sacko should have been on and let him just run at them so we could get a breath. Cooper having his best season with us but for me he shouldnt have been capatain and he should be behind Pennington who doesnt make the same number of mistakes. Foreshaw and O’Kane (when back) should be starters as both have promotion experience and O’Kane was one of the players who suffered with Monks selections after Xmas last year. Not happy about Roofe asking to go off but I hope Soggy can do that every week he looks like a striker again. Will we get a new striker? Roberts may still come but a 19yo one for the future again Im not sure. The Perborough player looks like West Ham are now offering £7m, Villa are also in the hunt. All gone silent on the Prijavic front which either means we are doing a deal or he signed For Rennes. Ekuban back in a 3 weeks but he needs a goal badly
