Today was so predictably depressing/so depressingly predictable. Tadic isn't a player for a relegation fight. Bertrand doesn't look bothered either, but I've thought that for the last season and a half. Not sure playing McQueen over him will make the difference for us though. JWP needs to play because he undoubtedly gives his all, AND has the quality at set piece which was so obviously lacking today. It's also clear that we look at our most dangerous when Carrillo has a strike partner, preferably Gabbi. Romeu has not been the Romeu of last season, whereas when Hojbjerg has played he's been a stand out performer. He should partner Lemina in the middle. That leaves either Sims (can he play on the left?) or Boufal on the left of midfield. That should be our team going forward, it's a team with balance, round pegs in round holes, and perhaps more importantly than anything at this stage, the team with the fight and intensity we need to turn draws into wins.
I would like to give a big high 5 to those that turned out in freezing conditions, especially those that had some distance to travel, risking icy roads or hoping public transport was running. That performance hurt me and I was tucked up in the warm.
That's the odd thing at the moment: with the exception of one or two positions, our team should pretty well pick itself on form and fit. Yet that never seems to parallel the team we send out.
We are buying players in the twelve million bracket..and it is not paying off. We have bought about 4 or so in this range over the last couple of seasons. We are clearly cheapskates. Where as if we had bought two at say 24 million perhaps we would be in a better state. No guarantees granted but chances are higher perhaps.
You are probably correct, but you know ... Wigan. Saints. Football. Strange things happen. Apologies for being such a negative numpty. No faith in this side under this manager.
This is the strangest season i can remember where half the premiership teams could go down and it won't be decided until the last second of the season....Nobody is safe.Even WBA are still in it.....
At least Lemina finally seems to be a mainstay! Sadly, good performances rarely seem to be rewarded with any sort of run in the team. Just as bad or underwhelming performances rarely seem to result in being dropped from the team. What sort of message does that send!? That's not a new problem though.
I"m not that concerned about transfer fees. The problem is that we're buying fewer and fewer players who have, in the North American parlance, 'star upside'. Boufal was one such gamble, and you could argue that Gabbiadini was as well. But we have a large number of decent squad players because we have bought players who were never going to be more than decent squad players. I'd like us to get back to gambling more on players who are clearly too good in lesser leagues, rather than players who are merely okay in top competitions. Certainly, we have had successes and failures with both, but we've had more success with the former. And realistically, it's the only way we're going to find the sort of dynamism we are missing in attack.
Indeed. Indeed. For me, the only ever question was 0-0 or 1-1. Newcastle next week somewhat has the same smell. Like Burnley last week, it would be no bad thing as a stand alone result, but it would be yet another failure to win. And with everyone of them, the trap door gets closer. We almost certainly need three wins; we now have nine games to get them. (West Ham after that is different. I can see any of the three outcomes there.)
It's rather baffling. Romeu is undroppable for no reason that I can discern. Boufal performed well in the league win against WBA and hasn't started since. Redmond went from being an unused sub to starting some of the most important matches of our season. Tadic starts no matter his form. JWP has weeks where he was comfortably our best player, and plays no part in this one. There's no rhyme or reason to any of it.
It looks like a contest now of who loses the least number of points. I really hoped MP2 could somehow bring about a successful season but am now resigned to the fact that he is struggling to stay afloat. I like the guy, I think he is honest, decent and fair minded but we now are left with hope only and precious little of that. I’m not getting on the sack this or that person bandwagon it’s way too late now. I will keep supporting but with hope rather than a positive certainty.
