Massive weekend and a huge performance required from our team. We have a new head coach and guess what, so do Southampton as Ruben Salles has now been given the job until the end of the season. He was in temporary charge last week but given the gig yesterday. So a couple of new guys going at it this weekend. Providing he gets his work permit. Lets hope the club havent botched the Javi Gracia appointment up like they have the sacking of Marsch. They have been in touch with Gracia for a couple of weeks and will have known they would need to go to the FAs exception panel, so why leave it so late. If Southampton win they have momentum with 6 points from 2 games If Leeds win they are at the start of a recovery and have a chance to survive Does a draw help either club? Maybe Saints as it would be 4 points from 2 games, but I’m afraid not good enough for Leeds Tomoz will be exactly one year since the club sacked Bielsa and the reality is that the club have gone backwards since. Forget the would Bielsa have kept us up argument, and try and think of anything good that you can say has taken the club forward. The reality is that the appointment of Marsch has been a disaster simply because of being in a worse position now than we were in this time last year. The appointment of Bielsa’s successor should have been better and it was worse, so the board have caused this stagnation. The board have been brilliant in employing Bielsa in the first place and giving him the power to do what he did with the foundations of the club and the coaching side. The board were complicit in watching the club start to fail before the start of last season. Things were obviously not working and Bielsa wasn’t being supported and we could all see all was not good at the club. But to sit and watch what happened over the last year borders on incompetence. Marsch has had the equivalent of a whole season 38 games and the football and results were shocking. The board will be the only ones to blame if we are relegated this season. Marsch should have been sacked much earlier and we would now have had a new head coach who was good enough to win games and see us much higher up the table. Maybe a new striker would have been brought in instead of an untried potential superstar in Georginio. I’m a big fan of Georginio but he needs to be let loose from the start especially when we see Bamford forget how to kick a ball or watch him blundering about trying to get his left foot involved. 3 new arrivals could have already taken place today if the work permit situation has been done, as Zigor Aranalde, Juan Solla and Mikel Antia were expected to follow Gracia into Thorp Arch. However when does Skoobs go back to the 21s and what does it all mean for Marsch’s mate AirPod.
Watched the presser and confirmed that the media are idiots without a decent question from anyone. However He refuses to tell us who is injured or what formation he will play tomoz. Makes sense for Southampton to find out when the team is announced tomoz
We have a U21 fixture away at Saints this evening (according to worldfootball.net). It’ll be interesting to see how they get on. Assuming anyone chosen by either team will not feature 2mrw.
Now confirmed that Ewan Sharp has left the club but apparently Armas is still there but nobody knows what he’s doing?
Just after 4:45 tomoz there will either be loud applause from the fans or an air of depression. I have high hopes of this quiet polite man who goes about his business without talking the pants off everyone. He seems to know his business and I just hope he can save us. We also need help from some other results going our way. Wolves tonight we’re bottom not long ago but got an experienced head coach in and some very good buys. We need Everton to get smashed up too, West Ham and I never ever thought I would be cheering on Villa
West Ham, Forest or the draw? I wouldn't mind a West Ham win. We win too and we're just 3 behind Forest, better gd and still to play them at home.
Totally agree Doc. Very impressed so far with our new coach. No idea of course if he’ll be able to get us out of our slump, but if we can somehow get a win tomorrow you could see our confidence going through the roof. If ever a match was more than just a match then it’s definitely this one.
The one thing I took away from the presser was the way he said he and his team had been working behind the scenes all week. He said getting between 2 and 3 hours sleep per night….. whatever happens now the fans cannot say this guy isn’t a grafter and a quiet humble guy reminiscent of Bielsa. Nobody being slagged, praising and bigging up the players, but also teaching them what he wants and expects of them. I reckon anyone falls foul of him will see another side of him
Whatever anyone thinks of the board and their decisions, we will never know what would have happened if Bielsa (I am a massive fan) had stayed. Fact is, we weren't relegated last year so another 12 months of Premier League money. If we are relegated this year, our parachute payments kick in 12 months later than they could have done. We have not been relegated yet, maybe blaming the board for our relegation would be fairer after the event? The Board tried to back their choice of Manager. I can guarantee, if our board had backed Marsch with a new contract when we were bottom and looking to be cut adrift like Forest did with Cooper, the noise from our fans would have been deafening. I admire their (Forest) stance in having the conkers to try and create stability at a very turbulent time (so many new players and a terrible start). I wouldn't begrudge them if it works (as long as we are not in the bottom 3 ). Did our board not also try to create stability? The Board tried to back Marsch heavily in January but, when it became clear Ristac Meg was right all along, they got rid as fans were screaming for. It has taken a few weeks to (hopefully, and there are never any guarantees) get the right guy in place. They have been criticised for employing a Manager who is refused a work permit. He has his work permit and is in place without a ball being kicked. They have been criticised for backing out of the Dutch bod no one has ever heard of because of the social media frenzy. They get criticised for not being in touch with the fans. I know everything is not perfect and lots could have been done better but, even if I were a pound short of Elon Musk I would think long and hard about buying our club
Marcos not much to disagree with except the big one mate: the club is in a worse position a year in than it was last year. Everyone could see under Marsch the footy was dire, the goals conceded were averaging 2 per game, even his former players were clueless as to what he wanted. Bielsa 6 weeks to turn a bunch of no hopers into something special compared to a year and still banging on about teaching the players. Should never have taken a year to realise Marschball was wrong, indeed many fans could see it last year. Cooper is a great coach and his boss and fans could see improvements every week whereas …….
cooper had credit in the bank for sure. He’s done a great job there, and had a really tough task to shape a brand new team from scratch. My mate who’s a forest fan and seen more of them than I have thinks they’re **** and have been really lucky. If I was the sort of guy who quoted xg tables I’d back that up with evidence. They were rank against. Parked the bus, then brought another bus on at half time.
