Yeah good laugh thanks mate, sore head mind Lot of people around me calling Ange “useless” and unable to inspire the team so reckon there was a fair bit aimed at him tbh but you could be right in that Fulham and ref took some of it too. A shame but then what do fans expect when we haven’t improved a team that just scraped 5th. Manager’s aren’t miracle workers, he can definitely do better but like most other managers he’s been let down by those above him. Post-Paratici has been a nightmare.
It’s just more of the same weird stuff he says unfortunately. Whether he means it or not is debatable but it’s certainly bizarre to hear imo.
It's worrying in that we're a couple of bad results away from dropping to 12th/13th in a matter of days.
Yeah Slot’s rightly took the headlines but Maresca has also come right in and settled very quickly at Chelsea, he’s made some big calls but so far looks like Chelsea will have a good season.
Another disappointing performance and the squad absences are mounting up. I hope Solanke doesn't have Moore's virus. Son as a lone striker rarely works and never against a team playing a low block, timewasting and feigning injuries. Postecoglou's subs took too long today in the first case and then were a little strange in the second. Giving Lankshear a tiny amount of time to do anything was also pretty silly. We definitely didn't play well today and didn't do enough to win it, but the ref was ****ing terrible. He seemed to go out of his way to avoid booking any of their players and completely bottled sending off Lukic. Couldn't even bring himself to give Cairney a red until VAR made him do it, despite it happening right in front of him. Perhaps he didn't want to get dragged into the Coote row about betting on cautions?
Yep a very predictable outcome, and my son called it on the way into the ground that it had a draw written all over it. Such a flat, limp performance all over apart from the centre backs and if not for two excellent save's from Forster it could have been a lot worse! Definitely missed Solanki up front, if nothing else just to hold the ball and cover back. It felt a bit like they had their cup final last week.. Couple of big fixtures coming up and next Sunday could turn ugly. There are certainly a lot more rumbles of discontent around me than I've heard since Ange arrived....
We’re obviously having an awful time with player availability but Ange’s use of the squad has to be questioned. Spence clearly enough in favour to earn a new contract for example but Porro and Udogie are both suffering from being overplayed, not to mention poor form. The tone for today was set when we fluffed two promising chances in the box and I do think Fulham were a little lucky to have 11 players still on when Cairney got subbed on. Marco Silva coached a very good game though, they consistently found spaces on the flanks and got runners in the channels to threaten our box. They worked hard and looked fresher than us, but credit to that manager and his team. We were missing the whole spine of our team today and it badly showed - Solanke in particular a real miss with his energy and pressing. I’d rather see Lankshear start there and we’re going to need to give Johnson a rest soon, though he’s quietly having a good season so far. We need bodies back soon though, particularly in the forward areas.
The ref was awful. It ain't why we lost but he allowed them to get away with murder. His idea of playing advantage was a joke. He let it flow when we had no real advantage and blew up when we had a break on where they were panicking. The time wasting is a joke. They went down simply to get instructions from the bench. They did it at least 3 times. And it's not just them. Villa, Arsenal, City, Brentford have all done this season. It's needs dealing with as it kills games. It's beginning to resemble American Football at times. Like I said this is not about the result today...Fulham arguably deserved to win the game as imo they played some really attacking football
A projection (by different methods) of finishing with : 1. 66 pts 2, 72 pts is not good. For #1, that means no progression at all on pts. For #2, that is progression - but enough to finish top 4 ?? Another measure also has Spurs currently under-performing this season by 6 pts in the PL.
Villa and Newcastle are as (if not more) inconsistent as us. Brighton drew at home to Southampton so they are they are capable of backwards steps and are just 3 points above us. 2nd to 12th is separated by just 6 points ATM... suggests that most teams are being a little inconsistent bar Liverpool. We could easily lose the next few games but could also easily win them. I know Ange has made mistakes but I really hope the board and the fans keep their nerve. Burkinshaw took over in 1975 it took him 6 years to turn us into a trophy winning team. We had some horrendous performances and results (that's not even taking relegation into account). 1978-79 lost to Villa at home 4-1, Liverpool away 7-0 and Arsenal at home 5-0. We finished 11th P42 W13 D15 L14 F48 A61 In 79/80 we finished 14th P42 W15 D10 L17 F52 A62 1980 it took us 3 matches to beat non league Altringham in the FA Cup. We finished 10 in 1981... P42 W14 D15 L13 F70 A68 Today he'd have been sacked before we got relegated! We need to allow a manager time to learn on the job AND to build, not only a team but a squad and a style of play that runs through the club. Jol was our manager for 4 years ... massively improved us. Redknapp was manager for 4 years and massively improved us. Pochettino was our manager for 5 years and massively improved us. Every other manager left us either no better or worse than when they took over. We have to stop bending with the wind and stand by whatever the plan is.
The concern I have is the board haven’t done enough to aid the plan and unfortunately Ange doesn’t seem another Poch/ ‘Arry etc in being able to improve players. They sold Ange short massively this summer though and if he doesn’t achieve the same as last season or better, Levy will almost certainly just pull the trigger, it’s what he always does, the manager will look the bad guy when realistically it’s those above him. The post-Paratici running of things has practically gone back to how it was pre-Paratici, which was a joke. For many years I was very much a pro-ENIC type of guy but they are severely holding us back on the pitch nowadays.
I've said it a few times already, but you have to wonder if a percentage of our summer plans depended on getting some Saudi cash for Richy Not that I judge Richy for turning the oilfields' overtures down, but going into a window planning on investing in one or two players with the money gained from selling someone is asking for something to go wrong
I know most fans want top 4 but I think the board will be satisfied with another top 6 finish. As long as that’s possible then I don’t see him getting sacked
