I see Friend is supposed to officiate at our match on Saturday...wonder if that will happen after a night in hospital. P.s. lucky for that referee who was watching in the stands and came on as the 4th official. Every refs dream...Is there a referee in the house?
Are you really surprised? He cost us a good number of points last season through very bad errors (everyone seems to have forgotten in his absence), I still can't believe people genuinely think he should be Englands No 1 or 2, outrageous.
The squad is definitely big enough, unfortunately we signed players who aren't that good (Clasie & VVD aside) - I said so in the summer but no one was having any of it.
Our transfer activity in the summer was a joke, we took a massive step backwards in terms of our playing squad and it's showing. Am I going to be the only one person to point out how dire our football has generally been under Koeman?
After a couple more departures this summer, I do hope you are not settling down for an easy ride. Its just the way it is. Lucky to have Koeman, the next gaffer will be crucial.
Without trawling the threads to see if people are being inconsistent (though I am sure someone will), I don't know who has been saying what in the past but we don't become terrible after a couple of games....just as we don't become world beaters after a good run. We are easily a good top ten side. Koeman is trying to build on our defence, but we have lost that lovely 'red arrows' style. Ron can only work with what he has got and our new players are coming on well, but are still in their first season. He said recently that players make the team, not the other way round.....so he is clearly trying to change things so that our style suits the players. Everyone is on a learning curve. If our results were all shuffled up, little would be said....it's having a run of losses that causes doubts, so let's hope we aren't entering another phase like that.
Yep, luckily under Liebherr ownership all of our appointments have been pretty damn good!! This Summer is shaping up to be arguably the biggest for the club since promotion, have to get it right...
Mane & Wanyama? They can both go, if anyone offers over £25m for Mane it'd be the deal of the century on our end.
Good point, Fran. It seems to me as if Mane and Pelle have somehow lost the plot - or they've been found out. Other than that, we have a pretty decent team. I don't agree with Gucci - Romeu and Cedric are good additions. Clasie is a very good player still coming to terms with the Prem and we all know about Virgil. It's going to be interesting now that it looks as if Charlie's out for a few weeks - really hope Pelle and Mane can get their old mojos back and start playing like we all know they can.
I generally like your posts Gucci and think you make some great points, but I do think this is a little *too* far the other way. I've always maintained I think Poch is a better coach than RK, and that's being borne out at the moment. I do however think RK is a good coach and we've been, if not spectacular, at the very least a very solid top ten team under him. We've also played some decent stuff (along with some iffy games too, of course). I don't think we're as good or threatening as we were under Poch, but I think the overall squad is stronger (though we've lost our 'star' players, and by that I mean Toby and Morgan, not the patchy-beard chap or Lovren). As well as Clasie and VVD, Romeu is a good signing and I think Cedric will get there. Pelle did well last season too. Agree that losing Vic/Mane wouldn't be the end of the world, particularly if we can raise the sort of money for them that's been touted around. I also don't think losing Ronald at the end of his contract would be all doom and gloom, but equally I'd be very happy to keep him. I don't think we've been amazing, but we've been closer to that than dire.
....and I don't think either Tadic or Mane have been bad signings exactly.... Okay, I'll shut up now.
Just wondering ............. are we under-estimating Ronald? Perhaps he's quiet word with Jose and worked out that, now we've reached 40 points, we're almost certain to be safe. Therefore, get Pelle, Mane, Forster ..... to stop playing well, don't pick Tadic and there's no chance of their agents whispering in their ears about big pay rises and playing for a "big" club with all the chances of silverware ............ So we get to keep them for next season and further strengthen for the long term ...... Clever coves, these Dutch, doncha know?
