I can't recall the exact wording but I'm pretty sure I said there was nothing to fear from the likes of Watford, Boro, Saints, Watford etc and I didn't say there was nothing to fear from Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Positives. First half there was nothing in it, actually, we had the better chances. I liked Mbokani, held the ball up well and will be a threat going forward. Both Mason and Henriksen were effective without being dominant, but that will come in time. Negatives The second half from the first whistle we started to give the ball away cheaply, which resulted in us giving away the 2 goals. Meyler is not a right back, he was awful in this position. Dio did OK, but not enough to get his a regular EPL place. Summary I still think we would have done better adopting a 352 formation.
Because the way things were, you were lucky to sign anyone in the transfer window. No manager, owners supposedly negotiating a sale, you should be happy you ended up with enough players to form a matchday squad. You are doing very well with what you have and (imho) will improve as the season goes on. EDIT.........perhaps the term "should be happy" seems a bit wrong but was meant in the context of your situation at the time.
Yes, a judgement on our rivals after watching them vs our rivals. I think you're misunderstanding my sentiment, it wasn't about judging us too early it was about judging us vs very strong opposition before the end of September.
A recurring theme in our game yesterday was 'Sloppy'. Perpetually guilty of poor pass choices that invariably went straight to a Chelsea player and put our team on the back foot time after time.
It's frustrating when you are the architects of your own downfall. We were sloppy in the second half, gave the ball away to easily, in complete contrast to the first half. Meyler is not a RB, time and time again we needed Elmo to bomb down the right into the masses of free space. Diomande should not start, he can't defend and he can barely control a ball. You can tell the rest of the team have no confidence in him. We lacked bite in midfield and the time for Livermore to move back into midfield has come. Bring Maguire/Dawson in at CB, Livermore, Clucas and Mason in the centre and I think that might allow Mason the chance to get forward more. I think this is a bit harsh on Thudd who I thought looked quite good when he came on.
They looked more up for it at the beginning of the second half, pressuring us, never gave us time on the ball (as Liverpool did first half), hunting in packs. Midfield couldn't cope wth that. Hendrickson will never have played against anything like that before. Masons rusty, Dio's touch aint good enough for that. Clucas seemed comparatively ok, Snoddy was the only one in midfield who looked comfortable with it though. Thudd looked ok, but by the time he came on, they were sitting back more. We know now we cant live with the top half dozen for 90 minutes, who all seem to have progressed. Why MP never prioritised a 'utility' defender in the transfer window who can fill in across the back four, I just don't get.
For me it's not about that, it's about the message it sends. The Jak did nothing wrong - he did a lot very right - but still got dropped. His replacement shifted 5 goals on his league debut, some of which The Jak would've arguably done something about, but then kept his place. Phelan's first cock-up for me.
Just who was picking the signings? Can't see it being MP as the Allams clearly didn't want him as manager, some on here said it was the Chinese choosing and paying.
Syd said that it was Allams and chinese choosing but it just shows how that can go wrong when the deal doesn't go through.
Agree with most of that but clucas wasn't comparatively ok. He got hooked cos he was guiltiest than most. Kante and Willian dominated him. He put other players under a lot of pressure or had passes cut out or the ball taken off him and his head went down. Said it at the time spending over seven million on a gk and two unproven kids was madness
The Chinese paid £6m towards our signings, which was very nice of them and probably covered most of what was due immediately.
Allegedly they lost a none refundable deposit of 6 million. That would have been after we had chosen and signed our new players, the money the Allams got from the deposit would have offset some of the costs as you say.
