The assumption is that the players have been there for the buying but that the board won't part with the money. I'm not sure that is actually the case. I think it is far more likely that outrageous figures have been demanded for mediocre or unproven players and it's a case of taking a punt. But look what happened with RvW, we paid millions for a player that arguably isn't as good as those people are crying for us to replace. It's clearly the wage structure too. Abandoning it will open a real can of worms. I would rather stay as we are and risk going down. I don't like The Premiership anyway, it's Bling Central.
How long do we give him ?
- Thread starter KIO
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I would have expected more from him and he's starting to be way off target with his attempts on goal (yes, i know he's our top scorer!!). I'd also like to see him go past defenders, rather than look for someone to pass to.
Time for AN to sit him down and have a 'wee chat' - I also think McNally needs to sit down with AN and lay it on the line.
Personally, I would stick with AN, as I feel that the reason for the pathetic transfer window was because of the board, not AN!!!
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I would say the situation is actually precisely because of our bad results given that we are not even maintaining a point per game average. Bournemouth and Newcastle are though and whether that is a product of recent fixtures or not 16 pts from 16 is not tearing up trees we are just worse!
I don't want us to sack AN though, things will have to get considerably worse or someone truely amazing would have to become available for that to seem a remotely decent idea.
Bah!
I'm not sure that's entirely true - both those teams were well below a point a game and yet have suddenly jumped to 16 from 16 by taking some big scalps. Just because they have simply got themselves to a point a game, doesn't necessarily mean their results haven't been spectacular. They have. The fact is, that if you looked three weeks ago and said we would get two points from Everton and Arsenal, and compared it against the matches our fellow relegation strugglers had, you would have to be surprised we are in the relegation zone.
That being said, whereas now I can only see best case scenario us accumulating 27 points to the end of the season, the fact is that we are looking at a relegation battle for the entire season rather than one of relative safety, like Watford. That means we have to hope that the total for safety over the season is more like 35 points rather than 40 if we are going to get any cushion. I think there's still a possibility of that - we are just two points off midtable, so much can still change cosmetically just with a win or two but it won't alter the fact that we are in the mire and will remain so for the rest of the season. Relegation is far from a certainty, but the battle is. We need to start a good run and maintain it.
My point is still the same though. If you had been told that we would be languishing on 14pts after 16 games at the start of the season, you would likely have been; disappointed, resigned to relegation and expectant that we would be not only in the bottom three but perhaps last!
I agree that the recent results have been pretty spectacular for Newcs and BM but it doesn't change the fact ours have not been good enough and if you still had both of them a point or 3 behind us our points haul would still be short of adequat. What I'm saying in many words when a few would do is. 14pts from 16 would likely see you in the dropzone any season so our situation was looking artificially rosey by others being poor.
There you go, clear as mud!
Bah!
I agree that the recent results have been pretty spectacular for Newcs and BM but it doesn't change the fact ours have not been good enough and if you still had both of them a point or 3 behind us our points haul would still be short of adequat. What I'm saying in many words when a few would do is. 14pts from 16 would likely see you in the dropzone any season so our situation was looking artificially rosey by others being poor.
There you go, clear as mud!
Bah!
Whilst I like AN and think he'll manage a bigger club than ours in the future, he is learning and does make mistakes. In my mind the decision to play Martin in place of Bennett against Everton was a much bigger mistake than Jerome's miss. He has however made good decisions such as buying Brady and loaning Jarvis. I think we should definitely stick with him and the board really needs to spend some cash on a couple of quality CB's / Strikers Not silly money, however the increase money available next year should we stay up really requires the board to think bigger than they did during the summer
I think thats the key, no silly money buys but keep incrementally improving the team (Team carefully chosen instead of squad!). In reality anyone of the silly money variety is unlikely to come to us as they will be above such minows and we just won't pay enough in wages. I think our squad is made up of too many squad players around the same level and unfortunitely that level is top end champ - bottom 3 PL. What we need is to slowly add PL mid tablers and unfortunitely they are likely to cost you £8M upwards or if a lower price, likely to be a untried gamble or a tried failure!
Bah!
Bah!
Completely agree general, if we could make 2 or 3 signings like Brady then our chances of survival increase significantly.
Those looking for a stick to beat Neil with: I'd initially thought that introducing Bennett for Wisdom at half time was an effective tactical change to correct his starting XI and combat the threat of Lukaku.
In reality, Wisdom was injured and Bennett the only defender on the bench.
Those looking for a stick to beat Neil with: I'd initially thought that introducing Bennett for Wisdom at half time was an effective tactical change to correct his starting XI and combat the threat of Lukaku.
In reality, Wisdom was injured and Bennett the only defender on the bench.
KIO - your valued input would be appreciated 
Yeah, yeah, I know it's just one big win but I want to enjoy the moment to the full
Yeah, yeah, I know it's just one big win but I want to enjoy the moment to the full
I am not sure. I am waiting to wake up in the morning and visit the BBC sport webpages to check
After the frustrations of West Ham, ManCity, and Chelsea, this has brought our season back into balance and must be a huge morale boost to AN and the players going into the crowded Christmas fixtures. Spurs will be a test, but not as big as this one was and the Villa game is a real opportunity now.
Spot on RER. While I predicted us to lose this, our performances against several teams this season have suggested that we would get a big scalp at some point and it looks like we found just the right time to play Man U, so bizarrely I'm not even feeling that surprised we've won at Old Trafford for the first time in 26 years.
Pretty sure we've had a good record vs spurs over the last few seasons and they've had a bit of a dip lately (Though they seemed very comfortable today) so I can see us getting a draw vs Spurs. Also pretty sure I predicted a victory over united a few weeks back, a draw vs spurs and a win vs Villa! Lets hope these predictions hold!
