That depends on the reasons you give for wanting him out, Ros. I personally think it's naive to blame Jol for the lack of the big signing we need in the middle of our side. My position remains unchanged from the summer. We either need to back Jol with money to spend, or we need to sack him and find someone the club trust. We cannot stay in the Premier League by requiring our manager to patch the team together from free signings and loans. If the chairman doesn't trust Jol, stop vacillating and find someone else. This current purgatory is the recipe for relegation.
Sound sense Surlyc, which I have to agree with. I have not been part of the Jol-Out Brigade, but some things (plural!) have to change after so many poor performances. C O Y W
One only argument, it's his team, his tactics, his poor management. Any more arguments? Everton and other teams operate with thinner budgets... He has the same budget as Roy, Sparky..
I am with Gera on this, wise words from surly but we simply cannot continue with this. No point trying to reason anymore, the performances are of a team facing trouble. Mr khan needs to make some big decisions as soon as possible. A tired and soul searching fan.
I don't think the thinner budgets is that accurate madness especially Everton. Anyone got the players in/out stats? We are clearly in trouble. I didn't think we'd get any points against Man U and Liverpool. The tests are the next 3 games. I still think the club are partly to blame too. Theyve not backed him with a new contract and he's had to scratch around at the cheap and older end of the market.
It's sad to say, but I'm honestly beginning to fall out of love with football. I work every weekend and when my manager told me I would be doing so, I was devastated at having to miss out on weekend football, but FFC results/performances this season combined with the sudden increase in on field lack of sportsmanship (Norwich 'goal', Young and Ramires's dives this week etc) is making me not want to watch. I haven't looked forward to one single game this season, even before we started losing consecutive games. I was happy after the Palace game even though I knew come the following week it would be a case of one step forward and two backwards, these moments of happiness are few and far between. I don't watch MoTD anymore either. Maybe if we get a new guy in to steady the ship and instil some life back into this team my interest will perk up, which I know makes me sound a bit like a glory supporter, but it's not just the results but performances too. For players earning between 30-50K p/w, is a little effort too much to ask for? If I showed the same effort in my far less paid job, I know I wouldn't be asked to come back the next week.
Quote from Jol, post-match today: “I think you have to be an expert if you are in the bottom four or five to keep teams up and I don’t think there are a lot of experts." So why is he still here?
To be fair, rosc, you said that two years ago! Back then, you weren't giving him time and there were lots of signs of better things coming. Now things are different. It's been too long and those good things just haven't materialised. Jol hasn't addressed the many imbalances in the side. I have some sympathy with the view that says he's been poorly served by the club in terms of transfer budget, but if you judge him by the way he has used his current squad, there are questions to answer. It's taken me a long time to get here, but I'm now hoping for a change as that seems to be the only way to address the many problems on the pitch. Also, I just can't see Jol's relationship with the fans recovering no matter what happens on the pitch over the next few weeks and months. I'll be sad to see Jol go, but I think it's time now.
I'm not one for manager changes but now I feel it's time for him to go!!!! It's not even our results that have disappointed me it's our lack of fight and abject performances. Also Jol is out of contract in the summer and won't be here next season no matter if we go down or stay up so what's the point of giving him money to spend in January! Sometimes the time comes to part ways and this international break just seems like the best time for all involved. Though I would add if Pulis came in I would never go to the cottage again until he left! You need to have a replacement lined up first though Lee Clark and Zola would be high on my list
I go along with Surlyc it's time for Khan to make that big decision either back him and in the January Transfer market get him the creative midfielders he needs or sack him now so the new man can get to know the squad before deciding what players he wants to bring in. For what ever reason the club have failed Jol in getting in replacements for CM, as a team wanting to play possession football we have missed the creativity of a Dembele or Murphy, the versatility of a Dempsey (Kasami? given time and a creative CM). At the moment the team is missing a cog, and some of the other cogs are cracked and don't perform consistently. Are Jol tactics any different from a lot of other Premier Managers ? I don't think so. He tries to play possession football, it's a Dutch style to keep the ball and work openings. For years we've talked about how European teams slow play down and keep possession, most Premier managers now do this. For me the players have to take a lot of the blame, they seem incapable of playing to their full potential consistently, it's not as if we haven't see them have good games and compete, but so far this season there have been players who have performed well below their capabilities, I don't believe that is due to Jols tactics.
What's worrisome is that other teams at or around the bottom are gaining in strength - Norwich, Stoke and Sunderland for instance. But we're going from bad to worse. I watched Sunderland today; they're a much stronger team than we are. In an hour when Stoke finish off Swansea, we'll be in the bottom three. And, based on our form, there's where we belong.
Was to write something along these lines... We need urgently to change tactics. 4-3-2-1... Stop goals coming in and give our defence some protection.
