Downes has been absolutely Horse **** this season, and has not been able to step up to the premier league. Also one of the biggest RM fan boys who’s obviously had his nose put out of joint. Sadly, i don’t expect there to be a que of premier league clubs, queuing up for his services this summer. Extremely unprofessional to kick off weeks after RM got sacked and I won’t be crying when he gets his way this summer. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Wow! Just got back. Haven’t read any on here yet. Wasn’t really interested to go today but my son persuaded me to go & take my 3 grandkids. Different viewpoint in the Itchen vs Northam. Thought with the win last week & with the hope we’d play a strong side & Burnley would play a weakened side, it would be a good performance & a win. Definitely got a strong Saints side & with 9 changes for them, I’d assumed they were a 2nd string!? Omg, we were friggin pants start to finish & I’m now convinced Juric is not the man to take us forward next year. 5 at the back beggars belief. It makes us so weak in midfield & up front. Jeez, we have so much work to do in the summer.
Still don't know how he wasn't sent off. Like you I was directly in line with it and was 100% deliberate. Seemed a bit odd really, unnecessary and nasty.
In the sense of ensuring that we make the right managerial appointment. That is huge. But in terms of the playing staff, I'm not sure that we need to do too much at all. I'm hugely optimistic about our chances next season...if we get the manager right. My current shortlist is (in no particular order) Cooper, Carrick, Rohl and Mowbray. If Rosenior fancies a return from France, he would be on my list too (I was hugely impressed by him at Hull), but I'm guessing he's happy where he is.
I can't believe people thought we might get momentum from last week tbh. We were still very poor and just got a flukey win in a season with hardly any. Was always about just enjoying it for what it was for me.
Exactly. It really is best for everyone’s nut if we just forget about getting up or down for the rest of the season. No point. It’s utterly irrelevant. Get excited for next season. This is just about getting to the end of this one, and the Derby record. Hopefully without any bad injuries to the few players we have that are worth worrying about. Huge reset in May, hopefully Rohl in. Then let’s see what Spors is about. Let this one go.
Problem with the Downes situation is that I can't see anyone wanting to give us remotely what we paid so we either take a huge loss or are stuck with him. Neither ideal to say the least.
Yeah I'm gutted about today cos it's the cup and I always am (the draw will worsen/improve that feeling too) but overall I've been tuned out of this season as a whole since about October/November and just taking it game by game. Still a chance we can have a say in Leicester's relegation and there's Goodison to look forward to. Other than that all about next season.
Disagree with everyone saying we shouldn't care about the rest of the season. I don't want to support a team who ever gives up. Even when relegation is confirmed I want to see our players busting their guts to get results. And if the manager can't inspire them to do that, then he isn't worth his salary and can f*ck off. Only way we get promoted next season is if we start trying to fix our issues now. Wait til the summer and we are shooting ourselves in the foot again.
Certainly don't mean that the team should give up, and I wouldn't want to see that at all. I just mean there's no point getting stressed about stuff this season. Suspect things will look a lot different, and a lot brighter, once we kick off again in August.
I still expect full effort in each match. I'm just not arsed about the season as a whole and wondering if one result can impact others as from what I've seen it's incredibly unlikely cos we're terrible. I'm just taking it one game at a time. Not looking forward to next week tbh.
I'm pissed off because there seems to be disharmony in the dressing room, and there are too many players being ignored. Why would Archer want to stay for next season if he remains on the bench? Why loan out Adarma? We should be building the team around them. Likewise we should have got Charles back; given game time to Wood/Edwards. It doesn't bode well at all for next season. People can pretend like they don't care, but they will change their tune when Bournemouth put 6 or 7 past us next week.
The Archer thing is plain weird imo. Juric clearly doesn't rate him but given our lack of options he should be getting far more game time than he is. Especially now Armstrong has left.
I completely understand what you mean, but I just feel like next season will be a fresh start (be that for Downes, Charles, Adarma, whoever) - can't see Juric as anything but a placeholder until the summer. I mean, of course, I might well be wrong, but I think Spors will want to make his mark once he gets the chance and will be planning to do this from now. I don't mind loaning out Arma (although ironically, today would have been a day for him). Once everyone is back at the end of the season, it's Ctrl-Alt-Delete time. We see what we have, who wants to be here, who wants out, who we can shift that we want to. And hopefully that'll be under new management. It should, hopefully, feel like a new club.
I’m mystified by Juric’s tactics and some team/sub selections Joe played well, but I’m really not sure in what position. Some players seem to be man marking specific players and then not e.g. Bedders wandering up the pitch following players At one point in an attack Bedders and Bree were the only 2 in their area When we had the ball there was often no one in central midfield We never got Tyler into the game Manning was a wing back but never got down the wing We brought TP on and then never put a high cross into him He brought Smallbone on when Lallana was on the bench He’s clearly never going to get ABK on but keeps putting him on the bench Mystified I tell ya!
