We needed a full strength team against Bournemouth, WHU and Everton to make sure tonne got any points. Foook
Trouble in Paris as PSG get beat and now inevitable a new project for next season without the Potuguese cabal that was inserted along with Galtier as head coach. Screams for Pochetino or Tuchel to come back. QSI are thinking about blowing the whole thing up…. They expected a Champions League by now with the squad of Harlem Globetrotters they have. Messi, Naymar, Donnarumer, Mbappe and all the rest… bet Conte doesn’t go there
Not really, if Javi keeps us up then he will have earn't the right to keep the job. Just hope he does and then accepts the challenge for next season
It’s a tricky one, Jesse was so bad I think we could have picked from several unemployed coaches and they’d have done a better job. Gracia is promising, he’s head and shoulders above Jesse (not hard) but I’m not yet convinced for next season. It doesn’t mean I don’t want him, I just want him to steer us so far clear of the drop zone that we’re all on board and sold on him
Gracia barely has his feet under the table. He’s trying to find a formula to keep us up. If he stayed for next year he’d be shaping a team to play his preferred style… and if he keeps us up he probably has earnt that opportunity in my book. Seems a nice guy, clearly thinks about the game and tries to adapt to the opposition before and during games. That’s as much as anyone can say at the moment. The reality is though that we deserved the win against Southampton, but in my view we’ve ridden our luck to take points from Brighton snd wolves. We’ve just got some well overdue breaks. I’m sure lots of people who, like me, don’t have coaching badges, who haven’t played football to a decent standard, who don’t know what is going on in training or at the club will be ready to cast judgement on him if things don’t go our way.
When it went 2-3 yesterday I was thinking Javi is now going to find out what being Leeds manager is all about. However under the most intense pressure and when we were suffering the most his decision to bring on Struijk and Summerville proved absolutely crucial in getting us over the line.
Have to say that, brilliant though he was, Wober committed a cardinal sin for their second. Instead of charging down the goalscorer, he turned side on, lost sight of the ball & it went off him into the goal. Turning to the side alone is bad enough, as it halves your profile to block the shot, but he didn't advance on the ball too, as he could have narrowed the target for the attacker too by advancing forward at least a metre. It's a mistake I hate, & happens too often. Bloody crappers. Billy would have sorted them out!
I'm certainly warming to Gracia. Mild-mannered, professional, & appears to be flexible in his tactical approach. Difficult situation, but he gives me much more confidence in us than Hank the ****. Will we make it? I actually think so, & surprisingly have felt the same way all season, but if all the remaining games are as stressful for us as yesterday's, I don't think I'll be around to see it. Bloody BP monitor blew up yesterday.
take your point re taking off firpo on a yellow… but do you think it was the subs that ‘turned the tide’ or them getting a guy sent off a few minutes later?
Why do you have a British Petroleum monitor, are you a major shareholder, and if so why have you not bid to take over the club yet
Obviously both were contributing factors but Summervile & Struijk definitely lifted our game. At the end of the day that's pretty much all our coach/manager can control so credit where credit is due.
Think Gracie’s subs have worked so far. Some think he has a problem with Gnonto but I think he uses him until the damage starts reducing. Some subs don’t make sense to everyone but you have to say that in the main they deffo work. I was hoping to see Sinisterra and Georginio but hey he got us over the line with a win. Want to see how he sets up against the Arsenal wingers and how he’s going to counter their midfield. This should give us a better idea of his tactical nouse because most clubs are getting battered by Arse
I'm gonna run the risk of upsetting the Firpo Carlos love in here but I thought Firpo was closest and should have closed him down. He had Harrison on his outside and was much much closer to the shot than anyone else. Certainly one of Wober or Firpo should have tried to get closer but its clear to me that Firpo was happy to let him take the shot.
He has a few weeks to plan for it, and we play forest 3 days later so be interesting to see how he uses the squad… 2 games a week throughout April. If you speak to Arsenal fans we’re one of very few sides to outplay them this year. The Jesse press style troubled them, as it did a few of the better ‘footballing’ teams. They also couldn’t work out Everton who just packed the midfield and fed off errors and set pieces.