Verbal Kint

First half of last season we played some really good high tempo football. The whole of 2015 we were dull, with the exception of 1 or 2 games, which IMO was mainly down to the ineptitude of the opposition. Under MP I thought we were boring when we had the ball, probably because players were working so hard when we didn't have it and needed to lower the pace to recover. Very slow football and lots of the back 6 passing the ball pointlessly between themselves. IMO that is dull and I think I'm entitled to hold that view Dull football can also be successful. Mourinho and Benitez have had very successful careers from playing incredibly boring stuff, but personally I think when fans are paying over 40 quid a ticket for some games they're entitled to see an attempt at some proper attacking football. Just my opinion

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/11/eagles-steve-parish-crystal-palace-interview "The annual wage bill last season was £52m. “This year it will probably be somewhere in the region of £70m,” says Parish through a whisper. “There are regulations, cost control measures and targets we have to hit, and we were close with ‘issues’ in that respect."

I seem to remember an interview with steve parish saying their wage bill has risen from 52 million last year to 70 million this year. Quite a jump

We have a recruitment department to find the specific person, but the main attributes need to be: 1) plays high tempo attacking football, not the slow paced, possession based bore fest we've had on the whole under our last 2 managers 2) prepared to give our academy players opportunities 3) recognises his job is coaching the team and not buying the players, leave that for our scouting and recruitment teams. He needs to get our transfer policy and agree with it 4) recognises that for a club of our size, cup success and finishing 12th is preferable in the short term to going out of the cups with a whimper and finishing 8th

In the summer, yes. And quite a few other positions as well. I just believe it should be done in the summer with a new manager in place

Because he's a massive ****. His attitude this season has been appalling and, like Wanyama, he seems to have a very high opinion of himself without being able to back it up. Capable of scoring a couple of goals from distance, which is quite a valuable thing I accept, but he offers very little else besides that. I don't think he's particularly good value at 10 million and he isn't what we should be looking for in this window anyway. Summer is the time for big changes, and if we can get a striker in now then that's all we need to see us safely through to the end of the season

That's exactly what will happen if RK is the manager. Thankfully I think it won't have gone unnoticed by Les Reed and he's going to need to be brave and make the right decision to sack him/let him move on in the summer, even if it's deemed unpopular. I'd be very surprised if he's the manager next season and it will be just as much about his reluctance to give young players a chance as it will be about results. Reed and Seager should have been given more opportunities at a minimum and when we pay 1 million quid loan fees and 40k+ a week wages for a 4th choice centre back then you know something has gone very wrong. I've never been one to say we should finish top 6 and compete at the top end of the table, I just expect us to be the best and most efficient we can be and see where that takes us. If it's 6th great, if it's 12th then so be it. When we waste the sort of money we have since returning to the PL then I don't think anyone can say we can't do better

Not so sure about that. Dropping Mane will have no effect on him whatsoever but hitting his pocket will. Yet if reports are to be believed we have decided not to fine him, so instead all we have done is punish the team and not the individual

It does and will work if our scouting system is good enough and we don't allow an average manager to pick our transfer targets. A combination of both resulted in a poor summer. Your alternative tactic is really groundbreaking stuff. Just start plucking money out of thin air to pay players six figure salaries. That's not a solution, that's childish nonsense

I don't know what you're referring to? The energetic bit I was talking about was in reference to MP's style not Koeman's.

I find the football under RK in general equally as dull, and wouldn't mind in the slightest if he was sacked tomorrow. Just pointing out that I thought we played much better football in those first few months under him than under MP at any time. Since then the real RK has stood up as you suggest, and he's reverted to being dull, defensive and more concerned with controlling games than scoring goals in order to win them.

Just looked it up. 65% possession and 6 attempts at goal all game. If that is entertaining football to some then that's their opinion, but it's not one i share. Without the ball I've never seen a team as energetic, with the ball I've rarely seen a team so flat. And the football under RK i was referring to was in the first half of last season. The majority of football in 2015 was poor

All opinion really but i found the football under MP some of the dullest I've ever seen. We controlled games and were very solid but the attacking play was tedious at times. I remember a 0-0 at villa where we had 65% possession and 3 attempts at goal all game. Propaganda football at it's best

I completely agree. he has too much influence on transfers and has been shown this season to be a very average manager tactically. There is little about him as a manager that fits the type we want and need. Doesn't give youngsters a chance, demands too much say in transfers and doesn't play attacking football

They won't. Get them signed up on long contracts when we buy them so that we can control when they're sold and sell for very big fees. Which the board have done. Then they need to make sure we have one of the best scouting and recruitment set ups in the country. The big clubs are lazy, they would rather spend 25 million on Lallana then find a player from elsewhere with just as much talent for a fraction of that price. And it's perfectly clear that it is possible to do, and is where we should have an advantage over clubs of our size. Not many clubs below the big 6/7 have a first team full of 8 million + players like we do, and the reality is we didn't recruit well enough last summer. That needs to change. This summer we will raise 60 million + if we sell Mane, Pelle and Wanyama and with Ramirez, Caulker and Stekelenburg off the wage bill we should be able to go and buy 5 or 6 quality players. If we don't then RK and the scouting department will have failed us

Wow. How stupid can some people be

He knew the job he was coming into. If he doesn't like the model he shouldn't have taken the job. If he was a very good manager he'd see that selling players for far more than their worth is a good thing as it gives him the funds to go out and build a better team than the one before. You wouldn't buy back any of the key players we have sold for the fees we sold them for over the last two summers. If he hasn't spent the money well enough then he only has himself to blame

The first half of last season was some of the best football I've seen from us in a very long time. Since then it has been dull, negative, possession based propaganda football and he as a manager does not seem to fit with the way the club wants us to be. He doesn't have any faith in our youngsters, he doesn't play attacking football and, perhaps most importantly, he doesn't seem to be in agreement with our transfer policy, judging by his comments over the last week or so. He shouldn't be thinking of walking, he should be worried about getting the sack

He's a very good player I think. His passing is on a different level to any midfielder we have and I love the fact he's always looking to pass the ball forwards, not sideways or backwards. The key is getting the right player alongside him. He lacks physicality and pace, so an athletic and quick player is a must to play with him

I disagree. RK has had TOO much of a say in signings for my liking. His job is on the training pitch and setting teams up for games. No player should be signed without him approving it obviously but equally no player should be signed just because RK wants him. That's why we have an entire scouting and recruiting department, who I'm 99.9% certain weren't putting forward Cuco Martina as a potential signing

The sooner Koeman goes the better. Abysmal tactically all season and today was probably the worst he's been. Dropping Mane for being late to a ****ing meeting is beyond stupid. It's cost the team more than it's cost him. Just fine him on Monday morning and get him on the pitch. To have not brought him on at HT was mad, to not bring him on after an hour was stupid, but for our best player to not be on the pitch until the 79th minute is a complete joke. And Wanyama, who has been awful from day 1 is still starting every week and is not even being brought off when it's obvious to everyone he should be replaced. we should have won that game comfortably but didn't because of awful finishing throughout the team, Koeman's awful decisions and Wanyama being a total idiot. Koeman continues to pick teams without goalscorers in them (Davis, JWP as 'attacking' players), he doesn't do anything to change the game (because he's too negative) and he consistently picks Wanyama And it won't be any different next week. Davis will play. JWP will play. As soon as Pelle is fit he'll be back in and Long will be dropped. Wanyama will play.

It's farcical that Wanyama stayed on the pitch for so long and Mane has stayed off it until 79 minutes. Disgraceful

Disgraceful form Wanyama (as usual) and disgraceful from Koeman

With 7.... Wow what a goal scorer. Converting chances is the biggest problem in the team and has been all season. We lack goal scorers all over the pitch, which is why when we do click we can hand out some hammerings (Arsenal could have been more than 4, 8 v s'land, 6 v Villa)

No it's not. Long's finishing is poor (which is why we should never have spent 12 million on him) but his all round game is miles better than Pelle (who is also a crap finisher). Long has played very well again apart from his finishing. We know what we're going to get from him, and it's a damn sight more than Pelle How has it taken us this long to realise Bertrand's corners are brilliant?!