Sheaf Saint

The annoying thing is, we had the opportunity to get rid of him without the need for a pay-off when that corruption scandal broke.

I think this sums it up nicely. Yes it has only been 13 games, and if we were truly seeing signs of a clear plan/system and effort from the players then yes, by all means give him the time he needs to prove that it will come good. But quite simply, we have not improved in the slightest in that time (if anything we've gone backwards) and there has not been the slightest suggestion that MP has any kind of plan to improve performances. He looks out of his depth and devoid of any ideas how to change things He talks absolute nonsense and seems to believe that his system is working and that we've just been unlucky, when everyone else can see that's not the case He doesn't inspire the players, many (most) of whom are playing well below the level we know they are capable of I've never been one to succumb to knee-jerk reactions in the past, but I cannot see even the slightest glimmer of hope that things will improve with the current manager/coaching set up. There's no spark, there's no real effort and there's no passion from the team. That simply has to come down to the manager and his coaching staff. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is exactly what we are seeing from this manager currently, and therefore he needs to be replaced ASAP, or else we could end up with an even worse season-long record than we did in 2004/05.

If you bother to read the link on Batman's post directly above yours, you will see that a national newspaper (albeit a crap one) is now reporting on how disgruntled the majority of our fans now are towards Pellegrino. So yes, by that measure it has been a success.

First thing that popped into my mind was Delia Smith

Their appearance on Going Live was legendary!

Never met him in person, but had a lot of interaction with him during my brief stint as a mod back in the early days. Came across as a great bloke with a real passion for the club. RIP Lee.

That's pretty damming. The only one of those arrivals who has become a regular starter is Redmond, and he hasn't exactly set the PL alight has he. In fairness, we had high expectations of Boufal, and PEH came with high hopes that he could flourish in the PL, but as yet he hasn't. He may still mature into a decent player but I fear he will have moved on from us before that ever happens. The rest were only signed as squad players anyway.

No, I'm not suggesting it is the main problem. But let's face it, the atmosphere from our fans at SMS and at most away games is insipid at best, and deathly quiet at worst. I haven't been to SMS that many times over recent years due to living so far away and having family commitments on weekends, but I watch most games on streams and have been to quite a few aways, and frankly the atmosphere we create is rubbish. I went to Milan last year and despite our respectable numbers, I thought the noise and the atmosphere was utter crap for most of the match. Mostly just silence, interspersed with the occasional rendition on OWTS. The cup final at Wembley was much the same, with the exception of the "Ooooh Gabbiadini" that went on for some time after we equalised. This was a cup final FFS. I'm sorry if this upsets anybody, and believe me I wish it weren't so. But taking off my red-and-white tinted spectacles and being objective about it, our vocal support is among the worst in the PL.

Yeah I picked up on this too. It seems that Every other team in the PL has at least one keeper in their squad who is mobile enough and has the required reactions to occasionally make decent saves. We don't, apparently. So often watching MOTD these days I find myself thinking "Forster would have let that in". It's beyond a joke now.

Well I didn't watch the game yesterday so I've not got involved with this thread so far. But I've just watched the rerun of MOTD, and what I saw from that was a team who attacked with more intent than I have seen in recent games and created some decent openings but, as always, lacking the final quality to finish them off. Their second choice keeper made some decent saves, of the kind that you just know Forster can't make, but we still made it too easy for him. None of our attacking players, with the possible exception of Boufal, has the ability to hit an unstoppable shot. And then there is Forster. He is such a liability right now, it's painful to watch. What the hell was going on with his feet for their goal. He was so slow to react, it was as if he suddenly realised as the ball was halfway through its flight that it was his job to try and stop it, and got nowhere near it. I don't really know much about Mccarthy but surely he couldn't possibly be worse. Even Gazza would have saved at least a few of the goals Forster has conceded this season. Worrying times. We do look too good to go down but I know how dangerous that thinking can be. If we continue to be so profligate up front, and persist with a keeper who will let in any half decent shot on target, then it does not matter how well we play, we will be in serious trouble.

Our support has been embarrassingly bad for a few years now, let's be honest.

Are you trying to suggest that it's only Labour MPs and supporters who are hypocrites? Wow.

Oh it gets worse... http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/89342/westminster-sexual-harassment-scandal-36-mps-implicated So not only do the party leadership know full well what is going on, and do nothing to stop it, they use the information to blackmail their own members into voting in a particular way. Dear oh dear. Anybody who tried to score some cheap political points by feigning outrage at Jared O'Mara's conduct are looking like right plums now.

So the Labour leadership did the decent thing and suspended him. Now there's just the little matter of the dossier naming 36 Tory MPs accused of sexual harassment. Are you going to get on your moral high horse about that as well LD?

Genius decision that. Haul off the only player we have that looks likely to make something happen in attack, and replace him with a moaning sideways passer while leaving the useless turd Tadic on the pitch.

It really wasn't that powerful. Look how much it arced before crossing the line. There is no possible defense for a supposedly international-quality, 6ft 7 keeper letting that in. None. He's a f*cking joke of a keeper, and has cost us far too many points in recent times. he needs replacing urgently.

FFS Forster. What the actual f*ck are you doing letting that in!? The bloke is a total liability. Get him off NOW!

I disagree. We're away from home and we've got a lead to protect. How many times have we seen teams come to SMS and successfully use the same tactic. I think this is the perfect situation to bring on Long, because it plays to his strengths. With BHA pushing for an equaliser it will leave space in behind for him to run at, which is what he does best.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.

If Pellegrino drops Boufal back to the bench now, he should be lined up against a wall and shot. Worthy winners in the end as WBA had nothing in attack. They defend competently, and usually that's all a team needs to do to get a point or more off us these days, but finally we managed to magic up a bit of quality from somewhere. A gritty performance because we knew that any Pulis side would set themselves up ultra defensively, so there was so little room for our forward players to operate in the first half, but then WBA changed their shape a little and the 2nd half was more open. We stuck to our guns and kept persisting and for once it paid off. Still got massive concerns about Forster though. Not tested at all today (only had to make one save that I remember), but somehow manages to make very hard work of the easy stuff. His parry back to the striker last week cost us, and it's juts lucky that his dropping the ball right back in the mixer wasn't punished today when it was still 0-0. Good to see VVD looking much more like his old self again today. He had Rondon in his pocket all afternoon and won a lot of defensive headers. Got forward well too and hit a thunderbolt shot just off target. Much better than anything any of our AMs could manage. BT Sport gave MOTM to Boufal for obvious reasons, but I'm going to say Lemina for me. Was everywhere and got stuck in.

THAT is why Boufal should be starting every week!

How is that not a penalty? Foster literally grabbed Tadic's thigh and pulled him back.

Redmond for Romeu? WTF!?

He's going to cost us a goal or two tonight I reckon. Just can't deal with anything under the slightest bit of pressure. Total liability