saintant

I'm slightly surprised that the players have apparently been given the last two weeks off even if they have been allocated certain 'tasks' to complete. Time is precious so I would have expected Nathan Jones and the two new coaches to be eager to spend every last minute possible with the squad. They need to get to know each other and Jones should be getting his ideas across and drilling what is clearly a disjointed group of players. I get that other teams may be doing the same thing but, if we'd bucked the trend, it might have given us the chance to steal a march on our rivals. It is only 5 weeks or so until we face Brighton so why waste these two weeks? The planned trip to America I kind of get as there will be a chance for more bonding although again we'll be losing two days travelling plus any jet lag issues. With a new manager and coaches to integrate I just think this down time due to the World Cup could have been better spent so that we are fit and ready to hit the ground running come the Lincoln game and then Brighton on Boxing Day. Just my take and I am sure others will disagree.

I expect Nathan Jones to be having a few words in Aribo's ear. He will want him to up his output and do a lot more running and work if he wants to be a regular starter. Jones doesn't strike me as one who will accept any passengers in his teams and that can only be a good thing. I don't imagine he will be adverse to hauling off anyone who isn't putting a shift in during games.

Nathan Jones is obviously an unknown quantity at this stage. We all hope he can rejuvenate the team but will have to wait and see. For myself and, I suspect, many others, the negativity stems from our record going back to the last third of last season and the few number of wins we've managed coupled with the poorness of performances in the main. I doubt anyone believes we are anything close to being cut adrift at this stage, it's more a case of we've been very poor and can Nathan Jones jump-start our season?

You mean he didn't have to pay us compensation!

As at the majority of clubs in the land wholehearted support from the crowd is not something you can magic up. At most stadiums the fans feed off the team's performance so Nathan Jones needs to get this side firing and showing 100% commitment sooner rather than later. If he can manage to do that, the crowd will be vociferous and supportive, they will feed off the positivity. It's very hard for the average fan to ignite the team when they've been fed, in the main, such limp performances for so long. Come Boxing Day, if the team cross that white line and show guts, effort and tenacity along with some decent football, the crowd will be right with them.

Nathan Jones has his work cut out because currently we are easily one of the worst three teams in the mix. It's not helped by the likes of Fulham and Brentford performing far better than most would have expected and even Bmuff are picking up fairly regular wins. The wins are vital as every 3 point haul is like gold dust. We haven't put together a decent run where we pick up wins for a long time and Jones will certainly need to rectify this if we are to stand any chance of avoiding the drop. I fear for us unless he can perform major miracles plus we must add a goal scorer and creative midfielder in early January. I like what I'm hearing from our new manager but he has a huge task ahead of him. If he fails but shows he knows what he's doing then he'll be a decent guy to have at the helm to mount a challenge to get back up.

Don't think we should take any comfort from Fulham losing to a late goal. They are a very good side and will finish mid table.

Do these pundits actually watch the game...Jamie Redknapp "he played a 1-2 with Eriksen" Jeez!

By two strikers lined up already I'm assuming you mean we have identified who we want not that a future deal has been agreed. No side is going to agree to sell anyone without first seeing who else might be interested. Unless, of course, they are current Luton players 🙂

Rather our players are at home working with Nathan Jones and the new coaches than wasting their time at this farce of a world cup.

Are you suggesting not a single Championship striker could ever step up and score goals in the Premier League?

Looks a talent.

Iliman Ndiaye of Sheffield Utd looks worth a punt. Strong, quick, bags of tricks/skill and a good finisher. However, he's not a tall guy so wouldn't be much of a target man.

Did nobody think to ask if he can get Adam Armstrong scoring? From what I've seen we bought him then proceeded to play in a system that would never get the best out of him and, not surprisingly, his confidence is shot. Unless Nathan Jones and his coaches study videos of his goals for Blackburn and decide they can adjust our style of play so that he gets himself in more of those scoring positions then we might as well cut our losses and sell him for what we can get. He can score goals but not in a team employing the tactics we did under Ralph. Personally I feel quite sorry for the guy because he's fed off scraps since the first game he played - when, of course, he scored a cracking goal against Everton.

He's spot on in terms of we are far too passive and need to be more aggressive. These failings are why we concede so many goals and Ralph never came near to doing anything to make things better. Far too often,including today, we give teams time and space to play their football and you just can't do that in the Premier League. He obviously explained this to the players at half time and we came out much tighter after the break. I like the fact that he had the balls to step up and take this match with very little preparation time and he clearly learned a lot about what sort of things we are struggling with. Now,him and the coaches have 6 weeks of hard work to get them drilled and doing the right things at the right time. Early days of course but Nathan Jones seems to be a coach who will expect and demand high standards in terms of commitment, effort and work with and against the ball. I am more optimistic than I was six days ago.

It's still pretty tight in the bottom half so not too concerned we're in a relegation spot now. I think with a combination of players coming back from injury, a decent January window and Nathan Jones and coaches working hard during the world cup break we'll look a different team. That's what I'm hoping anyway and today wasn't all negatives there were some positives to take from that performance.

Spot on. If you pick Diallo then play him in a three in an advanced position. On no account expect him to play defensively in a two because that is not his game. I wish someone at the club would realise this because it's been obvious for long enough now.

3-1 at Anfield is better than many of our results up there and we created some decent chances with quite a few efforts on target. Much better after going to a back 4. We didn't get hammered and their keeper had to make some good saves. An encouraging start and Jones would have learned a lot today. Now he has some time working with the squad and I think we'll see a real difference after the world cup.

Nunes seems to operate quite wide on the left so maybe we're trying to match him with someone with a bit of physicality.

Yeah, the first effort in particular with an open goal should have been thumped into the net and,instead,he kind of just rolled it gently towards the goal making it easy to block. As I've said before, what can you expect for £75k a week these days.

Yeah, stand corrected on that 🙂

Don't think Haaland would win many 100 meter races and Adam Armstrong is far quicker than him as well.

Not sure why people keep bringing up Luggy, Gray and Wigley as though they have any relevance whatsoever to the appointment of Nathan Jones.

Not sure how much input Jones will have in terms of team selection and tactics this soon into his tenure. Think he'll be taking advice from Selles for this one but hopefully will still have some influence in lifting the players and the performance. Something of a free hit anyway as not many expect much from Anfield even if Liverpool are on the wane by their own high standards. A draw would be a great result.

Maybe better to judge him on results rather than how many pages he racks upon a fans forum.