Dangermouth

Why wouldn't we be in a relegation battle? We've got 1pt per game - that suggests relegation form; we have more difficult fixture list than we have had to date which indicates that that 1pt per game will harder to obtain; we fail to win games; we are not too far away from being in the relegation zone, etc, etc. As your post smacks of being akin to the idiocy of Glasgow I won't bother dignifying it any further other than to say that (as Dalek goes on about all the time) until we're mathematically safe we're potentially at risk of relegation and we're playing sufficiently **** to mean this is a greater likelihood than it has been in the last few seasons.

This isn't a particularly good video, but go to 1.48 and watch for about 10 seconds and you'll see a good execution of intelligent play and skill. More of this from him would be much appreciated and as has been said, he's happy to use both feet although his right is clearly the stronger so he's not properly two-footed.

Because. Even with our best defender we are where we are. If we get rid of him, ensure that we have adequate players in all the right positions we can do what we need to do this season which is survive. Then we allow ourselves the opportunity to build from there rather than have a fire sale. Simple, innit?

This is where we were about a month ago: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/epl-table-latest-201718-premier-league-standings-for-gameweek-13-a3701416.htmlhttps://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/epl-table-latest-201718-premier-league-standings-for-gameweek-13-a3701416.html Now look at today's table. We are clearly dropping in terms of points gained and an upturn in results and there looks to be nothing much to arrest it. We just have to hope that Swansea, West Brom, Stoke, Bournemouth and Newcastle all continue to be as bad as they have been but we said that about Palace not too long ago. I think Huddersfield might well beat us. I think Les' formula is a dud.

That's rather stupid isn't it? We are very clearly now in trouble as we are an ineffective team, the decline has been since the end of the season where we did get into the Europa League and we still only got that because of a number of other reasons. Your argument could be applied to the fact that we fell from our highest position of 2nd some years ago to fall further to then rise. If you take the lowest point as the starting point then anything is 'up' and so on. What is clear is that this manager seems to have been not only ineffective, but negatively so i.e. he has helped with the poor results due to his ineptitude and intransigence and reticence to adknowledge this and its unsuitability in the current climate and play and so he should be got rid of and should have been got rid of a long time ago. Indeed, he should never have been hired but that does now seem to be a political decision (possibly KL stating she didn't want to spend any money at all, possibly Reed thinking he can then climb on the back of MP's 'assumed success' and make out he's great when all he is is a PR mouthpiece) as it certainly wasn't a footballing one. Ballague's lovely piece bigging up another Spanish speaking manager as he did (and so often does) was a piece of fluff at the time and shows him now to have as much credibility as MLG does when it comes to being objective about certain things. Let's look at MP's 'wins'. A lucky one against a sleeping CP defence and then nothing for most of the rest of the game. 2 penalties awarded in the same game against the same team. Very rare indeed unless you are the likes of the monied teams and it's rare enough for them. A game where we lost a 2 goal lead. A nice goal from Boufal that 'came out of nowhere' that otherwise was a 0 -0 and a game in which the mighty sprinter and all-round beast Dusan Tadic got a lucky bounce from a slack pass/bit of control and rather than it being cleared as it would be 999 times out of a thousand he was allowed by an unmoving Everton defence to 'sprint' (he's not fast now, is he?) past 4 of them and get in a free cross onto Austin's head as the team in question seemed to have no capability to play football at all. Had we not been lucky in all of those games we would very likely be looking at at best 4 draws and we would be the team on less than 10 points. I'm sure LR is looking around for another manager. I do expect one soon: his cushy job is on the line and he has been found out. So he wrote a book for the FA? What was it about? FA? Have the coaches on here read it? Has anyone (with any sense)? Is it so good that Guardiola has several copies of it so he can lay his hands on it wherever he is? Did world football honour LR for his irreplicable contribution to the beautiful game? Was it one of those things that 'look good' as LR likes to trot out from time to time when it seems opportune? I agree with those who say he's hanging on but he probably is on borrowed time as he's got a different type of boss to deal with now. Might be why he had a shouting match with MP (if what was reported on here is true); he feels a bit insecure and as Gao apparently had to witness the 4-1 capitulation to Leicester he might have been under a bit of stress. And as for Kruger - well it seems his soundbites have dropped off. Let's be thankful. For those who talk about teams 'worse' than us, and I think we're as bad as about 4 or 5 it's more about who can get the required points than who can 'look good' on paper. At this moment in time we look like we will get about 1 point a game and we need about 1.3 in order to survive. That means we need wins to address the balance and this team doesn't have enough about it, especially in a physical battle and certainly once January is done and we continue to struggle and then have to rely on character and mental strength as well. We need a clear-out now and a whole lot of work over the next season and a half.

Sell him while he's still worth something and get some people in who will battle to keep us up; we're in deep ****.

You know full well he did it naturally. And going from 12 - 19% still doesn't make it a good chance. That's some bumpf to try and make XG look good/valid/useful/something more than a mere plaything. Because otherwise we could coach SL to put his 85% XG 'bound to score' ratings from 3 feet away and the drought of however many games it is now would be gone.

Sell him. We now need the cash. We should also play our promising youth more or flog them as there's no point them being here.

Does the system factor in e.g. if it falls to CA rather than SL? If it's on the wrong foot? If he's tackled from behind or the side, etc? It might do some of that, but not all and it isn't detailed enough and arguably a better measure is how many goals does a player score per game e.g. Jesus/Aguero - a lot; Steven Davis not a lot. But we know that anyway without this; which really only measures (based on what it's been decided is the measurement) whether a chance is 'good' or not and as we well know a player (e.g. JRod, SL) can quite happily miss an open goal from 3 yards out or PEH can continue with his rugby conversion training. Really it's an attempt to be clever that fails as much because it doesn't tell you much more than what you can see when you watch a game and might actually confuse matters because it will give a higher 'rating' to a chance that has a statistically (ish; I'm still unconvinced this is proper stats) low chance of conversion e.g. an 80 yard chip that is scored and doesn't recognise other factors e.g. that when Tadic steps up to take a penalty you're as likely to wonder if it will reach the goal line as whether or not he can put it where the keeper isn't. It all still boils down to who has the best (and most confident) players.

Agree with those who say get rid of VVD and play him. Only way he'll really get better now at his age. Put him in a 3 and Hoedt can cover his aerial weakness, Yoshi can do his covering everyone bit and it means we have some good ball-playing defenders and he's versatile.

This is actually the comment I meant to comment about. Maybe I should have something stronger.

For the first time in ages on this site I actually did laugh out loud. Off to have a cuppa to calm my nerves.

I agree with most of yours (never heard of the goalie, sorry) but this one?! Can you name something specific so I can look at it. Most of what he's said I've found to be him sounding like he's just reading an autocue. To me he comes across as someone who's there because they can't find anyone else (apart from maybe Savage). I like Rio Ferdinand's punditry and commentary and views.

Good stuff. Hope he gets an extended run out (of games, even if only bit part here and there) in the new year.

Now that is a footballer. Sign him up.

Yeah, I did like that comment about Austin only winning if it was downhill. It's great to watch him in the box though: his movement is just enough to get him that bit of space he needs. I'd have thought the good defenders would look to stick to him rather than hit the position they're meant to as he does seem to get the ball/get to the ball a lot so following him would mean you would go where the ball is going rather than just marking zonally.

Atkinson seems to be the luckiest ref for a lot of teams though.

The short video with Bertie in it is well worth a watch. Especially if you think he's 'miserable'. It also points out who the Headmaster's 'pet' is, if you know what I mean (as per the video).

Because there are three.

Man City L Bournemouth D Arsenal L Leicester D Chelsea L Huddersfield D Spurs L Man Utd L Palace W Watford D

I agree. As someone else said: start with those who can score goals and work backwards to find ways to play to their strengths and maximise their opportunities. Austin showed in one game more threat than many others have in a dozen as all he wants to do is score.

Did anyone see that beautiful Rivelino stepover he did in the second half? Perfectly tight, super fast. Just done to wrongfoot the defender and give him an extra second but that bit was magic.

Something's wrong. I find myself continuing to agree with you. Time for a lie down. thing as it's the internet and you never know who's out there.

Your measurement is wrong if you look at gross/net spend. It isn't anything to do with the amount spent as you say but it is more to do with what is spent relative to others as that's the only thing the argument states. It doesn't even mean the players are good, etc. The Neymar transfer obviously shows the context for this but likewise things like the Sanchez loan deal at Swansea (had he turned out well) wouldn't also show in the figures (as you rightly state: context is required as is more consideration) but what it does show is that we've spent more money than many (the source of the funds is immaterial) and that this *should* (a qualified should and partly, I suspect, based on the argument that more expensive players command higher wages and higher wages paid does apparently correlate with higher league position) mean that we *should* do better than we are. That assumes we've spent the money well, which is another argument of course.

Ah the good old 'you're' 'your' conundrum. How to defeat your own argument without any effort expended.