doddisalegend

The only reason Cedric's crosses would have me on the edge of my seat is that I was in fear of being hit by the ball.. Hoedt and Stephens have had me on the edge of my seat a lot this season, not in good way, more in a "oh **** how many mistakes are those two guys posing as CBs going to make this game" kind of way...

Boufal has had me on the "edge of my seat" once in two seasons. Gabbi has been **** poor most of the season...I like Lemina though. I'd say Shane Long has had me on the "edge of my seat" more than any of them even if I know he is going to put it somewhere in row z when he shoots.

One of our worst signings in a while... hell even Gaston managed to contribute more.

Austin would be good in old school 4-4-2 playing the littleman/fox in the box feeding off flick-ons from a bigman type CF sadly for Austin its not 1988 anymore.. I really like Shane Long (I'm a sucker for a trier) but its time to admit he's just not a good enough finisher to warrant the label of striker surely we can find a player with Longs pace and work ethic who can actually score a few goals as well.

Good point I didn't see that bit. I guess most of those came in the early seasons then.

Well its one way. But seeing as our main form of attacking since getting back to the PL has been from crosses (mostly from overlapping fullbacks) we don't really play a way that suits Gabbi most of the time.

228 chances created from open play by Tadic alone and 37 goals if that doesn't say something about the finishing ability of our players I don't know what does...

Depends how we plan to play next season. If we continue with Hughes and he continues with five at the back then we need more pace and mobility than Austin offers. Shane long fits the system better but he couldn't score in a brothel. Personally I'd like us to go back to playing more on the front foot and have a proper big CF that can score goals, win balls in the air, hold the ball up and play with his back to goal. We had it with Lambert and Pelle and haven't had I the last two seasons. Interestingly though Burnley have finished best of the rest scoring 36 goals one less than we managed..

This season was a perfect **** storm Recruiting a very Poor manager Squad with to many average players Complacency at board level Compounded by the VVD saga and a change of owners. Hopefully this was a big kick in the nuts wake up call very everyone at the club Massive summer ahead if we don't want to through this ****e again next season.

He wasn't though was he? I thought he was billed as a poor mans Klopp a high press type of manager. First few weeks back in the PL Huddersfield were getting plaudits for there attacking no fear play. Looks like Wagner like the manager at every team outside the top 6 was worn down by the PL to play negative defensive football as the only way to get results. Its noticeable that the best of the rest this season was Burnley a team built on defensive football and relatively few goals scored.

Its not as simple as just get us to attack though. For start any manager who sets us up to be to attacking is going to be on the end of some tonkings due to the **** poor quality of our CBs. Add to that the poor quality of forward line doesn't really help either.

Not just the city game though is it? We have been defending hard and playing to nick one on the break for the last few games. That is not a criticism of Hughes he has made the best use of the tools available to get us to safety. The point is using to the last few games to suggest the defence is is fine based doesn't really hold water. Do we really want to be going into next season having to play 5 at the back and 2 holding midfielders to protect a back 5 containing Hoedt, Stephens and Yoshida, and most likely Targett to, I know I don't.

this Its amazing people how people don't see how defensive Hughes has made us become since the Chelsea game in a bid to protect our awful defensive players. We've basically gone to sitting deep in numbers and hoping to nick one on the break. All credit to Hughes for getting us over the line playing this system but are we going to want to watch that week after week next season?

so to its to simplistic to blame the players but not simplistic to just blame the manager....

Hoedt not good enough, Stephens not good enough, Yoshida not really good enough several other players have been poor for two seasons even this mini revival under Hughes is a bit smoke and mirrors. Despite playing five at the back and two holding midfielders we still look very vulnerable at the back (thank goodness for McCarthy hitting some serious form) plenty of players are still playing poorly. we need a total rebuild of the back line to compete in the top of the table imo.

not with the current squad it isn't.

Welcome to the PL it happens everywhere not helped by the fact that English players normally cost a premium. Personally I couldn't care less if a player English, Dutch, Nigerian or Mongolian as long as they are as good as or better than the player they are replacing. At the end of the day if they where better than players we already had Targett and McQueen would be regulars already.

Well that's him as good as gone then maybe we could just pull a fast one and send them Forster instead...

If the Rose Bowl Hilton does have a horrible virus going around I hope they do all they can to make the man city players welcome...

No doubt plenty of saints fans would be the same if the shoe was on the other foot (see defectors watch thread). I understand where stoke fans are coming from. It must be ****ing galling to see a manager who ****ed up your club and ultimately contributed to your relegation get a job at a relegation rival club, keep them up, celebrate staying up like he is a life long fan and pick up a million quid bonus to boot...

why are you including a spurs academy product in a list of players spurs paid for he joined spurs at the age of 11

LOL textbook use of Glasgow facts..

So did Claudio Ranieri literally months after winning the PL.... When he arrived Leicester where below us and threatened with relegation they are finishing 9th, 14pts clear of the relegation zone seems like a decent job done to me.

I'll agree with the above. If we replace Bertrand with Targett we will struggle next season.

So what is it actually comparing? How much the club is worth, yearly revenue or something else?