captainchris

I know - let's just keep on doing what we always did. Very inspiring ! Just what is Clasie suddenly going to contribute that will be different to before ? Totally baffling ...... What ever ......

Koeman's apathy has well and truly got through to the crowd now. If ever they needed a lift it is now!!! How on earth you could twist this situation to be the 'crowd's' fault is quite beyond me!!!

Koeman is not that clever! We don't press and don't work hard enough. We play long to Pella and don't support him! We played JWP on the right - he did well - we never played him there again! Koeman needs to up his game but is he capable ??? X

I understand your enthusiasm for an FA Cup win but logically why would we suddenly start beating the top 14 teams when we are playing in the FA Cup??? Seems rather fanciful.... Fact is, we are off the pace and very ordinary and struggling to maintain that even. Be realistic - there is quite some improving to do before we can expect to get anywhere near the FA Cup...

C Surely buying Clasie who is not a step up even on what we have, let alone Morgan is doing nothing ..... It's not all about the price you pay of course but it is about the quality and Clasie is very average ....

You must have been away on another planet then for significant chunks of that period when we were eminently better than we are right now and at any time under Koeman.... I have to say with less comparable budget too...

Superb performance

Davis off.... Just plain strange!

Under Koeman a steady decline in the football. No closing down, players a long way apart, lack of keeping procession ( see previous point) .... Potch is streets ahead as a coach .... We rely on luck .... Little structured football ...

NOTE TO KOEMMAN you are not coaching the basics to players!!!! We do not close down the player on the ball and so continuously allow crosses to come in while we stand and watch!!! This has been happening ever since Koeman arrived but he continues to let it happen..... WHY - it's basic! ??????

The problem is, that is debatable so why did we buy him? JWP should perhaps be stuck out on the wide right again which is the only position he has shone in this year. Niether him or Clasie will take us far in a central role.. It's not as though we bought Clasie as 'one for the future' how long do we wait for him to get up to speed? To be honest being that small you have to be outstanding and very strong to survive in this league and I'm really not convinced he is.

Really ? Surely not much....

Not sure where you have been this season but Clasie is clearly not good enough...

This is familiar isn't it...... We are not fit..... All I hear about these days is the players having days off. Koeman seems to think pressing is not important and therefore fitness is not that important.

Koeman does not learn his lessons and repeats adfinitum the same personnel and system. Even we have been forced to changed and it has been successful he dumps it immediately.... Caulker on the bench !!! He is obviously not good enough so why was he even on the bench? Our out on loan under 21s cannot be worse - if they are, why are we still employing them? Decision making by the Manager is suspect. Our style of play is lazy and slow, our fitness is very suspect, our pressing is non existent..... Koeman's attention to detail is severely lacking. The whole management seems to have drifted with complacency now. Come on RK get your act together and work harder on your own game as well as the team's ... It's time to step It up! If you always do what always did etc etc .....

I Wrong - don't try and turn the blame on the fans. Fans have every right to let the players and coaching staff know that standards have been allowed to drop...

Li There is not enough tenacity, fitness and closing down. Not enough competition for places or there might be but RK doesn't choose to use other players than his favourites... The players should be in training tomorrow, run to Portsmouth and walk back ....

Fitness has a lot to do with it

I'm sorry Koeman but you are losing credibility.... Caulker should not be on the bench. To even contemplate playing him is pure madness the guy is total crap! Anyone would be better.... You have dropped the other obvious player who is not good enough but some freshness is required ... Have you worked on fitness, energy, tenacity and closing down this week???? I somehow doubt it....

Step changes are needed..... More fitness, more energy, more penetration, more committment.. We are ponderous and lazy.... This is the fault of management who now need to step up because the coaching is obviously pretty average at the moment.... No sorry not average poor... Unfit, demotivated, badly coached and I'll disciplined. Team selection hadn't been up to much either .... Tactics dreadful - rank dreadful! Top teams give 100% for 90mins we don't... Top teams close down - we don't! Top teams tackle - we don't, top teams engage the opposition, we don't !!! Comes down to coaching .......

On what evidence are you promoting Clasie ? He has been really nothing better than anyone we already had? He was really very very poor even by his standards on Weds.... Reed is a better player but niether are premier league standard.... Koeman really is the one who needs to up his game...

Whilst your frustration is understandable your inclination to replace Bertrand with Taggart is way off base.... Bertrand is one of the few real Premiership quality players we have, however yes changes are required but if you could drop a manager for a few games then that would be the case.... So many issues and not least the players are not fit enough and we don't have nearly enough effort or closing down... The manager needs a kick up the ass....

There is a good underlying thread to this post. As a club we do not have a winning mentality anymore. We need to 'man up' and have a high ambition. There are far too many fans who think losing is acceptable against certain opposition and in certain circumstances. The alarm bells were ringing for me going out of Europe with such a whimper... We are taking part but do not have high enough expectations. There is something missing in the psychology department at the club that is for definate... There is a 'pecking order' mentality which is not allowed or in any way acceptable at a club of our stature. Yes we have some average players and yes the club need to show more ambition. If the club don't demonstrate ambition then why would the players? If the Manager and coaches don't demand energy and fitness then why would the players? There is for me a losing complacency around the club and has been for quite a while. We need to man up, beef up and declare a war on managers, coaches, directors or players who demonstrate any language what so ever that isn't winning. Certain Fans on here need to be far more demanding too...... The whimpish acceptance of mediocrity will never win you anything..... Not even a League Cup ! I see people saying on here 'IF we can beat Villa and draw against Palace !!!! WHAT !!! Come on, your mentality rubs off on the team.... Villa are absolutely DIRE and Palace are not great either, we should hammer both of them and then talk about how we are going to beat the next team and demand the same of the Club.

Yes you are right about that but is Koeman??? I think not.... We have lost focus on fitness and the modern important aspects of this league, closing down and engaging the opposition man with the ball. Standing off is not a viable strategy ...

We have several very average players in our first eleven granted but our lack of fitness is glaring and consequently perhaps also our glaring lack of closing down and engaging the player on the ball properly (not jockeying from 3 yards away!) is also causing us to be trampled. Koeman either doesn't see these vital missing components of our game or just as worrying does nothing about them! I agree with your sentiment that things seem to 'slide by Koeman'. We have formed a very bad habit of playing reasonably ok for 20 minutes only in any given game. We spend the rest of the time standing off teams and watching them play..... This is all linked of course to our very slow, predictable build up play. Our thinking is slow - often down to a lack of fitness again, our energy level is very low indeed which then means we don't get after teams. These issues are incumbent on the Manager to sort out and he is not showing enough desire or awareness frankly to do it.... In a word get started first on fitness and running for 90 minutes incorporating closing down... No days off at all until we are fit enough.....