StrangelyBrown

Couldn't agree more re that team filling with no confidence - if Janny B plays we lose IMO - he's rusty and he's probably our worst CB even when he's at his best. Ely is simply not good enough, Adams scored a worldy midweek so the odds are against him scoring. Let's hope I'm wrong.

I'm genuinely confused. Have you actually watched us??? We don't look like we capable of winning a match at the moment. We create few good chances that were incapable of taking and sloppily gift a lot of chances for the opposition - I've lost count of the number of times we've got away with giving the ball away on the edge of our own box - we might have kept scores low but there has been an large element of luck to that. We're not going to get the points we need just simply by being aggressive and not conceding too many goals. At some point we need to start creating enough chances to win a game - we've allegedly bought the players to do that now it's down to NJ to put them in the team and organise us so that we can score more than the opposition.

7 for me. Still 2 obvious positions to deal with (DM and GK) and our manager still needs replacing.

With the greatest of respect with Janny B back to save the day what can possibly go wrong? God willing we'll get a result - we'd be foolish to solely rely on players being able to understand tactics or on picking the right team.

Maybe the master plan is to lure Newcastle into a false sense of security by playing completely dogshit for a half and then switching up at half time??? Straws.... Clutching....

Well that's that then. Good to see bednarek is bringing the defensive solidity he's renowned for to the team.

Completely agree. We are better defensively but still look incapable of a clean sheet, add this to the fact we just simply don't score anywhere near enough of our chances it's a guaranteed recipe of relegation. The only way I see us getting out of this is with a striker who actually can put a chance or two away, a new keeper and a manager who can bring the whole club with him; not one who can't keep his ego in check and is hellbent on turning the fans against him.

Do you mean a bit shit and surprisingly always in the team???

God willing!

"How do we guarantee relegation before march?"

Having called for NJ to go many times already, I'm now on the fence simply because there's the slightest glimmer of hope - I can see that the squad have a sense of togetherness and that there at least looks to be a semblance of a plan. Trouble is it's the hope that kills you.... Sadly the same problems persist - namely we have a young keeper who shouldn't really be starting in the prem yet, Che and the alternatives just aren't good enough to play up top by themselves (not enough quality) and we give the ball away far too easily. The latter is something that should come with a bit of confidence and a bit more coaching, the other 2 are in SR's hands. NJ has bought himself a tiny bit of time, but he needs some results in the league very quickly. A bit of crowd interaction would help buy him some favour, but I think he'd rather chew his nails.

A funny game today, it seemed like we were in the game all the way through and the result hinged on very fine margins - a different day we get a goal rather than it being chalked off. Villa are masters of the darker side of the game and properly conned the ref - every time a player received the ball with their back to goal you knew they were going to get a foul, but fair play to them for doing so. What is becoming more and more apparent is that Bazunu simply isn't good enough, that we give the ball away far too cheaply and that Che just doesn't offer quite enough quality. Fix those three things and we stay up. Don't and I think we won't. Having been a fierce critic of NJ I don't think he's particularly to blame for today's result (apart from some iffy subs and timing of the second set of changes) and I'd argue that on average he is slowly getting us playing better. What is clear is we are still in need of some serious upgrades.

Fair play to NJ and the team. That showed some proper bottle.

100% this.

“I have ignored everything really. Some of it’s justified, some of it’s not. I think I’ve handled myself with real dignity in recent weeks.” Not exactly true NJ...

I don't disagree with you that singing "your football is shit" wasn't the way to deal with things and agree that booing at the end of the game would have been more appropriate. I also think you're talking a lot of sense re going after opposition players. I don't agree re the being one of us. NJ made his bed when he very deliberately avoided using language like "we", "us", etc after each of the first few games - it was so reminiscent of saggy chops who also refused to take responsibility for his failures. It seems NJ is lacking the humility to be a really good leader and admit his mistakes. If he simply came out and said sorry I fucked up he would get a lot more respect.

I don't think the club or NJ should be expecting fans to blindly follow without voicing an opinion. As fans we invest a lot of emotion and money into the club, but we get no say in how that investment is used. Rightly or wrongly NJ is an unpopular choice and should earn the backing of the fanbase - he and the club have no right to expect people's backing without challenge and if the club were in touch with the fanbase they should have known it was a difficult appointment and should have prepared NJ for a difficult start. Had the club chosen someone more popular I think people would have been a bit more forgiving. If the club appear to have made a mistake (whether true or not) fans should be able to vent their frustration just as much as giving their adulation when things are going well. NJ would do better to let his results do the talking rather than "giving it back". Or do you think that fans should blindly follow the club's decisions without voicing an opinion?

We'll undoubtedly have to play someone like city if we progress far enough in the fa cup - do we throw the towel in at that point?

Not sure what the logic is here, we played a strong team against Palace which suggests we're not throwing the towel in for the cups and then we put out this team. I get the "rest the team argument" and I know it's about timing, but we're within a couple of games of a final - It would make more sense to rest players for the fa cup game. Just plain bizarre team selection.

"I would imagine, the next two to three weeks, you'll see a good balance in the work that we do.” Is this a commitment to improved performance in 2 to 3 weeks or just imagining it just might happen (God willing)?? To me it looks like he's set the timescale for us to judge him. If it's still shit in 3 weeks then he has to go.

Agreed, but Bazunu can kick a ball to our team... McCarthy can't. They're both shit and we should have better. The fact we're still in this league having had such bad keepers for so long is astounding. Even more astounding is that we've done nothing to make anything better so far...

I'm not sure Bazunu is worse than McCarthy? It's easy to forget how shit he is when you haven't seen him for a while.

And yet he's also said this... So not sure what he's shouldering responsibility for??? He's taking responsibility for 2 "harsh" results. "Two results have been harsh this week. In terms of Fulham away, I thought we were excellent, I really did. [We were] really structured - I thought we were the better side. We limited them to very, very little." Excellent at Fulham???? Seriously. Some of the worst football I've see saints play in years.

Fair play to NJ for a win today, but I'll remain unconvinced until we start to put together some football that creates goals and win games without relying on set pieces and forced errors. The football needs to improve, but at least there is a glimmer of something better. Can't say his interviews are endearing though, but then again if he can deliver decent football and results then I'm sure he'll be forgiven for being as much of a bellend as he likes.

I'm really worried now... After Wednesday I thought he'd be gone before the Palace game, but he's still here, has shouldered no responsibility for the utter shite he's served up and is talking about being judged in a number of months. With most of the fanbase against him and with us getting worse not better this really isn't going to end well unless SR act now.