StrangelyBrown

Did he really say he was the "fittest human being in history"??? If so that is some claim....

Not making a decision when there is irrefutable evidence that you need to make a decision simply because you hope something will get better isn't bravery. It is far easier to bury your head in the sand than to make a change. The board have been spineless - they even limited the forum to a chosen few and Jones didn't attend. Again spineless.

So our spineless board have decided that we're stuck with Jones for a bit longer and have backed us for relegation... There's not a lot of fun on the horizon now other than to look forward to seeing what the self proclaimed best manager in Europe attributes to himself in his Thursday press conference. Has he discovered the cure for the common cold? Was he the first man on the moon? Did he invent aggression in football? Is he the 2nd coming (or God willing the first going)? One thing for sure is that we won't be seeing a dose of humility or an apology for blaming everyone else anytime soon. I suppose it's never dull being a Saints fan.

I'm confused about the compromising thing - was he compromising when we beat city or palace, what about when we played forest? Presumably every loss is down to compromise and every win is down to him being the bestest ever manager in the world ever?

I can't believe that anyone is talking about NJ magically getting a result if he's still here. The bloke is a fucking charlatan - his tactics are shit, he thinks Janny B is our best defender, he's lost a number (if not most) of the team, he's lost the fanbase and he's still banging on about it being everyone else's fault. Wolves on the other hand have turned the corner. The only way they lose this by some freak result. If NJ stays we lose again and we can all talk about how shit he is and live in the hope he gets sacked. Hopefully he leaves, we can say good riddance and we can all get on with supporting the team again safe in the knowledge that it could be worse no matter who we get next.

For me Ankerson should get a bit more time and Semmens should go. At their level they will make mistakes, but the important but is owning those mistakes and making changes to move forward from them. Semmens has failed too many times without seeming learning from his mistakes. The jury is out on Ankerson although a man with such a seemingly big ego is heading for disaster.

NJ simply can't keep his job - what a fucking shambles. No doubt it isn't his fault.

I can't see us winning under Jones, I don't think he's got it in him to find a settled line up and a way of playing that actually works. The relentless tinkering will see us lose probably by small margins, but from a points point of view I think we're going to lose touch with the pack fairly quickly. We're not even picking up draws at the moment.

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?