S-Clarke

This is what I've always liked about Romain, he's got a bit of aggression about him and isn't afraid to get stuck in like you say. We don't really have any other players who do that, which is quite shocking in it's self.

That sort of striker shouldn't be out of our price range to be honest, these clinical strikers cost money and if you want to survive in the league you need to spend the going rates. By all accounts we were ready to put down £34m on Gapko in the summer, and Scammaca was around the same figure - so we could do it if we wanted.

This is the prob, we are playing with two 'support' strikers, and no actual clinical striker. We had that clinical striker with Broja (when he felt like it) and Ings for a prolonged period of time. I don't doubt that both 'could' have a role for us, but it can't be that they're the main man as they're not good enough.

They had 2 full backs and 1 CB in a back 3, if there was ever a time to beat them it was yesterday which is the most frustrating thing. The fact we are now giving Adam Armstrong his longest spell in this team is pretty telling, and no surprise we can't score. We have nothing else.

Thought he was really good today, particularly commanding as well. The lack of protection in front of him (CM) is the problem.

First half was decent. Should have scored a 2nd during that period, but Adams continues to make Brett Ormerod look like a clinical machine. Second half was the norm though, as expected the opposition react and we just don't seem to have the quality to repel them - either by defending or getting that crucial 2nd/3rd goals. We then lose control of the game. We did well to draw in all honesty, so I'll take that - but it's still not particularly impressive. Our lack of goals is no surprise really, we just don't have any goal scorers in the side and whoever manages us will figure out that enormous and ultimately fatal limitation in our game. I think it's time to start looking up the Championship grounds for next season, as I just do not see how we can win games with the attack we have.

The key word is patience, but patience in football doesn't exist. Like you say, their model is clear. It's the best model a club such as us can operate. But it will take time, it won't be easy and there will be lots of sleepless nights. My big concern is that Football doesn't provide an opportunity to be patient anymore. There's so much money flowing around that clubs will struggle to grow a philosophy over a few years, it has to be a rapid growth otherwise you risk failure/relegation and a massive dent in any plans. With regards to the incumbents (manager/ CEO/Directors), you often see new ownership models giving them a period of time, but ultimately they are always on borrowed time as they will inevitably be replaced by their own people at some stage.

I do feel the same, I find myself not really bothering with European football, other PL games or even internationals nowadays. Football just feels a little dead to me. Whilst it's 'fun' to potentially see players like Haaland trash records, he is being paid 900k per week for the privilege which is just obscene and shouldn't be allowed. Then you've got Barca, on the brink financially, yet spending more than anyone else in Spain and now on the 'brink' financially again after they failed to qualify for the next rounds of the CL. It shouldn't be allowed to happen. Meanwhile clubs like ourselves, who want to do it properly and within our means, are just constantly beaten up against a wall by these clubs who hold no regard for anything. Todd Boehly at Chelsea is just playing Football Manager, it's as simple as that. It's what I do when I get the job at a club with some money. You go and poach the biggest and best coaches, physios, DoF's, players and then change it again when it hasn't brought desired results in a few months. Money doesn't seem to be an object for these clubs and it's so wrong. It's hard for 'everyday folk' to be aligned with football anymore, most of the general public are on their arses financially, trying to skrimp together the loose change they have, yet you have clubs writing off millions on 'mistakes' at a whim with no care in the world. How can the normal fan relate to football these days? I know a counter argument to these feelings will be ''well, it's only because we're not doing well that we feel this way'' - maybe there is a tiny element to that, but you also have to look at it and say what chance do we have to ever 'do well' in the current climate? Unless we have owners willing to gamble with their own money then we're just fodder, as per most clubs in this league. The model of selling to buy and being a 'showcase club' is pretty much all we can be, ditto most clubs in this league. Gone are the days when you can build a genuine connection with a team, as we did in L1/Champ. It feels like it's almost illegal for us to be allowed to keep 'good players' for more than a couple of years, and you'll start to see that reduce even more in the future. There are some genuine plus points to a split away league. Let all those morons go and play in their own playground.

I totally accept the steppingstone mantra, but to be using us as a steppingstone after just 4 months is a bit insane and not normal.

I thought Chelsea were getting that guy from RB? This is weird though; this is the second of the new appointments over the summer who has left/leaving (Clapham and now Shields). It's hard to totally call the club out on this because it sounds like he's done a number on us, but we really do feel in ultimate turmoil right now in all departments

Good searching, but it was Pardew. We got Adkins in Sept of that year after a very bumpy august.

That's a real shame. He missed most of last season with a bad injury too, can't quite remember what it was. Still young enough to recover, but he'll probably be around 21 by the time he's fully fit and it'll be a struggle for him to hit the hights his potential once had.

There's always one....

I don't think he's stupid and he's been far from terrible for us - during the Gao years in particular he did a great job keeping us somewhat competitive. However, in the last year there have been little drips coming out in the media playing us down as a club which is really bugging me. His ultra-defensive tone in the recent fans' forum didn't sit particularly well with me either. I appreciate that everyone becomes a scapegoat when we're having a bad time, but none of these people are immune to criticism right now. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect us to start proclaiming we are going to get Top 4, challenge for the best players etc - I appreciate our place in the pecking order and I accept it, but as a club you still have to show ambition and a desire to push above the accepted norm. Everyone at the club right now seem perfectly happy with us finishing 17th and applauding it because ''we've done well to be here as long as we have''. With this attitude you encourage negativity in the fan base and an acceptance in the playing squad, which will eventually lead to a malaise around the club and an irreversible regression.

That's a good point, forgot about that. Silver linings and all that. I'm clinging to anything I can at the moment.

Blackmore's tone echo's that of a worrying narrative from the club over the last year. ''We have done well to be in the PL for 10 years'' ''We cannot compete with teams in this league'' ''We're small, we're tiny.'' etc etc. Generally small-fry talk, and that kind of talk from the top filters down, trickles to the players and then you get an underachieving load of crap. What would we lose by turning that narrative upside down and saying stuff like ''we have earned our place'' ''we can compete with the best'' ''we want to push up the league''. That's what can drive a club on, not this constant ''we're minnows', woe be us'' nonsense.

Yeah, he was shit. Give me Moi Elyounoussi any day.

He's the Quincy Promes of 2022.

I look at the teams in and around the bottom - Leicester, Villa, Palace, Wolves etc etc but you just know that having Watkins, Ings, Vardy, Barnes, Maddison, Jiminez, Zaha, Eze, etc is going to get them enough goals to be well clear come the end. For us, I have no idea where the goals are coming from. It's hard enough for us to create chances as our 10's are so poor, but when we do our 9's are so poor that they can't take them. It's a pretty sorry state of affairs and this is one season where it'll be the tipping point in my opinion. You cannot skimp on goals in any league, let alone the PL. I thought 'maybe' we'd tighten up this year so we wouldn't be so reliant on outscoring teams, but given that we haven't kept a clean sheet and our midfield is weaker than an U9's team then that seems a foolish hope. No idea what to expect. They'll overpower us in the middle if we play Diallo, they will score so we will need to score at least 2. And that is where the story ends.

Stop trying to play Diallo as a '6' to start with, throw two players up top to provide Adams someone to 'support'. But most of all, just go back to basics. I know we have these 'principles' at the counter press, but if I'm honest this seems to have died a death - so if we're still trying to play that way then they're not listening, so just go back to basics.

Gaston Ramirez Everyone should remember 'that game against Villa', I think he scored in the following game against Everton as well. But not much happened after that.

Kante whilst small has a decent physical presence, he's a strong guy. On top of Diallo's small height, he's very, very slight physicality and doesn't have much meat to him.

It was obvious last season he wasn't a DM, so I'm surprised we're still trying to flog him in the 6. Lack of options for sure, but someone at the club in the summer must have said ''don't worry about losing Romeu, we do have Diallo''. That's a concern. I think as a 3, with him further advanced, he could be an option. He's good technically, sharp, good agility, good pace, he's just weak as all hell and is eaten up in a 2 (that will never change).

To have an idea of the kind of manager we may look for - just look at the player transfers we've made. Any new manager will be a relatively unknown, but young manager with high potential. We will use the same mantra with that as we do for players (do well here, this is a steppingstone etc). As we know going for established players is a no-go with our model, and so is managers. Poch had his time here, we gave him a platform and now he's of a higher level. Young, relatively novice but talented managers are where we will look. Pretty much what Poch was when we got him in. If that's a sensible thing to do in our current situation is up for debate. But it is pretty much our model.

Isn't it a bit worrying though that we look reliant on an 18-year-old kid? It does show how poor our options are and why letting Romeu go was an own-goal.