S-Clarke

He's never going to get you many goals, but he brings other things to the table. Needs a clinical partner and he's pretty effective with his movement and hold up play. I will add though that his finishing is just diabolical for a player at this level, he's got to be better. Although he won't get many goals, he's still got to finish better than he is. Davis is coaching him apparently, well we need to stop that and invest in some actual coaching.

Pretty harsh result in the context, but generally a massive lack of any quality in the final third for us. That's what makes the difference and without Ings fit/on form/scoring, we are blunt. Adams is getting coaching from Davis on finishing apparently, well it's not helping so scrap that idea and get a proper coach in. Very frustrating because there is so much right, but ultimately just not enough quality in this team to be competitive over a season.

If we're skint, where's the money coming from?? The club were pretty candid on the forum the other night. There is no investment, we get no money or assistance from the owners. Anything we spend is self generated, either through commercial, match day revenues, player transfers etc. Of course this model will relegate us eventually, it's not sustainable in terms of competitiveness. But we have no option until we get investment avenues from elsewhere. I think the new sponsorship deal gives us a little bit of flex, but we're primarily relying on getting as much as we can for Hoedt, Lemina, maybe Elyonoussi etc. Those are the players who will generate the funds for us in the main. Or...if we have a big sale or two. That's how we'd generate the funds for the likes of Armstrong or Toney etc.

I think most of our budget will be spent on full backs. I don't think we'll be looking for a striker if Ings stays.

Sadly a little bit out of our price range I think, I read that Blackburn were looking for 25m+ for him. No chance we can afford that.

Probably the most unfair result. Rotherham should have won their game 3 or 4, they tossed their chances away. Sheff Wednesday would have stayed up if it was not for the boardroom mess. Nothing to be proud of for Derby, they snuck over the line. Rooney is not a manager, not sure why he's now being lauded as someone who saved them. He should be looked at as someone who almost relegated them.

To be honest, you'll be out there on your own.

I think they want to, they're not going to avoid doing it themselves. I don't have a problem with this board. It's just where the funds come from, we either manage to sell a couple or some investment comes in time. It's clear it's never coming from Gao, so we just need to get that chapter done and dusted as quick as we can.

I'm a little bit nervous for next season, for sure. But let's see what we do with the squad in the summer. I have a feeling there will be more changes than we expect, the club have 100% acknowledged that we are not strong enough depth wise.

Leicester's remaining 3.... Away at Man Utd Away at Chelsea (FA Cup Final just before) Home to Spurs. I think they've fucked it, again.

Too much money tied up in the 'Istanbul 2021' branding and sponsorships IMO. No chance it will change, it's all about money not common sense.

I dunno, I think we'd have beaten them to be honest. We started the game really well, goal disallowed and Tella with what should have been a goal. Leicester looked as off it at the start of that game as they do tonight, so we'd have had more chances. We had to pretty much shut up shop and let them come at us, but let's be honest they didn't really do anything then either.

There were a couple of things he mentioned which stood out... 'Attitudes and desire all wrong'' ''Players not been made to work hard enough, they are just given the opportunity''. ''Players not good enough - being put in out of necessity''

That's pretty much how I saw it. I was actually surprised how candid Matt Crocker was in particular, didn't hold any punches. None of them really held back, no excuses made and some genuine recognition for things we haven't been doing too great over the last few years. They all speak a lot of sense to be honest, they seem to have the same feelings as we do so no doubt they are as frustrated. Doesn't make any sense to rip up the book and start again, there's clearly a plan here and they're trying to correct the mistakes and bulk the squad up in order to try and make it sustainable over a season.

What I think we'll do is sign a new first choice left back, someone ready to come in and start every week. Then the 2nd signing will be cover who can play at RB and LB IMO. Most sensible approach I think, certainly in terms of financials. No denying he has been a good left back for us, great servant. I'm not too fussed he's going though as I think he is someone we should be looking to evolve from now. We need a KWP style on the left, Bertrand just doesn't have the legs anymore.

Based on the fans forum yesterday, there is genuine recognition from Martin, Crocker, Ralph etc in terms of the awful results. Matt Crocker was quite scathing in some comments. ''Recruitment hasn't been good enough'' ''Some players simply won't make it''. Some fair reasons provided in terms of players being pumped into the U18's before they were ready, all came down to lack of depth again (at all levels). But yeah, Matt Crocker didn't seem too impressed with the state of the academy when he came in.

Leicester have just been off it, not close enough, too slow on and off the ball. We'd have comfortably beaten them last week if we had 11 men IMO. Cheers officials.

From what I could gauge, he was surprised the investment/takeover hadn't happened already and was sure a change is coming in the near future and stuff is on-going.

I'd say that Villa home result for one should have been 3 points. We had so many opportunities and then they decided to disallow two totally fine goals for us. That would have given us 40 points. Questionable calls in that Wolves home game as well, we were fairly comfortable until they decided to give Wolves a pen that never ever was. Then our heads dropped. Been a weird season. If it wasn't for injuries and those weird decisions in a couple of games, we could have been up there with Leeds or Villa in the mid 40's already. Then it would look totally different and no one would be picking on Ralph for a lack of 'plan b'.

Back at the end of 2019 I think, not long after 'that' 9-0. Think it was the game we lost 1-0 in at home, to either Burnley or WHU. Can't quite remember. Sometime in December anyway.

The extreme nature of our season is what's creating the reactions I think. Our start was excellent, top of the pile and all that jazz. But the second half is bottom of the pile, not even close to anything else. I think you've still got to judge it over an entire season though and It'll be interesting to see where we finish, still think we've got a chance of mid 40's and around 14th/13th place and for me that would equal a season which is about par for this squad. It would be interesting to see how the results would have gone during Dec/January if we had the likes of Ings/Vestergaard/KWP available - you'd argue we'd have picked up more points in those games against Fulham and maybe even WHU at home which were both 0-0.

So Liverpool need to get rid of Klopp for not getting the best out of him as well? He's so not suited to this league, it's plainly obvious.

I'd take James Tarkovski, he's a proper leader at the back and something we lack. Maybe McNeil, but he can be as inconsistent and 'blind ally' when he's off form. On his day he's better than our current options though. Charlie Taylor would fit well for us I think, he gives Burnley good attacking width from the left. Woods - maybe, would give us a focal point option, but I'm just not sure he'd fit a high counter pressing style at all. He's perfect for your ''get it long'' ''get it in the box' style.

It's what happens when you have dumb arses operating it. Our officials are some of the worst in Europe in my opinion.

I think the use of VAR in the Champions league shows up our officials, to be honest. The games flow, stuff is checked but it's over and done with fairly quickly. The ref in the game last night even went to have a look at the screen, but decided within a second and it was done. They just take so much time in this country. There were offside calls in the games tonight but not once did I see them pull out the lines and all that stuff. It really is operated by an absolute bunch of idiots in this country.