S-Clarke

We've had a couple of games at home this season on-par with this, which is worrying. Go back to pre-season, 0-4 Ausburg, 0-2 Wolves. Games which we simply don't turn up in. It's rare for us not to turn up at all, but we simply weren't there yesterday. Cedric looked as if he has been rushed back, well off the pace. Lemina looked like someone who has been in and out of the side all season. And as much as it pains me to say, it looks like Davis' legs are gone. He was horrifically bad. Looked like a lower league player. The problem we have is we have too many similar players in our squad, which tempts the manager to rotate too much. We look like a completley unballanced squad, bloated in certain area's and not enough depth in others. I'm not entirley sure what our recuirtment team have been doing over the last 18 months, but the main summer for me was the one Morgan was sold. We focused too much that year on bulking the squad up with players like McCarthy, Martina, Clasie - and not enough first team replacements. This summer we went out and bought Hoedt and Lemina - both look good for starting births, but as with PEH...they need games, they need to build up a level. They're not getting the chance. Given that we have bulked the squad up with average players, it's unballanced and tempts the manager into changing things around too often to keep everyone happy. There's no denying that we have a big squad, probably our biggest since we've been in the PL, but if that depth is full of average players then what's the point? Gardos, Bedranek, McCarthy, Peid, Clasie, Long. We need two things. 1) A manager to understand and pick a best 11, stop all this rotation crap to try and keep everyone happy. Play the best 11. 2) If there are any gaps which mean the best 11 is unballacned, such as pace on the break or another CM...then use January to buy them, and proven players at that. This squad has smatterings of real quality, it shouldn't be struggling as it is. It just needs a manager to understand how to get the best out of it and a recruitment team who stop focusing on squad filling bargains and believing in their own hype.

Imagine that. The title is ours....

Yeah, PEH was awsome yesterday by the way. Best game he's had for us, he was the complete midfielder in there and set the tempo for the rest of the side. Very tidy player, have always liked him.

I'm finding it hard to read too much into the game given how utterly abject Everton were, but there were some notable differences in our approach for sure. We moved the ball quicker, quick one time passes to get players in behind quicker. Everton afforded us the opportunity and space to do that, but we did try and play at a very high tempo I felt. Very few lumped up balls, we had the ball on the deck and passed it around well for the majority of the game - however, this was also aided by Everton not getting close to us. One of the key things I noticed was our full backs and how they pushed on much higher than I have seen for a while, tactically they seemed to have the assurance of either PEH or JWP dropping back in at full back to cover them. It was quite a well coached setup in that aspect. We played well, quickly and at a high tempo - Everton being as crap as they were helped, but at the end of the day you can only beat what's in front of you.

That's sad. Way too young. RIP.

Wasn't this from last week? They lost 0-1 i think.

Or it just shows West Hams owners are a bit silly. Tons of options available who are better than Moyes.

I dob't think anyone really desires Moyes apart from WHU. I really don't know what they're trying to achieve.

Hoedt would play for me, but it's a tough call as Yoshida is one of the few in our team who actually give a **** these days.

When we sold Mane and Pelle in the same window. Club felt Austin was the replacement for Pelle, but he's never looked a good fit for us - so we've been a striker down since then and without a focal point, so it's no surprise really. I don't like Gabbi as a lone striker, that is not his game at all. He should be playing 2nd striker or support striker to a proper focal point - someone like Deeney, Dost etc - that sort of player (that's not advocating player hoofball, but having the ability to get the ball to stick will enable the rest of the team to move forward a lot quicker)

He made some good saves, but also had the same issues as he did with us - coming for balls he shouldn't, getting caught out when playing sweeper keeper etc. He's got the ability, but I don't think he's ever been mentally strong enough.

I've been watching this forum afar over the last few weeks, as it's predictably been a bit of an 'out' fest. I used to look at Sunderland and even Villa and the frequency at which they changed their managers and thought it was crazy and not helping things, all of their managers had a very similar result. They were always struggling. I really do not want us to get into this horrific cycle by changing a manager every 6 months as it isn't right, when it gets to that stage you really need to look beyond the manager and what else is wrong. I really can't see the club removing MP and I don't believe they should. For me, the statements we tried to make in the summer have backfired on us. We've managed to keep our sought after players, but unfortunately they are seemingly polluting the air a little bit around the place. Sometimes it's not always the right thing to keep hold of players who seemingly want to go, sometimes you just need to accept it, take the money, move on and get in players who actually want to be part of it. Generally speaking, the reactions on Saturday were more from a culmination of the season as opposed to that game in isolation. In isolation we didn't play badly on Saturday, we've played a lot worse this season - but the frustration from previous weeks will just increase the negativity. We're currently a team without an identity, we're kind of lost in between styles. We're lacking a superstar in this team, they're all much of a muchness (Tadic/Redmond etc). Replacing Mane was always going to be impossible, but we certainly shouldn't have sold 60% of our goals in a single transfer window. For me, that's where our issues started. We have improved the midfield with Lemina and we have improved the defense with Hoedt, but we now need to see significant investment in the final third. It doesn't matter who the manager is, we have a poor mix of players in the final third and until we address that anyone would struggle to get this team balanced in the final third. So, I don't think he should go, I think it's very reactionary to say as much - he's only been here 5 mins. If we get caught in the loop of constantly changing managers without addressing the core issues, we're going to get ourselves in an irreversible slide.

To be fair, I'd second that. Really good quality. UM/SM was always ok for me, but the stream quality (especially the FHD sky sports streams) are defintley better. Doubt it'll last for long as I'm sure it's name will filter to the 'powers that be' - but worth signing up to as a straight replacement for UM for the time being.

Juventus.

Don't fret, it's only another few weeks until the next international break.

Easily my favorite player of the 'modern' era - given what he achieved for us in such a short space of time. I think it's safe to say he had his best years with us, glad that he acknowledges that as well. When we signed him that was what I'd call a Marquee signing given our status at the time and given that he could have gone to any higher division clubs. I remember when we signed him as well, all started to leak out on a Sunday evening if i remember right - then it was announced on the Monday or Tuesday of the following week. You will not get better value for £1m ever again. Hope he's welcomed back into football in some capacity when he's recharged.

I'm still confused as to why 'big' teams want Cedric. I think he's amazingly average, just like the rest of the team to be honest.

They look even worse than they did against Atalanta so far. They will likely win this though, would be amazed if they don't pull one out here.

Yeah, I remember the picture - but it was never to show his dissatisfaction at anything, it was just showing the training ground setup and ready to go.

You have just made that up.

Fair assessment. I think a lot of the score lines they've had so far have massively flattered them, Swansea being another at the start of the season. I think we're better defensively than either of those teams, but the worry I have is who is going to frighten Utd? Who is going to stretch them? That's my only concern in the offensive side. But defensively, we've been pretty spot on this year and I don't see that changing next week.

He's more than likely leaving them a legacy that will have them back in Administration before long. He never leaves clubs in a good state when he ups and go's. and if Brum start winning every week, then it just goes to show how inept he is at man management...

They still contrived to get thumped by Atalanta though.

They've wasted money on the same sort of player and failed to replace the one player they actually needed to replace. He's managed to create a very one-paced and confused team without an out and out striker. Their lack of pace is frightening. Problems.