S-Clarke

What's Allardyce got to do with them?

Should have been done long before now.......but at least it's an experienced international head at the back, if it happens.

I assume this was said in jest.

Not sure why people keep posting about loans etc, there has never been a loan window in the PL outside of the transfer windows.

This is a good post, makes a lot of sense. I think the club as a whole have taken their eye off the ball somewhat this year, whatever is going on in the background with regards to investment/takeover is certainly unsettling and it's causing a little less direction from the top as we're probably in a bit of limbo. I think we're probably the most arrogant club in the league, we seem to believe we're automatically better at doing things than anyone else. But we're not. We're as vulnerable as anyone else and I think people at the club have believed their own strap-lines too much this season and have actually taken their eye off what is an incredibly competitive league. There is a basis of a good team here which is being hindered in a couple of places. A lack of a creative force in the middle of the park to play between the lines, the midfield and attack are too far apart. The suffocation being placed upon large parts of our team. There is a lack of ambition in our play this year which is seemingly following down from the club as a whole.

The recruitment department falls on Wilson's doorstep, he's the one who should be sleeping nervously right now.

I never listen to him post or pre match, can't bring myself to.

Davis has been a key player for the last 4 years, it's crazy to say he was ever over rated. But for some reason there are a few who have some sort of anti-davis agenda. But he's a position we now need to evolve with a forward thinking midfielder (a Sigurdson type).

We really are in an atrocious place right now. That was a total shambles. We honestly had no idea, no game plan, no attacking intent. Nothing. It was as unidirectional a performance as you're likely to see. We were always going to have a dip eventually after the last 7 years, it would be naive to think otherwise. But the way it's happened has just been brought on by ourselves. Defensively, as predicted, we were a shambles and that's the defence we have to carry for the remainder of the season. A colossal ball up at the club and heads should roll over that. We're not going to get rid of Puel, he's here for this season at least. I don't think there's much point in doing anything now anyway, it's a bit knee-jerky. What I would say though is there is no connection with the fans and the manager, nothing. We had one with MP, Adkins, Komen etc. But there's nothing, he just doesn't seem to fit....but whatever, no point really debating that.

It's so sad that we're having to compare our defense to that of Sunderland/Swansea in an effort to remain optimistic.

Skates can't get any.

One things for sure, we'll need to have a storming end of the season goal scoring wise. Not that there is any indication of that happening what so ever. I think it's harsh to put all of this on Reed's door though, fair enough he does waffle some rubbish, but there are people in the 'recruitment' dept. who have failed here - Wilson being the head of that dept. Les isn't the one who searches for players and identifies them, that's down to the team who we/wilson put together.

I'd look in Wilson's direction, since he's been part of the setup our recruitment has been a little iffy.

Massive fail by the club. We've now gone to Yoshida being our primary CB for pretty much the rest of the season. I'm not fussed per say about Fonte going, but he needed to be replaced with another experienced head. Stephens may be a decent, but ideally he needed to be eased into the side (as he was being). Now he's our main CB, and even Gardos is in consideration. It really is a huge let down by the club, there's no other way of painting it. As exciting as last season was, I'm now in the position where I'll be happy once we hit 40 pts. Not really good enough for a club which strives it's self in being consistent in all it does.

I still think the club have completely cocked up here. I like Yoshida, don't get me wrong, but he's a solid PL cover player - he'll play a handful of games when required and do a job. He's now become our leading CB in a matter of weeks. That shouldn't have happened. I cannot put any faith in Gardos, he's been injured for 2 years and looked utterly hopeless against Arsenal. He didn't really pull up any tree's before that either. We've basically lost our first and 2nd choice CB's and we're down to our 3rd, 4th and 5th choices for the remainder of the season. No other way of painting it really. The only straw I'm clutching on is VVD not being out for too long, but the silence from the club on this suggests otherwise. Let's also take into account that VVD will be in serious demand in the summer and will probably go. We will then be in a position whereby we need to find 2/3 centre backs. Diabolical squad management from the club. It may not be enough to effect us too much this year, but long-term this could end up being a disaster.

Don't really know much about him, but personally that £17m would have been better putting towards some defensive options. The situation changed when Fonte went. Seems like the club have put a lot of effort into this one, so they obviously think he's the real deal. Just need to hope we score more than the oppo then.

Thought i'd see a nice surprise this morning, obviously not then. Epic fail from the club. Completely makes a mockery of the black box crap they spout. If we weren't going to replace Fonte, then you don't let him leave. Simple. I have no faith in a player who has been injured for 2 years, and throwing in a 19 year old isn't fair. We've gone from having a decent defense but not scoring enough, to having an absolutely diabolical defense but not scoring enough. Nice one everyone involved at the club for this royal **** up.

That's what I'm clinging to......

I don't think he could sign for anyone else anyway, so it's either stay at Chelsea or go back to Bournemouth.

Still hoping there's something in the background, but for our fabled black box, we have dropped an absolute bollock here. Such, such poor squad management.

Yes, if anything with the VVD injury we needed two CB's. 1 CB is still one too short, as I don't believe Gardos should be anywhere near - but that's just my opinion.

It's alright, we've got Gardos.

Apparently he did. Personally, I'd have spent out on him rather than Manolo if it was a choice between the two. I think CB is the biggest issue for us.

How we've failed to get Sakho over the line - on a loan deal - is beyond me. Mega fail.

2nd half was better in terms of intent, but we still didn't create enough clear cut opportunities. A completely garbage result. This season has been pretty **** so far in the league, let's be honest.