S-Clarke

Yeah, fair enough all 3 are kind of out of their depth - but it's not their fault. Hate the way you've started the thread, makes you seem very immature.

Would still be better than Gazzaniga!

Looks like he's carrying an injury to me. We all know that when Rickie plays with a knock, his game tumbles. He seems unable to make a jump at the mo, and his strength has reduced massively in the last few weeks. This is coinciding with an obvious drop in general form too, as his touch has gone down the toilet! It's probably the worst period he's had for us in the time he's been here, but he's earned quite a lot of leyway before anyone is on his back!

He's been pretty awful for a while now, seems to boil down to when he went away with England and picked up that 'injury'. To me, it looks like he struggles to jump or hold off anyone. He's never been mobile, but looks to be playing with a shed load of timber on his back at the moment.

Club don't really share the info, but estimate that Boruc should be back by the end of the month all being well. no idea on Clyne, think it was a thigh injury which could mean quite a few weeks. Would imagine Fonte and Shaw will be back in for Boxing day, however Victor is probably our most long-term, wouldn't expect him back before mid-feb. Osvaldo isn't injured, just suspended until the new year for being a moron.

As much as I think we need to replace the likes of Jos, Fox etc - I don't think that will happen until the summer. I think the club are hell bent on promoting the youth, so before any signings we'll see the likes of Reed, Gallagher, Simms etc get game time. I don't think we'll do much, even though I think we need to. So i'm not going to get my hopes up...

Who knows. A question that will need to be raised with them, but once Davis or Boruc is back, I wouldn't expect to ever see Gazzaniga play again at the highest level.

He simply doesn't make saves. Pretty unbelievable for a keeper.

Or that we're missing 6 first teamers. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good betwet.

Seriously? He was a shambles. He made Adebayor look like Bale.

I don't buy it to be honest. He just lacks the basics in every single department. I expect any keeper to have some sort of command of an area, or some natural judgement to know when to stay or come. He doesn't have it, and he never will.

"In the second half we dressed up as Santa Claus and gave them many presents. We made many mistakes and when you make these mistakes, you are punished. We are obviously very angry.

It's no surprise that teams easily slice through the middle of us now.

Weird post. What's he supposed to do? Magic away the injuries to Boruc, Fonte, Shaw, Wanyama, Clyne? The squad isn't deep enough, and we've been punished for it at a time where we play all the big teams. We have to grin and bear it, as we don't have the squad to manage an injury crisis like this.

He can't help it, he's a decent enough bloke, but he's simply not close to being good enough for this level. We cannot progress any further than we are with him and Jos as backup, that's the blunt reality. They need to be replaced sharpish. Thanks for their time and service, but time to move on...s

If we don't sign a new CB in January then the talk of us doing anything this year (i.e ''it's happening'') is nothing but utter waffle.

I don't think you can say he's our best option, I'd be tempted to throw Croper in there. Or heck, even Toni Jimenez. He's that bad, he's not going to develop in my opinion. I see nothing in his game which suggest he's going to make a decent player, absolutely nothing. Even Lovren looked at him on a few occasions today with the expression of ''WTF?''. Zero command, zero strength, zero reading of the game, cannot save a thing.....bizarre lack of attributes for a goalkeeper.

Anyone would have looked class up against Jos today.

I thought we were atrocious today, but let's be honest - it's not really much of a surprise is it?? You cannot expect to get results in the PL when you have to start with Gazzainga, Jos and Fox in the defense. And to then add on horrendous displays by Lambert and Jay Rodriguez, we've not got a hope in hell. We were always going to have a spell like this, and our fixtures in recent weeks have kind of compounded things a little bit more. But overall, a club like us at this moment in time cannot absorb injuries to key players. I think table wise, we're there or there abouts for where we are. We're not anywhere near top 6, or top 4, we never were. A full 11 without injuries and suspensions - maybe, but a season doesn't work like that. Onto the next one then. No idea what to expect, we're going through a patch, let's not meltdown though.

Pretty horrific player, to be honest. I think MP will shortly be reassessing January plans. We cannot go on with him as backup. You cannot have a weakness like him in the championship, let alone the premier league.

Ah, cool. I've missed that Fox and Jos combo.

But you also need to look at who we've played, and how we've performed in those games. The injuries hit us at a time whereby we played Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle all in quick succession - but performance levels have stayed pretty consistent. Sunday's game will be a good indicator, but in terms of coping - the performances have maintained a decent level, which in the long-term is a good sign that we'll be on track again shortly.

Agree, think we have coped a lot better than I thought we would. Depth looks a little better than I thought a few weeks ago, that's for sure. And a really good addition to the debate by The Kraken, zzzz indeed.

The next Blackburn. Venky's MK2