HarvSFC

At least Traore isn’t starting. He’s one of those Ayoze Perez and Almiron before this season players. Although, I remember being 2-0 up at half time against them before they brought Traore on…

There was me thinking "To be honest with you, I’ve listened to people and it’s been to my detriment. That’s not my team out there." Was moving the attention away from himself. Guess I misread the situation. Here's some classic Jones:

The funny thing is Nicolas Jackson was our primary attacking target and it took a Bournemouth medical to realise he's currently crocked. Not many players fail medicals. We were close to spending £20m+ on an attacker we wouldn't have seen this season, so suppose we should be grateful for the cameos.

Just for some extra depressing information. When Hasenhuttl was (rightfully) sacked we sat 18th, two points above Wolves and Forest and three points off 12th. Now 20th, 5 points behind Wolves and 9 behind Forest, 9 behind 12th and four points off 17th.

It’s pretty astonishing how little the summer signings have had an impact on our team this season. ABK and Lavia being the only two consistent performers and they’ve both had long injury layoffs. Under Cortese we did make the odd Ramirez, Mayuka and Osvaldo signing, although the latter was influenced by Pochettino. But, that was countered by a Clyne, Rodriguez, Lovren, Boruc, Wanyama, etc… It wasn’t the most difficult task to improve our struggling team from last season, but somehow we’ve made it a challenge and failed.

Jones isn't compromising anymore, he's doing things his way and we're about to see how one of the best manager's in Europe manages the team. It's our turn to win 9-0.

Everyone associated with football knows that his time with us should be up and he’s doing awfully. Wright, Sutton, Blackmore, the fans, senior players and staff in the Twitter chat, Orsic’s cryptic Instagram post. Unfortunately, however the decision makers are too egotistical to admit they’ve made a mistake. Watch him alienate the players and the fans more and watch the club go down without a fight. Out of touch bastards.

Considering the Paul Doswell criticism got its way to Jones, you can imagine that Chris Sutton's, Ian Wright's among others as well as the majority of fans now giving up on him completely has all found its way back to him. Considering he's shown his reaction to criticism is to go into fight mode then it's not going to be good at all. Said in an interview that Jones has never called, nor spoken to him, making his decision to stay at Burnley in January a simple one. Poor man management again, even just to introduce himself as the new manager and outline his plans. Pretty sure Koeman used to be applauded for his communication to the loan players, despite a criticism of his being not giving the youth a chance even though we were bringing through those who joined the academy while we were in League One. Jones just seems lazy to me, I remember this particular quote alongside all the famous quotes this weekend: He had been in charge for almost two months and had a six week break. Any other manager in the Premier League worth their salt would have watched all 15 and analysed them thoroughly, rather than "pretty much 12 of the first 15". And, what do you know. A month later and he still doesn't know what our deficiencies are and defensively we are worse. Watching the first 15 games would have told you Elyounoussi's rubbish, Diallo's rubbish, Lyanco's rubbish and what our best defence is, as we all know.

Rob Edwards has won 7 out of 11 matches since taking over Luton, making him one of the best manager's in Europe. Also, sacked at Watford after 3 wins in 11, so has failure on his record. Therefore, ticks all the boxes we look for.

The decisions in plain view to me don't seem like some that would come from SR. Especially, after bringing up how the World Cup break was difficult yesterday because we didn't have everyone in it, despite having the joint fewest players at the World Cup with Palace and Bournemouth. It seems to me that he was just making up a load of excuses yesterday to protect himself. I don't think SR are telling him to keep all our January signings on the bench, or the B team after pumping a load of funds into the team and backing him heavily. I don't think they're telling him to play Elyounoussi and Diallo every week, two flops from the old regime who they have no loyalty to. Diallo made six starts this season under Hasenhuttl and that was because Lavia was injured. I don't think SR are telling Jones to mess Lavia around. He's the prized asset, the one that supports the model they're trying to implement and they can make their money back from. I don't think SR told Jones to recall Bednarek who was deemed not good enough for us when they were in charge half a season ago, act like you're Ali-G when you refer to him in a shit nickname and instantly put him back into the team despite him being our fourth best centre-back, only better than Lyanco and claiming that our better centre-backs need more minutes in the B team. Essentially, he's a mess, trying to absolve himself of any blame which is clear whenever he refers to the team as "they". He takes no ownership, despite being in charge for near three months now. SR did get it wrong with the appointment, everyone knew that. Our closest rivals at the time have appointed Emery, Lopetegui and Dyche and are now moving clear, while we went for the one with no top level experience and got no new manager bounce despite a break which most aren't afforded.

What were the team doing during the World Cup break? We had two players at the World Cup, probably the lowest in the league and the team have returned looking like they don’t know each other. It's funny how Jones brought this up in his press conference earlier. Was an advantageous situation that he pissed away. Why aren’t Elyounoussi and Diallo in the B team instead of the others? Neither can pass the ball, neither can move us up the pitch and both are supposed to be known for their defensive work, but we’re still conceding goals for fun. Elyounoussi wasn’t good enough when Hasenhuttl first joined and was instantly shipped off. He then got in the team because we had nothing else and couldn't afford anything else. Now, my money's on him signing one of those unannounced secret contracts after rumours a few months back. Who gave new contracts to McCarthy, Stephens and Djenepo and decided to sign Walcott permanently and why? Are Nathan Jones’ family actually Pompey fans? What on earth did Jones say in his interview for the job, other than “with the greatest respect”? “Systems don’t win games” isn’t particularly modern, nor something a Premier League manager would say. He definitely isn't a good public speaker, either. Why did we sell Romeu and who recruited Bazunu, Lis, Aribo, Larios and Maitland-Niles? Giving the benefit of the doubt to Mara and Edozie who haven’t done much, but have shown glimpses of potential, while DCC and Orsic are in our B team. That’s 9 of our 15 signings, 8 out of 10 of our summer signings. Lavia and ABK are the only two signings who have come in and played consistently well and both are made out of glass. Was Joe Shields a Jonesesque appointment? When's JWP getting his testimonial? (100% being asked)

Leicester signed last year's missing transfer Tete 6 days ago. Puts them 3-2 up on his debut. Weird how no other clubs new signings have to have a bedding in process, starting from the bench. We're 20th because we're playing Adams, Elyounoussi and Diallo every week and will continue to do so. Nathan Jones' son, the one new signing getting played looks like a waste of money at £750k.

What was the point in the January window?

We've got Chris Baird.

Can't see why DCC has been dropped to the B team. DCC has been our best centre-back in recent months, since Jones claimed we needed to be more solid and yes he did have a poor night in the first leg against Newcastle when he got turned by a £60m forward in Isaak, but he did also need to make the professional foul that earned him a red as him and Lyanco were left exposed and facing a 2 vs 2 before Saint-Maximin had done him. Therefore, he is being treated pretty harshly for something Bednarek and Lyanco have done for us on the regular over the years. Lyanco picking up a yellow for doing some weird resuscitating move on Guimares in the first leg was far more needless and unprofessional. Seems like DCC is now getting the Perraud treatment, who showed the error Jones was making last weekend. If we lose tomorrow, all the questions at the fans forum have to be for Jones as I can't work out the thinking to some things. But, then Jones has gone hiding when Hasenhuttl was at each forum and stood up to the criticism.

Got to back the scouts/recruitment and put the new boys in straight away if they're worth a combined £42m. As I've said before, other clubs aren't hanging around and leaving their new signings on the bench. Wood was playing within 24 hours for Forest the other week and Ouattarra was starting and got a vital assist for Bournemouth 48 hours after signing. Examples for us would be Lambert, who was scoring on his debut a day after joining and Gabbiadini, another January deadline day signing who started four days later, scoring on his debut against West Ham. Good players don't need tens of training sessions with their new team, they just slot in and both should be fit. Cannot afford to drop any more points in certain fixtures really and Brentford is winnable if we're on our game. I'm just not convinced Adams and the usual lot have the required goals in them and Onuachu and Sulemana will probably be brought on while we're chasing the game if they don't start. So, with that said: Bazunu Bree (KWP if fit) - DCC - Salisu - Perraud Alcaraz - Lavia A. Armstrong (Edozie impact sub) - JWP - Sulemana Onuachu For me.

You’d think Burnley may be tempted to spend £15m+ on Tella as well, should they go up. We spent the same on Armstrong on Adams. Unfortunately, I can’t see another Forest throwing down £42m, as they did for Gibbs-White last summer.

Sulemana gives us much needed pace in attack. A. Armstrong, Djenepo and Edozie are our fastest attacking players at the moment, but none of them can actually do anything with the ball. They're just direct runners. You'd hope Sulemana could actually get some assists to go alongside his pace. Has to be better than Eluseless who has started most of the season and Aribo who I'm faster than, while Walcott and S. Armstrong are crocked. S. Armstrong, excuse the cliché, would actually feel like a new signing if he regained his fitness. Then you'd hope Onuachu knows how to finish his dinner, while also providing power and running upfront. If JWP's corners/indirect free kicks fell to him rather than Salisu then we may actually look dangerous from set-pieces. Essentially, Onuachu needs to be our Papiss Cisse/Pavel Pogrebnyak. Two average as hell footballers who had a scoring purple patch after joining the Premier League in January and never repeated similar stats in following seasons. Gabbiadini and Saganowski would be our own versions. So, it's been done before and you would hope Onuachu would be able to prolong the scoring, rather than being a half season thing. Now, the issue is that a lot of the clubs around us have also strengthened. Bournemouth have spent close to £100m this window, Wolves have spent over £60m, West Ham got a proven scorer in Ings, Leeds have gone over £60m, while Forest have signed a handful more, while trying to flog a few summer signings proving their scatter gun approach. So, it's going to be a very tough run in, I feel. There's been a severe lack of quality in the first half of the season at the bottom of the table, but the majority have now put the money where their mouth is. We're still in with a very good chance of staying up ourselves as despite being 20th, we are still only 3 points off 14th. That said, if Onuachu and Sulemana do sign then we need both to start on Saturday. We can't afford to waste anymore games with 18 left. We need 6 points from Brentford and Wolves if we're realistic about staying up and persisting with the same faces isn't going to get us those points. Now, lets all laugh at Everton. Tried to sign both Onuachu and Sulemana. Turns out the dugouts aren't that big a draw, they get no one, hopefully nailed on for 20th and it would be poetic if we stay up while they go down after smashing their glass ceiling.

Looks like Ryan Fraser's off to 15th placed Hull in the Championship. I wasn't particularly enthused when he was linked with us, but his reputation's gone right downhill if that's his best option. Karma for what he did to Bournemouth. Hopefully we sign both Sulemana and Onuachu whose names I have to keep searching for to ensure I'm spelling right. We've already seen Alacaraz looks exciting, Orsic not so much and Bree a squad option. Two World Cup players, three internationals. Impressive when we're 20th. What we need, rather than the quantity over quality signings we've made in the past. Then you think Everton were linked to three of the players we could potentially have at the end of this window and at the moment they look like they're ending up with nobody and they're our closest rivals. If you're still bitter regarding the dugouts like me, have some fun reading this thread: https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/ff-protest-at-1900-tonight.117009/

Posted yesterday that I was glad we had seemingly missed out on Sulemana and were now targeting goal scorers (Dembele, Vitinha, Onuachu). We have too many non-scoring wide players and need those who can put it in the back of the net. However, it’s probably a case of Sulemana’s the best we can attract given our position.

Know nothing of Onuachu or Vitinha, but both seem a lot more exciting given their records than Jackson, who we were linked to the majority of the month and is seemingly a bullet dodged given the injury. The Rennes guy wasn't particularly exciting either. Bit disappointed to be rejected twice in 6 months by Dembele, though. We're probably going to end up with Andre Ayew now though and that will make me Al Sadd.

Dembele would be a great signing, an almost perfect one. Only second to Danny Ings for me for the best realistic striker we could've signed before the window and that's only because Ings is a known entity for both us and in the league. But, Ings had the question marks over his injury record, which he's currently living up to, while there are some patchy season's on Dembele's record and a question mark on whether he can do it consistently at a higher level than he's played before. However, Dembele is a natural finisher, doesn't do a lot of the pretty things, but he does know where the net is and that's what we need right now. A striker who can put away the few clear cut chances that we can create during a match. Now, my only thinking is, is that he reportedly rejected us in the summer. We're now in a worse position than we were in the summer, so why would he be willing to join on January's deadline day? Know nothing of Vitinha, and Football Insider is a dodgy source.

At least Alex Crook has had another master class. Tweeted at half 9 last night that Arsenal had not made a second bid for Caicedo. An hour before Romano and Ornstein Tweeted a second bid has gone in. According to Crook the second bid had gone in after his original Tweet. So, they must be doing a lot of overtime at Arsenal.

He's a bad footballer. His purple patch coincided with having a world class manager in Carlo Ancelotti and coaching from Duncan Ferguson, who had a similar playing style. His highest scoring season without Ancelotti is 6 in 35. Two more than Adams currently has. Also more concerned with dressing like a woman and "breaking stereotypes".

These bloody fans. Celebrate the win, Nathan, let the results do the talking.