alpine_saint

You're really taking this seriously, arent you ? Mental. All right, I'll leave you to it........

Why on earth would Gary Neville help us ?

Oh, come off it, it was a joke. And you keep slipping extra lines into your posts.

OK, we're gonna win the FA Cup and qualify for the Champions League. Is that alright ? Even though its b*ll*cks ?

Right, so the only deviation from what Neville said really and my surmising is what role Puncheon plays in putting pressure on our defence to make mistakes. I've said Fox and Davis arent good enough, I think we all know that, and expressed the expectation that Clyne can Schneiderlin can improve and hopefully Fonte is on his way back. REALLY contrary view, TDD...

Strange, I thought I just said the team are doing as well as can be expected, and implored CB to allow you to get on with it. Why is that negative ? Btw, this thread is not "pragmatic" by any means.

Oh, were down to silly name calling, are we ? In fact, it is tajjuk that posted the analysis, all I did was describe the way I interpret his analysis. If you have a problem because you are confused between this thread and Gary Neville, take it up with tajjuk...

Deary me...... I havent seen MnF, so I've drawn my own conclusions from this thread. If you want to point fingers based on what "MnF" tells you, good luck with that.

Nope, dont think so. I read the breakdown and the conclusions before summarising my own opinion takign into account the player's status and potential. You like telling others they are wrong though, I've noticed. Hope that works for you.

Excellent piece. From that I conclude that throughout the game the team is being let down by Puncheon, Fox and Davis. Fox and Davis arent good enough for me, and I wonder if Puncheon is starting to get too cosy. For me the criticisms of Schneiderlin and Clyne will be solved by hard work and expereience, and Yoshida for me is almost blameless - he's only just got here. I take a bit of heart from your comments about Fonte though; if the Davis and Fox issues are dealt with somehow, and he develops a good understanding with Yoshida quickly, there's hope.

Nothing is going to stop them taking over the non-Chineses speaking world anyway.

I dont think anyone is being sensationalist. No one has said something like "Villa will hammer us 5-0 due to Davis, Fox and Fonte", for example.. I think the points expressing concern have been well made and focus very well on the situation.

Why does anyone want an iPhone over a Galaxy S2 or S3 ? Much inferior product. Much worse battery endurance. Awful. And after Apple have behaved recently in the Californian courts, I am never purchasing one of their products again.

No, no, no, no, no.....NO. Every year the teaching unions come out and say the grade improvement is down to how much harder the teachers and children are working in comparison to the previous year. I often wonder how they say it live on TV without sniiggering, however...

Well I did proper O Levels at Glen Eyre, so thank f**k I missed the education slump generally and the decline in Glen Eyre when it became Cantell in particular...

Probably, yet more theory and no PL experience to go with it...

Which is why you have back-up targets and leave yourself plenty of time to do the business in, which why every year I bemoan the lateness of our f**king transfer activity. If you want to re-inforce, want to strengthen, want to add quality, you have to pay for it and do it in a timely manner. From the Ramirez deal its seems for the first time ever we were in the position financially to properly prepare ourselves for a PL season - and we f**king blew it.

Yep.

This. We may well have another manager, but it wont be him. It simply isnt going to work, he's never going to win our trust and support. Never.

Yep, this a very good post, and the bit I've highlighted is especially pertinent; I've made it myself in the past. Did we really have a 5 year plan or loads of single year plans ?

Leave it, CB, this thread obviously serves some sort of therapeutic purpose. Its the TSW equivalent of a black couch, it seems. If people dont want to look at our situation in the cold light of day and persist in harking back to where we were 3 years ago in order to get through the day, its up to them. I said a while ago I couldnt give a sh*t if we went down again, so long as team and management did their best to prevent it. From my side, the team are doing that - there is no sign that anyone is underperforming (in over their heads, maybe...), but the management is questionable. And I am not necessarily talking about NA, I dont know where the problem is.

What an incredible post. The defenders were NOT "nice-to-have" luxury players. They should have been top of the list for the summer activity Why ? We had a super attack last season, top scorers in the Championship. They would still have done a job of sorts for the first few games this season. OK, long term we could question their PL quality, but they still would have contributed. The defence on the other hand, couldnt even handle games against our Championship peers, FFS. The defending against Reading for one was an utter embarassment.

Good post. Skill-based abilities are important, absolutely. But I dont see what is the problem with separating vocational and academic study from 14/16, as in the past. By then, you can tell what a child is capable, interested in, and most likely to succeed at. The "one size fits all - so long as you can cough up/dont mind a lifetime in debt" mentality is letting kids down much more than the "old ways"

No, we have Aston Villa; how will you spin it if that goes tits-up ?

Not completely convinced by that. Yes, they could all have concentration issues, but I think its more like a Niemi at Krap Nottarf type situation; they dont all trust each other completely so havent always fully got their eye on what they are doing. Fonte is the one with a pedigree of sorts, so I consider that he is the most likely to sort his sh*t out with someone reliable alongside him. It DOES make a difference - look at Klaus before Killer was injured and Klaus after - still same player..