Lighthouse

Then we’d need a new manager for next season anyway, as most people would have wanted him sacked in March.

I’ve always held true that the less I see of a relationship on social media, the healthier it’s likely to be. Kind of like how it’s never the successful friends posting the inspirational quotes.

Thank you for telling me not to 'delude myself' whilst claiming that League 2 teams would only 'possibly' do better than us. Even bottom half Championship teams would give their right arm to have a combined strike force of Armstrong, Archer, BBD and Onuachu. If we're as bad as everyone says we are, then sell our very small clan of PL quality players in summer, then we'll almost certainly finish rock bottom of the Championship next season... but we're not going to do that.

I would. I will say with near certainty that any League 2 club dropped into the Premier League would achieve single figures in terms of points, probably around half of what we have now.

You would be wrong in thinking that because it clearly isn't true.

THB maybe but I can’t see there being many willing to pay the £25m+ we’d want for him. Even Dibling is only a maybe, the way he’s played recently.

Ramsdale - Nothing to see here, we’re all agreed he’s PL quality. KWP - As above THB - Yes he has played for England but can you honestly say he’s actually looked good? Bednarek - The self-fulfilling prophecy. Plays for us year after year because our recruitment is abysmal, accrues 200 PL apps, people say he must be okay because he’s played 200 PL games. The reality is that he was always a weak link, even in a bottom half team. Now the rest of the team are as bad as he is. ABK - Not getting a game for any of our managers this season. Whatever his problem is, it’s clear that he is the problem. Taylor - Clearly hasn’t settled here for whatever reason. Not even in the squad these days, so clearly has a problem. I will be astonished if by more than four of our players end up at PL clubs next season, so we’ll see what, "every other coach," really thinks about them.

No it isn’t. ‘Every bottom half team ever’ didn’t get promoted from fourth in the Championship, then sign Nathan Wood, Adam Lallana, BBD and Yuki Sugawara. People talk about us having three good players, in KWP, MF and AR. They aren’t three top class players, they’re three players who would get a game for Palace or Brentford. When you include our subs, 80% of the team were able to field for each game is basically just fodder. You aren’t going to get away with that at this level.

I really wouldn’t have expected much more, given that we’re up against clearly superior players in almost every single game. Even in the games where we’ve played relatively well, our attacking players wasted chances to win and our defensive players made costly errors which lead to us leaking goals. There’s no strategy that can compensate for that.

We failed so badly because we got promoted to the Premier League and signed a bunch of mid-table Championship players, there really isn’t much more to it than that. There is no strategy on Earth that’s going to make these players competent at this level.

I probably wouldn’t be calling other people boring if I was sat in a pub and yet still having an argument with a stranger on an internet message board.

Interesting that you’d post that now and not after beating Real Madrid twice in the space of a week. They’re second and in the CL semifinals, he’s going nowhere.

I’m fairly sure I’ve seen the phrase ‘Russball’ used to describe about thirty different teams and managers this season. It seems to mean any passage of play involving a period of sustained possession. At some point we’re all going to have to admit that such a thing was not invented by, nor is it exclusive to, Russell Martin and that lots of managers like to pass the ball and retain possession.

Different team, manager and league next season, there’s no reason to think we can’t be decent. Sheff Utd fans probably said the same as you a year ago, they ended up doing the double over Wednesday this season.

Nobody is really going into the playoffs with any kind of form. Between the four of them, their last three games have been W2 D2 L8. Sunderland also have five straight defeats. Can’t see much beyond a comfortable win for the Blades.

I’m starting to think our team isn’t very good.

Given his age, I’d have thought he’d be more in the £40m-ish category and I don’t think we’d turn that down. The team will need restructuring for the Championship and having five £15m players would be a better balance than having two worth a combined £70m.

Loads of people say this but United beat us comfortably 2-0 earlier that season, with Fonte and Virgil both playing. That said, we’d all rather have him than Stephens.

What is it specifically that you want them to say?

If the Blades don’t win the playoffs, and I can’t see it not being them, then whoever does is going to get an absolute walloping next season. As bad as this season’s promoted teams have been, we (and Leeds) were in a sub-league above the likes of WBA and Norwich last year.

Probably why we’re spending a reasonable amount of time and money researching it.

I didn’t say it helped us but if he performs well in the IPL then he should more than hold his own against the likes of Middlesex and Glamorgan.

Even after the expected departures, we’ll still have one of the better Championship squads, compared to everyone else in that league. With some decent player recruitment we should be in the playoffs as a minimum, with the right man in charge.

Gaaaaah, I haven’t got to that part yet! 😡😡