Lighthouse

Because some premier league sides are now owned by rich countries, not individuals. Everton have recently spent ten times what we have this window, it got them nowhere. The money we’ve spent this window might be enough to stop us from sliding back towards relegation but it’s nowhere near enough to push us much beyond 14-17th territory at best.

You get what you pay for and up until now we’ve paid for relegation. We’ve been safe by February the last two seasons, since we came 11th in 2020, and the year before that we were well clear of Cardiff with a month still to play. There was no squeaky bum time, people just said that because of some bizarre paranoia that the likes of Burnley, Fulham and Huddersfield would all suddenly start playing like Champions League teams. I’m honestly baffled by what some people expect; to have one of the lowest net spends in the league and yet be comfortably mid-table just because…

But it's fine to dismiss a manager after 10 bad games, after four years of comfortably keeping us up on a bottom three budget? It's one or the other.

About 12 years ago I had a wifi dongle from Three and moved into a house which actually had decent wifi, so I tried to cancel it. Holy f**k their customer service was something else. After hours of trying I eventually got through to an Indian call centre and spoke to a guy who spent another hour trying to sell me a new deal which included a discounted laptop I didn’t need. The guy just would not take no for an answer to the point I was almost shouting down the phone, "I HAVE BROADBAND NOW, I ALREADY HAVE A LAPTOP, I DO NOT NEED THESE THINGS AT ALL, I DON’T CARE HOW CHEAP THEY ARE!!" Honestly, it would have been comical if it wasn’t such a tedious waste of time. Dead parrot-esq, he just wouldn’t listen.

Your best case scenario is that we lose but you’d be baffled and confused if we won 5-0? Wow, fantastic attitude. How about Perraud is fit enough to start at LB, ABK gets to start, we look much improved from the Spurs game and win? Some of our talented new signs start to look half decent together and we have a decent season.

There’s clearly something up for him not to even get on the pitch in a game where our only striker appeared to be AA, who couldn’t get a start for love nor money in the second half of last season. Clearly Mara is some way off and probably being seen as a Mayuka-style punt for the future.

Happens when I’m wearing trousers TBF.

No. Ralph may be feast or famine but there are plenty of games where he gets it right. Even if I guaranteed you that Ralph definitely would do that this season, why replace him with Dyche? Where does that get us?

As I say every time his name pops up; he ended up 15 points behind Ralph with a better team, when he was sacked. If you want a different manager then fine but that man should not be Dyche. You think one win in 13 is bad? Dyche won one game up to Valentine’s Day last season.

And will want the kind of wages and signing on fee which we simply won’t be able to afford because the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Spurs, Villa and Everton can offer more.

Yep, I was there on Friday, we bowled them out for sub-200. We had them pegged as low as 2.9 an over at one point.

Stonewall….

Christ, has nobody said it yet; one more Brighton goal and we’re off the bottom of the table!

Boom! Chase that down, Kent.

Our last three starting XI have featured three different formations, using 20 different players and five substitutions yesterday. How many changes should he have made?

Our sh*te recruitment is irrelevant with regards to Fonte. Undoubtedly we should have brought in better than the crap we did but Fonte was on his last legs in this league one way or another. West Ham fans were thoroughly unimpressed by him and when he last played here five years ago he spent most of the game chasing Gabbiadini’s shadow. He has done well for himself in a much easier, lower paced league. Just like Tadic at Ajax or Juanmi in Spain. None of them would be playing like that here.

Not this again. He was 33 when we sold him and we offered him a contract which would have taken him up to a few months shy of his 35th birthday. That’s fair, his star was waning and he really didn’t look much good at West Ham. As for walking into our team today; don’t be silly, he’s 38.

Because we don’t have a fit LB and as for the ‘same old players’; today’s starting line up had three debutants, only five players who started at Leicester in May and three from the Liverpool game which preceded that.

Valera’s best position is clearly on the right side of a back three. It’s the only place he’s ever looked vaguely competent and he certainly isn’t a RB in a four. Djenepo I’ve already given you, with the stipulation that it was out of necessity. We have nobody who can play 90 mins available so someone was going to end up there. S.Arm/Aribo he was clearly trying to mix things up but again, what other options were there? Clearly something is up with Adams and we have no other strikers available. I am willing to accept Valery starting ahead of ABK because it’s a very tough fixture to be throwing new faces into. Sometimes experience and familiarity is more important than outright ability. They’re already playing in front of a new GK and behind a new CM.

So who’s missing from our ‘best team’? A CB who’s never played in England before and an unfit LB who’s probably good for an hour, max? Who was out of position, aside from a LWB when we had no fully fit LBs?

So four debutants in the same team and Perraud blowing out of his arse after 55 minutes. Then what, we bring on Djenepo in a back four or change the system completely mid game? We've gone for a policy of talented but unproven youngsters because it seems to be all we can afford. It could pay off but it’s going to take time and it won’t always be pretty. Two of the goals today came from direct, individual errors from our stalwart players who everyone wanted to start - KWP and Salisu. Nobody was insisting they shouldn’t play before the game and we still concede those goals in a back four or any other system.

You think we’d have defended better with a fourth debutant in the team, playing at CB no less, and a LB who isn’t fit?

His style being to get sacked 15 points behind Ralph, with a team of players arguably better than what we’ve currently got, half of which (Pope, Mee, Tarkowski, McNeil, Cornet) people on here were suggesting we sign when they sent down.

What, a lead we took in the 12th minute? I think I can forgive us for conceding a goal in the remaining 80 plus minutes, away to Spurs.

Shane Long starts for Reading. Currently losing at home to Cardiff.