Ultimatt

He's under performed for sure and would be rightfully sacked. I also don't think his replacement will be any better with Les only picking unemployed managers, combined with our squad being so weak. Reed and co are the real problem that got us into this mess and either need to change their ways or change employers.

MoPe is the scapegoat to save Les/Ralph. If they sacked him and we still went down they'd be toast Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Gao: Remind me again how big the parachute payments are? Katharina: £91m Gao: Marvellous!

Yoshida is honestly better than both of them but can't get a game because Stephens is academy/english(big sale value) and Hoedt had a public whinge last time he was benched. Poor recruitment all over the field and CB is no exception. Putting 2 young inexperienced CB's together is just daft. You need someone with command/leadership back there to control the defence.

I'm not sure how much blame can really be levelled at Ralph. Yes he seems to know sweet F all about football but that's not his job. His job is on the financial side which to be fair is going well with sponsorships and the manipulation of fans who are still turning up to sell out games. It's the people in charge of recruitment and football matters that are sending the club down.

http://www.worldfootball.net/table_calculator/eng-u23-premier-league-div-2/ an outside shot at reaching the playoffs.

£20-25m. There's a good confident player there. Calm on the ball. Just needs the right CB partner or to move into DM like Wenger tried with Chambers Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

We've gone from having a lot of players good enough to play for top 6 sides to a team with only 1 player capable of it atm. By what right should we be ahead of the teams in 7th-18th place? The top 6 are incredibly far ahead and are having to recruit from overseas to find quality (VVD/Barkley the only exceptions). Huddersfield/Brighton are a lot poorer. But nothing really separates 7th-18th. Our squad is certainly no better than that pack of teams right now. An okay season has us finishing 12th; middle of the pack.

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/aerial_won Stephens: 14 matches, Aerial Battles Won 23/45 (51%), Duels Won 64/109 (59%) Hoedt: 16 matches, Aerial Battles Won 24/58 (41%), Duels Won 76/136 (56%) VVD: 13 matches, Aerial Battles Won 70/94 (74%), Duels Won 96/132 (73%) Yoshida: 18 matches, Aerial Battles Won 49/81 (60%), Duels Won 81/139 (58%) Bertrand: 23 matches, Aerial Battles Won 30/67 (45%), Duels Won 99/196 (51%) Cedric: 20 matches, Aerial Battles Won 22/63 (35%), Duels Won 70/144 (49%) That's damning. There's a big VVD shaped hole in our defence. Wasn't winning aerial duels meant to be Hoedt's strength? Our back 4 leaves a lot to be desired.

We'd be 11th right now if not for that Watford handball. That's a decent position with the quality of our squad.

The top teams are all seriously good right now. Each has massive quality in attack. I struggle to think of non-top 6 team attackers that could be starters at any of these teams right now. Mahrez the only one with a chance? Vardy wouldn't be a starter. Rooney is past it. That's it I think? So when the bottom 14 teams don't have amazing attackers then they're bound to trade a lot of points amongst each other. When Everton had Lukaku they were ahead of the pack. When we had Mane/Pelle we were ahead of the pack.

Bad culture looks to be club wide. Mediocrity is being rewarded on and off the field. Were there any repercussions for the u23's being relegated? Any repercussions for the ridiculous forster contract extension? Are we ever going to sell any of the weaker players in a bid to improve the squad or only sell the ones that want out? What about repercussions for a manager with only 4 wins all season? "We breed success"? More like we breed zero accountability and complacency Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Are you basing that on your personal opinion or on their managerial records when we signed them? Puel had the best CV/Managerial pedigree.

Uhh.. Isn't that why the fans hated Puel? Unattractive football? Correct me if i'm wrong but Puel was the most accomplished manager we've hired in recent years and has a better record than BFS.

His emails probably already full of spam that he reads looking for a good sale.

They won't act until it affects the bank balance. Puel was sacked when season ticket sales were down. We still just about sellout St Mary's each week https://www.transfermarkt.com/premier-league/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/GB1 The club has become a business first. They're focusing on record sponsorships, record player sales, business links in China, and the clubs PR brand meanwhile the u23's got relegated last season and the 1st team probably will this season. The whole board have utterly lost sight of what a football club is actually about Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Said I'd give him the window to fix the squad. He's destroyed us. Time to go. New poll mods? Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Schneiderlin's time at Everton echo's how I see a lot of our recent signings. Failed at a big club spending most of his time on the bench and then hasn't been up for it even when moving down a level.

So is this Redmond guy close to signing or what? Any news?

About half the sides in the last 16 will be non-PL so a good draw will see a chance to make the last 8. Might be a little spark that gets our players motivated again as the relegation battle looms.

England internationals; both former and current.

If they're going to do VAR then it needs to be done right. That means officials trained in the process and quick camera feeds leading to quick decisions. A half-assed solution doesn't work, though maybe that's their goal to make it seem bad so it doesn't get put into the PL. There's no reason the officials can't reach a decision in 30 seconds 9 times out of 10. Offsides are easy to spot, handballs are easy to spot, a lot of penalties are easy to spot.

Long up top meant Watford hard to be careful playing a high line with the threat of his pace getting in behind.

We're lucky Watford are still at the levels Marco Silva took them too. He coached all the goals out of them. Imagine if he had a full season what sort of damage he would've done.

He's a creator, not a scorer. IMO it's no surprise he hasn't looked as good since Pelle/Mane left because he needs good attackers (good movement, good linkup) around him to bring out his best. Put him in one of the top teams midfield's and he won't look so out of place.