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I really can’t believe people are entertaining the idea of Gerrard - thankfully i’m pretty sure he won’t be hitting any statistical tick boxes for the board, unless ‘number of wins in a shit league’ really is the top one (it might be, given Jones got the job).

The think that probably works in our favour now as opposed to last season with this style is we have better quality on the bench to bring on. We now have genuine alternative in most positions if we were going to play 4222 and the ability to use 5 of them.

Apart from the fact that analytics is an integral element of his approach to football, to such an extent he’s been caught sending coaches to spy on opposition training…

If we appoint another manager with a back 3 as his favoured formation then it was definitely the board making Ralph work on a back 3 all summer and for the first game of the season - it must be.

The squad is a fit for Marsch because he plays a similar brand of football to Ralph, who has presided over this squad for the last 4 years or so. Many of the players were bought with 4222 in mind, and many of the newer players (Edozie, Sulemana, Alcaraz in particular) all seem like they would suit a set up like that. We don’t have a squad capable of playing 5 at the back, as has been proven repeatedly, and it’s not a formation I could ever see Marsch wanting to play. That’s why it’s potentially a decent fit…

He kept them up last year (Bielsa look like he was definitely taking them down) and they’re outside the relegation zone currently - they also had two games in hand when he got sacked. The fans there never wanted him (or anyone other than Bielsa), but actually I think his job there has been about okay overall.

Some of the reaction to him has been pretty embarrassing to be honest - I said it on here before, it’s not his fault he isn’t at the level required, he should never have been appointed by the board. It was the wrong man at the wrong time, and his career will pay the price for it so it’s not like he’s played us and going to ride off into the sunset. He came with good intentions, tried his best, and just wasn’t good enough ultimately. I’m not sure why people are trying to create some feud with the guy, the fans weren’t great to him and he wasn’t great to them back, it is what it is. The board need to get the next one right otherwise faith will be well and truly lost, if it hasn’t been already for most.

Pellegrino the worst for me, and the worst manager the Premier League has seen imo. Took over from a manager who got us 8th and nearly won a cup, whilst juggling Europe. Would’ve relegated us for certain, and then signed his mate for a record fee when he should’ve been sacked long before, then to compound it gets to take him on loan to whatever Spanish minnow he went to next - couldn’t write it really.

I’m pretty sure it did mention that Jones also scored high on it - i don’t think i’m imagining this, but maybe I am!

Doesn’t that Knutsen guy score really high in some kind of algorithm that clubs use to judge managerial suitability - i’m sure I read a headline about that once which is why he regularly gets linked with jobs. Maybe he’d be next, definitely attainable I would’ve thought.

You only had to be in the stadium a few years back at home to Watford when we were 1-0 down to know that atmosphere definitely can have an effect. I’ve never seen someone wanting the ground to swallow him up as much as McCarthy when he put the ball out of play after lots of fan pressure to stop messing about with it at the back. I’ve heard plenty of managers and players talking about the impact of crowds during games, and nervousness/confidence that come and goes as a result, so it always seems perplexing to always see people who don’t play at that level saying it doesn’t - presumably they’re people who boo and shout abuse during games.

Which isn’t anything i’ve disagreed with, but some on here are suggesting he hasn’t been up against it and that fans not being behind him won’t be a contributing factor to failure, which i’m sure it can be.

It is possible to think Jones probably won’t be a success here, and maybe shouldn’t still be in the job, but still also acknowledge that he has been up against it from day one. I think a lot of people wanted Ralph out in the belief that he might be replaced by someone a bit more of a name (which was unlikely to ever happen) who may galvanise the fanbase. As soon as it became clear that wouldn’t be the case, the mood changed. A lot of the rhetoric around NJ has been about ‘giving him a chance’ rather than openly backing him to be a success. That isn’t to excuse some of the performances, team selection and comments, but i think it would be disingenuous to suggest he’s had it easy since he walked in the door and to me there’s no doubt that some of his behaviour has come out of the way he’s felt treated by the fanbase (and sections of the media). Even the top managers have moments of madness in interviews & press conference - Klopp particularly - when things aren’t going their way, and that’s without feeling like 90% of the fanbase want you out and even sometimes are wishing you to fail. Jones probably won’t last much longer here, but it feels he has felt the brunt of a number of years of frustration from a pretty worn down fanbase, and I sympathise with him for that - he didn’t appoint himself, if he’s not up to it then that’s not his fault.

They’d have Bielsa back in a heartbeat and they used to get pasted regularly under him

He didn’t fail at Bournemouth, he did fail at Burnley - so his record was essentially the same as Jones’, except Jones didn’t have the huge spending power Howe had at Bournemouth. If Jones had taken over the unified and buoyant fanbase that Howe walked into at Newcastle, with a huge cash injection a month or two later, who knows how he’d have fared. If people were sceptical about Jones’ appointment then they would’ve been justified in being sceptical about Howe too (pre-Newcastle).

We seemed to have cut out the ‘collapse after conceding’ habit, no shock it’s back the last two games when he’s started. He is dire, I can’t believe he’s back.

Salisu and ABK are comfortably the best defenders we have from what i’ve seen, ABK at his best is our best without a doubt imo. Salisu is just so, so bad on the ball and the worrying thing is i’d say he actually seems to be getting worse!

He was asked about having a bigger squad now with options and the difficulties of managing that, he responded with the above. It sounded a very generic, management answer, rather than a subtle dig at anyone.

Having listened to the quote in the interview itself, it doesn’t sound anything like it reads.

Think it’s fair to not bring Jones along considering some of the abuse he’s received so far - I can’t imagine it’s the manager’s conduct the club would be wary of.

Seems a bit weird to single out Elyounoussi when he didn’t play a minute in that shit show last night, and actually most of his recent game time has been in periods when we’ve looked like we might have a chance of scoring.

Wonder if the 5 at the back and two up front last night (for the first time since the Forest game I think?) is a suggestion of a desire to play two up top going forwards? Maybe Mara off Onuachu, as he seems to be able to finish and Onuachu supposedly likes to win flick ons etc.

It’s a strange place, but the appeal of Twitter is there are genuine reputable sources for whom Twitter is the first outlet they use. Sky Sports News are way behind any genuine news about transfers these days, as people with good contacts are a direct source now instead of reporting their news to Sky etc.

Yeah absolutely, but that’s why it seems weird that anyone would be bidding above the release clause - once the clause is met, it’s then entirely down to the player whether he wants to move or not. The only reason I could think for this is mentioned above, maybe neither club wants to pay in full and therefore are willing to bid above the clause instead so they can pay it via instalments.

I think that’s exactly how it works - that’s why Barcelona couldn’t stop Neymar leaving to PSG. Normally release clauses are set at ridiculously high levels for this reason, otherwise the club are completely powerless. My guess would be €30mil was seen as that whenever Vitinha signed his latest contract, given he’s only 22.