I'm relieved that this horror show of a season is finally over. Obviously I'm gutted about relegation, and I can't say that I'm happy to be once again among such footballing giants as L*ton and Wycombe... But my one hope is that finally, FINALLY the board are going to have to have to force themselves out of their recliners, diagnose and take some action against the serious problems that have been creeping into this club for the last few years. A poster pointed out a few days back that the club has gradually become more of a shambles since Pozzo Snr. left the club and I think they are spot on - Gino is not inept but certainly seems far from as savvy as his father. So the first thing we desperately need is for Giampaolo to have some input as a consultant. Gino clearly needs some help. Next, some clarity from Pozzo and Duxbury would be most welcome after a season of silence. Duxbury interviews on talksport remain a distant memory and the disconnect with the fans has never been greater throughout the "pozzo era". A statement acknowledging their mistakes and outlining their intentions and new plan would go some way towards getting the fans back on side. Some clarity on the Pearson situation which has left us as a laughing stock is also desirable although unlikely. An updated version of the old 5 year plan would be nice too. Head Coach - get this sorted sooner rather than later. The Championship is far from a trash league and there is still a lot of money floating around, no reason we can't get someone decent. Very likely they won't be known by many fans prior to their appointment which is totally fine BUT it is time they went back to backing a coach and giving them at least some say in any transfers made. Now the big one - the playing staff. God we have some dross... Pretty clear that the fans are fed up with several of the old guard and changes are desperately needed. DEENEY HAS TO GO. Even if we lose nobody else, the club needs a fresh start with a brand new attitude. Troy epitomises the last few years - gets away with awful play week after week, radio silence until he sends a penalty straight down the middle (seriously keepers, every time??) and even as captain would put his own interests ahead of the club. If we can we really also should be getting rid of Gray, Pereyra and Mariappa - has been players just blocking the route of youngsters back into the team. Sadly this isn't Football Manager and it will certainly not be easy to give the team the overhaul we desperately need - frankly I could justify getting rid of at least half of the usual match day squad to be honest. However, the focus must turn back to the original "pozzo model" - giving hungry young players a route into the first team and a chance to shine alongside good, experienced older players. Estupian, Cucho, Suarez, Quina, Wilmott and Pedro should easily be given their chances in the Championship - are they really going to be worse than what we already have?? I seriously doubt it. Hughes must be made captain, and although likely in vain every effort must be made to keep the stars Sarr and Deulofeu. Keeping one of them gives us a real asset to build the team around and definitely gives us a far greater chance of returning to the Premier as Championship champions. I would imagine Doucoure and Capoue are also likely to leave but would be an asset in any Championship side. Welbeck would certainly be useful squad players to keep around and can definitely be a strong positive influence on younger members of the squad. Defence needs a real overhaul, preferably with Estupian and Wilmott become starters week in week out. I'm not sure who else to keep to be completely honest - Dawson, Cathcart and Kabasele all have their serious problems as defenders and whoever stays will have to rebuild their reputation with solid performances. Femenia is a trash defender but his pace may come in handy as a useful option, but I definitely do not want to see him as a starter. Hugely disappointing as relegation is, the club really do now have an opportunity to rebuild and take some positive steps that they were unwilling to risk whilst in the Prem. A return to the classic "Pozzo model" with the introduction of the youngsters that we have been stockpiling for the last few years is the way to go in my opinion. And next time we go up, let's make sure we do it properly and have the trophy at our promotion parade! COYH
I fear that those who have often berated the Pozzo regime for too much flux and change will ironically end up disappointed this summer that there weren’t be quite as much as they’d now like.
Sarr, Welbeck, Capoue, Deulofeu and Doucoure will go (although the latter of which will be no loss whatsoever) as well as the promising players we were hoping to finally see in Cucho, Suarez, Estupinan etc. Our fans will once again wrongly delude themselves much like our board in thinking that what remains is "more than good enough" and has plenty of "Championship experience". We'll start the season with a team featuring the same old crap in Dawson, Cathcart, Cleverley and Gray, by January it'll again be too late and we'll finish 10th-15th at best.
Sadly a real possibility, and a real waste of a chance to rebuild without the worry of the huge financial loss that has now happened upon relegation. I like to think that the owners are smarter than this, but remain pessimistic.
Bang on Deeney an Gray will be ever presents too. The former will have a decent total of 8 penalties to his name, the latter leaving us baffled that he used to score in this league for fun, with his ineptitude. Kiko will start of lookin world class against champ wingers, then find his level and be beaten all ends up ever week. Foster will be gurning in goal as we lose, but wont be so keen to get opposition shirts, preferring to go down the tunnel and smile with his friends after every defeat. Janmaat will be seen around the club, as he sees out the remaining two years of his contract without playing another game.
I think we will hold on to Sarr. Deulofeu will leave on the last day of the window. Doucouré will probably go, though not the big move he was hoping for. Capoue likely to leave too. Gray will join another championship club, as he’s burnt his bridges with management over the party incident. Not sure about Welbeck, if I had to guess I’d say he’d stay. I think one or two of the younger players out on loan will play a part next season, though I’m always wary of us making players who’ve not yet played for us appear like world beaters. I have high hopes that Wilmot will be a regular and scent player for us next season, I imagine we will scrape another season out of Foster. Agree with the previous poster who thinks sadly the likes of Dawson and Cathcart and Cleverley will feature heavily. Dawson has ironically traded divisions by joining us from Brom. Only my thoughts and guesses here so I don’t expect to be shouted down by others who know no more or less than I do!
This is an example of why I dislike virtually all your posts intensely. Posts that others make that are not 100% in line with your ultra negative, destructive and at times downright abusive opinion is met not with constructive criticism but sarcasm and your 'I know best, how dare you question me, you're the wrong type of fan' condescending tone. Well you've now got what you've desperately wanted all season and are no doubt revelling in telling every poor bugger unfortunate to be within earshot 'See, told you I was right'. And if that isn't insufferable enough, you're now attacking anyone who dares try to look for something positive to look forward to next season. Cue some sort of dismissive and/or sneering response.
Players will get now what 2 weeks off before pre-season? That's no time to get heads sorted. I'd say the very first 'what now?' is find a good sports psychiatrist
What's Boothroyd doing, and was it him/someone else who fired us up for the Leeds playoff final? We had that match won in the tunnel.
Boothroyd might have been **** tactically, but he had the mental side of the game down. Perhaps a Boothroyd/Zola/Dyche dream team?
And with Giraldi in play, you don't need the tactical side... What he says goes, or the manager is sacked.
Ironically I think a fair amount of our so called dross players that most of you want rid of, would probably be very useful in The Championship.Therefore I would retain many of those experienced players, though not all, just to help us get straight back up. However I would also bring a fair few of our promising youngsters into the first team squad as well. If we handle this in the right way, we could quite probably bounce straight back up without spending too much money. Then after we have secured promotion back to the PL, that would be the time to instigate any major surgery that is needed and get rid of the dross who are obviously not PL standard, whilst trying to hang on to those who are. That also would be the time invest some real money on some new quality experienced players that we will need to replace those we get rid of , who must obviously be good enough to grace our team in the PREMIER LEAGUE.
I also think that we are going to hold on to Sarr he has years left on his contract and I highly doubt that anyone will meet the evaluation that we have placed on him. The Pozzo's are not going to be wanting to hang around The Championship for financial reasons and I genuinely think that we could be quite strong next season. Deulofeu will likely be gone although I can see him being loaned out though. Doucoure will certainly be gone I am not sure we will get that much for him either, interesting to see what we get for Roberto Pereyra, I think we will do extremely well to keep hold of Will Hughes I would offer him the captaincy and beg him to stay. I am hoping to see Domingos Quina and João Pedro develop, will be brilliant if we can bring in some of the youngsters that we have out on loan. We could have a very exciting team next season, I want to keep Welbeck he signed a 3-year contract so not sure he will be leaving if he stays fit I would love to see him start down the middle regularly for us he will score ****loads in the Championship. Defensively we might be okay in The Championship, I think Kiko would be very good at that level as we will likely be attacking more, not too sure about Masina but its highly unlikely that we will be seeing Estupinan unless he has signed a new deal that we don't know about, it isn't like the Pozzo's to mess up on a players contract.
Finally, somebody that sees it the way that I do, I think many of our so-called deadwood players are only deadwood at Premier league level but will be more than capable at Championship level.
In my opinion, the reason we have been useless at the back is because we have witnessed championship standard defenders playing at Premiership level and we are now in The Championship.
It's not just the playing staff who need looking at. These two players, esp. Femenia, have a fair amount of athletic ability and skills, but show utter naivety in defence. Surely coaches should be concentrating on improving this aspect. So the Club approach to coaching needs to looked at hard.
Wilmot, who's not played all that much this season but who has obvious talent, will be an asset next season, not least because he has some ability with the ball at his feet
Spot on luton8a, though I am hoping we will hang on to Duelofeu at least until January as I doubt many teams will want to take a chance on him until he is fully recovered from injury. Furthermore hopefully he would not want to leave in January either because by then we should be riding high in The Championship and looking good for promotion. I would not be too bothered if Doucoure and Pereyra were to go because I don't think either of them have been that good for a couple of seasons now. I agree about Hughes, Welbeck and most of the others you have mentioned. I even think that TD9 and even Gray could possibly do a job for us in the Championship, but both of them would be first out the door when we regain promotion as they will never be good enough to play in the PL again, not that Gray ever was
The reason we have been useless at the back is because our defenders are useless. They're not suddenly going to drop down a division and that significantly change, especially with a lot of them already or fast approaching the wrong side of 30. Dawson is a complete moron of a defender and West Brom fans thought as much when we signed him - he was coming off the back of a very unimpressive season in the Championship, Cathcart is old and injury prone, Kabasele has always been a poor, brainless defender but sometimes bailed out by his athleticism and last ditch tackling, Femenia is a pathetic, weak, awful excuse for a footballer who has zero bravery and zero clue what he's actually doing in defensive situations, Mariappa is almost 34 and nowhere near good enough even for the Championship, and Masina is just the definition of average in every area. What I said would happen is already in full swing only a few hours after relegation - our fans completely delusional once again in convincing themselves "well, they weren't good enough in the Premier League but I'm sure they'll be fine in the Championship" in much the same way everyone was saying "we're far too good to go down" a year ago. If, as I expect, the board again fall in line with this ridiculous, ignorant and arrogant mindset and see no real need for wholesale change, then we are in for another dog s**t season.
Keep Kiko and Masina for the Championship, but for the sake of all that is holy in the world, give them some competition at least. Holebas has already gone (not that he played much recently), so now we effectively have two full-backs in the whole squad, bloody Mariappa is next in line if anything happens to those two!
Yes, Femenia will magically suddenly be able to defend in the Championship. It's basically pub standard and his blatantly awful defensive abilities instantly will no longer matter. He'll also be well suited to a more physical league, what with his kitten like timidness and toddler like strength.
You are right they have been useless, however, there is certainly a big gap in quality between The Championship and The Premier League.
As has been mentioned, we'll be doing more attacking in the Championship, where he'll be more of a threat. Besides, I'm not even saying have him as a starter, we absolutely need someone to challenge for that spot at the very least
Yes, there is, but that still doesn't mean they meet the required level in that league either. If we have zero interest in pushing for promotion then brilliant, stick with the same, confidence shot, ageing, poor defence and we'll finish nearer the bottom than the top because that's what the likes of Dawson, Cathcart, Masina and Kabasele are - lower half Championship defenders. Femenia, on the other hand, is not only an abysmal defender but also hilariously unsuited to a more physical league like the Championship. He's a complete pussy and as strong as my 85 year old nan.
Femenia has had plenty of good games for us to suggest that he would be more than capable of playing at Championship standard. I agree that he is hardly Roberto Carlos however I don't think he would be that bad in the league below.
Has he? Please list them all because for the most part he has been horrific to watch as a defender, particularly the past two seasons, and that seems to have become fairly well acknowledged and fitting of the general consensus at this point. He had a brief spell looking OK when the whole team improved when Pearson first came in, then swiftly reverted to being awful. Again, it's also about suitability for the league. The bloke is a massive shirker with zero bravery and isn't at all suited to a more physical league.
There is but you have to look at mentality and commitment in these situations too. Stoke have Butland, Allen, Ince, Vokes, McClean, Martins Indi (!!), Shawcross & Clucas in their squad and came 15th. Those are “Premier League” names and players who on their own you’d assume wouldn’t be bad on some low level Prem benches. Allen is a Euro semi finalist and ex Liverpool. McClean played plenty of times in the Prem. Shawcross did like six solid seasons? Butland once played for England. But without a collective goal, team spirit, attitude and importantly a good mentality and desire to win, they’ve achieved f**k all. I think it’s very rare where a squad that gets relegated is good enough to get you back up. It’s a normally young squad or in Burnley’s case a clear spirit and a motive set by a strong leader (Dyche) that everyone is invested in. This playing squad has none of those things and it would be dangerous to just assume a drop in quality means our dross will suddenly play like stars. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
He did a fine job against Mane, Robertson in The Liverpool game, and had Zaha in his back pocket defensively but you are 100% correct in your argument that he isn't the best full-back. Arguably he is more of a winger/wing-back at a push I wouldn't want to see him start in the Premier League again but I think that he does have attributes that would be useful in The Championship, he is a tidy football player and is very quick and does go forward well. Personally I don't think he would struggle at Championship level.
Spot on. There's too many losers in the squad. Weak, fragile players who lack not only the footballing ability but also the fight, bravery or commitment to get us back up. If we go into this season with the likes of Dawson, Cathcart, Cleverley and Gray starting matches then it's over before it begins.
And those performances are quite obviously the exception, not the rule. We finished 19th and he's looked mostly awful against far lesser players for the overwhelming majority of the season. There are always going to be examples of positives and decent performances - you could say the same about lower tier clubs in cup performances against top sides, but in his case the negatives and poor performances absolutely wash them away. In what way does he "go forward well" as well? I've heard this a few times lately and it's complete nonsense. He's another "neat and tidy" player on the ball that has people fooled with his style, but who actually contributes nothing of any substance going forward whatsoever. He doesn't score the odd goal or grab a few assists, he can't cross, he doesn't get into shooting positions like Janmaat. He does nothing going forward that actually means anything. He can't defend, and I mean he really, really can't defend, he's a complete pussy and will never, ever leave it all out on the pitch, and he definitely does not "go forward well". He is a prime example of someone who offers us nothing, won't be suited to the Championship and desperately needs to p*ss off.
Stoke do seem to be on the way up with their new manager in fairness, ended the season very well in destroying some promotion dreams. Make of that what you will...
