In all seriousness I was expecting us to be relegated before the start of the season after losing our captain / player of the season, selling our best midfielder and our most creative player. Any point or three is step closer to safety as far as I'm concerned, we aren't ready to go up even if we did somehow manage promotion via the play offs.
Would be great to go up though and we could do a Luton and simply use the funds to build a new stadium. We will never ever "be ready to go up".
As most have said, that was pi55 poor. I lost track of the amount of times we mis controlled the ball or just gave it away with a simple pass. At least when Louza came on we kept the ball better Bachmann - Couldn't do anything with the goal and was ok for the rest of the game Ebosele - Was ok which probably makes him man of the match Pollock - Gets caught ball watching, doesn't get close enough to his man and is very slow. Struggles when we don't have 3 at the back Sieralta - An absolutely horrendous footballer. Looks completely sh1t scared when he gets the ball and is slower than Pollock Larouci - Similar to Ebosele Dwomoh - The only one in the midfield to keep hold of the ball. looks decent Sema - Shouldn't be starting and definitely shouldn't be on the right. Did very little Ince - Basically did nothing Kayembe - About as bad as I've seen him play, god knows how many times he lost the ball Giorgi - He tries to get us moving forward but lacks support. Dreadful corners Bayo - Same as Ince, had one half chance in the second chance but decided not to shoot. The four goals on Saturday does not change the fact he is not good enough Andrews - Was alright but didn't do much Louza - As I mentioned, he kept the ball and consistently passed to his team mates something nobody else did Baah - Been great this season but last night his decision making was atrocious Jebbison - Only on for a few minutes but just doesn't look like a footballer. Any ideas why he's not been involved recently apart from the fact he's rubbish? If we win Friday then six points from nine doesn't look too bad but when we are bad we are really bad I see somebody else noted that it seems a little unfair to have had two very long trips and then a Friday night game
We're just a typical mid-table side really, like most of the league we're inconsistent and a bit **** away with players who blow hot and cold. Throw in a couple of injuries/suspensions into the mix alongside an inexperienced manager and you get results like last night.
Tbh I wasn't basing that on current standing, just that they have been a pretty decent team and we are still in "bit of a shambles" mode comparatively..
I actually think we've been over performing if I'm honest. We all said that we're currently a shambles with a very ordinary squad - now supplemented by a handful of varying journeymen + Chak who in a top team would the best player in the division. Luckily Baah has given us a good supply of attacks, but take him and Chak out of the picture and we've got a bottom 6 team. Take Pollock out of our defence and we're in big trouble. We have very basic level central defenders that are scared of the ball, and always panic when pressed, so my only real complaint to TC is "with our current centre-minds not being very good in dropping for the ball (or keeping hold of it) and our CBs totally scared (incapable) of playing the ball out from the back - why are we continually trying to play that way? OK so hoofing the ball aimlessly is not great but we're currently too easy to pressure and too easy to keep constrained in our own third. I really like TC but it's pointless us expecting him to do miracles this season...
Ah yes, the old take your three best players out of the team and we’ll be in trouble argument. As if that doesn’t apply to every team in the world. Man City have unlimited depth and have just lost back to back games without Rodri & De Bruyne. Arsenal have lost twice without simply Odegaard. Injuries to your best players make a difference, it’s not an argument against a team.
Not all of us. I remain of the view I have had all season, this is a mid table squad and I still think we will finish mid table. We will have good runs and bad runs. Any talk of promotion is fanciful, and any talk of relegation is doom mongering.
I believe Sierralta now misses Friday, as that was his 5th yellow already this season. Ebosele is one away. We aren’t helping ourselves sometimes eh .
It is a mixture of card happy refs dishing out bookings for just about anything, and footballers determination for picking up stupid, cheap bookings so easily.
I thought he was missed a bit as can be physically strong in defence but yes another who does get booked a lot .
Yes but people like to be reactionary to every result . A win Friday and probably be talk of play offs again .
I still don't think Baah is quite the finished article. Glad to have him in the squad but I'd really like to have seen another forward come in. It's no good Bayo scoring four goals on Saturday if he hypothetically doesn't score again until January.
Full game: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p2kb...ey=s27v68kp713woxuipy2kmlrlj&st=eqnoq6dl&dl=0 @BigRossLittleRoss @Sahorn @Vic
Good player review there, show's how bad we were. Should be published on the training room wall to try to motivate the dross(ers) that turn up sometimes.
We were the first time under the Pozzos, as we didn't have much debt but also had players that could do a job in the Premier League throughout the spine of the team (Gomes, Cathcart, Watson, Ighalo and Deeney) so could invest in shrewd top flight ready signings. Second time we went up, we'd retained a couple of star players but hollowed out the rest of the squad and couldn't invest/pile more debt on so tried to stay up on the cheap and it was a pretty miserable effort. Current squad doesn't have anyone that would regularly start for a top Championship team in my opinion (arguably Chakvetadze). If we somehow went up it would be horrendous, we'd need an entirely new squad and don't have the money for that. I agree that under the current incarnation of this ownership we'll never be ready to go up but who knows what'll happen if he flogs us, don't think we can quite say we'll never again be ready!
The world has changed since 2015. Prem-ready standard players can't be picked up for £5-10m. None of the sides who have gone up last 2 seasons are equipped to stay up and this season that includes some big clubs who were strong favourites to go up. Before that NF now seem established but have spent crazy money to achieve that. Yes if we are bought by a very wealthy investor prepared to bankroll us that would help but even then the rules make it difficult for clubs to "buy" promotion. I think our best chance was for the Pozzos to find us a team of "Chak-like euro gems" and use some "Italian audited priced deals" from Udinese.....however they seem to have lost their magic touch and there is so much data available that such gems are hard to find. We should take promotion whenever we can, if we ever get the chance....
Getting rid of Manga was a massive error I think. Yes we do not know the full reasoning behind it, but had we kept him, and he had a bit more time and money we could have a much stronger looking side than we do now. Of course, this all comes down to how much finance Gino would of released each window, but going by the good sales we have had of Asprilla and Pedro, there was a chance there for some astute scouting. However, with Bayat forever in the background what I have said it mostly moot.
Some of the decisions over the last few years defy belief. Hiring Manga, then firing him. They can't both be right. Much of it smacks of blind panic at losing the prem status and then risk of not going back up before parachute monies run out. I don't know what their plans are now. Clearly promotion back to the prem looks further away than ever. Far more likely that the next move would be down to league one given competing with the richer teams/owners in this league and clubs with parachute funds.
Sorry but this is just nonsense. He hasn't managed a single goal from open play as an attacking midfielder in 1216 minutes of league football so far this season. Even TDB, Andrews, Sissoko and Ebosele have managed to score in our current team in fewer minutes. Him playing for us also isn't why he can't take a decent corner. While he's a good creator, there are players like Sainz already putting up much better all-round numbers for a team below us.
Very good ball carrier and runs with it well but doesn’t have the end product and can waste the ball. Probably why he is playing for us .
Made me laugh that Swans fans were (jokingly) going to write to the authorities about Watfords blatant racism….. sending a player out on the Welsh pitch with Baah on his back
He's been mostly solid this season, as he usually is when fit, and didn't specifically do much wrong last night? Pollock was worse than him last night. He's also definitely not slower than Pollock, who is one of the slowest centre backs I've ever seen. Also, it really doesn't benefit us, because it means Porteous comes in, who is infinitely worse than Sierralta and a complete and utter clown of the highest order.
You are obviously a fan of his but he gets caught out a lot, is easily turned, gives away fouls too easily and as I mentioned, dreadful with the ball at his feet. They are both slow and desperately need to play as a three. Pollock is improving although I agree he was rubbish at Swansea where as Sieralta seems to be getting worse. We badly need a pacy centre back
Sierralta and Pollock are both excellent box defenders (head everything, block, generally the right amount of shirt pulling/disruption to make things difficult for attackers). Pollock obviously much better on the ball, Sierralta's special move is to pass sideways then sprint back towards his own goal to give a passing back option! Both struggle when sucked into wide areas when there's space behind them, Pollock is better though as shown by how few bookings he picks up (only two in 14 games this season, 13 in 113 career appearances, never sent off). Cleverley did say that Keben was the pacy option so fingers crossed he can come in soon and is decent...
