PL place target for the rest of the season

[Saint Domingo]

On paper I don’t see how we finish ahead of Leicester who have a far better squad. Everyone else is different shades of awful including Watford and Burnley who will hit a slump at some point. We could be a completely different proposition in January if the injured players return and we sort out the attack.

Pickford

Coleman Keane new CB new LB

Gueye
Rooney Siggurdson

Bolasie. New CF Vlasic


Is that really a team incapable of finishing 8th? Barkley Lookman Davies Niasse Holgate Baningime Lennon all round the squad too.

 

[davek]

7th this season mate, and the FA Cup - that should be the target we aim for anyway

I reckon that's the ambitious end of what can be achieved with SA.

We shouldn't be accepting bottom half though. 10th, 9th, 8th. They're the positions I'd realistically see within reach. If he dropped to 11th I could just about wear it. Lower than that I'd have him down the road.

 

[Abertonian]

I'd accept that.

and it should be achievable with a little more organisation and confidence, not to mention an addition or two where its needed in January.

 

[Agent Blue]

He got the England job because he’s English and a football manager, the other options were Pardew and Pulis realistically. He’s achieved absolutely nothing in the game with various different clubs. Oh sorry he’s never been relegated!! Pfffft
Come on mate let’s not try and justify his appointment, he doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near our club.

But for the time being he does though, the way the team have been playing this season warrants his being here. He has been brought in to do a job on a relatively short contract, a job that he does well (keeping teams up).
The players who decided to down tools are the ones who don't deserve to be anywhere near our club, they are the reason we are where we are.

 

[BlueToff]

Unsworth lost two of the 5 PL games. They were the only games he was being auditioned on. Allardyce wont be judged by our board if we go out of the FA Cup early, so let's not pretend the EL was anything other than a hindrance to DU.

We needed a manager who can set up a back four. Allardyce - believe it or not - isn't the only manager in world football capable of doing that.

You'd be on foirmer ground if you stated that Allardyce provides a big front that shields the players. He takes all the pressure on himself and presents a point gained here and there as major steps forward and generally gets an air of positivity about the place.

He's a dog of a manager though.

Hopefully being here will inspire him to something better.,

In your opinion.

While the efforts may have been futile, we crashed out of the Europa - again, not his fault, but we shouldn't be conceding 8 goals in two games. And the two league losses were dismal. That display against S'ton was a disgrace.

And I'm not saying Allardyce is the only one who can do that. I am claiming that the club left it too late to get anybody better than Allardyce. Had they acted quicker, and decisively, there were plenty of other options.

 

[bluestevon]

...I think @davek is laying the foundation to think anything less than top half will be unacceptable. He is basing that on the assumption that Unsworth got us to 13th so this is at least where we’d finish if change wasn’t made. I would beg to differ, indeed I think there’s an argument that last night’s performance was on the back of Allardyce’s appointment. Had that not happened, I have my doubts last night would’ve happened.

I was seeing nothing to suggest Unsworth was turning our season around. Sunday was as bad as it gets.

Conversely mate, Unsworth was dealt what could only be described as a poison chalice in terms of fixtures, any chance for momentum was interupted by a EL game in a comp we where all but dead in - but enough so that the results would sap any sign of building confidence, they disrupted badly the training he could do as well.

Ultimately we never know what would have occurred had he inherited the team in a different period of the season - cos what he had was a nightmare start - multiple away games on the bounce at the start, a LC game away at Chelsea, same for the EL at Lyon, a dead rubber for us but a must win for Atalanta - - part of me wonders if the decision dragged out so long UNTIL those stretch of games was behind us, effectively using Unsworth as a fall guy to avoid a new manager coming in and getting off to a very bad start...

 

[CRIMHEAD]

He's getting 6M a year. We better get into the top 7.

The problem is that Big Sam can't fix the personnel we have in the back. So how we play until we get the players in is going to be critical.

 

[davek]

...I think @davek is laying the foundation to think anything less than top half will be unacceptable. He is basing that on the assumption that Unsworth got us to 13th so this is at least where we’d finish if change wasn’t made. I would beg to differ, indeed I think there’s an argument that last night’s performance was on the back of Allardyce’s appointment. Had that not happened, I have my doubts last night would’ve happened.

I was seeing nothing to suggest Unsworth was turning our season around. Sunday was as bad as it gets.

Bottom half with what's to come for us in terms of players back and players in and that EL dead weight off from around our necks...and we now stand two points from top half...is that really setting a trap?

I want him to get us there btw.

I'm utterly done with fighting battles for and against managers.

I'd rather Allardyce was here than Koeman, let's put it that way.

All I ask is that we try and play some football and get at least mid-table.

Not too much to ask really is it?

I notice you voted same option as me, so we cant be that far apart on this...can we?

 

[davek]

and it should be achievable with a little more organisation and confidence, not to mention an addition or two where its needed in January.

Very reachable.

 

[Eggs]

Bottom half with what's to come for us in terms of players back and players in and that EL dead weight off from around our necks...and we now stand two points from top half...is that really setting a trap?

I want him to get us there btw.

I'm utterly done with fighting battles for and against managers.

I'd rather Allardyce was here than Koeman, let's put it that way.

All I ask is that we try and play some football and get at least mid-table.

Not too much to ask really is it?

I notice you voted same option as me, so we cant be that far apart on this...can we?

..I think that’s a very fair assessment, Dave.

 

[JLW]

But for the time being he does though, the way the team have been playing this season warrants his being here. He has been brought in to do a job on a relatively short contract, a job that he does well (keeping teams up).
The players who decided to down tools are the ones who don't deserve to be anywhere near our club, they are the reason we are where we are.

No! We needed a manager who will win a high percentage of the remaining games to be played to push us towards our league position last season, (remember there’s still 72 points to play for) and then to push on from there and make an assault on the top 6 next season! But no we’ve chose to potter around the middle to bottom of the league for the duration of his stay here however long that maybe? Then the new manager has to come in and clean up any mess he leaves, because he will leave a mess!!

 

[Eggs]

Conversely mate, Unsworth was dealt what could only be described as a poison chalice in terms of fixtures, any chance for momentum was interupted by a EL game in a comp we where all but dead in - but enough so that the results would sap any sign of building confidence, they disrupted badly the training he could do as well.

Ultimately we never know what would have occurred had he inherited the team in a different period of the season - cos what he had was a nightmare start - multiple away games on the bounce at the start, a LC game away at Chelsea, same for the EL at Lyon, a dead rubber for us but a must win for Atalanta - - part of me wonders if the decision dragged out so long UNTIL those stretch of games was behind us, effectively using Unsworth as a fall guy to avoid a new manager coming in and getting off to a very bad start...

...interesting theory, Ste. It might be accurate. For whatever reason, I think Unsworth was certainly left in charge too long. It seems there is/was a Boardroom struggle, perhaps that contributed to the delay. Perhaps, as in the Giroud Transfer, they simply waited too long for Silva.

As you know, i wasn’t pushing for Allardyce but I was pushing for urgent change. In this instance, I accept folk might call me one of the bedwetters but Sunday was very bad. Let’s just hope we can follow up with another win this weekend to truly make things feel a whole lot better. 20 points at Christmas please.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

No, you've put words in my mouth.

I mean what I said.

We needed a manager. That much was clear. Unsworth didn't have a great audition. We lost five of his eight games in charge, and while that was by far all of his fault, but I won't brush over it and pretend it didn't happen. He made some mistakes but the squad was shown once again to be full of craphouses, in the main. And off-the-field matters didn't help.

We needed a manager who could organise us and stop us conceded an average of two-goals per-league game. That wasn't Unsy.

What we did long was leave it so late and let it go on for so long that our only realistic option quickly became Big Sam.

That's what I said.

I didn't say he's our only hope of survival, but you can't tell me that Unsworth would have given us a better chance. He wouldn't.

Actually, you said our only option was Sam. Which is absurd.

Unsworth's issue was that he wasn't the permanent manager. Simple as that. Any tactics he wanted to employ were not being followed by several members of the club. Doesn't mean that he's a better manager than Sam, of course. But you can't compare the two as the situations are completely different.

 

[Timak]

But for the time being he does though, the way the team have been playing this season warrants his being here. He has been brought in to do a job on a relatively short contract, a job that he does well (keeping teams up).
The players who decided to down tools are the ones who don't deserve to be anywhere near our club, they are the reason we are where we are.

Who fits into that category? Mirrallas? Scheniderlin? Who else?

 

[MickA]

Who fits into that category? Mirrallas? Scheniderlin? Who else?

If I was feeling mischievous I'd say anybody involved in the Sunderland game of 2016