Ok 7th is what I meant. Oh and the FA cup.
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brieverton
Player Valuation: £50m
Hard to put down a realistic target, but Sam must aim to stretch the squad a little.
Fundamentally I don't trust a lot of these players so if they were to go on a bit of a run now and get comfortable they may well ease off towards the latter part of the season, as they have form for.
It depends at what point we have "nothing to play for". I don't expect us to be in a position in March/April where we are concerned about being mathematically safe but as teams outside the top 6-8 are very much bunched, we could go up and down like a yo-yo in terms of league placings over the next few months.
If all goes better than expected, we have to have Burnley and Watford in our sights but that might prove a tall order.
Given the mess to date I think about 9th would be at the top end of satisfactory. Psychologically it would be good to maintain a top half finish.
Anything lower than where we are now would be a disappointment with a new manager, and an expected bounce, on the basis that that is what managers are hired for, amongst other things.
Fundamentally I don't trust a lot of these players so if they were to go on a bit of a run now and get comfortable they may well ease off towards the latter part of the season, as they have form for.
It depends at what point we have "nothing to play for". I don't expect us to be in a position in March/April where we are concerned about being mathematically safe but as teams outside the top 6-8 are very much bunched, we could go up and down like a yo-yo in terms of league placings over the next few months.
If all goes better than expected, we have to have Burnley and Watford in our sights but that might prove a tall order.
Given the mess to date I think about 9th would be at the top end of satisfactory. Psychologically it would be good to maintain a top half finish.
Anything lower than where we are now would be a disappointment with a new manager, and an expected bounce, on the basis that that is what managers are hired for, amongst other things.
Unsworth's issue is that he wasn't good enough to be the manager. He's by all accounts a brilliant guy and clearly a good coach. But he's nowhere near ready and we'd have been in real danger I think.
Our only option was Sam because of how long we've left it. Our best option went from being someone like Tuchel or the level below, like Dyche, who has all what we are looking for, to Sam, because we let the search go on for 6 weeks and in that 6 weeks we leaked goals and remained entrenched in a scrap at the bottom.
BillBrasky
Player Valuation: £8m
Top half and FA Cup trophy and I'm cool this season
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
20 would be failure given the fixtures mate, Swansea and huddesfield at home should be wins, west brom and Bournemouth away should both be winnable, 3 of those teams wont press either in terms of allowing Rooney to play the role he did yesterday.
..fingers crossed.
Tennessee Blue Mike
Player Valuation: £50m
Slight grin with this one. I think twelfth or thirteenth. Great win last night. Even the Rooney haters had to back up a little. But a big dose of realism is that was West Ham we were playing last night who looked dreadful. I knew we had a better team but the way we have underachieved this year I knew anything could happen. I have no idea how the players will relate to Big Sam and his entourage but I know this the lazy ones will finally be put to the sword. Not naming any names but everyone here knows the two or three that have been pokey passengers. My Christmas wish is Calvert Lewin will be rewarded for all his running and pressure with some goals to keep his progression intact. The Marcus Bent effect.
And we still nearly managed to throw it away - would have done if not for Pickford
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
I do t like him to understate my feeling mate, but his style is made to get the better of Howe and pardew.
The Derby is a write off and the other fixture is Chelsea who should run all over us at goodison.
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
We'd have still been 2-1 up mate so pure speculation really.
When do we look like not conceding again after we concede once?
We came out after the second half and sat on the edge of our own area for 20 minutes. They hit the bar and we conceded a penalty, and we actually had the ball in their half twice during that spell, for a combined 18 seconds (got that from the Opta live centre I have access to).
They had 82% of possession in that 20 minutes. The possession we did have was a few little bits down the right when we tried to play it out and it just came right back at us.
Had that penalty gone in we all know it'd have been massively different. Obviously, there's no guarantee, and a win is a win, but I could easily have seen us conceding again had that penalty gone in.
We were under the cosh after it got saved and only when Rooney tried his luck with that great shot did we begin to actually manage the game.
hallamblue
Player Valuation: £50m
Top 10 for me. I think he'll buy a centre half and a centre forward in Jan. Coleman and Bolassie will be back, and a number of the teams with smaller squads will start fading, so top 10 should be achievable.
CRIMHEAD
Player Valuation: £40m
So to be clear, I don't necessarily disagree with you. Unsworth doesn't have the track record to merit the position. Too risky.
And yes, the delay put us in a worse and worse bargaining position. If that's the point, that the job got so bad that only Sam would take it, okay, I get it. But man, 6M? You'd think we could've pulled in someone better.
I personally think the BETTER argument as to why Sam is that HOPEFULLY Moshiri and co really want to shake things up in a Ralf Rangnick kind of way. That's why they made overtures to Fonseca. That's why they spoke to Ralf. You can't really ask Fonseca or even Marco Silva to come in and have a successful short turnaround with this personnel as they are so poorly adaptable to modern football. Seriously, imagine Ralf Rangnick coming in and seeing the number of players old than 24 on this team? He's literally sell Jags, Stek, Baines, Williams, Mirallas, Lennon, Martina, Morgan, Robles, McCarthy and maybe even Coleman, Gana, Bolaisse, Mori, Siggy and others in the summer. Rooney probably is going nowhere. He'd also have to then spend a bazillion $$$ on two starting CBs, a CF, central middy or two, and probably a couple wingers just in January alone.
That being said, my fear is that Sam and Walsh buy the wrong type of players in January so that whoever comes in during the summer (I hope) and overhauls the team can make use of them. So it's fine to get a target guy, even Hoffenheim uses a target guy, but they have to be able to play a certain way and still run.
CRIMHEAD
Player Valuation: £40m
I would think any Manager who allows Rooney to sit back and hold the ball should be canned at half. We have a slow, aging backline. Team are going to go right after them. Our midfield gives up a bazillion fouls. Takes one ref to call the game like they did at Crystal Palace for us to have a ton of free kicks, which we clearly cannot defend with our personnel. Although our tactics in the back on set pieces are just horrendous.
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