Total Utter Freefall

[MikeH72]

Start of the season, new players, optimism, looking to build on the 7th position from last season.

Amazing how bent it has gone in 3 months.

Think Koeman would have still turned it around. By sacking him we have created more jeopardy and more uncertainty.

Koeman would not have turned it around. He was coming out with delusional sound bites about how Sigurdsson, Rooney and Klaassen could all fit into the same team, he was never going to change anything up.

The only win since the opening day was incredibly fortunate against Bournemouth thanks to Davies taking it upon himself to ignore Koeman's instructions and pop up in a creative midfield position and play Niasse in, a player Koeman would've booted out the club if he had his way. Koeman was a lost cause.

 

[Thomasc]

Koeman would not have turned it around. He was coming out with delusional sound bites about how Sigurdsson, Rooney and Klaassen could all fit into the same team, he was never going to change anything up.

The only win since the opening day was incredibly fortunate against Bournemouth thanks to Davies taking it upon himself to ignore Koeman's instructions and pop up in a creative midfield position and play Niasse in, a player Koeman would've booted out the club if he had his way. Koeman was a lost cause.

Maybe, but I am sure Saints fans thought the same in his second season there.

 

[MikeH72]

Maybe, but I am sure Saints fans thought the same in his second season there.

That was just a poor run of form though, they still had a squad capable of turning it round. The Southampton turnaround is more comparable to us in the second half of last season rather than this. This squad has nothing about it, not a thing.

 

[Kenshin]

We will be fine. We have a better squad than the team that finished 7th last season, albeit without Lukaku. A good manager will whip them into shape fairly quick.

Lessons must be learnt though. I hope there will be an inquest into how mistakes we're allowed to be made, especially in terms of recruitment.

Bringing in too many players at once, and failing to replace Lukaku and a center back was criminal.

The blame rests squarely at the feet of the board. They are the ones who recruited Koeman and Walsh; a tactically sub-standard manager and a glorified scout.

We have no striker mate.

Not sure how we win games without one.

 

[neil999]

i have a feeling all the players hate each other

 

[davek]

Start of the season, new players, optimism, looking to build on the 7th position from last season.

Amazing how bent it has gone in 3 months.

Think Koeman would have still turned it around. By sacking him we have created more jeopardy and more uncertainty.

Dont you think that idiot did enough damage?

Look at this team and how broken it is.

He spent every single penny we had and we're worse....WORSE.

 

[JJK]

This squad has got nothing going for it. A defence that can’t keep a clean sheet. A midfield allergic to playing a forward pass and virtually no threat upfront. I would be very surprised if they aren’t rooted to the bottom of the table by January.

 

[CrustySack]

We have no striker mate.

Not sure how we win games without one.

Are only strikers allowed to score goals? We are struggling to score goals, struggling to keep possession and struggling to defend because the team has no set shape or system. A good manager will remedy those faults and the team will start scoring goals, keep clean sheets and win football matches. A proven striker is a valuable asset but by no means essential in terms of winning games.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Are only strikers allowed to score goals? We are struggling to score goals, struggling to keep possession and struggling to defend because the team has no set shape or system. A good manager will remedy those faults and the team will start scoring goals, keep clean sheets and win football matches. A proven striker is a valuable asset but by no means essential in terms of winning games.

True, however, with the midfield personal brought in, the forward needed to be a target man, someone who was going win ball and lay off for encroaching midfield. We still play as if Lukaku is with us, most bizarre. I'm sure Rooney can be our Kevin Davies.

 

[Blues Harp]

If we had replaced Lukaku would you still think the squad was not better than last season? We are like a car owner who spruces up a car but fails to replace the battery. The car looks great in a photograph but is useless without a core component.

I was gutted when Barry left. I watched him during pre-season and he was the best performer in that position. I'm sure his influence in and around the dressing room is missed.

Barkley and Coleman have also been big misses. Koeman knew we would be without Lukaku, Barkley and Coleman while the transfer window was open. I honestly believe he tried to pass the blame onto the board for not properly replacing those players. When he mouthed off to the press about needing a striker and a center back, he knew what he was doing. He was covering his own back. He is egotistical and blames others for his failures.

As I mentioned in another post, ultimately the board are responsible for appointing him in the first place. I just hope that the board have learned lessons and appoint a competent manager next time.

Board and learned lessons do not belong in the same sentence unfortunately..

 

[BrendanGOT]

They both had very poor quality squads when they went down, barely Championship-level quality. I won't buy into the "we"re too good to go down" myth though.... remember QPR spent tens of millions on utter dross a few years' back the season they were relegated.

We have better individual players than both Sunderland last season and Villa two years ago. Doesn't necessarily mean we have a better collective unit though.

Won't disagree with that but the point I'm making is those teams that went down weren't exactly a shock, however if we were to go down it certainly would be.

 

[Ihaters]

Needs to be one hell of a striker.
Needs to either do it alone, or hold the ball up long enough for our midfielders to reach him from their position in the defense where they have been sat not actually defending all game. 2 or 3 minutes should do it.

 

[D410]

We are very very fortunate that we have enough games in front of us to stay up because mark my words we will go down if we don,t wake up off and on the field.

 

[Ihaters]

Won't disagree with that but the point I'm making is those teams that went down weren't exactly a shock, however if we were to go down it certainly would be.

If we go down, I can see us doing a Leeds and spending years not really recovering.
Imagine this team, on this money, but with even less morale and in the Championship, where everyone is seeing us as a cup final and we are fighting against the weight of expectation with naff ref's and dangerous tackles flying in.

 

[MACCA75]

We will be fine. We have a better squad than the team that finished 7th last season, albeit without Lukaku. A good manager will whip them into shape fairly quick.

Lessons must be learnt though. I hope there will be an inquest into how mistakes we're allowed to be made, especially in terms of recruitment.

Bringing in too many players at once, and failing to replace Lukaku and a center back was criminal.

The blame rests squarely at the feet of the board. They are the ones who recruited Koeman and Walsh; a tactically sub-standard manager and a glorified scout.

Really don't see this 'we'll be fine' thing at all.

We've played 20 games this season. Twenty! And we've been pretty awful in every single one. We are chronically poor in defence and attack and our midfield is a pack of snivelling cowards.
We are a long way from fine IMO