M_Afro

We are not where we need to be but the players are clearly lacking confidence. We have a young inexperienced team who will improve in time. Hopefully we stay up but even if we don’t the young lads will be all the better next season for the experience.

I think you should get yourself another hobby mate. Golf?

Obviously, in my opinion, you are wrong but we are clearly not going to agree. I notice you still haven’t answered my earlier question but never mind. Have a good evening

I think we have bigger problems out wide and now that SJM is injured in central midfield.

He was awful today. I am not sure how Deano did not haul him off earlier. Still time to turn it around but he is very far from being good enough at the moment

Do you disagree then? Anyway I don’t really want to get into an argument. We won. Merry Christmas mate.

Well done big Hause. Really strong performance.

Did pretty well today. He has so much potential. He could be very good.

I didn’t see any of those things. Maybe you should watch it back.

I disagree. Our play is all about our wide players delivering. All 4 of them were poor today. Wes ran the line ok but he was totally feeding off scraps.

How exactly did he bottle it?

Wes did ok mate. Look at the full backs and the two wide forwards before taking aim at Wes.

Was he better than Wesley though? I genuinely thought that Wesley did ok. Even if he was slightly better, we are really only splitting hairs. The truth that can’t be ignored is the fact that no manager has fancied Kodjia since he broke his leg and also the fact that Kodjia has never ever been considered good enough to play in the premier league. Wesley is not having a great time obviously but in the absence of anything better we have to stick by him. Playing someone inferior, just for the sake of making a change, is not the way to go.

If Davis was available then maybe I would consider benching Wesley but Kodjia has not played well for years. Not since his first season at the club has he delivered consistently and then it was only at championship level. I really don’t get the fascination with Kodjia. Wesley is a much better option which is why he gets picked every week. Also, Wesley did really well against Norwich away. Maybe the return fixture is just what he needs to re-find his confidence. Whatever happens we need 3 points so I hope we all get right behind Wesley and everybody else today. The players need us.

Not wanting to be in danger of stating the absolute obvious but the remainder of this week is massive for us. Two wins absolutely transforms our season, whereas two defeats would be very difficult to recover from. What is certain is that we cannot afford to lose to another of our relegation rivals! I really believe that the margins between finishing 10th or 20th in the league are pretty fine. Key injuries at key times can be catastrophic and yet we cannot control that, we can only hope that it falls in our favour more often than not. One thing that we can control is the support that we provide. Lots of the players have recently commented on the positive effects that the VP support can have. The opposite is also true of course. For the past year or so the support has been immense. Let’s focus on being the 12th man tomorrow and helping the boys to start the turn around.

He’s 21 years old, playing his first season in the UK, in a struggling side. He has scored a couple of great goals and has shown some real ability. Shall we give him more than 5 minutes before we write off the next 15 years of his life?

Absolutely. That’s my favourite bit of all transfer windows and it is Christmas after all.

Ha ha. Man Utd paid £50m for a full back who had only played a handful of games in the PL. If Jack goes, it will be for a good deal more than that.

That’s precisely my point. They all had a vision but unfortunately they were all different. A consistent approach that sits above ant head coach is the only sensible option.

Agreed but we still let all of those managers sign their own players without a consistent vision and process. They are all so different it is not even funny. We now have a system that will enable the right kind of head coach to flourish and will bring consistency. We need to be brave and stick to the vision, which I am confident will happen.

We are trying to go on a different path. We are trying to build something that will last. Something bigger than the current head coach. We have been through endless depressing cycles of a bloke coming in, bringing his own boys with him, buying his own players, getting sacked after 2-3 years to be replaced by a new guy who does exactly the same thing whilst the squad swells with loads of overpaid, underused players who we cannot get rid off. It is brain dead and depressing! We now have a structure that means the above can’t happen again. I know it is hard, particularly after a horrible defeat like Southampton but we need to remove the emotion from the situation and have the courage to stick with the long term plan (cue me calling for DS to be sacked if we lose to Norwich!)

I hope we sign a big powerful central midfield player, a pacy winger and a centre forward, in that order of importance. We also need Mings back ASAP. The next three games are massive. They provide a great opportunity to gather some points. If we fail to get at least 5 points then I think whoever we buy/loan in January will almost become immaterial. It’s also so important that even if we fail to beat Norwich and Watford we do not lose. We must not lose!

They were on high wages and to be honest they were not exactly saleable assets. That’s not true now. If we sold Jack and Ty we would bank over £100m. Also our new owners make Dr X look like a corner shop owner in every possible way!

We are in a different position now. We no longer have to sell our players. Jack would almost certainly go. As would Mings. After that I could see them staying to help get us promoted. If we do sell players, it will be on our terms.

It is the most sensible and sustainable model. In a few years, when this season’s recruits have fully bedded in, we will really be reaping the benefits. Anything worth having takes time to achieve. We have suffered from years and years of short term quick fixes. It will take some patience from the supporters but I really think it will be worthwhile.