andym

I know all staff are having to take tests, although not sure whether that involves the history of the club. Apparently a few people who have been there a long time have failed these 'tests', and are in danger of losing their job. I have also heard about another incident that has made my blood boil. Basically a staff member was asked by a charity to try and get a players shirt for a charity auction. This has never been an issue before, so the staff member approached a player, and the player was quite happy to oblige. However, this was seen by either Fox or one of his underlings, who came and put a stop to it. The staff member got an absolute bollocking, to the point he wasn't sure he would have a job any longer. Ultimately the player came and found the staff member at a later point and gave him a shirt so it worked out in the end, but these are the type of people we have in charge now. All the rumours about how bad things have become behind the scenes under Fox are true apparently.

really? Right up until the last minute he was chasing, closing down, and when he lost the ball he went to get it back. lack of end product you could criticise, but i can't fault his effort tonight

more interested in attempting scissor kicks from corners or going on marauding runs than simply sticking with the player he has been assigned to mark

came through clear on the stream i was watching. Camera then panned to Fox looking uncomfortable.

yep, heard the countdown, and when the cameras panned on to the crowd and it was noticeable people were leaving (i.e. not just a handful that were hard to spot). also mentioned on sky that people were leaving pretty decent outcome i think given its only been a week or two since organizing the walkout started

I think most of the players are trying and we are not getting hammered in overall play. Yet again though basic individual errors are costing us. Everton have been in the box about 3 times, scored 2 and had another cleared off the line. Our ability to just gift the opposition goals is impressive.

second goal in particular was horrendous. Arnautovic was allowed to win the initial header despite being sandwiched by cissoko and lescott, then they both allowed him to stand there and chest it in.

absolutely pathetic, brainless batting. 6 wickets for 9 runs. they seem to have no idea on how to play the game situation. too many wickets just thrown away

I think the recruitment structure will be the same - that is a head of recruitment, then stats people, scouts etc who all work with the manager, although he has final say. It annoys me when the media keep going on about the 'transfer committee' as though we are the only ones doing it. Pretty much every club has one. Its the same with the use of stats - used as a stick to beat Villa with, ignoring that Leicester for example used that approach to initially find all their bargains. The big difference is that other clubs actually have people who know what they are doing in interpreting all the data and making the final decisions. We have Paddy Reilly, and had Tim Sherwood. It doesn't matter how good a recruitment structure or process you have in place if you have idiots implementing it.

I'm not sure if Garde is the right man to bring us back up, but i think anyone would have struggled given the situation he came into. It's quite easy to say 'he should be motivating them better, he should be more attacking etc', but in practice its not that simple. The one thing Tim Sherwood was any good at was getting players to have a go and attack, yet this season he could only motivate this team towards 1 win. We only scored 9 goals in 10 games under him, conceding 17 with just one clean sheet, and when he left we had just lost 6 on the spin with no sign of it turning around, the team was on its knees. That is the situation Garde walked into (knowingly i will admit), along with i think some pretty big issues/divisions in the dressing room. Oh, and Man City, Everton, Southampton and Arsenal in 4 of his first 5 games. Its not really a surprise he took a conservative approach. We were regularly cut open with ease, conceding soft goals and not scoring enough to make up for it. Hes basically tried to do a Pulis/Allardyce - if you havent got the players to score goals, at least try to reduce the amount of goals you let in to give yourself a better chance of points. Yes there have been a few shockers, but i think overall we have been more organised, more solid, we have worked harder, looked fitter. I think the team selections and setups have generally been the best he could have done given the players available. Even games like Sunderland and Norwich, i thought we actually started well in both games, looked the better team. But then we had horrendous individual errors at the back from so called experienced players and we never recovered. Confidence and mentality is a huge issue imo, and a big reason behind the lack of attacking threat (well that and having hardly any decent attackers). The few times we have got something going in games, and the crowd respond, we look better, we naturally start committing forward more, getting the ball in the box (think Leicester, Palace etc). The Norwich game the other week was a perfect microcosm of this - we were really jittery for the 1st half, but once we got the second you could see the confidence, we started attacking, there was a great chance for Bacuna that was really really nice attacking play. Then we hit the last 10 mins, and things got nervy again, we retreated into our shell. Again its easy to say that Garde should just motivate, provide that confidence, but ultimately its up to the player, and if they haven't got the right frame of mind then nothing the manager says is going to help. I suspect if you take all of the supposed great man managers and motivators and look at their teams, they are going to have players in there who have that mentality, who can be leaders on the pitch and carry out the managers instructions, dragging their teammates along with them. We have none, and haven't for a while. Our team captain thinks everybody else but him is the problem, and the club captain just cant be bothered anymore. Then add in our most experienced player thinks tweeting a picture of his expensive car after being thrashed 6-0 is a good thing to do, and its no wonder we are in such a mess on the pitch.

its all about him. He's more interested in trying to go on expansive runs with the ball that will make him look good on the highlights, rather than simply holding a good position and helping the team keep out the opposition

haha whats lescott doing up there

haha free header 8 yards out

whats the record home league defeat?

OMG, this could be double figures

lol, horrendous by okore and lescott

Bacuna getting booed

**** off bacuna

all the danger down our right - bacuna and richards are both clueless positionally

hes not today. bottling challenges, his closing down involves ambling towards players and half heartedly flicking out a leg, and to top it off, a yellow card because he couldnt be bothered to track the run of coutinho, so clotheslined him instead

good save, pathetic ball watching by everyone else

Bacuna is a disgrace, lazy, lazy player

Bacuna makes the wrong decision every time

woeful bacuna

richards is just jogging around, another chance from down his side