rubberman

Play all the Jordans.

5 hours ago, Eames said:

 

3) What he does outside of "work" reflects on the club just as much as what he does on the pitch. See the lawyer recently sacked for mouthing off about Liverpool fans as an example.

 

He's a friend of mine.  #csb

Yes we bought in a load of new, mostly young-ish, foreign players - but for the most part they weren't completely bargain basement and had some pedigree. There are plenty of similar/lesser players on paper who are performing really well for their clubs.  For me 90% of the blame lies with Sherwood.  He obviously didn't rate them or want them and/or was unable to work with them - by the time he left every one of them had been dropped no matter what form we had seen from them.

The reason they haven't been able to settle is that they never knew what formation, tactics or even position they were supposed to play in.  What we needed in the summer was someone with a clear vision of how they wanted to play, the ability to get this across to the squad and let them grow into those roles.  Guzan would not be having as shit a season if he had played with a settled back 4 in front of him.  The individual mistakes that have cost us so many points - ditto.  You need confidence and trust in the players around you.

I'm confident Remi will provide a proper framework and tactics and from that performances and results will improve.  Whether it will be soon enough I doubt very much.

So - escaping relegation from this position has never happened.  We are in a worse current position than Derby in their record breaking year.  We've lost one of our better performing players for the season.

But...like Grasshopper, I still think it is (just) possible for us to survive.  Yes, it gets bleaker with every game, but I don't think we've performed to our potential.  Don't get me wrong - I think it is very, very unlikely, but I'm not throwing the towel yet.  I didn't expect more than 1 point from the last 2 games.  Other results were pretty kind to us.  Watford is a massive game, but having Sanchez back to play the role he did against Citeh and we'll have much better shape.  I would play literally anyone else in the squad ahead of Richardson and drop Jack again.

I'm keeping the faith till after Christmas.  Blind, deluded, claret-tinted faith perhaps, but for now...we can do this.

rubberman

Watford 0-1 ManUtd

Chelsea 2-0 Norwich

Everton 0-0 Villa

Newcastle 1-2 Leicester

Southampton 2-0 Stoke

Swansea 1-1 Bournemouth

WestBrom 0-2 Arsenal

ManCity 2-0 Liverpool

Spurs 2-2 WestHam

Palace 3-0 Sunderland

http://pastebin.com/6Uu9Vz3t

Unless the 'anything' is Richardson.

Bit late to the party, but what terrible news.  The brightest spark in an otherwise terrible season so far.  Heal fast, Jordan - we need you.

Xenophobic rather than racist.

But think of all the good work he's doing behind the scenes....

Yes - same for me.  Hoping that no-one picks up an injury, it would be great to play the same team two games in a row for the first time all season.  

Tóp típ, thánks.

I think Jack will look much better when he comes back.  Playing as the only creative player amongst a team of cloggers was never going to suit him and too much pressure.  Bring him back into a side playing to a tactical plan, ideally with Gil alongside and he'll start to shine again.  Hopefully fitter and faster too.

Strikers are difficult - particularly in January.  It seems you have a choice of: 

a) experienced, but probably either past it, pricey or crocked - might do a short term job but you also might be saddled with their wages for a while,

b ) young, less experienced from abroad/lower divisions - might take time you don't have to settle / might not make the step up or

c) good, proven and therefore out of our league price-wise.

Lets hope Remi has got some ideas and has the transfer team out sniffing about.

Yeah - totally agree.  Would prefer they all called in sick to the national squads and spent 2 weeks with Remi and Duverne.  Was looking for a silver lining.

Remi already seems to rate this lot (understandably).  Having a couple of weeks to work with the fringe / younger players will be really interesting.  Traore, Ilori (who?), Kozak, Okore should get a chance to impress and maybe he can get Grealish back into a bit of form. 

Everyone I've heard from who has actually worked with Remi (from managers - Wenger, Houllier; to players - Ian Wright and Keown etc) all seem to really rate him.  I'm happy to go with that.  And as for Big Sam - what's the point in saying he would be better?  He was already in a new job.  May as well say Guardiola or Simeone would be better.

What a waste. What a sad, sad waste of 3 months of the season. 

We finally put out the team most of us have wanted to see and just look better, unsurprisingly.  Glad we've got an international break now because when we get back we can really see what Remi and this side can do.

 A long way to go but at least we're facing in the right direction now. 

I don't think Tim was given all the cash in the summer. I still expect us to shop in Jan for 2 or 3 as long as there are signs of life under Remi.

Remi has not only played here (albeit a while ago) but he's been punditting on the prem for canal+ during his sabbatical. I'd say he's probably seen more than many of us and knows about most of the clubs in some depth.  He's also wanted to manage here for a while so will have done plenty of research. I really don't think lack of premier league experience is going to be an issue.

Get Sanchez on him full time.  He's shown (for Colombia) he can do a really effective job in that role.

Dear God - can you imagine.  How to kill optimism dead.

Let's not piss on everyone's chips just now. I'm enjoying the (probably short-lived) period of optimism.

Harry Redknapp has admitted that he was shocked when Villa appointed Remi Garde.

He stated: "Garde would never have come to my mind if asking me [for a manager].

Thanks for that 'Arry.