SKD

Ask the players who have played under Poch 90% of them will tell you he's the best they've played for. He is one of, if not the best, manager / coach in the world. He knows where his bread is buttered and whilst winning cups may be a big pull for fans, commercially for clubs the CL / PL is much more of an achievement.

Agree, he’s by all accounts a decent bloke - shame it didn’t work here, just not the right fit for us at that time.

Dickheads looking for 5 minutes of fame. Had a look through his other videos, he’ll get hurt one day, sooner rather than later hopefully

Give Austin or Gabbi the ball in the box and it ends up in the back of the net

Koeman was defensively solid, but he wasn't afraid to lose possession if on the counter attack - I've no doubt Koeman would have played someone like Boufal, as he's the type of player (like Mane) who can turn Defense into attack very quickly. Unfortunately for Puel and to a degree Pellegrino, he preferred a slow possession based build up, so at times we could counter, he would rather we played it round at the back / in the middle of the park for a couple of minutes to conserve energy. Which is very easy to play against.

How many of those shots where from 30 yards with no hope of beating the keeper? What was the average position of those shots? If you look, our shooting accuracy last year (33%) was actually marginally better than the 15/16 season (32%).... Lack of quality, or lack of quality chances? Of those shots, the top 3 to have a shot were Redmond (83) Tadic (63) and JWP (42). All midfielders, to me, that would suggest we didn't have enough shots from inside the box, which is where you are most likely to score.... Stats can be useful, but they can also be misguiding without any real substance behind them. If you compare those shots to 'big chances created' (although it has to be said I do not know what constitutes a 'big chance') it paints a damning tail... 12/13 - 45 13/14 - 53 14/15 - 50 15/16 - 61 16/17 - 35!!! West Brom, as a comparison, managed 36

Wasn't a jibe, it was a genuine question. I pointed out further up the thread, yes 2 managers haven't rated him, but them same 2 managers are of a very defensive mindset and want to keep the ball at all costs. Boufal just doesn't suit that style. Jose Mourinho, arguably one of the best managers in the world for whatever reason didn't rate / see the potential in Lukaku and De Bruyne who are now arguably 2 of the leagues best players. People make mistakes... I'd suggest the fact Boufal isn't playing say's more about our managers than his ability.

Dissagree, I actually think it was both. Was our squad strengthen sufficiently when koeman left, I think you would probably have to say no. Could Puel have done more to keep players on side (to this I guess we won’t know) and played a more expensive style of play? I think you would have to probably say yes.

You do realise they are only 3 points behind us, don't you...?

Redmond gets picked constantly by the last 2 managers because they both have a very defensive, keep the ball at all costs philosophy. As for Redmond reaching Guly mode, that's just utter nonsense. The bloke offers us very little. A key attribute of his is his pace and ability to beat a man, he doesn't do any of this (is this the managers fault or the players? I don't know?), people want him to do well, but he fails to produce time and time again. I can understand why many are frustrated with Redmond, he's pretty much had a full season and a start to the next to find form and he just doesn't look up to the level, unfortunately. I find yours and Duckhunters argument completely flawed. You moan that Boufal has no consistency yet seem to advocate playing Redmond ahead of him, even though he's been given chance after chance with very little to show from it.

I'm not saying that at all - I'm merely pointing out that managers have a lot more say in transfers that Les likes to make out.

I could understand this trail of thought if our wingers had been setting the world alight, but they haven't... In fact they've been dreadful (especially Redmond, who offers pretty much nothing). Also, I don't know how many of our games you actually get to watch live, but Boufal does work for the team - If you actually watch, he tracks back and follows his man a lot more than Tadic does.

I hope (and think he will do well there). He is clearly a decent bloke and I've no doubt he's a decent manager, he was just the wrong man at the wrong time for us.

Do you believe all the clubs PR? Very naive if so. I’m guessing Koeman said he wanted x player, the club scouted, ran through the black box then agreed. Didn’t the club say something similar when we signed Pied? It’s all PR bull**** to make the club’s scouting/recruitment policy look fantastic. From what I’m led to believe a number of players are tracked and brought in by Ross Wilson (Gabbi and Hoedt I know we tracked for about 2 years), but it’s certainly not the case for every player like Les likes to make out.

Nope, no hard on. Slight jealousy though, yes. Despite the current league table, they are a club with genuine European ambitions and are a club on the up, where as I’m not sure where our ambitions lie... if I’m honest I believe it’s just survival. Everton are us of 4/5 years ago, we are more of a West Brom / Stoke. They sacked Koeman because of the disappointing start to the season. Fail to see what them sacking a manger has to do with ambition though? But yes, they have had a difficult start to the season, when compared to ours. Despite poor form as current, they’ll finish above us this season, IMO

Isn't that where the ambition comes into it though? Surely if we have ambition to be a top side and break into the top 6, and Les thought that Tuchel was the man to do it, then he should have persuaded him by paying him (within reason) what he wanted and offering him all the tools (i.e money in the transfer market) he needed (again within reason) to do so. Ultimately, Tuchel is a top manager and wants to manage in the top competitions, he obviously felt that we weren't able to offer that, now or in the future. If Everton can persuade him to join them (If they do, I've no doubt it will involve big amounts of ££), it just proves that they are more of an attractive proposition than we are at the moment, which is a shame considering where we were, as short as 2 seasons ago. Of course if they do somehow persuade him (and i'f i'm honest I don't think they will), it doesn't guarantee success, but IMO just demonstrates the direction of both clubs.

He was. Not a pop, just an observation. You don't honestly believe that Pellegrino was our first choice, do you?

To be fair, if he does go to Everton it shows the difference in ambition between the 2 clubs.

I forgot persecuting gays, treating women like 2nd class citizens, forced and arranged marrage, grooming gangs (in some cases) and failing to integrate with society (in a large number of cases) are normal things. Can you imagine they had a show ‘my week as a gay man or white Christian in Riyadh (Saudi)‘ assuming they’d make it a week, of course.

The squad loved Poch (actually pretty much everyone at the club did as well) - Him going was the reason so many left when they did. Had he stayed, I believe that he would have / could have convinced a few more to stay. If you asked our squad that played under him, at that time, I'm pretty sure 90% (if not more) would tell you he is the best manager they played under.

Poch won't go to Barca, he's already said that. Poch will end up at Real Madrid. Barca like appointing managers that have played for the club and Koeman is pretty much a Legend at Barca.

Yep, exactly. I don't buy all of this no chance of Barca job after this. He'll get another job, probably pretty quickly, and if he succeeds at that, he'll be in a solid place to take it next time it's up.

I'd have him back at the drop of a hat.

He'll be at West Ham before December!

I loved the football under poch, which also at times became predictable. However for me, the football under Koeman (defensively solid, with pace on the counter and use of the big CF if needed) was the most effective I've seen us.