SKD

Reported on SSN as well that loan rejected.

Would suggest we are trying to loan (with option to buy) him to ensure we've got a safety blanket should he be sh!te, similar to Caulker or Toby in recent years. Pretty sensible really.

This...

Had his chance to prove he was above championship standard tonight and imo didn't....

I think you're missing the sarcasm....He tried to sell Lambert to West Ham

Not as pathetic as we are at the moment. All we ask is for a decent performance. As someone who's watches and investes £700 + into the club every year, I think I'm entitled to moan if the team are continually performing as they are.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm fairly confident that I'll be saying the same next week.

Apologies, miss read your original post. ultimately we've been sh!t in execution and tatics this year, other than a handful of games. Both of which I would put down to the manager. The players are drained of confidence... if Puel can't install this, he needs to go and be replaced by someone who can.

Yep awful, and still they're a point and a place ahead of us. We're in semi final of LC though so all is fine.

Come off it mate. It's pretty much the same story every week. How many different players have played this season? They all seem to struggle with 'execution of tactics'. Why's this... Is he not getting his point across? Do the players not like the tactics (the fans don't)? Are the tactics just really sh!t?

Appreciate we rested players and that was far from the team that'll start on Sunday, but still same negative boring football. Who's fault is that?

post of the day, very good sir.

Berahino & Batshuayi there's 2 off the top of my head that would improve our squad. If the money is right, generally everyone is available. It's down to if you want to spend the money or not... not saying that's the strategy though.

Maybe we offered him the chance to use us as a stepping stone to move to a CL in 2 years, but he said he wanted trophies sooner or a little more money and we had no response to that. In all seriousness, it's pretty depressing if we can't even attract a player that can't even get into a first team squad in the Portuguese league.

They had their 3rd team out, to be fair. As this wouldn't be a midweek fixture and they seem to favor the FA cup, I would have though they would play a stronger side.

He's been out injured for the majority of it.

Maybe not technically our player (he really should have been though and the way we lost him makes it feel like he was sold) but imo the best defender I've seen wearing a saints shirt in the modern game. Marginally better than VVD.

Have to say I agree. Obviously as a supporter I want to see us do the best we can, but I hate the PL and the type of fan and corporate bulls!t it brings. For me, other than being in the top league and seeing some of the best players in the world (even that gets boring after a while), the only benefit of the PL is getting into Europe. Unfortunately I can't see that happening for a while and when we do, we don't take it seriously anyway.

7. No matter what first squad player you've got on the back of your replica shirt, your guaranteed to see him in at least 20 games this season.

Pretty much how I'd sum him up. Wouldn't be surprised to see him playing on the right hand side of the 3, not convinced he's what we need but he's better than redmond so will improve us. Always cautious of attackng players coming over from Italy after Gaston & Osvaldo!

Romeu & especially Yoshida are playing better than last year... whether this is down to game time or CP training I don't know, but the are better than last year so therefore have improved. If you're going to be pandantic then use McQueen playing L1 or 2? Last year, or Sims as an example. CP has definitely improved these. Improving someone's ability isn't all about individual training, sometimes it's about tactic and game time

We've played 3 reserve squads to get where we have, 2 at home and 1 away. I just wish people would stop using the LC (which we will be out of by the end of the month) as an excuse for this poor season. Heisenberg is regularly called a troll (no doubt sometimes he says stuff for a reaction) but half the time it is just down to people not liking what he has to say which is how some feel.

We had a great chance by being in EL. It was not outside the realms of possibility that we could have won that tournament, given the attitude towards it by other clubs, yet poor recruitment and reserve squad selection cost us a place in that. We're further away from being in the top 4/6 than we have been since the first season back in the PL IMO. He makes it sound like the only reason we get these players is because they want to move on, yet under Cortese we got players (good players) because of the ambition & project we sold players / managers. I appreciate that this was not Corteses' money and that perhaps (at the time) our spending was not sustainable, but the club really need to stop giving the fans the same bulls!t time and time again. If the board really had the ambition to break into the top 4 and cement our place in top 6 these last 2 years where the time. Pay the money keep Mane, keep Wanyama, keep Koeman and bring in a few others to really give us a chance. Instead we've been left with (imo) a mediocre manager and generally a team of mediocre players.

Seems like there is a divide between fans on if they think Puel is the right man for the job, so thought it'd be a good idea to raise some potential replacements if the club do pull the trigger. This is not a thread aimed at discussing whether you think Puel should / shouldn't be sacked and more at if he was to go, then who would you like to replace him. For me I'd like to see one of the following: Unai Emery (top pick & I think we should go all out to get him) - Struggling at PSG but no chance of him joining us until he leaves PSG. Marcelo Bielsa - Done a great job at Bilbo (arguably a similar club to us), currently unemployed and would, I would hope, see us playing attacking exciting football again. However having looked at his last two clubs (Marseille & Lazio) i'm not too sure he'd hang about or buy into our strategy of selling best players and replacing with potential. Roberto Mancini - Knows the league and done well at City. However would imagine he's too much of a character and not the 'yes man' Les is after. Manuel Pellegrini - Currently managing in China but I think he was under appreciated at city and by looking at them this year, it shows he did an alright job. Maybe in hindsight he was the man we should have gone for? Not sure he suits the style of manger / coach we go for however. If we are to go British, I'd be looking at either Mark Warburton or Gary Rowett - But both would be a massive gamble given they've not proven themselves at the top level and never coached in the PL. Avoid Eddie Howe (just seems like the right man at the right club, not sure on his ability tbh) Frank De Boer (same as Howe, realistically anyone can win the league with Ajax and he's failed in Europe & at Inter), or an ex united old boy Giggs & Neville ect... I would like to think that the club have their eye on the next potential manager and i'm sure it'll be someone left field that the majority haven't heard of.

The formation is very similar to last year 4 - 3 - 3..... Whilst we played a negative counter attack style under Koeman, we had players like Mane who could hit teams on the counter with Pace and was very unpredictable and we where more direct (get the ball to the Pelle and have mane / Tadic playing off him getting into the box)... We simply don't have that this year. Disagree that Puel hasn't improved players.. Look at Romeu, Yoshida & Cedric whom have improved IMO. I certainly question Puel's tactics at times and the possession sideways passing is not enjoyable to watch, but you also have to look at the recruitment in the summer which IMO, Boufal aside (who I believe will be a top player for us, just give him time to settle and adjust), wasn't good enough.