Jack

Regardless of formation, starting Manning over Taylor is madness and is surely only happening for reasons other than tactics or footballing ability

As a manager you’re asking for it if every lineup makes no sense, and you’re still getting dicked every week. Starting Ryan manning for his first game at Arsenal away when you’ve got a prem experienced left back on the bench. Fucking joker. Can only get away with it if it actually works and it won’t

Three fucking full backs on the pitch and 2 more on the bench after a bench with 5 strikers and no defenders last week? Absolute clown. I think he’s trying to get sacked. Or throwing in one of last season’s scapegoats to deflect attention.

Since the start of the 22/23 season in the Championship with Swansea, he’s conceded 139 goals in 98 league games, 1.42 per game. I hope the media press him on why he’s so stubbornly committed to his possession at all costs philosophy, as it doesn’t achieve anything unless you’re banging in shitloads of goals which just isn’t going to happen at this level. He’s going to take us down with no sign of a fight.

I’d 100% take a 3-0 defeat at this stage

I completely agree that we switched off and shouldn’t have given them the opportunity to take the free kick quickly. But also you see quick free kicks like that get pulled back all the time as it was taken several yards from where the foul was

The sheer quantity of shit goals conceded last season and poor draws away from home was it for me. Outside of the top 4 that league was dross, and we made a right meal out of it due to poor tactics and game management IMO

I said this on the first replay I saw, a lot of refs don’t let that slide. He was awful, and in their favour a lot I felt. We’d still have lost comfortably but it didn’t help. RM needed to set us up to play to our strengths and he did the exact opposite again, and played right into Bournemouth’s hands. Sick of it

Absolute Neanderthal this bloke. All he’s got in his locker is shithousing and looking to get us the odd free kick

Everyone was so defeated from half an hour in. Really resigned to it being a complete shit show of a season, if they weren’t already before kickoff

Leicester and Everton are looking like must wins already. Fancy a Russell side to have the nouse for that?

Positive post: - GD only ended up -2 - it would’ve looked far worse on TV than my seat in row C of that shit tip of a stadium - they were only trolling us with the train cancellation tannoy, they’re all on apart from the 23:15 which nobody stayed long enough to need

Well fair play if we pull off a result but it reeks of trying to stumble across some magic formula. Better hope we don’t get a CB injured or sent off

Score first and we’ve got a decent chance, if it’s around the 98th minute

Decent performances count for fuck all if you can’t convert them to the points you ‘deserve’. We’re still far too goal shy up top and frail at the back, it’s concerning. 1 point and 1 goal from Forest and Ipswich at home is really poor.

We’re not going to score enough or keep enough clean sheets, sadly

Dibling, Sugawara, Fernandes and Ramsdale are fully PL quality. The rest are faking it and need to step up, or we’ll be down by Xmas

Pros: - none conceded from fannying around at the back - Dibling, Ramsdale Cons: - lots conceded from basic errors - every other cunt

Ok, meltdown 1 averted. Love that

Predicting a meltdown when the lineup is announced, during the game, and at FT. (myself included)

Well this United fan appears to have been paying attention.

Saints to lose on goals scored and conceded but win on possession and short pass completion. Russ delighted.

Downes has been nothing but excellent for us, that’s very harsh

I’m not so sure. It’s obvious to most that the tactic that regularly got us in trouble and shipping shitloads of goals against Championship opposition, is getting us in even more trouble in the Premier League. Not sure how these are mistakes that shouldn’t have previously been learned from? He adjusted things for the playoffs which worked, reverting back to this aimless pissing about with it is just bizarre. But yeah hopefully he’ll see the light during the break

Agreed, 5 at the back is giving us more defending to do than we would have with 4 IMO, as we’ve got less control in midfield with a man less (not to mention the fannying around). I think a 4 with Downes and Big Les holding will be far more sound defensively and better chance of possession higher up the pitch rather than 500 passes across the back line then fucking it up