Dman

Of all the realistic (known) choices, I think Vieria would also be my number one option if we cannot persuade Cooper - should he become available. Obviously has City connections, so I wonder if that’ll be a factor to play..? Would like to see his old team mate Henry involved as well, who’s apparently highly regarded as a coach - wouldn’t even mind us taking a punt on him as manager, to be honest. My only concern with Vieira is he plays a possession based 433 and towards the end struggled to get goals (all be it with Zaha out). I don’t know if we have the players to suit his philosophy.

Clearly bollox, but let’s say it’s true.. if he’s ‘set his sights’ on us, why would it matter if we’re in the PL or not..?

I really don’t see why he keeps getting selected. Such an average player with both bat and ball. It’s like playing with 10 at times. Why does Prest never seem to get a sniff at CC level? Surely cannot be any worse?

I could see a situation where Phillips leaves and City get Lavia in to replace him.. which, would possibly prove to be the worst bit of business in the history of football…? Lavia goes regardless, he’s way to good for us. An absolutely superstar in the making. City have a £40m buy back clause next summer, which should mean he goes for nothing less than £50m. That sort of money, along with parachute payments and other sell offs (Salisu, KWP, JWP..?) would give us a massive financial advantage over 99% of the league.

Going back to a style that didn’t work (hence a better manager than him getting sacked for it), is a bit daft, don’t you think? We’re a little better defensively than we were under Ralph, but don’t create anywhere near as much either. When you need to win games, that’s a big problem.

I think we’ll end up sticking with Ralph v2, in Selles. Not my choice and imo the incorrect one - I think we need to rid ourselves of everyone involved over the past 2/3 years.

Nah Cooper is a proper manager. Done well at Swansea, then exceptionally well at forest (who are even more of a basket case then us, in terms of strategy). That’s forgetting the success he had with the youth national team. Cooper would be perfect for us. Knows the championship, given his background, seems like he’d work well with our young squad and would suit our strategy. Would he be interested? Not sure. Feels like he deserves a go at another PL club, but I’m not sure anyone would take a punt on him (maybe someone like Leicester or Leeds..?). We should be all over it though.

His tactics are just a replica of Ralph’s. We make the same mistakes, have similar highs and similar lows. He is Ralph v2, just without the experience and arguably a little worse.

Groundhog Day. 2-0 West Ham. Any hope of survival all but gone. We don’t win these big 6 pointers, too weak mentally.

0% chance the points deduction will take place this season. It really should though, considering the breach of rules (I.e cheating) has aided their points total this season, not next..

We’re soo deep, inviting pressure here. An equaliser is coming if we don’t make some changes.

I’m not a Southgate fan, I think he lost us the euros, but you cannot knock his team selections. His record has been fantastic. I think he’s learning as a manager though, not much more we could have done in the World Cup.

It’s the same story with Pickford. He’s been outstanding for England over the course of 2 tournaments now, yet you still get idiots saying he shouldn’t start. I think Lavia shows how average (free kicks aside) JWP is. 18 years of age and considerably better.

Ha! I get the same treatment 😂

The same Phillips who was englands player of the tournament last Euros? He’s not played much football and starting here is generous, but it’s obvious southgate is starting him as he see’s him as his starter at the euros come next summer. Phillips is disgusting underrated on here, mostly because he (and many others) are picked ahead of JWP

When you look at the games we’ve lost this season, it really rubs salt into the wound. Wolves have taken 6 points from us, which should have been 1. Che not scoring from 1 yard out, being 1-0 up and losing against 10 men. Forest beat us at home. They’ve won 1 away game all season and it was against us (fact checked). We should not have lost that game and had it have been a month earlier or later, I don’t think we would have. The swing in point from those games alone would have probably seen us safe come May. We’ve left ourselves with too much to do.

The only ones I’m pretty certain will drop is us and Bournemouth. The last place is massively up for grabs and I change my mind on a weekly basis. Forest or Leeds are my guess.

The way I see it, I think we could probably keep a decent squad for that level. Those we definitely won’t be able to keep; Salisu, KWP, Lavia Those we probably won’t be able to keep; JWP, ABK, Alcaraz wouldn’t be surprised to see go; S Armstrong, Che, Orsic, Sulemana, DCC, McCarthy, Moi. Which would leave us something like this; Bazunu Tino / Bree Bednerak Stephens Perraud Diallo ?? Edozie Smallbone Tella Big Paul / AA? That isn’t a team that needs significant investment to be a top side in the championship, imo.

Yeah agreed. A CB partnership of Bednerak / Stephens in the championship doesn’t strike fear into me though. Pretty decent at the level, if we’re being honest.

He’s really, really good. I’m a big Stu fan, but this bloke pisses all over him. I think chances of us keeping him are limited, low risk gamble for most PL clubs.

I think you’re right, but for me anyway, you want players on your bench who can change the game if you’re losing 1-0 or struggling to break teams down. With our 70 minute change of the front 3, which seem to be ‘system subs’ to keep up the high press, rather than any real tactical change, it seems we’re a little one dimensional. We’re set up really well to play against teams who want to take the game too us but really struggle against those who sit back and keep the ball in front of them.

It was a question, why aren’t they. What are they doing wrong. But you’re point is fundamentally flawed logic. The previous wally seemed to think Lyanco was a decent option to start, because he beats his chest after he makes a rare tackle, rather than footballing ability.

Probably not the best timing for this thread digging out our attacking capabilities after we’ve just scored 3, however, we clearly lack something in the final 3rd. Looking at the list of wingers / wide players we have not even making the match day squad… question, why aren’t they? Most, if not all, are better options than AA / Moi off the bench imo. Edozie Aribo Orsic Djenepo Personally, I can’t see why Edozie isn’t getting a look in. He’s raw with average end product, but has shown glimpses. He’s pretty direct and quick, would be a handful coming off the bench. Similar to Theo / Sulemana. Aribo, again, been very very average (in a pretty shit team), but he is one of our more creative players. Could play out wide or in the 10. Worth a go imo, especially against teams like Brentford, who sit deep. Orsic, not shown much, but clearly is better than shown. Is he any worse than moi? Probably not. Probably wouldn’t have him in the squad, to be fair. Djenepo - weakest option of the lot imo, but again, would rather him coming on than AA. Again, probably wouldn’t have him in the squad.

He’s probably 1 injury away from pulling the plug, but if he stays fit and is willing to compromise on salary, he’s worth keeping around. Especially in the championship. He needs to play as a winger on the right hand side, like he has been the past few weeks. He’s the only winger / wide player we have who seems to want to run in behind, and it’s effective for us.

Simply put, we have to stay up, we are going to have to beat West Ham, Forest, Bournemouth and palace and hope to sneak a draw or 2 elsewhere. Fulham will hopefully have not a lot to play for likewise Brighton. Depends what Liverpool turn up. Can’t see us doing it. Don’t even think we’ll beat West Ham.