coalman

I'm not sure Stephens leadership and experience are a good thing. He's had a wretched start to the season.

Nothing is more peak Russ than turning up for the game against the higher league opposition and "putting in a performance" but still losing due to giving the ball away then claiming it shows what he's trying to achieve.

MLG incoming in 3.....2......

And those are relevant to people trying to communicate assertively in a noisy football stadium how exactly? If a player is out of position with an attacker bearing down on goal I would rather someone puts the effort into being heard and communicating the urgency of the situation. This typically involves raising one's voice or to put it another way - shouting. There are times when other forms of communication are more appropriate but when the situation requires urgent attention then you put the effort into getting their attention. For example if a child in your class was about to pick up a rattlesnake saying they'd always loved poisonous animals, the correct response is more likely to be "STAY AWAY FROM THE FUCKING SNAKE!" and not "don't you mean venomous animals?".

We're described as a "scandal ridden club" in the headline

For the record I'm against bringing JWP back because we've been burned by the nostalgia train recently. However, the only consideration when signing someone should be are they going to make the team stronger. And the answer with JWP is likely to be yes. Does he get in ahead of Downes and Jander? Probably not. Does he get in ahead of Bragg? Definitely yes. For the games so far this season he would've made us stronger. The big questions would be over how much of our wage / transfer budget is he going to use up and who would it stop us signing as a result. If you're spending big bucks either on salary or transfer then you want someone who is going to slot straight into the team.

He already unleashed his potential. Sadly that was the potential for us to funnel money to another club in the Sport Republic galaxy.

We need to move the ball faster and with more variety. We need to play with intensity so we're competing for the ball all over the pitch. We've got to do it for 90 minutes. For some reason we're not doing that so far this season. Whether that's because we're undercooked after pre season, the players are pissed off about Spygate, the squad is not committed while the transfer window or whatever.

In the second half of last season he had THB alongside him and two of Jander, Downes and Charles in front of him. Plus Bree was playing out of his skin and Manning was tracking back. He's exposed more this season and his qualities are more on display. Him and Wood are not a great partnership at the best of times and their slow recycling of the ball means the players in front of them stop making runs. Even at his best he's a decent squad player. Making and keeping him as captain is mental.

We played three premier league teams last year. Beat two of them, including the champions. We haven't competed today. Last season we made it hard for teams to play against us. Today we've been easy to defend against because we're just so slow with the ball.

There's no movement. No anticipation in attack or defence. No thought to get after the game. Just slow recycling and ball watching.

Stephens half hearted challenge again.

We completely brought this on ourselves. We were comfortably on top then let our intensity drop to criminally low levels. The glacially slow play around the back invited West Ham back into the game and now we have no clue how to turn it around.

We need to play with some intensity.

Stephens ponderously gives it away (again)