SWLondon Saint

I don't think Valery would add anything to the squad either, but I would add that Liam Delap really didn't show anything at Hull last season that said how well he'd do in the Prem. You can't usually get guaranteed 'real quality' of prem ability in the Championship for obvious reasons so it's always gonna be a gamble of some kind...

I mean, if he can get someone who managed a team to the CL final last year to come to the Championship we need to check his office for mind control drugs or blackmail materials 😂

Been taking a break from all things football the last couple of months, but honestly, why do people think that a Championship side - which we will be - should be expecting to hire someone who can coach successfully at a higher level? If they can, know they can, and are acknowledged as so, they'll be waiting for their next go on the Premier League roundabout like Nuno, Moyes and Potter were. It's like people thinking you can get stronger spending a few years in the Championship when the opposite is true. The nature of being in a lower league is you get lower level or unproven talent. The goal is to get the unproven talent that CAN make the step up.

Pretty sure Alonso usually uses 1 FB / CB in his 3CBs at Leverkusen. You could see at times in the 1st half yesterday we were doing exactly what most modern 3CB teams do which is effectively go to 4 at the back when in possession.

As was said, could literally be anything but if he has kids my money would be on the norovirus. Been through school and pretty much all families like 🔥💩.

Yep, injured, was mentioned in the presser before match I think

You'll see the goals so will summarise the rest. 1st half - mostly pretty even. We look like a sane football team again which is good. The tracking back is much better this week from all players. THB is having a mare, can't seem to pass it properly and not looking great at the back either. A couple of times our press traps them in their defensive third which is nice too. 2nd half - they come out fired up after the break and we're a bit under the cosh, but they don't manage to create any great chances. Delap is just bossing Bednarek. Later in the half Bree seems to end up on him (dunno if the players or manager made the change) and does an excellent job. Scrappy game in the most part not helped by subs. However the last 20 minutes or so they created absolutely sweet FA which is nice for a change. - Wellington was impressive, solid technically, not afraid to take a man on or cross and worked hard getting up and down the left. He didn't look tired until he cramped up suddenly after a great defensive header but not surprising given the awkward overlap with the Brazilian season and his lack of games. -Gronbaek had some nice touches but nothing quite decisive. Clearly a good technical player and also forward thinking / will have a go. Also had a good moment tracking back at some point. - No idea what's up with THB but he wasn't at the races today and then injured himself somehow.

If Rohl had come in when Juric did, there's an extremely high chance he'd have just lost exactly the same 6 games and everyone would now be calling for his head and a new manager next season. The players were just broken by the end of the Spurs game, it was obvious to anyone watching. I said around then I thought it'd be better to have a caretaker till the end of the season as there was a high chance it would be a total shitshow given the low morale and quality of the squad.

The squad can be bad and it can still be VAR's fault, two things aren't mutually exclusive. The pen was a disgrace.

How the hell can var not even look at that Joelinton foul, it's so one sided it's not even a joke.

Complete bollocks var decision, they clearly had no clue the number of times they watched it from 15 angles.

Well, I work in an industry which hires a lot on commission / the agency type model and I'd agree with this 100%. The agencies don't want people to stay in one job / one place and are always 'encouraging' job changes as that's when they get paid. However I do get it in the context of that first big contract for players - as at that level it basically gives you 'f*** off' amounts of money which means if you manage it well you won't have to work again.

Shouldn't really matter that much tbh as Juric's style is man-marking based so at least 1 or 2 or the CBs will often push into 'midfield' to pursue their man. On the ball you can see the CB on the side with possession also often goes forward to support the attack.

Sugawara's confidence is shot and that'll have affected his first touch. He's made several goal-conceding errors this season so he's probably second guessing himself all the time which is a sure way to guarantee even more mistakes. I also think he needs more time to settle as the Dutch league is much less physical. We better hope he improves anyway as no-one's buying him after this season so we're stuck with him! Archer I feel similar about re: confidence, he's clearly an intuitive / playing on the shoulder run and hit it kind of striker, so I think he's just gotten lost this season under RM and needs to get it out of his system. He's also still young and could improve a lot. I expect us to keep him next season and he'll score a ton in the Champ as he has before. Come on, his goal against Arsenal was superb and showed what he can do.

Agree completely, though he 100% won't be with us in the Champ. Even at a Lavia type price he'd be an absolute bargain for a top club as he's been battle tested in the worst possible environment and he's never given up, never shirked the hard yards, they know exactly what they'll get from him and he's still young and could improve more. And he seems to be really tough and not injury prone too.