mrfahaji

Not sure that's true. We were playing horrendously and it didn't look like changing. The second half of the season surge was certainly a surprise to me, as for many others I suspect.

Agreed. Overall I am marginally in the Puel Out camp actually - hoping that, armed with more information regarding behind the scenes morale, the board will make the right choice either way - but I do find myself agreeing with a fair chunk of what the 'In' squad say.

He's slow, he's weak in the tackle, weak in the air, doesn't arrive in the box quickly or often enough, finishing isn't great, passing isn't as good as it should be for someone with his ability to strike a dead ball. Although he is excellent at putting in 'crossing' free kicks, he consistently "not quite good enough" from direct free kicks. Tadic has come closer to scoring than JWP, even though the commentators purr every time JWP steps up to take one. I think he's improved and recently he's shown a lot more desire to make forward runs or play forward passes, and I would say that his finishing is better than it was earlier in the season. That is encouraging no doubt, but you asked doddisalegend for some specifics, of which there are plenty...

I'm not sure either! Not for your post alone, as you were just stating a fact. But if you're using that to support angelman's 'evidence' that we are a better team without VVD, then unfortunately yes, I am. Sorry.

I think his point is that Fonte wasn't very good so when he left we improved. Either way, anyone who tries to spin statistics to argue that we wouldn't have fared better with VVD in the team, is quite frankly an imbecile.

I hope they stick with black numbers with the Patrick-style kit, or any kit with a white back. Hope they keep the black trim as well, as well as the black shorts of course! (I'd also be ok with navy, just don't want red shorts)

Have you ever thought about going into football management?

Because we signed Gabbiadini shortly after he got injured?

I actually think there is a difference between "what we achieved this season" and "what our prospects are for the future". The first one looks at our position in the league and results in cups, and considers fixture congestion, spend etc as mitigating factors. The second considers squad harmony, areas for potential for improvement and areas ripe for deterioration. I don't think anyone disputes that in terms of the end result of this season, it hasn't been bad, maybe even pretty good under difficult circumstances. However, I'm sure most people on here feel that there are more reasons to be concerned with our current performances than excited. Add that to reports of general low morale amongst the players (rather than one bad egg), and our prospects of doing better next season don't look quite so rosy after all.

The season only finished two days ago, I wouldn't say it's becoming protracted just yet!

Pounds or minutes? (both, I know)

Agreed. As much as Targett looked promising when he first came into the team, his lack of pace was exposed pretty early and as a full back it's quite an important attribute, both defensively and going forward. I'd actually be more open to the idea of McQueen developing into a potential replacement (though still wary), as he has a bit more about him going forward without being a liability at the back.

Also means we'd have to pay millions in compensation to fire him. Looks like he's staying!

Agree with your general sentiment but isn't loyalty relevant for people who have earned it? For example, Adkins earned a bit of loyalty after getting us two successive promotions, Lundekvam earned a move to Celtic/Newcastle after he stuck with us during relegation (I think). Not sure where the 'loyalty' to Puel comes in, it's not like he has done anything to warrant it - and I don't mean that in a cold-hearted, dismissive way even though it sounds it! On the flip side you could argue that players/managers that have done well here in part owe it to the club for taking a chance on them, giving them a good environment etc. I'm not sure how well that argument stands up, but equally I don't think it's as black and white as "if we complain about players leaving, we shouldn't call for players to be sold".

I really think the FA Cup this season should be excluded from discussion. We had such fixture congestion anyway, and we played Arsenal three days after beating Liverpool to reach the EFL final. I don't normally agree with writing off a cup competition, but the circumstances this year were markedly different.

Les Reed strikes me as a man who doesn't like to admit he's in the wrong. And in an interview a little while ago, he said that when a manager is fired it actually shows that those who appointed him did a bad job. I don't think therefore that Reed would sack Puel just because a few fans are grumbling. Surely they knew what style of football Claude played before he joined, so our performances of late should either not be a surprise, or it's because the players aren't good enough. Neither of which would merit a firing. Therefore, unless there's been a notable lack of season ticket sales and there is pressure from the board, I can only think that if Reed pulls the trigger on Claude it's because there are problems behind the scenes that we don't know about (apart from the odd ITK rumour). And if that's the case, then it's hard to justify keeping him on. Especially now Moyes is available. Ok, that very last bit was a joke.

Doesn't matter how tall your players are if you cross it along the ground. If we did more of that I'd be only too happy to see lots of crossing.

Exactly right, very odd to dismiss it. Equally, people saying they'd rather be entertaining and finish 16th is surely just a case of greener grass. All bets are off if you are fighting relegation, and no-one wants to be midtable all year only to end up dropping to 16th. However, 9th or 10th instead of 8th with more entertaining football at home is not such an unrealistic argument. Furthermore, I think the real argument is, or should be, "8th is decent, but we are good enough to be closer to 7th, and we could do that if we implemented different tactics and showed more attacking intent". Who would disagree with that sentiment?

Thursday 1st June 14:00. Time to review with all the relevant people, identify and sound out potential replacements, start/end of the month, and my birthday. I doubt that final piece of info will have any bearing on the decision though.

As someone who comes across as a balanced (if erring on the positive side) poster, surely you concede that we've ended up in 8th as much due to the ineptitude of other teams around us than because we went out in a blaze of glory.

But as fans, is it really the league position we enjoy? Or is it when our team wins? Yes, you can be objectively happy, satisfied or discontented by a league position and what that means for the club, but even for those watching a stream, listening on the radio or even following ceefax at home, in terms of what makes you jump for joy or throw something across the room in anger is whether we win or lose. We have won 12 games this season, and lost 16. As a very simplistic way of looking at things, that means I have had more sh1t weekends than good ones. If you look at the table, all 10 teams from 8th to 17th have won 11 or 12 games. The difference between us and them is that we've battled out a few more draws. Not to be sniffed at, but not exactly the hallmark of a great campaign either. In fact, as there are 12 teams below us, we have done the equivalent of beating every team below us once, and failing to win any other games. Swap Everton with Stoke and this is precisely what we have done. I'm not quite sure what this suggests, depending on your side of the fence, you could argue either way. Last season though, we beat all but 2 teams in the division, and there was a sense that no matter who you were, Southampton was a tricky fixture. I think teams probably identify a game vs Southampton as a good chance for three points now. And as the stats suggest, more often than not they'd be right.

Not sure if that's an insult or a boast

Nice easy start please, we need to get some 0-0s on the board early.

After someone who can stick the ball in the net, players with creativity who can cope with the Premier League are the hardest to find. They also tend to be the most inconsistent of players! It's difficult when we don't have any other legitimate threats for the other team to worry about. I remember at the San Siro they stuck two men on Tadic in the second half and nullified him. My biggest frustration with him is his lack of resilience when things aren't suiting him. He doesn't seem to be able to, or want to stamp his own authority on a match. Bournemouth home was the best example of this. Brilliant in patches, missing in others, depending on how the game was fitting with how he likes to play. Having said that, can a team like ours afford to get rid of someone who is brilliant in patches. Without him we'd just have players who were "ok most of the time".

And he didn't even have the excuse of it being a cold day.