midds

Approaching the 4th anniversary of last time we had he opportunity to play against fewer men in the PL. Boxing Day 2013, Stoke at home (won 5-1) was the last time a PL ref thought that an opponent of NUFC had committed an isolated red card offence. Fuck knows how many reds we've been shown in those 4 years, I bet it's nearly 20.

This is the crux of it. They seem to want to stoke things up and don't like it when they don't get the reaction they expect and want. It's almost as if the fanbase, largely en masse, have considered all of the available information and blame correctly at the foot of the owner rather than the manager. Which is obviously against fan regulations which clearly state that the manager should be sacked for the first poor run of results.

Proper. Baller.

I think we all know how this one will pan out....

There are a lot of poor teams in the league and it's still very compact down there. We all know we're shit and crying out for investment. There's the prospect of that happening in January and if we get a couple of difference makers then I'm confident we'll be better than 3 other teams. It's not head in the sand and ignoring things it's looking at where we'd be if we get a break or two and get 7 points from 9 or something like that.

Fully expecting a fucking good hiding in this. Zero faith in them holding out for more than 15 mins.

French for water. Nice.

I don't have the time of day for any fucker who sits there thinking 'results are shit, we need to sack him, we'll be better off without him, he's the reason we're losing games.' He's not beyond criticism but he's not the problem and never has been.

Why are you being like this? You're always like this when you've had a drink.

No pissing about this window. No buying for tomorrow, we need quality right now and if we need to pay through the nose to get it then so be it. No excuses, no stalling, no lowballing, pay the money and get a black and white shirt on them in the first week in Jan. Striker, number 10, GK and LB are absolute priorities. CM and RB would be next.

We all know the context behind this summer and it can't be ignored. But at some point the question is going to be asked about his ability to organise, drill, motivate and inspire the squad he's got to work with. Lack of quality is annoying but a lack of effort and desire to put it right is unforgivable. It looked like they just gave up tonight, heads went down and they went through the motions which is where you need some direction from the dugout. I think it will get better and we won't go down but he needs to deal with this situation right fucking now. We look shot to bits and some of that is down to him, he's not perfect or bulletproof and he's the manager of this squad.

We're in total free fall and, worryingly, he looks absolutely clueless about how to stop or rectify it. Individual errors are costing us but a lack of effort, motivation, confidence needs to be addressed and that's his job. He may have a very poor squad to pick from but there's no excuse for looking as desperately poor and demoralised as we currently do. We're the side everyone wants to play at the minute. It'll get worse before it gets better too. Just got to hope that other clubs lose too and we buy the right striker who comes in and fires immediately. The league is tight and a few wins will leapfrog 7 clubs so it's not the time to shit the bed just yet but we look wank. Hold firm, grit your teeth, take the punches and come back swinging in January.

The stars are aligning, the gods have awoken. Shit is happening.

For me he kind of is to be honest. Partly because any criticism directed at him is diverted from where it truly belongs, but also because he's by a considerable margin the best manager we'll ever get under this regime. If we get taken over, he spends 50 million+ on new players and still isn't getting results then I might have a few words to say, but until then for me he's bulletproof. He’s not like no person is he is making some poor decisions and should be open to question about it. Everyone has sympathy with the restrictions the fat c*** has put to him but he certainly still isn’t beyond criticism when deserved. The team selection and tactics used in the last couple of months certainly deserves questions being asked. I keep saying he is not a god. Just don’t understand why there are many supporters seem disgusted when a managers decisions are being questioned when a total of 6 points out of 33 has been accumulated over the last 11 games surely any manager would be under the same scrutiny at any club given the same circumstances. That's not true though. I've not heard one media pundit question his credentials. Most seem to think the squad is championship standard and he needs to be given the money to strengthen to avoid relegation. Tony Cottee has had a few digs but your point stands.

Manager has just joined Dortmund too, oddly enough. Imagine that in this country. It's weird how things can be so different culturally across the major leagues. Is he a anstandig fussball Mann?

If you worked in an abattoir then you'd see animals every day, so no. Wouldn't feel like a day out.

If there's one thing that pisses me off about football it's the desire to just collapse as soon as any sort of contact is made. The fuckers are appealing for a pen before they've even hit the deck. Any touch to any body part = theatrical collapse to the ground. Doesn't help when you've got pundits saying that "he had a right to go down" or "he's been clever" too. Contact =/= foul =/= collapse in a heap.

Looking for players with "a little bit of magic" in January.

The fact they're all talking at all is encouraging. The fact they're talking face to face, in public and the atmosphere seems positive and amicable would suggest it's (a) going to happen and (b) fairly soon.

As long as they're still talking and discussing things then I'll stay hopeful. Keema naan!

Should have had a shit in it, mackem stylee.

He scored when we played them iirc Until I read his name 10 seconds ago I forgot he even existed. He'll be devastated.

See this is what I mean. I'm talking about the best back 4 plus keeper you could assemble, all things considered. I'd love to go for Ramos at CB but mainly for his goals at corners, bringing the ball out of defence I'd perhaps go for Luiz but they've both got fundamental flaws as CBs. It's difficult.