Dan Gleebals

Hard to see how we are going to be on anything more than 11 points after 15 games which is clearly relegation form. He does not have the arrogant self deluded mindset that Pardew had so I can see him walking (rather than being pushed at that stage) if things do not turn around by then. To effectively be admitting he is at a loss as to what to do is very worrying so early in the season. A positive (ish) first four games has completely unravelled itself in the last 2. He really needs to go all out in the cup to get some confidence.

He definitely needs to change his approach and fast. Yes, conceding 60+ goals last season needs to be addressed but IMO, we are essentially playing to contain the other team and its simply not working. We are essentially saying to teams "safety first" which is allowing them to push further up the field, which when mistakes are inevitably made by Anita/Colback or even Gini - we are in big trouble. When we try and initiate an attacking move, Colback and Anita are nowhere to be seen most of the time which creates space for the counter, which teams are exploiting when our moves break down. Mitrovic, when back, is going to need service and on the current showing, he is simply not going to get it. Given our team, it seems pretty obvious that 4-4-2 would be a better option for us or even 4-1-1 with De Jong or Perez playing off him. Or a pure 4-3-3 with two banks of 3 Two defensive players is really hurting us. Colback should be a sub at most. My choice would be Sissoko Anita Gini Perez Cisse/Mitrovic Aarons or Thavin

Confirmed. mcClaren is no better than pardew. He is orange blind for a start.

Anita off? Oh my - done nothing wrong. Ginger twat still on. Starting to dislike McClaren already

Did we really spend 50m?? On monster munch?. What a load of shit. Make some changes fez.

Change the formation for ffs. This is NOT working.

Looking forward to this. Was going to this but cannot now so guaranteed we will play really well and win - always happens. Would really like to see us keep 11 men on the pitch and really go for this lot.

I would hate him to get the England job. He would probably be the the most jammy bastard ever and win something and that would forever piss me off and give the pro pardew contingent a rather large stick to poke us with. No thanks. Rather see him fail spectacularly with Palace.

A good season from him and he does well at the Euro's and I would not have an issue with him moving on. He has 30 odd caps so he is naturally going to want CL football and you cannot really argue with that. If we get north of £20M for him, that would represent good business for the club as he was virtually free and he would be 27, which is our terms is getting on a bit!

No chance they will win the title, not convinced they are top 4 either. Then again, Arsenal and Chelsea don't look great currently.

Think that says more about the quality of our deadwood! Not surprised they are still here TBH, especially as anyone mad enough to consider them will get them some fo them for nothing next summer.

I would actually shit on it, in public.

In a way guess the break has come at a good time. He can forget about this, serve his ban over the next 3 games after the break and hopefully by then the media reaction to all of this will have calmed down and he can start again. No doubt though that the club really need to manage him well over the next 10 or so games he plays so he is getting the right press, he can kick on then.

How to motivate a player To be fair its the right tactic really - they get full value if/when he goes and he plays well this season to get to the Euro's. Guess they all win really - no doubt he will bump his cash up too.

The following all out of contract next summer. Williamson Obertan Elliot Taylor Marveaux Ferguson Hard to justify any of the above getting new contracts. The combined contracts of all of them whilst not excessive still adds up so should free up some money and space in the squad to improve. The players in bold definitely need upgrading. That and an additional striker, LB and cover for RB and we have a much stronger squad.

After Levy spent the modric and bale money on pretty poor additions, I think he is being a lot more cautious now. He is definitely trying it on which is clearly not going down very well which can only be a good thing IMO.

After the shambles of last season it is hard to say really. I think all of the new players add something to the squad but overall the squad is not strong enough for top 8 at the moment. Our first 11-14 players should be able to achieve top 10 but any injuries to key players and we might struggle. If we can improve our over style, be harder to beat and hit top 10 this year I will be VERY happy. We have a few players out of contract next summer so assuming we replace them with better players then top 8 next season might be achievable - that said, all the clubs we are in theory competing with have spent this summer so who knows. Should be interesting to see how it all pans out. I do think we need to get some wins on the board ASAP though to start building momentum. For me, we need to change the starting 11 to do this. Next three games, I would go with: Krul Janmaat Mbemba Colo Haidara Anita Sissoko Wijnaldum Thavin Cisse Perez

If we are "along way from where we want to be" that bodes very well IMO. The players are talking about it as well so he has obviously raised the bar a lot higher than the last incuntbent.

Media slays the both of them. Shocking

Pulis or pardew? Shudder

YES PLEASE. He would make a massive difference down the left for sure. Haidara as back up.

Hard not too see the positives from yesterday; - some of the football was the best its been for a long time, can only get better as they get used to the style of McClaren - draw against a good side who are probably ahead of us fitness wise - they would have won that game last season. Most will be happy with that. - very encouraging start for the new lads overall Negatives - defence still suspect, especially at set pieces/balls coming in from the wider areas - bench looks good but the players on it not really up to speed at all (Tiote/ De Jong) Overall, think things will get better and very encouraging to know we have Perez and Aarons in the mix as they will no doubt become regular players in the team IMO. I think McClaren is trying to manage both of them into the team for maximum effect. Alot to work on still as they next 7 games are really not easy at all but playing the big teams first may not be a bad thing - none of which looked entirely convincing at the weekend. Need to get some rest, work hard and get ready for a tough trip to Swansea. I would definitely take a draw down there. Gomis and Ayew are going to be all over us!

What's the atmosphere like?

You joking?

3 mins gone