Theregulars

Sure, but my opinion is that your opinion has no basis in fact and could only really be reached by an imbecile.

There is a simple inability to execute the basics of football today. Just desperate for a break, can’t believe how quickly things are unravelling for us.

But to be clear you think Mourinho would be in his depth?

Continue jogging

The performance is getting worse. We’ve been bullied and have taken it without much of a fight.

Off you jog

The reality here is that we’ve been comfortably outplayed. Really disappointing performance

Just our fucking luck atm.

Constantly launching the ball back to the opposition from defence as well, really rank football.

This is trash. No basic discipline. Completely fallen for the emotion of the occasion. Immature performance in my view.

Waste of a good chance that

Struggling to defend this.

Well this is just as poor!

This isn’t good enough…

We look pedestrian again, there’s a real lack of urgency and penetration. Not sure from here

Point away at West Ham looks like a better result the more time that passes. Good side.

Feels like the first time in months we have an actual squad of sorts available, with options to change and improve. Hopefully beginning of light at tunnel’s end.

Absolutely something of Dexter and Alan Strang about him, creepazoid.

They never should have announced he had a season left - that was the stupidest part of a stupid decision/process.

I differ on Bobby - I hadn't lost faith and felt it was a rancid decision at the time. I don't think he lost control, I think he suffered for lack of continued investment in the team so it couldn't evolve. Similar to the strange debate currently being had on Eddie Howe, shouldn't the Marseille semi-final be given a good chunk of context? A lot of our key players were missing which wasn't the case for the other team. There were players who were challenging his authority because frustration boiled over about early exit from the CL and then not being able to get back there in my view - at that point, a sensible chairman or board would have backed him and either recycled the players giving him grief or examined the situation and found another manager who would suit the playing staff. Let's be fair - did we do any better for backing Jermaine fucking Jenas and Kieron Dyer over Robson? We ended up with Souness and 2 decades of nonsense. I always thought at the time that people calling for Robson's head - and I think there were a lot, but I never thought majority of the fanbase - didn't know what they were wishing for and had short-term delusions of grandeur. Same thing happening with Howe now to some extent - he has some small flaws to work out but, to use the frame of the debate, I'd rate him as "well on the way to being elite, provided he learns from mistakes". I personally think he'll be a big name in European football for a long time.

He’s a left back who can play central midfield, no?

Hall isn't a winger and hasn't played there much / at all; he has said he doesn't yet trust him defensively; Ritchie is a winger and has had the best part of a decade being managed by Howe, so actually it makes quite a lot of sense to bring him on in circumstances where our aim (for whatever reason, I think fatigue but that's apparently not good for some people) was to keep shape and defend well - he can hold that shape and do his defensive work. I sometimes think there's a tendency to criticise the manager because it makes one feel like they have some agency or control over something that hasn't worked out as they wanted.

Needs a break. Not reliable at the minute.

Nothing - absolutely nothing - is going our way, it’s so tedious. Of course they won on penalties after that refereeing performance.

We need to see January for what it is, a chance to start again and turn the page on some of the most historically unparalleled bad luck going. Get a load of new faces in and move on.