Cronky

This issue is fully worthy of its own thread. The club is huge and it's messing everything up in quite a unique way. It's fascinating.

They didn't win the top division between 1990 and 2020, which come to think of it, is a 30 year gap. They had won it 10 times in the 15 years before 1990. That's the slipping down that I was referring to.

Diallo would be good for one of our problem positions, but I don't think they'd let him go. It looks like we need another CB, and I'd consider De Ligt or Yoro, depending on the price. Of the ones who they are likely to let go, I rate Garnacho, but we don't need a left-sided winger.

That's interesting, because last night Gary Neville was saying that none of the Man U players would get into our eleven. I think that's nonsense. Without getting into all the debates about individuals, all of those players could come under consideration. Our only untouchables are Isak and Bruno. What we saw last night, and particularly in the first 20 minutes, was a team against 11 individuals.

When a club slips down after a long period of success, it's difficult to recover. I saw that with Man U after Busby's departure, and with Liverpool during the 20 or so years before Klopp. There's a huge pressure to be successful again, and patience is in short supply. It's almost like the club tries too hard. Man U post-Fergie are going through the same thing. Rumour has it that Amorim was looked at by other Premiership clubs, who then decided against, for whatever reason, and of course Ashworth was a doubter. It feels like Ratcliffe decided that this guy was a genius who could do something exceptional. The whole decision has impatience at its root, and they're paying the price.

I can't see that 3-4-3 is some magic formula that will in itself give a team an advantage. Managers in the Premiership are experienced and will know about the pluses and minuses of each system. Amorim isn't going to surprise anyone, and if he does survive long enough to get the players he needs to make it work, will it really be worth waiting for? Players need to have faith in what their manager is trying to get them to do, and at the moment it's not there. It's difficult enough for a manager to impose a new system on a team, but when he doesn't have the players to make it function, it just looks like a waste of time.

I think our players tired in the second half, and in the final section of the first. Eddie has played practically the same team for the last few matches, and they looked like they needed a rest. Otherwise it would have been a massacre. Man U were so bad in the first twenty minutes that it was weird. We just cut right through them.

I ought to be a lot more happy, i know, but we stopped attacking the second half. It's worked out all right, but if they'd got a goal back it would have got tasty. Their manager threw it away in the first half with a poor selection. We could have been 4-0 up.

I think we need to stay positive in possession and keep making runs forward. We started to look a bit laid back. If they get one goal, they'll get the crowd right behind them.

Emery just doesn't see why he should be losing to this ordinary English manager and his bog-standard players.

On his presentation, I watched 12 minutes of a press conference and virtually all the time he was literally wringing his hands. I've also seen him seated on the sidelines, head down in a picture of misery, staring at the ground. It's not just the media distorting things. And while there may well be lots of positive messages, it's not what you say, it's the way that you say it. I can't see that it's so necessary to implement his system right away. He can surely just use the existing system, and give himself time to get to know the players and strike up good relationships with them. His current state of urgency just looks like insecurity and an anxious need to stick with what is familiar ground to him. Eddie Howe has spoken of the peculiar isolation which attaches to the position of Head Coach / Manager. The responsibility is huge, but the people above you have often never been in your position at all, and can only offer limited advice and support. I think Amorim is really feeling that at the moment.

I think he just likes to throw his weight around.

It's not just the manager though, it's the situation in which he finds himself. Whether it's all salvagable I doubt, but if so, I think three things need to happen. 1) His body language and his public statements need to be a lot more positive, whatever he's feeling inside. Stuff like 'one of the worst situations in the club's history' will not help to inspire the players. Or himself for that matter. 2) I think his project of bringing in a new system has to be parked until the summer, when he'll have more opportunity to change the squad around. If his current time is as restricted as he says, it makes no sense to institute major changes. Harry Maguire has talked about concentrating on the basics, and that sounds sensible to me. At the moment, it looks like a classic case of a new manager trying to change too much too soon. 3) He needs to get rid of Rashford. That won't be easy, because no club in their right mind is going to shell out a £50m transfer fee and 300 grand a week in wages. He will need the support of those above him, who won't like taking the hit. There also seem to be journos out there who are happy to keep this pot boiling by taking Rashford's side. However, you have a senior player who is not pulling his weight and who has reacted to being dropped by saying he wants to move. It's a team game and he has to go. Good luck (after Monday).

Interesting, but you never saw Eddie with his head in his hands, staring at the ground, or moaning about difficult the job was. He always projected faith in his players and faith in himself.

Amorim looks and sounds like he's overwhelmed. He's got to stop going on about how difficult the job is.

The best manager in the world will fail if he's put in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I can't see things getting sorted out any time soon. They have a fan in charge of the football side, and he's made a bad choice of manager. I don't think they've got much money to spend, and they look a bad proposition for any player who is good enough to have other options.

In which case I think they're pushing at an open door.

Why has Osimhen ended up on loan in the Turkish League, at what should be the peak of his career? He's one of the top three strikers in the world, but I wonder if there's a problem.

Amorim has issued the inspiring observation that this might be one of the lowest moments in the club's history. I think that might also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Please can someone get this guy to shut up. I'm beginning to feel sorry for them and I don't like the feeling.

Firstly, I appreciate your willingness to come on here and face the enemy. I don’t think you’ve addressed my point about Amorim’s attitude on the touchline. Honesty is one thing, showing despair is another. Thank you for the info on Garnacho, but it does reinforce my point. What the player did was clearly a disciplinary issue so why did Amorim try to assert that it wasn’t? If you can’t be honest, then it’s better to say nothing rather than end up lying. What’s worse, he hinted about the truth in his public statement. It feels inept to me. On Rashford, you have my sympathy. He is a good player but not a great one, yet somehow he’s ended up with a great player’s contract and is not delivering. That’s a problem without a solution because getting rid of him won’t be easy. I don’t think he’ll want to go to Saudi. A final point - with Garnacho and Diallo you could have a deadly wing combination for many years. However, I think that would only work in a 4-4-2 because I can’t see that you could play both as wing backs. A manager who is wedded to only one formation may not be what you need.

I think when Ratcliffe picked Amorim it was a supporter's choice rather than a professional's. He was acting on the dream of landing the next Mourinho or Guardiola, rather than looking for someone of more relevant experience. More than once, Amorim has looked the picture of despair on the touchline. Surely he's got to put on a more positive face in public. He seems to have tied himself in verbal knots over the Rashford / Garnacho situation, claiming that they haven't been dropped for disciplinary reasons when they clearly have. It's ended up with Rashford saying he wants to go and Amorim saying he wants him to stay, despite the fact that Man U would be well rid of him. I'm not sure why he picked on Garnacho, who, from what I've seen, gives his all and is a talent worth nurturing. He may have lost him now. Amorim seems a nice guy in a role which needed a bit of a bastard. He seems to be oscillating between the two.

We've been recruiting young players who show potential for the future from all over the world and that opportunity may occur again in January, but what I think people are hoping for is a player who can fit into the first team almost immediately. I think there are several reasons why Eddie has wanted to damp down expectations of that happening. One factor is that a couple of years ago, there were several areas that needed strengthening, so there were plenty of options. Now I think we're only looking at centre back and right-sided forward. Furthermore, we're unlikely to win a transfer battle with a Champions League club, and the player's current club needs to be willing to sell half way through the season. We've done well in picking up players of quality whose form has dipped a bit, and where the bigger clubs' interest has faded as a result (eg Isak, Gordon, Tonali). That would still be a possibility for January, I'd have thought, but overall we may be looking for a needle in a haystack here. What came across to me in Eddie's interview on Match of the Day is that he genuinely feels he can get more out of the current team, and that there's no need right now to buy in haste or take a risk. Tonali has found his feet at last, Bruno is pushed further forward, and the dynamic of the team is changing. Some of our attacking play in the last three weeks has probably been the best I've seen since Eddie arrived.

Arguably the best striker in the world at the moment. Haaland is struggling, and Osimhen's career seems to have stalled in Turkey.

Okay, I've looked at the clip again. Eddie actually said that we 'probably' wouldn't be looking to bring anyone in from outside, so I'll modify my reaction. He's trying to dampen expectations, but in a perfectly realistic way. I think the main issue that the club is struggling with is that in order to bring in a player who will improve the first team at this point, it would need to be someone of Champions League standard, and what player of CL standard is going to choose a club which doesn't look like they'll qualify for the CL? They would have other options. We could either over-pay to overcome that obstacle, or bring in someone who is not quite of the standard that we'd like, and neither of those possibilities are tempting.