Unbelievable

Pick a team from our players that you think would get midtable Krul Janmaat Mbemba Colo Haidara Tiote Sissoko Wijnaldum Thauvin Perez Mitrovic Bench: Elliot/Darlow, Lascelles, Dummett, Anita/Colback, Aarons, De Jong, Cisse Look, it's not good enough for where I want NUFC to be and there are certainly huge weaknesses to the squad, but it should be adequate enough to compete for 10-12th alongside the likes of West Brom, West Ham and the likes.

Hahaha

Our overall squad is quite bad, but it includes some pretty good players. Just too many glaring weaknesses for the end result to be good. Depends on what you would define as a good end result really. Very few people would have said this squad is so bad relegation is unavoidable. If we go down or finish no higher than last season there is no way anyone can convince me MClaren hasn't failed to get the best of the tools at his disposal.

Won't play until he's signed a new deal imo, so that will probably mean never again.

I'd agree with all of that Gottlob, but I still don't accept that our squad is awful. The way we are playing is awful alright.

That paedo free kick

Until we've seen our best players in a system that suits their qualities failing I will continue to believe these are good enough for midtable in this league. Evidently, no left hand side, two defensive midfielders, four central midfielders and no wingers does not get the best out of this squad. Why McClaren keeps at it begars belief really.

Aye, not like he was pulled up by the press or the fans for talking shit. Still isn't.

I think people overestimate what 14m will get you in the PL this January, especially considering next season's tv money at stake.

The fuck was that?

Aye, welcome back ManDoon!

Only started watching second half but Leicester have started the half very brightly. God, I wish they win the league to stuff it in all the rich clubs' faces and show what can be achieved with a little bit of organisation, belief and ambition.

So much positivity in that thread

Oh my God. RIP Pavel :'(

HBA was at Hull for the first half of last season wasn't he? It was the club's own decision to get rid, so no sympathy, but he wasn't physically available to Pardew.

Erm, so if that is the case why did we buy him in the first place? Isn't McClaren on the board and a member of our so-called transfer committee?

His gameplan is no different to Pardew's in that we basically sit deep in our own half and hope for a break up front, only the execution is slightly different in that we try to pass more rather than lump it long. It's producing few chances and fewer goals. It might sneak a couple of surprise results against better teams, but against other struggling teams it's like crossing your fingers and hoping we take our chance and they don't. I agree. The most discernible difference for me is that we now use Sissoko and Wijnaldum's driving runs from the edge of our own penalty box to break away more as opposed to aimlessly lumping it forward, but what we are seeing is a million fucking miles away from the possession football that McClaren prides himself on. In fact, our possession stats are probably very similar and this approach is helping us create even less chances per game. If nothing else I was hoping McClaren might make usplay a bit more attractive football again, but even that would be debatable now.

Absolutely, or Wijnaldum a bit further back alongside Sissoko but both with license to go forward (protected by one proper defensive midfield player).

Wasn't Thauvin easily our best player in that cup game against Northampton (I know, not exactly great opposition)? If our transfer strategy is to bring in promising players from abroad with the objective to sell them at a profit I completely fail to understand why we're letting a 12 million pound new signing rot on the bench when he should be getting used to the league and while other players are stinking the place out. As you say Dave, how will he ever be ready when he isn't given the pitch time to adapt? Anyway, I think the damage is already done and I suspect if the lad has any intelligence about him he'll want out at the earliest opportunity as we'll be ruining whatever is left of his career as we've done to so many others before him.

Not sure about that. The league is rubbish and Norwich/Bournemouth could easily go down with Villa (who have all but assured their Championship berth) and the mackems. In any case, 7 points out of the last 15 available may be enough evidence for Ashley that things are moving in the right direction without further need for his intervention. Two more points might have been had but for late-ish goals also (ignoring performances/deservedness etc). It'd be a gamble on his part, but one I think he is tight enough to take a punt on. This wouldn't surprise me one bit. I still believe that gamble would probably pay off too.

Aye, I noticed that as well, odd but a bit encouraging. It's obviously because of his class mental strength techniques. "What techniques do you employ to make sure you stay focused for the full 90 minutes?" "Normally just set myself a target to get through to 45 minutes preferably with a clean sheet, if not and I let a goal in then I’m determined to make it just that one goal, if another goal goes in then just to make it two goals and so on and so forth. Then just carry on through the match"

We'll just have to agree to disagree. Pardew, as horrifically useless as he was as a manager and as much as it pains me to admit it, had an arguably worse squad than this sitting midtable on five points more this time last season. There is a reason that the three different managers you mention weren't employed by clubs at this level when we hang our hats on them. Only at this club would it be perceivable to not sack Pardew after underachieving for so long, then replace him with fucking John Carver to piss away another half a season (and almost PL survival) to wait for Steve McClaren. All three are mediocre managers at best. Buy aye, let's continue replacing the players until it clicks, that will work.

If the players are not good enough how do you expect a manger to do well ? Conversely, if the manager is not good enough and keeps playing players out of position, deploying negative tactics and destroying players' confidence as our last three incumbents have done, how do you expect the players to do well? It works both ways. The thing I just don't understand is that it is cheaper and more effective to try and appoint a better manager to improve results than it is to keep throwing money at getting better players in. That said, we are doing neither, but a better manager could make a huge difference for a relatively minimal outlay. Sadly though, pedigree as a manager is fairly low on our list of priorities when we occasionally find ourselves in a position to make an upgrade.

So let's say out of the current 20 Premier League managers you believe that more than half of them would not have us higher up than 17th with less than a point per game?