Unbelievable

Can those there tell our formation please?

We said the exact same thing pre Northampton.

Conceding in the first ten minutes has become a bit of a specialty like; happened 3 times out of 6 PL games so far this season. Coupled with generally being under the cosh immediately at the start of games this suggests that we just don't come out of the dressing room with the right mentality at all.

Aye, that tickled me too

It's a decent piece. I don't agree that Carr is held to be more responsible than McClaren or that Ashley is completely absolved of blame for the current mess, but apart from the questionable end verdicts it's a good article that correctly highlights that we are a clusterfuck from top to bottom.

He'll never walk like. We'd better hope he turns this shit around in the next few weeks and months or I can see the hatred build to Carvdew levels once more quite quickly.

FYP. #UB Hey!

If you're going to use those excuses for Carr then you have to use them for just about every manager at just about every club when it's those making transfer decisions. I think we'd slaughter our managers if they made as many poor buys as Carr is heavily involved in, Carr is a big part of our problem. On the balance I think we have brought in more good players than bad ones on his recommendation and that is, as I said earlier, after the likes of Llambias, Kinnear and Charnley have had a chance to fuck up any deals like for Aubameyang and Lacazette in recent years. Unless other scouts make significantly less misstakes under similar circumstances I remain unconvinced that our scouting is a major problem. I mean even looking at someone like Cabella: I don't think that is a bad spot per se. Handing him over to the fuckwit managers we employ however is a much bigger issue and a big part in him ultimately failing here.

I always find it difficult to appraise a (chief) scouts work without knowing what goes on in the boardroom. Were the failings (Cabella, Riviere, etc.) we signed his first choice options or did we ignore his advice on other players because they were too old (resale value) or too expensive? Did he have any say in how players are used by the manager, who gets binned and for how much (Ben Arfa, Mbiwa, Santon, Abeid, etc)? Does he have a say in who becomes the manager (Carver and now McClaren)? Depending on his influence and decision making power on these matters he's doing a very good job (advising to bring in fairly decent players on a showstring budget) or a catastrophic one (signing some players unsuited to the league, letting some go for peanuts and appointing two buffoons as manager). Personally I find it hard to believe that until very recently Carr had much power at all, and very easy to believe that many of the club's mistakes on the transfer market are more attributable to the likes of Llambias, Kinnear and Charnley who he has had to report to and who have had the ultimate say on transfer activity. But each to their own.

Was he not somehow the only/first scout who found out about Cabaye's limited transfer fee, which we profited from? Of all the problems we have Graham Carr is near the least of them, although if true that he wanted McClaren (who he is mates with I believe) that is a serious, serious mark against him.

How is it a knee-jerk if people express their very valid worries about this going down pretty much the way they expected/feared it would? Appoint an average manager and you will get average results at best. It's really not rocket science. It's knee jerk because at the first sign of any trouble, the response I see is 'sack the manager'. We have had 3 really poor performances this season and I don't personally believe 3 bad games warrants someone to lose their job. Three "really poor performances" out of six Premier League games mind you, so a 50% rate and particularly in games where you would normally expect a Newcastle game to get something too. Let's face facts here, he's had a difficult start to the season on paper but he's made an absolute dog's meal of it too. If this continues questions need to be asked. How long do you give him before asking questions. I have said before I would not sack him before the end of the season unless we are in serious danger of going down. If things don't pick up in the next few weeks we could already be cut adrift and need a run of wins or good draws against stronger opposition somewhere down the line similar to the one we had last October/November or the one Leicester had at the end of last season. The pressure is definitely on McClaren now whether you like it or not.

I don't know about you like, but I can't be done with arguments about whose shit out of those three poor excuses of managers is a darker shade of brown. I would like to see something served up some day soon that doesn't look like the shit we have been getting for the past three and a bit seasons. I mean, for all this talk of a more pleasing on the eye type of football that McClaren was supposed to bring, I just can't see it at all.

How is it a knee-jerk if people express their very valid worries about this going down pretty much the way they expected/feared it would? Appoint an average manager and you will get average results at best. It's really not rocket science.

Has this cunt missed a minute under McClaren yet? I don't think he has, has he? I remember thinking we got ourselves a decent upgrade for Gosling's position in the squad on a free when he signed. Had I known then what I know now I would have been raging. How can we have let such an average football player become not only undroppable, but unsub-able too, and under three succesive "managers" no less?

The manager even moreso

McClaren needs to be ashamed of himself here. Absolute tripe served up.

If the players are deployed correctly, without a fucking doubt.

Janmaat's died

Pen ffs

Aarons on at left back?

Berghuis Didn't even realise he had signed for Watford. Good player for them!

Cisse is off and we look slightly more competent going forward you say?

A better manager would get goals from this lot, that's the whole point.