afar

I fast forwarded my PVR through the second half. Thought we were actually pretty good in the first half, damn what happened.

I've just finished watching the game, got to say he was my man of the match, great to see a centre forward putting himself about for us once again, deserved a goal but his passion and determination was infectious, tremendous performance, the goals will come with this attitude and some better service of course.

He simply isn't ready yet, should stay where he is and get a full season of first team football under his belt, bolster his confidence and come back here next season stronger and wiser. Absolutely agree. Though having said that, I have no doubt he would be more effective in this team that Papis Bloody Cisse is right now.

Terrible appointment, we all said so at the time. And this is what you get, I didn't think he would be this bad though, I didn't think this squad was relegation fodder but he's got them playing that way. It's not good enough, it's Carver like management right now. For our PL status he needs to go and go soon !!

I'm disgusted with this team right now, it started pre-season, I know result mean nothing, blah, blah, blah, but you could see we had problems back then and nothing has changed since. McClaren has had 14 games now (including pre-season) we've won 3 of them against Gateshead, Sacremento and Northampton !!! FFS that's terrible. Flores has been in the job less time than him has his team playing well and picking up points, no more excuses for needing time in my book.

Don't get me wrong, I have seen the table, and believe me, after the last four years I can easily identify a side destined to tickle the gusset of relegation, if not actually plunge into it, but I really don't think you can tell anything after so few games. There are teams who have looked better than expected so far, and there are others that have looked worse, it needs at least nother month to start to get an idea how things might pan out. Oh I agree it's way too early, but after the first 5 games, the only team I think that's looked as bad as us is Sunderland, and that's based on their first couple of games, even they've improved since then. We haven't. We've defended well against Manure and Arsenal, had a decent first 75 mins against Southampton but from an offensive point of view, we've shown nothing most of the season. We aren't going to win many matches if we can't sort that out. The promoted teams this year seem to be a bit more prepared to survive, none of them look like locks to go down, that puts more pressure on the teams that narrowly escaped last year, namely us, the Mackems and your team. I haven't seen a lot of Villa this year but when I've seen them, there seems to be an energy about their play, there might be problems defensively there, I don't know and looks like luck has been in short supply, but from the outside it appears that there is reason for hope. The Mackems chance for survival for me is reliant on whether M'Villa and Lens can reshape that team and whether Defoe keeps banging them in. Maybe it's my natural toon pessimism, but I just don't see any signs that we can settle down and things start becoming a bit more positive. We are short by at least 3 key positions in my mind, we have a horribly unbalanced line up that is built with the sole purpose not to lose (which with the exception of Manure, we are not very good at). I don't think we have that adaptability within the squad to change when we play the weaker teams in the division to get the points we will need. Watford again for us is the key test, McClaren needs to pick a team to win that game if he continues with his current line up, then we are f***ed !!

Think you're in for a big shock - we are in deep s*** already and there is no way in hell it's going to change with this manager. Any team who can't keep clean sheets and can't score is in serious trouble and boy are we not. We're 5 games into the season, we've played Man U away, Southampton and Arsenal at home and did pretty well in all those games. Calm the f*** down. Exactly This was my thinking basically. I was quite positive before West Ham, so I'm trying to remember that. We were unusually s*** in that game but I don't think it means we're finished. Obviously we need to start picking up points ASAP. And that's the problem, knowing us we'll probably only draw against Watford, that may keep us at the bottom of the league, certainly still in the bottom 3, then we have Man city and Chelsea. Clearly from the early evidence McClaren won't have us set up to go for a win there, Chelsea will have turned their form around we'll be more than happy to assist them I'm sure. So after 8 games we'll still be looking for that first win on 3 points at the foot of the table. Norwich, mackems, Stoke, Bournemouth and Leicester up next, all games we would expect to pick up something from but now we are rooted at the bottom of the league those games become so much harder.

Right now, all I can see is relegation, I don't see 3 other teams in the division worse than us atm. Watford will be a great yardstick, if we can't beat them at home then we are not going to pick up too many points this season.

That's what I would do. I know people will say we need a ball winner in the middle but bloody hell what have Anita and Colback been doing for us this season ? If we can't try this against one of the promoted clubs at home then I don't think we deserve to be in the league.

We've been shocking by and large since both of them signed TBH True but one of them plays every minute of every game he's eligible for !

It's amazing how he continues to avoid any criticism. He had no right to stay on the pitch tonight but he did. Even in the pre game Andy Townsend said "Not sure about that midfield combination, Colback is a good player but Anita....". It seems to happen with everyone outside of this forum, it's like we live in an alternate universe. I don't think it's any coincidence that we've been consistently shocking ever since this bloke signed for us.

If we're in the bottom 6 come February then he'll lose his job imo. What do you base that on? Not being an arse, like. Just seems highly unlikely given how early we'd be into his tenure and, obviously, recent historical events suggesting that even the worst managers are f***ing bulletproof as long as they've got a contract going forward. We'd have to be rock stoney bottom in April to see any movement in the dugout, imo. Ashley can't afford to get relegated this season. He'll do anything to avoid it and if it looks likely then we'll bin him in the hope the new bloke gets a few wins, staying up is all that has ever mattered. We kind of thought that last year, but he still rolled the dice with Carver and kept the useless git in charge despite the run he went on. I doubt McClaren will go unless we fail to win a game before the new year.

Dunno why people are still picking Cisse in their teams, seriously the guy is a waste of a shirt right now. I would rather put an untested kid in there than him right now.

For sure, I think it's another Sissoko problem, we've clearly got a talented player but we've no clue how or where to play them. Maybe we can carry one of these types but now looks like we have two.

The only positive from last season has been the possession stats, but really too many negatives so far. We are set up not to get beat, but have been beaten 3 out of the 5 times we've played. We have zero cutting edge, zero. The players look devoid of ideas and it's just really more of the sole destroying stuff of last year. We are not getting out of the bottom 3 all season unless something changes and changes fast.

He's just a waste of a shirt right now, has been for a long while, should have taken any offer we got for him and put that towards Austin or anyone else tbh.

Personally think he's been part of the problem so far. Outside the goal against Southampton, he's been average at best, looking at him to bring the attacking edge to a central midfield three of Colback, Anita and himself and he's not done that. Very disappointed with him so far. Obviously needs time, but when you see the likes of Payet tonight who has had the same amount of PL experience you start to wonder.

The expectantion aren't so fucking high ffs

Cisse still on ?

Anita aways gets the hook ahead of Colback, I dunno

It was so obviously a bad appointment, with so many other better more progressive options out there for us. Now we are stuck with him, they have proven in the past that they'll stick with the man in charge. best we can hope for is that we stay up this yea somehow, right now doesn't look good.

We are gonna be bottom of the league for a long long time at this rate

We are so fucking Shit !!

2nd bottom of the league is the stark reality of the situation. whether we have had a tough start or played well in those games is immaterial if we don't start picking up some points, Watford and West Ham are huge games for us now, we are not getting anything against Man City or Chelsea, even if we win both those games we'll be on 8 points after 8 games that's relegation form.

All neutrals I know said it was a red card. All the neutrals you know are bitches. I've seen two sets of summarizers, the nbc ones and the ones on TSN over here, neither are generally favourable to us. Both sets thought it was a yellow card offence. So I have no idea where this comment of "most neutrals think it was a red" comes from, that's complete bollocks. It was a clumsy mistimed challenge, there was little intent there no pre meditation, referee grossly overeacted and basically ruined the game. That's as one sided a refereeing performance as you are likely to see.