KaKa

You do need some movement and athleticism to beat us easily though, those are the teams we struggle most against. If Everton are sluggish we could grind out something.

 

Not that I care, but...

 

Good analysis. I don't see them overrunning us like Villa or Leeds, but they have better players who are probably aware of their roles, which means they'll dominate enough to win against our hopeless and disorganised rabble.

If they play Digne, Coleman, Richarlison, Doucore and Calvert-Lewin that is more than enough athleticism and running to get in behind us both out wide and through the middle.

I’m no so sure pinning our hopes on Jones will save us either. Need a proper manager to come in and rebuild the damage Bruce has done. Could be too late already

 

Just a change in the way we set up and play might be enough. It’s a gamble which could go either way but I really believe Bruce is that bad, just him being out the way might get the little bounce we need to stay up.

 

Would agree normally, but by all accounts Jones is more of a front foot manager, and that was definitely the way at Bournemouth. I'm concerned that Rafa bought players for a more counter attacking style, not sure if the players will be able to adapt to a totally different way of playing. I could see it just causing more confusion.

 

Bournemouth and Luton fans say he loves 5 at the back. Ultimately with Bournemouth that’s not his call

Interesting. Martinez uses that for Belgium too, so some of that influence as well I imagine.

We just don't have the central midfielders for that setup IMO, as in a 3-4-2-1 they would need to be 2 that are hard working, mobile and decent with the ball.

I guess this then means we still won't see ASM, Almiron and Fraser playing off Wilson, and I really think that is our best bet in turning things around.

Neil[/member]

As long as Calvert-Lewin, Digne and James are on that pitch, regardless of how bad anything might be working for you, I cannot see you not capitalising.

Never mind Richarlison and Doucore who are also likely to give us problems just off the fact they have some type of athleticism and running in them. Don't think you can fully grasp how pathetic we are at tracking players that can run with or without the ball.

One thing I will say is that it will be interesting to see what our starting lineup is tomorrow and how this might have been influenced by the new coach we brought on board. If we eventually lineup with ASM, Almiron and Fraser behind Wilson then we might have a chance.

So lets assume Jones does start having an impact behind the scenes (the starting 11 tomorrow will be very telling), and the team does start doing really well straight away.

Does that mean Bruce then takes the credit and stays on? And we then have to watch him be a smarmy git after each game, while he takes all the credit?

If so, I hope the team continues flopping until they have to jettison him.

This is really gearing up for ASM to be absolutely despised

Don't think he will do enough though. Not everyone is Leeds.

Teams will just start doubling up on him like they were doing before he got injured.

Lingard wouldn't have worked in this team tbh. He's obviously better than what we have by some distance but this set up is not his game at all.

 

He'd have looked fucking useless for us.

It's astonishing man. Just further shows how confused and lost the manager is.

He really thinks the solution is just to throw more players at the problem, when the whole team is not functioning in any sense whatsoever. It's so utterly ridiculous.

Is Kane injured for Sunday then? The app has him as fit still

Has him down as having an ankle injury with a 25% chance of playing when you login online.

Calvert-Lewin hasn't scored in a while in the league ... I wonder what's going to happen this game 

 

Thanks, that's my replacement for Kane sorted on fantasy football.

No worries man 

Made the same move myself yesterday and brought in Lucas Digne too as I imagine he'll assist at least one of Calvert-Lewin's goals.

So of all of the signings we could make, he tried to buy a fucking winger The one area of the pitch we are well stocked on.

 

Interesting how confident Edwards was... egg on his face once again.

I am genuinely stunned this man tried to sign Lingaard

Even when all of our attacking midfielders/widemen were fit he always had one or two of them on the bench while using Hendrick out wide

Why are they still letting this man have a say in anything at the club for goodness sake!

Calvert-Lewin hasn't scored in a while in the league ... I wonder what's going to happen this game 

The funny thing about Saivet is that he would actually do a better job than Shelvey and Hendrick, yet is relegated to mucking about in the reserves.

Actually think I hate this cunt

 

Oh my God! This is so terrible man. Urgh!

Watch Sheffield United go past us eventually man

So are Burnley above us because they have better players or better management? 

It's such a silly argument isn't it

We have the worst manager in the league.

We were very strongly linked with Martinez the summer after Rafa left too I believe.

Chelsea fans going mad on Talksport about the new fellas first starting 11

Hudson-Odoi at wing back over James.

 

James, Zouma, Mount, Werner on the bench.

Isn't he playing 4 at the back with Azpilicueta and Chilwell at right and left back?

What on earth does King add to the team? We're just going to chuck him upfront with Wilson in a team that can't progress the ball u the pitch to them.

We're better off playing Almiron behind Wilson, and getting ASM and Fraser out wide. What is wrong with these people man.

Who was it I bet we would finish 6 pts or more above 18th and Bruce and Ashley to both be here come August?

 

With the impending arrival of choudory and ASM back I’m very confident on winning that!

A lot of people have forgotten how bad ASM was looking prior to getting injured, just because he came on and ran around a bit against an open Leeds team.

Go back to the ASM thread and read up on how he was being labelled as lazy and not having enough end product just before he got injured.

Most teams at the time were just doubling up on him as they knew he was all we had, and it will be the same again this time around.

IF Ashley was so close to sacking him that he offered him to resign and he rejected, Ashley would sack him anyway and make him fight for his money after the fact, especially if a takeover is on the horizon.

 

His pay off is fuck all, any loan deal coming in will cost more. We paid £5m to loan Kennedy for a season after paying £1.8m for 4 months the season earlier. Couple of million max, or risk relegation and £350m...hmmm...tough decision.

 

My opinion is that Ashley thinks this is just form and a couple of loans will pull it back on track, especially with a decent points gap, and that is more worrying.

 

 

I think MA wanting him to resign is more to save face. Then the blame can be on the nasty Newcastle fans that made Bruce's life miserable.

MA is probably trying to avoid the ridiculous situation of having to sack a manager he paid compensation for a little over a year ago.

Apparently he has turned down the offer of a 'resignation but you'll still get a decent payoff' option and is staying until he gets sacked.

Graeme Jones appointment was a punishment of sorts. Feel they'll be more of these things happening in the next few weeks.

Perhaps this is why Bruce kept harping on recently about how he would never quit. Wonder if that was a message to MA.

At this point I would be very happy with seeing Bruce get canned and Jones fully taking over and getting the team playing much better and doing well enough to stay up comfortably, just to see Bruce fully exposed for the charlatan he is.

 

Again...what exactly in Jones record makes anyone think he's going to improve us?  Unless I've missed something I don't see much past a few years of mediocrity at low level. Fair enough if he was 20, but this guy is 50 and isn't exactly a newby to coaching

I understand your point completely. My statement was a 100% wishful thinking believe me, It's just what I would love to see happen.

The guy has at least been in and around successful environments and has worked with some really talented players also, and so who knows, we might luck out with him somehow. Here's hoping. If the alternative is Bruce we all know how that is going to end anyway.

We know MA isn't going to bring in a top manager that is going to be more demanding of him and so our only hope is a guy who is more of a head coach that has more current and legitimate ideas that can get more out of our players.

We can only just hope that his lack of success at Luton was more down to a lack of technical players to carry out his ideas. Between Wilson, Almiron, ASM and Fraser he will have 4 players with more than enough of that ability, that should be able to cause a lot of problems going forward, who haven't been allowed to yet under Bruce almighty.

At this point I would be very happy with seeing Bruce get canned and Jones fully taking over and getting the team playing much better and doing well enough to stay up comfortably, just to see Bruce fully exposed for the charlatan he is.

Simon Jordan cannot be this stupid, surely?

How can you just write off all of these players so flippantly. I cannot believe this man ... what an insult to the players, many of them who have shown they can perform in this league. This is purely down to the manager!

The whole season we have still not seen Wilson upfront with ASM, Almiron and Fraser off him. And then Hayden and Longstaff in centre midfield. And a back 4 of Manquillo, any 2 of our centre backs really and Lewis at left back. The most obvious lineup there is to get the best out of the team.

What a joke. We do no thave the worst squad in this league at all.

The way Jones was talking it seems he's been brought in to take over for sure.

 

The bit he says about getting the best players on the pitch and getting the best out of them was very interesting, when you consider how Bruce has been slating the players after having spent £100 million since coming in. I'm pretty sure MA did not appreciate that.

 

Jones has a lot of really good experience with Martinez but his managerial experience is very light. Bringing him in after sacking Bruce would bring a lot more scrutiny rather than bringing him in initially as assistant head coach and then letting him take over once Bruce is gone.

 

I think he'll eventually take over as manager and I am all for it. Far more hope under him than Bruce IMO.

 

Fucking hell, from Rafa Benitez to some cunt who nearly relegated Luton out of the Championship.

Yes, you'd better believe it. This is life under MA. And as shocking as it sounds it would still be a step up from the current situation under Bruce!

In the meantime I doubt he will even be trying to advise Bruce. As he says he will just be giving a neutral opinion.

Think initially he will just be getting a good sense of the players we have and exactly how rotten the current training sessions are, so he can formulate a plan for when Bruce gets tossed.