clintdempsey

We’ve been really sloppy defensively in midfield since pre-season. Like a hot knife through butter playing through us even in the games against Villa, Brighton and Chelsea in the States as well.

We keep making the same mistakes. Fucking hell.

He won’t lose his job based on the Sunderland game. Nor will it buy him more time either if he’s on the ropes. The only thing he’ll be measured on IMO is league results. And those will probably get worse before we’ll have a turnaround. There’s no denying we’re in a sticky situation though - this is more than “a few bad results” at this point. Given time though Eddie will fix this and have us firing on all cylinders again.

If we were to miss out on Europe altogether at the end of the season surely that can’t be seen as progress. I’d say that we need Europe to satisfy the owners and to show the wider football world that we are indeed here to stay. If we’d fall away and finish 10th-14th there will be issues legitimizing “the project” (as ? as that sounds). There will also be financial ramifications as a result of that which won’t help us at all in the coming windows. Our sponsorship deals are probably (as they should be) incentivized and we’d probably have to sell one or two of our crown jewels to give us some room for the much needed signings of the required quality. On the other hand - Eddie has shown before that he’s more than capable of constructing a team from rubble. So were he to get the chance to rebuild he’ll have us up chasing the Top 4 again. He’d definitely deserve that for me at least. As piss poor as the last few weeks have been.

Regardless of mitigating circumstances most top level managers would be questioned after 6 defeats in 7. And with the next few fixtures coming up that likely will be even worse. I love the bloke and what he’s done for us and given time and patience he’ll turn it around but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fear for his position.

This will not be well received in PIF towers methinks. For fucks sake.

Well. We’re certainly on the verge of awful now. ☹️

That is what happens when Burn gets to close.

We haven’t been awful. A few sloppy moments both in attack and defense. 1-1 probably fair but we’ll do these in the second half.

I’d say no tbh. He’s probably in the same bracket as Howe (but feels on his way down rather than up). He’s definitely not Klopp, Ancelotti, Pep level for me.

If fatigue is the simple answer for our performances. Surely they would be better just by playing some of the kids once in a while. If Miley wasn’t injured today there was no logical reason I can see that leaves Longstaff on the field instead. Gordon couldn’t run from the start and we had Hall warming up for 65 mins before coming on with 5 mins to go when the little threat we had had fizzled out. The decision making away from home (both tactical and player-wise) has been below par. There’s no harm in calling out a bad performance (or half a season of bad-ish performances on the road) on a message board. If we can’t play “our” game due to injuries or fatigue - find another way to play that gets us results. But for the love of god - don’t acknowledge excuses for losing. To me that’s kind of what our away performances are starting to look like.

This was absolutely piss poor. I’m understanding of the fact that we’ve dealt with and still are dealing with injuries and fatigue. But we continue to get the basics wrong away from home. 5 losses in the last 6 games (incl. Chelsea on pens) is simply not good enough which ever way you want to twist it. For me, Eddie’s got a lot of credit in the bank but there will be questions asked sooner rather than later if this continues from the higher-ups (the ones above Staveley and Mehrdad) ?

Subs please. Change something.

Absolutely ?

We’re getting mangled away at Luton. Who would’ve thought a year or six months ago? ? Still time to turn up and turn it around though.

Unless he’s injured most would agree.

Was more of a rhetorical question tbh. We’ve been pretty awful on the road most of the season. I’ve no idea why though, as others have mentioned it seems that fatigue is only in effect in away games.

We’ve taken 1 pt from conceding first so far. We’re soft at the moment. ?

When does our away form start becoming a real problem?

Two unmarked Luton players there. ?

Obviously have no clue as to what’s going on behind the scenes but I do feel a bit sorry for the lad. To be overlooked for former footballer Matt Ritchie must be gutting.

Would be a superb signing tbh. From the same shelf as Isak.

We look a lot more in control today in the passive low block than we’ve done most of the season. Please just hold on.

We’re pretty organized today which is a step up from the last few away games. It’s clear that a lot of the players are knackered but we’re soldiering on like troopers so far. Tripps and BDB on for Krafth and AG10 early in the second half I’d think. Tino up to LW. Then bring Hall/Ritchie on for Miggy after 65-70 mins and Tino goes over to RW. Only question is how we handle Wilson.

Absolutely. But he’s had a few bad decisions and a couple of stray passes that (nowadays) are uncharacteristic.