YankeeToon

Drawn ManU at SJP, beat Liverpool at SJP, drawn Arsenal at the Emirates... it's not out of the realm of possibility to get a point on Monday. Ow! My knee!

Should've been 3-1. Sibi had absolutely no excuse for not scoring. Still... WOOOOOOO!!! We beat a relegation team!!! Bring on Arsenal!!!

I like it! It has the element of surprise.

Obviously they'd start to if they had played consistently like us. Nah, they'd just jump ship to whatever team was top of the League and claim they'd "always" been fans.

You do realise he hasn't got aids/cancer don't you? I make no excuses for my subconscious. I have lived with it for many years and have yet to figure out how it works.

Had a dream about Owen last night. (Not THAT kind, you smart-ass bastards... >) I was at Disney World and saw Owen walking around, went up to him and grabbed him by the collar and started yelling at him "How come you're well enough to walk around Disney all day but can't play for us?" Then Disney security came. Then, I think it turned into something about zombies. I definitely remember people's brains being eaten. I don't think Owen was a zombie, but I wouldn't guarantee it. So judging from my subconscious, I'm a bit anxious for his return but somewhat worried that he'll eat the rest of the squad's brains... oh, and I want to go to Disney World.

We were? Losses against 'Pool, ManU, Villa, Fulham, Bolton, Boro, and SheffU were all before Chelsea. Arsenal away was our turning point, if anything, and it only lasted until Christmas...

Maybe we should send Duff out on loan next season. It definitely helped Nicky Butt regain his form...

I like the black sleeves, but other than that, I prefer the one we've got now. Don't like the weird squared-off white stripes at all. Plus I fucking HATE collars...

Of all those, I'd have to say I like Dave's best... close call, though!

I don't think it's so much that people expect him to be our savior, as much as it's the fact that he was our ONLY signing during the Jan. transfer window. People kind of expect him to prove he was worth our not bringing in anyone else. Not fair to him, IMO, since he's hardly responsible for Roeder's lack of activity, but there it is...

Nobby's pic, please, or he'll throw another fit...

Pink is the new black, after all... how 'bout pink and white stripes?

Unless we're in a position to buy 2 new CB's and a LB this summer, we need to sign him for backup. Maybe a one-or-two season contract. Hunty and Edgar need to go out on loan and get regular starts somewhere to take their game to the next stage.

...only crappy and lame!

A few responses make me feel I should clarify my OP... Maybe "resign" was the wrong word to use. I'm not suggesting that we accept mid-table as our highest aspiration and leave it at that. I'm saying that instead of focusing on too much at once, trying to halfway-fix all our problems with the idea that we can challenge for the top next season, it's a better use of the next few seasons to concentrate on fully fixing our biggest weakness one step at a time and make our League position a secondary concern. I don't think mediocrity becomes ingrained at all, unless you have a manager and team who accepts their current level of play as all they can attain, and I'm not suggesting that survival should be our target. There's a huge difference between saying "We're just not good enough for the top" and saying "We're not good enough right now, so let's stop deluding ourselves into thinking we are and do what we have to in order change that." I don't disagree with anything you say here. The reason we've had so many ineffective transitional seasons is because we keep appointing new managers. The only way we're going to get enough stability to fix the problems with the club is by keeping the same manager for the entire restructuring. Otherwise, we'll keep doing what we have been, when every new manager comes in and tries to completely change things, only to get sacked halfway through and replaced by a new manager with a completely different plan to change things. Stability is what we need, and for that to happen, we need to be damn sure we have the right manager lined up. The decision about whether to replace Roeder after this season, and who to replace him with, is absolutely essential for the future of NUFC. You're more optimistic than I am, but only by a few seasons... Shay is a top keeper, and Krul looks promising, agreed. I'd like to see Krul loaned out somewhere where he can get a season starting in goal to really build up his experience. Taylor may have the potential to be good if he keeps his head about him, but even if we bring in new fullbacks and a new CB AND they all work well together, that still leaves us with nothing on the bench, praying that none of our defenders pick up an injury. I'm not content with Carr, Baba, Bramble, and Ramage as backup, and I don't think we can bring in more than 3 quality defenders in a window. Nobby's done great at RB, but how many more years does he have in him? He's not the future for us, and we should look for more. N'Zogbia and Milner have a lot of potential, though neither one is good enough right now to challenge for the top. Zog's been completely unsettled by Duff's arrival and his own injuries and needs a long run in to get it back. Milner's been great when he's on, but he's still got some rough edges on him. I rate Parker more than a lot of others on here, but he's definitely a waste as an attacking midfielder and probably shouldn't be captain, either. Butt has been miles apart this season from the past, but the same concerns over Nobby apply. He's not going to last. Dyer has moments of brilliance but equal moments of utter crap, same for Emre. I think the main problem with our midfield is that they don't function as a whole because we don't have a real style of play. We sort of go out and try whatever might work and as a result, we look disjointed and inept. I'd agree that a Scholes/Fabregas type would help pull things together, and more than anything, our midfield this year has suffered from poor selection rather than a true lack of quality. Midfield is the least of our problems, player-wise, but needs a bit of work coaching-wise. And again, we're short of quality options on the wing if Milner or Zog were to get injured, unless Duff finds his form real quick. Dyer doesn't like playing on the wing, Emre's not all that great wide, and Luque... I'm not going to stir up that hornet's nest again, but I wouldn't put him on the wing based on current form. Pattison has looked terrible the few chances he's had this season. I'd say we need another right winger and maybe another left, if we give up on Duff. Owen and Martins are a potentially great partnership and a potential disaster, at once. It'll be impossible to judge until we see if Owen comes back at full or not and see if Martins can improve his positional play and his first touch. IF they work out, they'd be a strike force that could set the League on fire. Who knows if Shola will improve now that his dodgy hip is fixed, but ultimately he'll probably have to go. So we'd need at least one big-man type to work for the long-ball/crossing game, plus another backup, as Sib is okay for what he is, but not what we ultimately want. So that's a lot of players we'd need to really and totally fix our weaknesses. 2-LB (1 starter, 1 backup) 2-RB (1 starter, 1 backup) 2-CB (1 starter, 1 backup) 1-DM (backup, to eventually replace Butt) 1-RM (backup for Milner) 1-LM (backup for Zog, if we drop Duff) 1-CM (Scholes/Fab type) 1-ST (Big-man type for options) + maybe 1 more ST to replace Shola That's without any of our starters leaving, and we've got a few that might not want to stick around if we're not challenging for Europe consistently. Way too much to do in one window, not to mention that there's more to do than just finding and bringing in players. We've also got to organize our link-up play between the defense and midfield, tighten up midifeld play and stop giving away posession so easily, and give our attack some teeth and form. So all I'm saying is to focus on one area per season, get it right, and move on to the next. Couldn't agree more that we need a good manager to pull this off. And with a really, really good one, it's possible that a few fullbacks, a center-half, and a midfield organizer would send us back into contention in one or two seasons, but I think it'll take about 4.

So, it goes without saying that most of us are pretty disillusioned with the club right now. We seem to have lost our way, and we don't seem capable of regaining it easily. There have been countless references to "papering over the cracks," with good reason. Most of the problems we face right now are deep-rooted and difficult to sort out. Difficult, but not impossible. The way forward, as I see it, is going to be long and hard. It will take time, probably at MINIMUM 3 or 4 seasons to do it properly. And in the meantime, there will be disappointment after disappointment. This is inevitable. It's part of the rebuilding process, and it requires patience. People need to let go of this idea that "every player who can't help us challenge for a top-4 spot needs to be sold or released ASAP". There is no way in hell we will be top-4 next season. I'll bet money that we won't even mount a serious challenge for top-8. To move forward again as a club, we need a lot of things (topmost being a quality manager, but more on that later...) We need new strikers. We need a restructured midfield, quite probably replacing at least 2 current starters and most of the bench. We need an entire new group of defenders, with the possible exception of Taylor as a back-up. The only thing we don't need right now is a Keeper. It's impossible to fix all that in one transfer window, so what sense is there in releasing mediocre players unless we can replace them with something better? Next season is a write-off. As I said, we can't fix all our problems in one transfer window and we don't have the team to make anything resembling a push for the top. We won't accomplish anything of note, probably won't even be in Europe at all, and we're not going to win the League Cup, either. Probably true for the season after as well. So we should take the next few seasons as a chance to focus on fixing some of our problems. Resign ourselves to mid-table from the get-go and really work on solving our defensive problems instead of trying to halfway fix our defense, midfield, and attack all in one window. Spend this season's and next season's transfer budget fixing the defense, as constantly leaking goals is much more likely to get us relegated than lack of firepower up front. Our only focus for the next two seasons should be Premiership survival and putting together a solid back 4 that can actually function as a unit and link up with the midfield. Assuming Freddy means it when he says he'll back a full defensive rebuild this sumer, a realistic transfer goal for next season is a new LB, a new RB, and 2 new CB's, plus a few squad players to fill any holes that may open up front. Get shot of Ramage, Moore (leaving anyway), and Carr. Give Gooch and Bramble one-season contracts as backup and keep Taylor. And, of course, keep Shay right where he is. Send Huntington and Edgar (and Krul) :fight:away on loan to sides where they can get a little more experience. Then, pick our best back 4 and stick with them, barring injury, every game, every practice, until they know each other back and forth and can move and play as a single defensive force. Season after, another LB, RB, and another CB, get rid of Baba, Bramble, and probably Gooch. Keep working on the defense until we finally get it right. Then, the season after, focus on the midfield and repeat the process, except this time we need to finally sort out exactly what kind of game we're going to try and play. If we're going to rely on wing play and crosses into the box, we need to set up for that. If we're going to use the long ball, we need to set up for that. If we're going to try and play a passing game and break through the middle, we need to set up for that. If we're going to play defensively and rely on hitting them on the counter, then... you get the point. We need a midfield strategy that we can execute consistently, with players who are suited to that style. If that takes another 2 seasons to get right, then that's what we have to do. The season after that, bring in another 2 strikers and repeat, and then maybe we'd have a team that can make top-6 consistently and possibly unseat one of the Big 4. This is the way forward as I see it, painful as it may be. By sacrificing our next few seasons to mediocrity in order to really repair the damage of the post-Keegan uncertainty and chaos, we can put together a much stronger team. Fix each area, one step at a time, and spend the time to get it right so the infrastructure is in place. But for this to succeed, we need to be looking for players who aren't glory hunters or trophy signings, who are willing to spend a few seasons without European football in order to build a stronger team. It would mean sitting down our entire current squad and saying "Anyone who's unwilling to spend some time in the trenches to rebuild our organization should leave now." Sell anyone who's not willing to do that. I figure Butt and Nobby both know they're coming up on the end of their careers, they're not likely to attract any interest from any better prospect, so they'd stick around. Shay says he wants to finish his career here. Martins might or might not, depends who comes in for him. Owen, Parker, Dyer and Duff would leave. Zog, Emre, and Milner are maybe's. But what we would make selling them should let us buy adequate cover to stay up for a few seasons, and give us a chance to bring in the right kind of replacement. We need players who have the drive and the skill to succeed but are patient enough to work for it over two or three or four seasons instead of expecting it right away. Ultimately, we need players who care about the future of NUFC and not just their own paychecks and accolades, who want to help shape the club into the force that all of us think we deserve to be. If they actually exist. And, most importantly, we need a manager who knows how to rebuild from scratch and identify our weak links. That ain't Roeder. Who it should be is pretty widely open to opinion, and also pretty hard to judge. And unfortunately, the current board's track record on management selection leaves a great deal to be desired. But, barring a takeover, that's what we're stuck with, and that's who will ultimately decide the manager. But whoever it is, we need to pick a manager and stick with him through the entire rebuilding process or else we'll just run into the same problem all over again, as each new manager has a different idea of how to take the club forward. We need to keep one manager for at least the next 3 seasons, regardless of our League position. As long as we're not relegated, our position shouldn't matter until the rebuild is done. If it's going right, we'll see slow and steady improvements all throughout, ending with a season where we come out and storm the gates. Sorry that ran on so long. Of course, it should be mentioned that there's a great likelihood that I'm just talking out of my ass, as I have zero experience running a team, let alone rebuilding one. And I'm sure many on here will disagree; the oldsters will say that us post-Keegan supporters don't know how bad it can get, some will say that focusing on defense is pointless and that our attack should be first priority, some will say that we shouldn't settle for mediocrity for even a season, some will say that it would be impossible to stay up AND follow that plan at the same time, some will say that all our competent players would be off like a shot, some (probably lots ) will say that Americans shouldn't be allowed to post in general, and of course there's the nagging fact that none of this even matters as it's not likely anyone reading this can actually influence the way NUFC is run. But it felt good to write. Long, drawn-out, unqualified analysis complete. Let the bloodshed begin.

Fucking pathetic.

Not looking to get castigated for wanton and reckless optimism, but a win tomorrow would put us into the top half of the table again...

Come on, Hammers! Grab another one! Edit: I am a psychic. Bow to me. Wasn't in, though.

Maybe with a chronic inner-ear imbalance, too?

Oh, there's plenty of blame for everyone. Why not spread it around?

He's done alright this season because we've had enough games where our lucky breaks have outnumbered the unlucky ones. I'd be hard-pressed to name more than 5 that we've won based solely on the strength of our play. Much more systemic problem than just Roeder's managerial skills, though. We need to reshape our entire approach play and turn this mishmash of individual players into a functional team, because at the moment, we're awful at mounting a cohesive attack. We either play down the wing and send in crosses that our strikers can't reach, or we try and play through the middle with mistimed runs that get ruled offside. Our set pieces would be laughable if they weren't so sad, as are most of our throw-ins. The whole boot-camp idea for the summer might not be bad. We definitely need a return to fundamentals so that we can start next season with a team that can keep posession for longer than 30 seconds at a stretch. The long and short of it is, we're in a bad way right now. Our players are showing signs of an overwhelming apathy, we don't have any real playing style that complements our players, and we don't have the presence to mount a comeback when we fall behind. Our defense is shambolic, our midfield doesn't link up, and our only out-and-out striker right now is a very talented young player who also suffers from an extremely erratic game and can't be counted on yet to reliably score. We play much like England did during the World Cup, relying on individual talent to win games instead of playing as a team, and until we can sort out our basic play, we're going to continue to suffer these kinds of roller-coaster seasons. And I really don't think Roeder's the one who can forge a team out of this group, but I also don't know who the hell else is there to do it.

'Cause he's a fucking clueless idiot who's completely out of his depth and has no idea how to manage in the big leagues.

Well, at least next season will be free from all those distractions of European competition. We can pull together and really focus on that 10th-place mid-table finish. Fucking hell, can't even go and get drunk 'cause I have to work tonight.