Mattoon

Another write off unfortunately, but hopefully the last. They'll barely need to turn up to turn us over. New manager bounce after the international break will see where we're really at but this is going to be more of the same.

I just need a little glimmer of hope now, I've literally nee idea who we're going to end up with and it seems like an eternity. Time they settled some nerves.

Far too early to be making predictions yet, we've got 28 games to play, a new manager to come in and a January transfer window to make some ripples. We'll come good, a clearer picture will be towards the end of January but it's definitely squeaky but time.

Can only hope that they try and get a new manager in ASAP now. Obviously someone needs to try and make something of this "squad".

Feels like they're toying with us a bit now

Jones has done a good job on stopping a rampant Chelsea tbh. It's not been pretty but we have fresh subs that could offer something more up front, expect to see Willock and Almiron 2nd half, hopefully we can ride the early Chelsea wave and expand later on in the game.

This is what originally brought me to the forum back in the day, I was reading the articles before I was taking part on here. I think it's a great idea to get it back up and running.

My heart wants Rafa back but my head tells me that he's done his job here. My head tells me ETH or Fonseca.

I wonder if the same fuss will be made over these supporters by the way? There's a few on the #OleOut

They both made their money standing on a pile of corpses, some more obvious than others. I think every supporter would like to get back to a simpler time wherefootball was about just the sport but sadly that ship has sailed.

It's the whole package, a club that's been undervalued and unloved with a set of fans passionate and with a lot of love to give, it's an easy win. Once again, unscrupulous billionairres make all the moves and all the money and the supporters are the ones left facing the ire and picking up the pieces for the crime of wanting to support their club. It's an horrific situation to put any paying fan in that just wants a football team to be proud of in a league that values money above all else.

I'd say it almost definitely is, some of the most passionate supporters in the league, a city that lives and breathes football.

Never said it was, I'm just understanding where it's coming from, for the rights or the wrongs of it, I don't think it's coming from a bad place in the majority.

You won't get an honest answer KaKa, unfortunately the stock answer to that is they would protest and refuse to go to matches, etc... the proof is in the pudding and until something like this happens again with another club you won't see their truth.

I explained this on the previous page, to reiterate, I don't believe it's right, however, the claims being made feel insincere and supporters are bound to conflate custodianship with the club they support. Something they love is being attacked indirectly and the natural instinct is to defend that action. The average fan is not separating the issues. Its OK to not agree with it but understand where its coming from. The whole idea behind sportswashing is to conflate that love of something with what you're trying to hide and unfortunately, it works.

The whataboutism is strong in this one.

Totally agree and although I'm not defending it I can understand why some supporters are using whataboutism in defense of their club because they're conflating the attacks on Saudi ownership to attacks on NUFC.

Unfortunately it's siege mentality at this point, as fans we've had 18 months of fighting alone against what we perceived to be an injustice from the PL. This fight has continued after the takeover in an "us against the world" scenario, which makes your average fan want to defend their CLUB. Therein lies the issue as the club and the issues at hand aren't mutually exclusive but feel like the same thing, people feel targeted and are defending that which they would not normally. Whataboutism is an easy way for people to justify their defence of their club as an entity.

I agree with the sentiment, it's not acceptable some of the practices that happen in SA. My issue is with the political grandstanding of your average fan, full blown virtue signalling borne of jealousy. Most of them don't care what happens outside their own front door, it's the hypocrisy that irks me, not the legitimate concerns of sportswashing. Most of this will have vanished by next season, those that are still vocal should be listened to at that point. Right now, its just noise and needs to be ignored, to try and enter into discourse just makes our fans look complicit.

With Jones preferring to shore up defence this week it left ASM isolated and outnumbered, with the lack of quality in midfield and energy levels so low from all the bacon butties and no training we were never getting out from the back against a team that Viera has running through walls. The ball over the top was the only way to relieve pressure. ASM needs support around him, but without a midfield that can transition play, players that can make actual passes or run further than 10 yards without being gassed it's a tough ask. He shouldn't have let himself get frustrated, he needs to give 100% at all times, especially when he's our number 1 outlet at the moment.

I thought Jones did the best he could with what he had, he's not the man to turn us around but we were facing an energetic, resurgent Palace side and defence was first and foremost. Midfield is paramount in January, there's no cohesion between defence and attack so we end up getting pegged back. Like I said during the game if he'd have told the midfield to press on a little further it would have left us wide open at the back which is what Bruce has been doing, we would have comfortably lost that. It's going to take some time to coach the Bruce out of these lot but with a new manager and another international break coming up we might be able to salvage some points between now and January where we can make some much needed changes and hopefully push on in the new year with some more favourable games to be played. Squeeky bum time, margins of error this season are very slim.

We have no midfield so it's either we try and hold the back line or we try and keep bodies forward and stay open at the back, no one is capable of transitioning play.

ASM having an off day, the only player that's looked any good in all of the first 8 games and all of a sudden its his fault?

The only viable defence is that some of the players are not up to fitness due to their lack of game time from chippy tits.