gjohnson

What happened to strikers who can shoot. The ones that want goals regardless of "xG" stats. The selfish buggers who will hammer towards goal when team mates might be better placed. The ones who say f**k this and just welly it. Cisse was probably the last one we had. Yes it's frustrating when a speculative shot ends up flying into orbit, but more entertaining than tippy toeing at the edge of the 18 yard line, just to pass back to defence

Let them to it. They won't get much change from a quarter of a billion. Big Jim will be having palpitations

Where's the bacon?

Not too many of them about nowadays. Unless paying stupid money (which we did , and is now looking like an expensive waste based on a decent purple patch) or take a gamble on an unknown, risky or out of sorts player (like Cisse or Ba)

Somehow dont think weakening Burnley would be one of City's priorites

This one's a belter....face arse comment so I know it's either a wind up or one of us in disguise...."when we expand to 63k, we should offer more free tickets, so mag kids who cant get to a s***castle match can see some football" I know Nissan, the North Sea and death are pinching, but surely a windup?

Cliche I know but sometimes playing against a team a man down can actually be harder. Can galvanise them and close up gaps that wouldnt be there normally, more freedom for their (grudgingly talented) players to find space they wouldnt normally have had.

Well last night was either a demonstration of incompetence or corruption. Neither are good. For all VARs many obvious faults and mistakes, some basic decisions were at best fluffed last night. I know var doesnt make everything perfect, but it's better than watching obvious "mistakes" go past. Yes it can sometimes be wrong and is still subject to ridiculous decisions, but they are generally marginal ones...not ones where people can see instantly that the decision was clearly wrong.

Spurs are the short slightly dim looking kid that hangs around with the school bullies, just 'cos their parents are minted. Like on of Simon Peggs mates in "The World's End"

Obviously didn't pay much attention to spurs, but amazed to see Sherwood at the top of that list. Always thought he was universally panned for being s***

Exactly this. In no real world can it take 3 years to even decide if a new stadium or redevelopment is needed. I believe they've seen the costs for both, and the likely obstacles and difficulties and decided a return will take too long. Allegedly we have "experts" working on this....and it's taken them 3 years to get no-where? Sorry doesnt add up. A first year graduate working alone could have worked out at least a rough cost benefit analysis in less than a year.

Hard to disagree with that. Criminally underrated by everyone outside of us and Villa. Also had a knack of being in the right place to chip in with goals too.

Weirdly I'd put Enrique up there for speed. He never actually looked fast, but remember loads of times where a winger would have several yards head start and he'd still get there before them. Obvious ones would be Dyer, Bellamy, and even Robert when he could be arsed. Martins had a reputation for being a speed merchant but I can only remember a handful of times he showed it

Yes they are backing out of it, mainly 'cos Radcliffe has probably realised non-Man U paying taxpayers arent willing to pony up for them to have a free super stadium. Yes Birminghams probably won't happen, Forest and Leeds stand redevelopment probably won't either. However they show evidence of a long plan, and ambition...while the best we hear and see is that "we're still deciding". At the minute we arent even planning to plan from the evidence. I'd happily wait 4-5 (realistically 10) if they could show some idea that they actually know what to do. Obvious no-one really knows what is happening behind the scenes, but the public dithering isn't exactly advertising ambition. Yes a concrete plan would be brilliant, but it's not like theres thousands of options to choose from, and none of them apart from doing little to nothing will be cheap

Don't think so...even at our best, we still saved worst performances for players or teams that badly needed a result or goal

Please refresh my memory then. I dont recall the club ever releasing anything other than " we are looking at all options". All potential images and prospects have come from "experts" offering opinion. If you're still looking at options after 3 years, then choices are clearly what kind of **** do you want in your sandwich? You can have dog, cat, human, or nothing.

The lack of activity is un-nerving people when it's seen that other clubs (specifically Man U, Birmingham, Leeds, and Forest) have all presented their stadium plans without any concept of whether they'll be able to do it or not. Yes i appreciate it's a huge undertaking especially around here being hampered crusty buildings that for some reason have historic status, and environmental loons who are worried about the rats in a wasteland of a decrepit park not having homes anymore, but even a half competent analyst would be able to provide a reasonable cost/benefit analysis and enough data to make a decision on what would be the most effective to move us forward. I doubt most people would even be bothered if we (not media) put out a concept for a 100k mega build on leazes which was "subject to change". At the very least it would indicate that there is some actual thought going in to it. At present it just looks like nothing ( yes i know training ground is progressing...slowly) is happening, or PIF/Ruben's have seen the cost and collectively taken a dump down their trousers and basically dont want to say "we dont want to spend as much as either a redevelopment or move would cost". Nok asking for final detailed plans, just what the intention actually is

We've been like this as long as I remember...said something similar just a few days ago

Ok. Eddie is now a legend plain and simple. He's achieved more with us than any other manager in our lifetime. However this is not an ultimate free pass. We've had a season of dross football, losing more points from winning positions than anyone, recovering less than anyone. Yes people can point to fatigue etc etc, but as always as a fan base we are being too sentimental. We've had a great few years based on every new player basically being a hit, but for whatever reason our PL proven signings now "need time to adapt". No happy clappers. You buy proven PL experience so you dont have to adapt. We could have got three young hungry players from abroad that would have delivered more than Wissa. Woltemade is turning in to Tomasson MK II, Elanga f* knows just seems to have forgotten how to play football, and Ramsey just looks and plays like Willock. Our strength was fast, direct, in your face, and s***housing through matches we shouldn't have won. The team that did this has aged and isn't capable of it anymore. Even if this is transition to a passing style it doesnt work with that philosophy. Yes our passing and possession might look good on paper, but worthless after 20 passes to get into the opponents final third just to send it back to defence or keeper which happens more often than not. Who among us isn't irritated by getting a free kick outside an opponents box just for it to be back with Pope in 10 seconds? Some people whinge we dont get time on the training pitch...bull. These players are supposed to be professionals, and even I got better at passing to a team mate with an hours doss about once a week If we want to be a passing team, work on passing. The number of simple passes that land to opposition is criminal. And as for "lessons learned"?? Sounds about as credible as a politician who's been caught associating with a criminal for financial gain.

Eddie is and always will be a legend, but whatever he's doing this year doesn't reflect his good work. He used to be able to get a tune out of a lot of average players and have us look like winning every game. Just watched highlights of the caraboa final and this team is a diluted shadow of it. So slow and predictable...whether it's coaching, tiredness or just simply players getting older. The energy is gone, the basic passing and adventure is gone. Set pieces are now an opportunity for the opposition rather than us. It looks like he's trying to turn us into a team that will pass through opposition and walk it in. It doesn't suit the players we have or the ones we've bought. Something somewhere has disconnected and now we no longer use our greatest strengths anymore....in their faces, quick running and breaks and dark arts to waste time against stronger teams

Sorry but saying a 4-1 defeat is a strong performance is straight out the Bruce/Maclaren/Pardew playbook. Might as well of asked how the bacon was, said we need to roll up our sleeves and dust ourselves down for the upcoming molestation by City

Same reason Palace would t accept our much bigger Guehi bid....their Red paymasters wouldnt allow it. Christ what if it actually made the league more competitive? They might miss out on Euro money at the expense of those Northern upstarts

Yes we are, but that doesn't explain the lack of intense pressing that served us well, it doesn't explain why every forward move now goes down the wing to inevitably lose possession or end up with defence passing between themselves every time then to pass back out wide for Gordon/Barnes to either fluff a cross out, run out of play or go backwards. This team in this guise looks more terrified of losing rather than trying to win. We've spent badly and it's kicking us, but that doesn't explain how why so many of our lot are out of form and not doing the things that got us in CL in the first place. It doesn't excuse why without fail we get like for like substitutions on or around 60 minutes every week. It doesn't excuse why we've conceded so many after 90 minutes. It doesn't excuse why we are rank bottom for points from losing positions. It certainly does not excuse why there isn't a single player willing to take a shot unless in the box.

We are the team to help these unfortunate teams out. Always have been. Need a win to get out of relegation zone, we'll be there for you. Need a win or point to secure Europe, we'll be there for you. On a massive losing streak, we'll be there for you. We should get Direct Line to sponsor us

Chelsea kids are never for sale until some nugget (us?) Comes along offering 30-40m for a kid whos never played a minute.