Odear

He scored many goals for Anderlecht, one of the reasons why we spent so much money on him AND why the general consensus was that we had signed a good player. So a 21 year old has struggled a bit in his first year in the PL, newsflash.. every one of our fucking squad has struggled this season, it's apparent now that something was rotten in the club from a training perspective. The players had lost all motivation. I'm not being an advocate for youtube videos, but he scored enough goals to suggest he can finish. I guarantee you if premier league defenders were to make a list of strikers or forwards that they didn't like to play against, he'd be in the top 10.

He hasn't scored many, but how many opportunities is he actually missing, I can think of a handful but give him a clear goal scoring chance and more often than not he'll take it. The lad is a bairn still, way too soon to write him off. I like his attitude, he's not afraid to get in a ruck with anyone for the cause. It should be the team trying to accommodate his style of play given that he's the one supposed to be scoring the goals. Anyone saying he can't finish needs to go and look at his Anderlecht videos.

He doesn't get the s*** he deserves, he set us back massively by trying to build his own team because he didn't want Keegan to get any credit if we'd won something. Totally agree, he dismantled a great fucking side so he could give his bindipper buddies one last payday. His only redeeming thing was the 35m he spent on Carroll. We went from being the entertainers to dads fucking army in a matter of months because of this guy. Never forgive, never forget.

Who could have predicted Colback would have made a feeble attempt to head the ball before it was knocked down to him? It's not Lascelles fault at all for the goal, for a team like Leicester who have been scoring for fun, the goal was pretty much their only clear cut chance, there's lots of positives to build on, if that sort of effort can be achieved in a few days, there should be another marked improvement by the time we play the fiddlers.

Was an improvement and if Colback hadn't been such a gutless fucker we'd have gotten a draw out of it. Plenty of positives, Benitez will have figured out what's what with the players and i'm expecting the starting line up against the nonces will be changed for the better. Don't see the slight anti Leicester feeling, they won fair and square and good luck to them.. it's a massive achievement this season.

They have a few exceptional players, Kante is the find of the season, even over Mahrez. We're still in this, I wouldn't say unlucky to be losing.. fucking Colback weak as fuck for that header. Apart from that it's been even enough. Rafa will drive this point home, I think Sissoko will be taken off as he's added nothing really, at least Gini is capable of picking out a pass.

I'm happy Anita is in, he's a tidy player. Wijnaldum will benefit from him being there. Think it'll be 4-2-3-1 with Anita and Shelvey, problem is that Shelvey can't track back or tackle to save his life, far more effective going forward.

Leicester aren't exactly a physical team, they pass it about well and use their pace. It would be foolish to push up from the back too much as Vardy and Mahrez et all will gang rape the back four on the counter. We need to play compact and to our own pace try and let them pass through us, it wouldn't surprise me if one or two big names get dropped tonight. The problem is left back though, Colback might be the best solution but nee way he'll cope with Mahrez. I'd sooner stick Aarons in if he's fit. He's played there 3 times and been good once, shite twice.

Being realistic, i'd be delighted with a point tonight. That would be progress

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2016/03/1424108_Dream_Team.jpg

Rafa was linked with them a few years ago and the fans turned their noses up at the idea of him taking charge. At least that's what I think it's about They seem to think that whatever it is that his wages are will be far cheaper to relegate Sunderland than the 32 million they paid to have Villa relegated. Had a good read of their forum, seem a decent bunch actually. They worship Rafa and want him to have the same rapport with us. Which I reckon he will. We've had dreary journeyman after dreary journeyman for so long now at this club, which to be honest, was as much of my frustration than Mike Ashley's mistakes or plain stupid decisions. We now have a manager who most definitely will not tow the party line or let anyone at the club make decisions that will tie his hands. It's taken so long but I reckon the penny has finally dropped with Mike that he could get far more out of this club by not employing an absolute clown to run it. It's such a drastic change of ethos. He has to be commended for that. He said he would invest and he did.. they made the wrong call in hiring Shteve and sticking to that structure that was obviously not working. But I think the overall thing to pick up on is that they have learned, learned to stay the fuck out of things and let a professional take care of it. Rafa knows his stuff when it comes to the organisation of a club. On his website he wrote a piece about the structure of a football club.. it's a very interesting read. here hare here. I have always maintained that those of us who work in football are privileged. And that’s because we get paid for a job we love and are passionate about. And in my case, I have been lucky enough to have worked in different countries, to have observed different cultures and ways of working, to have benefited from those experiences and this gives me, I believe, some idea of being able to analyse things from a different perspective, from the outside. When certain people talk about signings, and how to go about them, the market value of players, the reasons why you buy or sell a player, you can see that some of them don’t really know the true situation which can be very confusing for the fans. So in this article I will try to explain my point of view based on my experience. Obviously I will try to focus on my area of responsibility in the club. That is the football, the playing direction given by the manager or the coach as the case may be. Club Structure What you first need to establish when you go to a new club are the aims of the club and the resources available to achieve them. So it is essential to analyse in depth the club organisation, its management structure and their different functions especially if you are in a foreign country. The rules, the fixture list, the squad, the staff at the club and their roles, the situation regarding players contracts, the environment, the culture, the club tradition… knowledge of all these are essential to being able to take the right decisions. At least for those who are depending on you. In Spain or Italy there is usually a ‘Director of Football’ or ‘Chief Scout’ who in theory is responsible for signing the Coach and putting the squad together. In the majority of cases, though not all, they usually consult the man in charge at the time, but in many other cases the President or owner, who is in charge of everything, has the last say. (The 2 diagrams are only examples as there are many different structures). In England though, it is the Manager who, also in theory, is responsible for the football, and therefore has the authority to decide how to put the squad together. In practice, both types of structure depend on one premise: the money available for transfers and salaries. The ‘Manager’ on the one hand, or the Coach on the other, will have to consider the inescapable fact that they can sign only the three or four players on their list. That’s how it is. At least in the case of the ‘Manager’ he can choose the ones he wants. Make-up of the Squad As the man in charge of the technical side, you have to decide on the model of play, how you want the team to express itself on the pitch, or at least how you would like them to play. It is important to get to know your players, to talk to them so they can give you information on the composition of the squad and then you have to try to complement it with players who can enhance it and put in to practice what you want to do on the pitch. If you can’t do this, you will have to adapt and trust that they will give you support when you need it. Then you have the rules governing contracts in each country, and they are also different for teams competing in International competitions. There are leagues where it is compulsory to play at least 5 players from that country, others where there is a limit on foreign signings, and others where there is an ‘A’ and ‘B’ list of players…In the end, each country, each league, has its own peculiarities and you have to know them thoroughly and above all digest them quickly before you put the squad together and / or tweak it. This is where the plan, the football project, comes in to play, and with owners from the world of business coming in to football, you can only call it a Business Plan. Again I will refer to my own experience. When I went to Italy there was no ‘business plan’. I was only told about it on the last day of the transfer window, when they suddenly and surprisingly said that we were going to follow the ‘Financial Fair Play’ initiative. I will leave it there. In Spain, the continuous dialogue with club officials keeps you up to date on the economic constraints so you know where you are. Although once, I found myself with a surprise signing of a striker by the President on the last day in August because, as he was on loan, he was cheap. In England, specifically at Liverpool during my first 3 seasons, the Chairman and the Chief Executive kept me informed of the restrictions and options that we had. Later on though, the club structure changed, and over time, ‘business plans’ became more and more important than any football project when it came to making decisions. Something that should not be forgotten is the analysis of the Academy. Incorporating local players always gives more affinity with the club and sensibly reduces costs. In Italy and Spain the organisation depends on the ‘sporting director’ and the Coach has little input in to it. Nevertheless, in England it can be the case, as happened at Liverpool in my last year, that the Manager has control over the youth system and can follow a style of play in all age groups and with more continuity. Barcelona’s model is popular right now. There is no better or more evident example. If there are no players at youth level in the club who have the requisite ability, you have to resort to the transfer market. The ‘sporting director’ or the Manager has to manage a transfer Budget, and on top of that, take players’ wages in to account. A good scouting system is necessary and essential, although not infallible, and the money available in both cases will affect the market you can access. The income from selling and net spend are more important for the Manager than the Coach. The former tries to consider the future of the club and win at the same time. The latter, the way football is going, only tries to win and cost has less importance. Rules and specific types of organisation What also has to be considered are different International regulations. Usually the required list of available players is restricted to 25 for the first team and in some countries, like Spain, you can use youth players for up to 5 matches, after which the player has to be included in the first team squad. In England, you can use the Reserves, which we used to try to develop youngsters by gaining experience so they could move up to the first team. Then you have the U18s. Some of these players, especially if they are coming from abroad, must have professional contracts or you run the risk of losing them to other clubs. This was what people often talked about when I was at Liverpool, either through ignorance or ‘bad faith’, that we signed a lot of players when in actual fact many of them were for the younger age groups and some of them I did not know. In Spain, these signings who join the second team or the youth teams are not considered signings for the first team. And it is the same in Italy. Champions League Rules and Regulations Another set of rules that, unfortunately, we always had to take in to account was the local players and home country players for Champions League list. This number has now reached 4 players brought through the club Academy and 4 players of the home country. If you have spent 3 years at the club before you reach 21, you are considered local. Again there are differences. As Coach, if you can, you plan for your team and the sporting director plans for the squad. But as a Manager you have to plan for the future of the club. At Liverpool one of our priorities was to bring players from abroad and sign them 3 years before they reached 21, like Ayala, Pacheco or Insua. In that way, under the rules at the time, they would be considered local players, saving money in transfers and contracts, with the possibility of including them on the Champions League list. In Spain and Europe in general, as a coach, you are only involved in future planning if you keep winning and you are allowed to stay a few years. Few manage to do it. As always, these are opinions emanating from my experience and they look to provide football fans and people who follow our website with views from a different perspective, another point of view which maybe they have not been aware of. Finally, a thought that keeps occurring to me is that although you hear something repeatedly, it is not necessarily the truth.

4 million a year! why wouldn't he be. Over the fucking moon about this. HOPE.

If they are forking out 4m a year, they'll wheel him out to the press. It's a statement of intent and the more coverage it gets, the more it will seep into the players mindset too. I think the way they announced Shteve was pretty much "nothing to see here, carry on". Probably knowing that things could easily go pear shaped for him.. and the club. They need all the positive headlines they can get right now.

That's f***ing class!!! Cheers man, amazing what a few minutes and a copy of photoshop can do. I felt inspired

It's happening. Welcome Rafa

Still waiting on a curveball.. it's not like those daft transfer rumours that the sun makes up and then never happens, pretty much every respected news outlet has reported that he's agreed a 3 year deal. The only thing that could be holding this up is the minor details. Regardless of whether he takes over for the Leicester game or not, I think the mood will lift enough to at least give them a decent game of it. I'll have mixed feelings if we did manage to get a result, i'd love to see them win the league.. it would be so good for football in general, i'd hate to think losing to our shower of cunts would derail that. Unless we also took points off spuds on the last day.. that would balance it out.

His facial expressions from yesterday to today remind me of this.

I wanted Benitez when Pardew left, had he just left Napoli? We waited until summer and then Madrid went in for him.. i don't really see how he did a bad job there, Barca are pretty much untouchable and have been for ages now. Madrid are everything Barca are not, no manager is going to change the ethos and attitude of that squad of players in just a few months. This has potential to be the best signing the club have made since SBR came in. Not counting chickens just yet though, there's always a curveball with Ashley.

Hypothetically, if he does become manager, and hypothetically, if we do stay up.. i'm suddenly filled with huge optimism about this club once more. Ashley and his minions have gambled so many times and gotten away with it by skin of their teeth but now it's literally laid out in black and white how we must be run like a normal football club again. The house always wins in the end.

Papers saying it's a done deal now, 3 year contract.. that obviously must be on condition that he keeps us up. As far as that situation, i think there could be an instant bounce. We have good players, they're just playing shite because they are getting no input whatsoever in a coaching sense. It's a huge risk as far as Rafa is concerned

They hated him because they expected to win, ( well Chelsea fans hated him because they are bellends) we on the other hand are not afforded such luxuries and haven't been since Ashley took over so i don't think it's fair to compare. Chelsea fans didn't like him from the time he was the dippers boss where he got the better of Mourinho a few times. But by end of season they were right behind him. I actually can't believe these reports, when has the club done anything sensible or ambitious in recent years?

If anything they would be trolling themselves.. it's a shit load of cash to miss out on with that tv deal. I agree, as far fetched as it is, Rafa would be fantastic. Mike may finally cop on the fact that having a decent manager can save more and bring in more revenue than any of the fuckwits he's brought in since Keegan.

The man is full of shit. I couldn't bare to sit in a meeting and have to talk to the bland fucker.. it's like having Keith Chegwin in charge of everything you own. I'm surprised Mike went along with it to be honest At least Joe Kinnear you could have a pint with, he has a personality (for good or bad) Even Pardew who I fucking despise, i'd sooner have a pint with him than this sorry son of a bitch and his charity shop knitwear.

He would of course demand total say over transfers, and this could be the silver lining. The club were quite insistent on any coach or manager coming in would have to be 100% ok with being a puppet essentially. The situation that they find themselves now, they cannot afford to keep taking this stance. It's a system that's been proven not to work. No manager worth his salt would work under conditions like that.. which is why we've nearly been relegated so many times in recent seasons. If they want to be saved by a competent manager, they have to change.

The club have no leverage in terms of negotiations, unless it's with another dingbat journeyman. Which would really defeat the purpose. I think heads will roll this summer at board level, Penfold is costimg Mike a fortune