Thumbheed

Interesting none of us could figure out what formation we could be playing, which says less about us and more about the fact we learnt fuck all about the players the last 2 years.

Gutted lads

We're a final destination now

Don't listen to what anyone says, you should both absolutely carry on doing God's work Also, Potter>>>>>>OGS

If they are then let me be the first to tell them they're cunts for working for that shitrag.

I honestly depise this aspect of football so so much, it's pure cancer for the game, but after the way the PL treated us the past 18 months and with the media, pundits and other fans basically calling us cunts for the past 20 years, I would like nothing more than for us to take the absolute piss if it meant that everyone who is pissed off by our situation becomes even more pissed off. Fuck 'em.

I am surprised there's not been more intensity in the team, hence why I question the fitness levels, but I didn't think he'd come anyway near undoing whats been (or hasn't been) instilled into the team these past 2 years, I think our issues on the field go way past tactics, formations, style of play and team selections tbh.

Won't criticise him at all for how we play but the fact there hasn't seem been any improvement in the team fitness levels is inexcusable.

Come full circle now. Name me a top manager who hasn't had any failings in their career and started right at the top? Of course there may be some, but the vast majority will have made the step from a smaller club to a huge one and the truth of the matter is that if Howe was employed by a huge club at any point before his relegation at Bournemouth, not many would have batted an eyelid. There's a unique opportunity for him to test his skills out at a club aiming to be a prominent club and there's not many of those clubs about, in many ways, this could be the perfect role for him.

2.5 years is what Rafa has left on his contract too...

I'd be very very surprised if either were true.

Had a bit more of a think about Howe getting the job and I'm starting to come round to it a bit more. After results, the next best measure of the quality of a manager is their ability to improve players so when you look through some of the players he's added value to then it's actually quite a sizeable and impressive list of players. If he can put some shine back on some of the players who've fallen by the wayside under Bruce, he could have some good success here. Having said that, my concerns about his supposed inabilty to coach a defensive unit still remain.

Not vehemently against Howe being appointed but I just don't see a manager that will be able to give us the edge and steel we desperately need for a relegation battle. What he did at Bournemouth was genuinely impressive irrespective of net outlay and their eventual relegation, but what can't be ignored is the fact that when he was managing, he was up against a closed shop top 6 and 14 others all capable of beating each other, you look at the league now and it's a far more settled top 10/11, with most of those teams having settled squads with plenty of quality throughout them, a top manager or in most cases both. Outside of those top 10/11 you then have 3-4 teams with some real top quality players in their side. Getting us out this predicament is not gonna be an easy task and I just can't see how Howe would bring us to the performance level we'd need to compete against these teams.

I don't think it is though. Favre in particular has a good track record at most clubs he's managed and Fonseca has also shown the ability to raise the performance of a team beyond their expected standard, whereas Martinez had Wigan pretty much where they'd expect to be (battling relegation) and would often spend large parts of the season in relegation places until a sporadic 5 games blitz of form. OK, he won an FA Cup but I wouldn't judge a manager's career solely on one cup tournament. Then by all accounts he benefitted greatly from a defence that was well set by his predecessor at Everton and undid that in the following season. The final point is that you can't judge a managers ability on their international record due to the vast difference in quality of opposition teams play. His biggest achievement with that squad is a Semi final with one of the best squads in international football.

Oh aye, yeh! My bad, should probably have read the full conversation, but yeh, Martinez would be a massive disappointment, if he can't do it with the golden generation of Belgium, I don't know what makes anyone think he could do it with a similar standard of player here.

My personal timeliness of managers is: Keegan Dalglish Gullit SBR Souness Roeder Allardyce Keegan Kinnear Hughton Pardew McClaren Rafa Bruce Keegan and SBR aside, no other appointment had the consideration these guys seem to be making. I've waited 20+ for this to happen, I can afford to wait a little longer.

Unwinnable games being the top 6 or whatever, we'd be naive to assume we can bridge that gap quickly.

I have faith the they're doing the right thing, but my concern is we could feasibly be a 1/3rd of the way through the season without a win, with about 8-10 unwinnable games after that. Its easy to look at the league and say we're only 2 wins away but that doesn't take into account that other teams have better runs and more stability. Having said that, the January window is gonna be mental and I am here for the ride.

There's a convenience to this for all parties concerned, Everton can save face with it being an unpopular appointment, Rafa can say the club made it clear the option was on the table and would be happy for him to go and we get our man

Much prefer it when we just had 2 threads of the same posters calling each other cunts tbh

It's mad ain't it? Still have to pinch myself that our future is affectively secured.

Just as a side note, how mint is it to actually have an active forum with multiple threads getting contributed to?

Rafa would still be my first choice. 0% chance of it happening but he ticks every single box. Whilst his style of play was more functional than anything else, I found it cathartic having a manager who was actually able to implement a clear identity on the team and have us defensively organised. Furthermore, that period after Almiron signed was one of the best spells we'd seen at the club since 2008 when Keegan had Owen playing as a number 10. I choose to beleive that period would be more indicative of what he'd achieve with some funds rather than the prior 18 months when he was managing uphill. Not to mention he's been the only manager to engage football at a grassroot level since Keegan himself, he just gets it.

His spell at Roma suggests his attacking play came at the expense of defensive solidarity, and our defense is literally our weakest area which to me doesn't bode well in a league where there's high quality players distributed throughout the league and where any team can beat anyone. There's been plenty of well coached sides (albeit smaller sides) who played with attacking intent but haven't had the quality nor the defensive stability that's required to survive in the league and I see us in a similar position where we don't really have a dearth of outstanding attacking quality that makes us stand out from our rivals, couple that with the fact we're still a long way from the Jan window and we could find ourselves in a difficult spot if we don't get this right. Our Dec fixtures are horrific - do I fancy going into those games playing nice stuff but leaving ourselves defensively vulnerable? Nah.

I guess we'll see.