Armchair Pundit

Whatever happened to the alleged dark arts we used to get accused of in slowing and frustrating games?

I wonder, if we managed a win today and banished that possibility of relegation, whether the players would be less nervous and play better for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, I think he already did, he just forgot to get the transfer in first...

FFS, really? Instantly imagine our players bricking it and being far too nervous, leading to more fuck-ups and the usual outcome...

Well, there wasn't much in it, but we seem to have been a bit of a bogey team for Spurs

Jammy fuckers

Really can't decide between which I'd prefer to be relegated, Spurs or West Ham... probably West Ham, just.

Haven't we been linked with him?

Imagine getting carded for a hair pull, seriously, who pulls hair anyway?!

Trying his fucking hardest to fuck things up as usual

The form table doesn't make for comfortable reading for our remaining games tbh, though as long as three finish below us in the league, I don't really care. As long as this season ends with us still in the Premier league, I'm not massively bothered. There will be a big enough job for Eddie over the summer, if he's allowed to make an attempt at fixing the obvious issues and has sufficient, early backing, instead of leaving it all to the last minute again. I'd prefer to see us at least try and make something from the last four games, you'd think we could get a win from West Ham at home if the players can be arsed, same with Fulham away. Brighton and Forest on current form could easily be very difficult games for team without confidence.

I'd heard she likes to cheer "Up the Arse"

If the American model ever comes in, that's the day I stop watching football.

For all the Howe out rumblings going on, I hope we never become Chelsea

Based on nothing at all and giving us draws in the last three games as the only points from the rest of the season, I ended up with this as the final league standings... at this point, I'd very much take it! (... it would also be hilarious seeing Arteta crying from losing the title on the last day as well, but I for obvious reasons I'm more concerned about our fate )

Is it two points we need from our remaining games to ensure we aren't relegated?

Even after everything I've said... I have to admit I've noticed this in the last couple of interviews too. Sadly, Eddie looks 'tired'... I honestly wonder if, as much as he says he doesn't read social media or the news, whether he's feeling it a bit. Sad times.

That's right, how many bang average players that we've shown an interest in have suddenly had their value sky rocket? There's no way Wissa was worth the money we paid for him, Strand Larsen was another example of a club trying to fleece us because they knew we were desperate.

For me, it just feels really sad that there's people that are so willing to bin Eddie off, after everything, following a single poor season in the league - especially considering every cup comp in this same season had the latter stages reached. I'm not saying I'm happy with our performances or league position, far from it, but I'd far rather take a more cautious, thought out approach, giving Eddie time to fix things with a decent summer window. I truly think it'd be a mistake right now to rush headlong into bringing in a new manager, with all the upheaval to the club itself and players that would come with it.

Personally, I think it's pretty obvious that the uncompetitive and restrictive financial rules are the biggest issue for teams like us to kick on and catch the established legacy clubs up. They're clearly there for a reason and it's not to protect smaller teams going out of business if their owners leave. We can't say we shouldn't be able to use PSR as an excuse due to money we spent last summer, because our team was held back and hammered down to championship levels for a long time, without investment - a wound that still has an effect even after this long. We're slowly regaining commercial revenue, etc, but the squad itself still requires massive investment, to get to the level where we could adequately compete on all fronts every year, until then, something has to give and this season it's been the league. It's not just words when people say we, and Eddie in particular, have been victims of our own recent over-achievements.

Don't you think a large part of the team not being able to handle being in Europe was ever so slightly affected by the following: An aging team of players who desperately needed reinforcement, not just for those aging players, but also for quality in depth to cover the extra games The team losing it's top striker and backup striker, who were replaced at the very end of the transfer window, with no pre-season The new players we did get in having reduced training time to get them onboard with the way the team plays and the intricacies of any tactics used Injuries to key players, adding to the stretching of the already thin, established squad I must admit, this season has been wearing and I have my frustrations with Eddie's insistence on only having a Plan A, but I'm still reluctant to bin him off after having one poor league season out of four, especially when during said season we still got to the latter stages of all cup comps that we were in.

I get the feeling it's too late for that in the mind of some. I really don't want us to become one of those clubs with an endless churn of journeymen or the latest, trendiest foreign coaches, that get a year tops to do anything. We've had four years of Eddie, three of which have been a vast improvement, so it feels a bit rubbish to bin him off at a 3 in 4 decent season ratio to me - it's just been a perfect storm this season imo, plenty of factors which I still don't think can be laid at Eddie's door. That said, it's blatantly obvious at this point that his insistent focus on only having a 'Plan A' is naïve at best, with a season like we've had, transfers aside, he really needed to work smarter, not harder and be able to adapt tactics to suit the situations we found ourselves. The other thing, with the owners, I get the feeling they've always wanted to get to the point of appointing a 'superstar' manager/coach and it wouldn't surprise me if their idea of that would be someone like Mourinho... which doesn't instil me with hope for building a lasting legacy like having Eddie as manager has.

Tino again? Do we feel that some players have given up on us and are already looking at the interest in them elsewhere? Gordon to Munich/Liverpool, Tino to City, etc.

Seeing rumours of Conor Gallagher from Tottenham again this morning, to be fair, even though he's not been great for them, I'd give him a whirl at ours. Under Eddie I think he might get back to his best, if Eddie's still with us. Would certainly add strength in depth I guess, for a relatively low price... only thing is, we've got other areas that need improving/bolstering first imo.