Kinnear Out

[KaKa]

Will he even be able to decide on who he wants in though, I can't imagine he'll be able to sway many players with the 'join me, I'll be off in six months' argument. I would think most of our signings will be short term loan deals.

 

A bit worrying that the club seem to be looking at a load of left backs as well, they've been reading the papers too much.

 

Signign a left-back is not a problem. As long as other areas are improved also I will be very happy with an additional left back, purely because any sort of injury to Enrique and we have to start patching things together again.

 

I know Bassong is decent there, but in my opinion he is too important for us in the centre of defence and needs to stay there.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Fair enough, thinking of Bassong as primarily a centre back does make it a bit different. I still wouldn't like to see Enrique replaced for no apparent reason again though.

[Guest Sniffer]

Off the pitch we're a mess, but on it I don't think we've been very much worse than the teams around us... I'm worried but I still think it's more likely Joe will do enough to keep us up. Look at Spurs, who everyone seems to rate and nobody is mentioning as relegation candidates.

 

Hopefully the Stoke game will have taught Kinnear something about his mental substitution policy.

At this stage of his career, why would you expect kinnear to learn anything new? If he actually thought he was going to improve the team with those substitutions, it's clear that he has absolutely no idea what's going on. Even worse is that hughton actually let him get away with it rather than having him taken away in a straitjacket.

[TRon]

Hopefully the Stoke game will have taught him something about his mental substitution policy.

 

That's the thing I'm worried about tbh; he doesn't seem to be learning. It was fucking obvious Stoke were on top and going to score and what does he do? Take off Martins then Geremi.

 

Fulham, Sunderland and Wigan were all similar games where we took our foot off the gas after scoring, so it's not just bad luck. Personally I am still raging that Stoke were allowed to boss us for the whole second half in front of our own supporters. Can you imagine that happening to Chelsea or Liverpool?

 

It was an absolute disgrace and the manager allowed it to happen. No wonder Kinnear didn't have the balls to face the press after the game.

[Robster]

No wonder Kinnear didn't have the balls to face the press after the game.

That was very disappointing

[Ronaldo]

Hopefully the Stoke game will have taught him something about his mental substitution policy.

 

That's the thing I'm worried about tbh; he doesn't seem to be learning. It was f***ing obvious Stoke were on top and going to score and what does he do? Take off Martins then Geremi.

 

Fulham, Sunderland and Wigan were all similar games where we took our foot off the gas after scoring, so it's not just bad luck. Personally I am still raging that Stoke were allowed to boss us for the whole second half in front of our own supporters. Can you imagine that happening to Chelsea or Liverpool?

 

It was an absolute disgrace and the manager allowed it to happen. No wonder Kinnear didn't have the balls to face the press after the game.

 

bang on

[NJS]

In my opinion he could have done a lot worse thus far.

 

The only way he could have done worse is to have been hammered at Chelsea and beaten at Boro - defeats and draws against "rivals" is relegation form - simple as that.

 

 

[Robster]

In my opinion he could have done a lot worse thus far.

 

The only way he could have done worse is to have been hammered at Chelsea and beaten at Boro - defeats and draws against "rivals" is relegation form - simple as that.

 

 

To be fair to him he could have carried on the string of defeats Houghton led us to. He just hasnt improved us enough to what we all feel the team are capable of

[Parky]

The saddest thing about all this is that I thought he was just holding things together till a real manager came in during the Jan window.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The saddest thing about all this is that I thought he was just holding things together till a real manager came in during the Jan window.

 

If the club had been sold then that might have been true, but it was never likely.

[Yorkie]

I'd forced myself not to think about the game at all for like a day (well, thought about it a limited amount). Then i accidentally reminisced and just laughed. If i hadn't, i would have cried.

 

CB - CB - CB - LB

 

RB - CB - RW - LW, man.

 

 

Epic fail.

[TRon]

The saddest thing about all this is that I thought he was just holding things together till a real manager came in during the Jan window.

 

That was obviously Plan A with the club getting sold which fell flat. To be fair to Kinnear, he's had some good results against City and Villa, and we've looked more organised defensively, but it's a double edged sword. We are giving far too much respect to the poorer teams, and allowing them to come at us once we are ahead. The attitude should be "right..you're shit and you're at St James. Prepare to be hammered for 90 mins".

 

 

 

 

[afar]

I've been more or happy with JK. Thought he had done a pretty decent job up until now, under the circumstances. However his mismanagement of the game on Saturday, which followed similar displays of poor choice making, has me re-appraising him.

 

His tactics (since half time) and substitutions on Saurday were just plain bad.

 

We've got to win home games against teams who will be in and around that relegation battle. Teams like Wigan and Stoke. We've thrown away 4 points there, 4 points which would have significantly pushed us up the table. It'll not be so easy when the likes of Chelsea, Manure and Liverpool visit SJP.

 

At this moment in time I'm really worried that we've lost the knowledge of how to win games. That'll come and haunt us soon enough when others around us pick up points.

 

We need a big transfer window, something I'm not sure JK and MA can deliver.

 

[Slugsy]

Mediocre in my eyes and even his 'honeymoon' period, which all new managers seem to get a bit of, was fairly underwhelming.

 

I'm not seeing a trend in results which gives me great optimism.

 

Much rests on the January transfer window.

[Yorkie]

I've been more or happy with JK. Thought he had done a pretty decent job up until now, under the circumstances. However his mismanagement of the game on Saturday, which followed similar displays of poor choice making, has me re-appraising him.

 

His tactics (since half time) and substitutions on Saurday were just plain bad.

 

We've got to win home games against teams who will be in and around that relegation battle. Teams like Wigan and Stoke. We've thrown away 4 points there, 4 points which would have significantly pushed us up the table. It'll not be so easy when the likes of Chelsea, Manure and Liverpool visit SJP.

 

At this moment in time I'm really worried that we've lost the knowledge of how to win games. That'll come and haunt us soon enough when others around us pick up points.

 

We need a big transfer window, something I'm not sure JK and MA can deliver.

 

That's just a total contradiction to the rest of your post imo. You've pointed out that it's the abysmal tactics and mismanagement that has cost us points. And you're absolutely right as far as i'm concerned - our failures (at home especially) are almost entirely down to the manager. It's not the team.

 

One of our very best performers in the first half, behind maybe Jonas and Zog i reckon, was Jose Enrique. And every man and his dog knows that he's the first person Kinnear is looking to ship out/replace in January. The man's off his tits. We've got a collection of very good players and i'm dreading him dismantling it in January.

[Ronaldo]

York, you're absolutely right about Kinnear and the clueless c*** is the last person I want selling players in January.

However, you talk about the squad at times like it would be top 6 with a competent manager in charge. In reality, we had one not so long back and still looked like mid-lower table garbage. The midfield in particular is championship standard at best man.

[Yorkie]

York, you're absolutely right about Kinnear and the clueless c*** is the last person I want selling players in January.

However, you talk about the squad at times like it would be top 6 with a competent manager in charge. In reality, we had one not so long back and we still looked like mid-lower table garbage. The midfield in particular is championship standard at best man.

 

Think that's a bit of an exaggeration, like - saying it's Championship. I'd say all of our players in midfield are above Championship standard, except maybe Duff, even Butt's decent at times.

 

I wouldn't say we'd definitely be Top 6 with a good manager, but we'd be there or thereabouts. When you consider the points we've dropped at home especially. Blackburn, Hull, Wigan, Stoke, to name a few... that's ten points under Keegan, rather than the two points we've got thanks to the turmoil/shit manager.

 

You're right that i've said it's a really good squad on more than one occassion. I'll stick to that all season long, assuming Kinnear doesn't pickaxe his way through it in Jan. We've got some quality players, no two ways about it imo. Add a Joey Barton to the centre-midfield the other day, and that's as good a first eleven as we've had since Bobby.

[Yorkie]

The West Brom/Stoke first halves... (ie, times where the manager hasn't restricted the players by whatever means)... are enough proof for me that we've got the quality to totally dismantle teams that are actually above us. We're a class above this shite around us, i won't have it any other way!

 

I wouldn't expect the likes of Everton, Pompey, Spurs, City to piss on a team like we've done on a couple of occassions this season (when the players have been allowed to) - and they're the teams we're allegedly trying to catch.

[TRon]

The West Brom/Stoke first halves... (ie, times where the manager hasn't restricted the players by whatever means)... are enough proof for me that we've got the quality to totally dismantle teams that are actually above us. We're a class above this shite around us, i won't have it any other way!

 

I wouldn't expect the likes of Everton, Pompey, Spurs, City to piss on a team like we've done on a couple of occassions this season (when the players have been allowed to) - and they're the teams we're allegedly trying to catch.

 

It's at times like this I look back and think how lucky we were to have a manager like KK last season who's only instinct was to go for the jugular and blow the opposition out of the water. Home or away. Have some of this you bastards 

 

I don't even say that as a Keegan worshipper, he had his faults, but letting shit teams walk away with points from St James wasn't one of them.

[Yorkie]

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4339/bobbyrobsonon3.jpg

 

Look at that photo, man. Look at some of the alleged dross in the squad there. Caldwell, Kerr, Bramble, O'Brien, Hughes, Bernard, Lua Lua. Players who we, looking back, consider as ones who really scrape the barrel. And with good reason in a lot of cases. Then look at the bloke in the middle. They're stood in the Nou Camp in the last sixteen of the Champions League ffs.

 

Don't even think about telling me our squad isn't good enough man! Back then, the beauty of that squad was that we had some dodgy players, that were more than compensated for by some absolutely quality ones, (plus the idea that "defense = attack").

 

So i mean, let's pick out the dross we've got now. Enrique, Butt, Geremi, Coloccini? Who'd have Caldwell, Hughes et al over them? No one, i reckon.

 

Compensate our dross with our quality players - just like Boby did back then - and we'd have a fucking quality outfit, imo. And just to dig up old bones - that's what Keegan would have given us.

[Guest BooBoo]

Naturally, he's been charged with using foul and abusive language by the FA.

[Wullie]

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4339/bobbyrobsonon3.jpg

 

Look at that photo, man. Look at some of the alleged dross in the squad there. Caldwell, Kerr, Bramble, O'Brien, Hughes, Bernard, Lua Lua. Players who we, looking back, consider as ones who really scrape the barrel. And with good reason in a lot of cases. Then look at the bloke in the middle. They're stood in the Nou Camp in the last sixteen of the Champions League ffs.

 

Don't even think about telling me our squad isn't good enough man! Back then, the beauty of that squad was that we had some dodgy players, that were more than compensated for by some absolutely quality ones, (plus the idea that "defense = attack").

 

So i mean, let's pick out the dross we've got now. Enrique, Butt, Geremi, Coloccini? Who'd have Caldwell, Hughes et al over them? No one, i reckon.

 

Compensate our dross with our quality players - just like Boby did back then - and we'd have a fucking quality outfit, imo. And just to dig up old bones - that's what Keegan would have given us.

 

 

I've always maintained that it was Mike Ashley's complete misunderstanding of how football works and the importance of a manager that led to the Keegan situation. He was naive enough to believe that the squad quality is more important than the man in charge and he had Dennis Wise in his ear (standing on a crate obviously) telling him that the squad was brilliant and any manager could do well with them - big mistake.

[Dokko]

How many times does this man want charging?

 

I mean i reckon i'd be a hot head manager, but this is ridiculous.

 

 

[Guest BooBoo]

How many times does this man want charging?

 

I mean i reckon i'd be a hot head manager, but this is ridiculous.

 

 

 

Really the FA want to throw the book at him. Thats two charges, one warning for his press rant and one carried over ban from his days at Forest.

 

Get a grip man Joe.

[Rich]

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4339/bobbyrobsonon3.jpg

 

Look at that photo, man. Look at some of the alleged dross in the squad there. Caldwell, Kerr, Bramble, O'Brien, Hughes, Bernard, Lua Lua. Players who we, looking back, consider as ones who really scrape the barrel. And with good reason in a lot of cases. Then look at the bloke in the middle. They're stood in the Nou Camp in the last sixteen of the Champions League ffs.

 

Don't even think about telling me our squad isn't good enough man! Back then, the beauty of that squad was that we had some dodgy players, that were more than compensated for by some absolutely quality ones, (plus the idea that "defense = attack").

 

So i mean, let's pick out the dross we've got now. Enrique, Butt, Geremi, Coloccini? Who'd have Caldwell, Hughes et al over them? No one, i reckon.

 

Compensate our dross with our quality players - just like Boby did back then - and we'd have a fucking quality outfit, imo. And just to dig up old bones - that's what Keegan would have given us.

 

I take exception at Bernard being called dross like, but a good post nontheless. I also liked Lua Lua.