OneMoSalah

Tbf we played that poorly in both games I doubt he'd of made a huge difference. Henrique is right, lack of effort and motivation in both games was key factor to those defeats. Faar too many individual errors in almost all of the goals yes but 3 CB's all played poorly. Wing backs poor. No protection or creativity in MF. Attack blunt. Defending as a team was shocking, no organisation and poor game management etc was easy for them to cut through us.

If he goes to Madrid I dont think he'll jump up 2 or 3 levels like everybody assumes. I think he'll be as good there as he is here, which is why the 'Eden needs to leave to fulfil his full potential' argument is absolute shite. If he went to Barcelona okay maybe a different story, Messi, Suarez, Iniesta... a lot of other very good players there (not that there isnt as many good players at Madrid but they are very much chopping and changing every few years) but theres no doubt that they have got this philosophy and clear direction engraved into their club and have done for years and years, that would probably improve a lot of players with the whole style and philosophy they've been following for god knows how long now. I think we should only let him go if he wants to move to Barcelona imo, unless he wants to leave badly and Real offer Isco/Asensio and on top, a truck load of money (100-120m).

Make him top priority in any deal then if Hazard goes. Selling Isco to replace him with Hazard is a strange deal for me. Isco can play off the front, has operated in a 3 man MF too as the more advanced. I'd take him here in a heart beat even if it meant losing Hazard. Although he should be recruited to play with him.

Maybe. Maybe not. It will be interesting because Zidane has done alright but I don't think hes as good a manager as the likes of Pep, Mourinho, Conte, Pochettino, Ancelotti, Klopp etc, so unless he manages to win the league by some minor miracle or the CL then he will be gone. Another factor with Conte being continually linked to them is also maybe because of the fact hes most likely to be available come the summer. Fuck knows. Dont think he'd go there and struggle anyway, wouldn't necessarily play a back 3 either don't think their back line is really needing changed, its pretty good.

Asks for Marco Reus, gets Marco Arnautovic. That is why I doubt we'll get Enrique, even though I don't think hes really that good a manager.

Courtois and Hazard's contracts are running down. Gives Real an advantage especially if those players state they want to leave and hand transfer requests in do you think the club is going to keep them? Puts us in a weaker position unless they sign huge deals with big buy out clauses. Tbf Zidane is a goner in the summer I think. Its Spanish media that are reporting the whole Conte-Real story along with the 3 players so unsure whether its accurate or not but regardless Conte will walk into a job somewhere in the summer if he leaves here ie. Real. PSG. Italy. AC Milan. No doubt about it. Where as we will get a mediocre coach, like Allegri, Tuchel or Jardim (not superior coaches to Conte) because lets be honest, realistically somebody like Luis Enrique isn't going to come here and accept getting stuck with players signed who are on the same level as Bakayoko. Still have reserves about even taking Ancelotti back too, unsure whether reappointing him would be a move in the right direction.

Apparently Conte will leave/be sacked end of season and is likely to get Real Madrid job, where he wants to bring Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azplicueta and Eden Hazard. Jesus christ. Fucked either way. Also Maria offered to resign but Roman said no? More fecking money than sense. Get her sacked. Get football people in/give the manager full say. Simple as that.

Fair enough Allegri has gotten to 2 CL finals in 3 years but so did Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, did that make him an excellent coach? Wouldn't say so myself and although Juventus are a good team (they've always been strong in the last 10 years or so tbf), doesn't mean Allegri would be the outstanding choice for our next manager. The safest bet would be Simeone for me if Conte were to go, he is the most like for like replacement for Conte, the team is built to play on a platform built on a solid defence and with a clear defensive structure without the ball. Out of the overly disappointing list of coaches (lets be honest none of them are an improvement on Antonio) Simeone would be the one I'd bank on, although doubt he'd be overly excited about wanting to come here either, hes always had a great relationship with Aletico and their board as well as the fact people keep linking him to Inter. Plus I don't think he'd have much success with his style here because he wouldn't have as many players of a similar quality in the final third to make a real difference like Koke, Griezmann, Costa, Carrasco unless he were to go and sign a few. Juventus Barcelona CL Semi final was a great game (think Juve rode their luck at times) yes but still tactical masterclass, wouldn't say it was anywhere near as good as Bayern's 7-0 win over Barca or Real Madrids massive win v Pep's Bayern under Ancelotti (I think it was under Carlo).

Yeah thought he was excellent. Hopefully he can get in squad again V West Brom.

Club should never have sold Matic. Lot of people complained about him being slow and having a restricted passing range but honestly I think he would be perfect in a 3 man MF with Kante and Cesc or another creative minded MF player. Matic would play a pass that would look easy but it would be quick and could take 2 or 3 players out the game at one time. Sure hes no Busquets but he was a key component last year. Think people severely underestimated his contribution because Kante was next to him. Like mentioned above Conte reportedly wanted Baka to ease into it eventually, while keeping Matic, may have been better, maybe not. Baka has been shockingly poor though.

Hopefully club do stick by him. I think when the summer comes, we'll see a lot of changes. Player wise anyway. Expect at least Cahill, Luiz, Willian, Bakayoko, one of Moses/Zappacosta... 3 or 4 new signings of a better quality to go into the first 11 and we are a different team again. I don't think we are 10000 miles off being a better team, Courtois (if he stays), Azpi, Christensen, Kante, Hazard (if he stays), Morata... all more than good enough, if we can up the level of a few guys around them then yeah there's a chance. Think we fucked up not getting Laporte and Sanchez, fair enough they'd have cost a bomb but Laporte would have been excellent for us at LCB and no surprise hes already looked pretty decent for City v WBA, not just defensively but in terms of how he uses the ball. Even if the club don't stick by Conte come the summer (or next few weeks haha), whoever comes in to replace him will need to be able to spend like 200-250m to overhaul key areas of the team and also reduce the minutes of some players. The shackles have to come off, same mistakes that were made after Jose won the league, were made again.

Pochettino is a great coach but I'm concerned about how he hasn't won any trophies in England. Every manager we've had since AVB has won trophies. Di Matteo, Benitez, Mourinho (never counted Hiddink, because whats the point), Conte.... I think even if Conte doesn't get sacked (would be an idiotic move) and still wins an FA cup or something as well as securing top 4 status then the season isn't too bad. Pochettino if he had an appetite to win trophies, the smaller ones which he continually write off, then yes he'd be perfect but the thing is here, we want to win everything we are in, CL, FA cup, Carabao Cup, Community Shield and whatever. Hes very much a double ended sword, yes we will improve maybe, young players will get more of a chance but hes never worked in such a high pressure environment where he isn't always going to get his own way (lets be honest not going to change anytime soon) but he could come here, do great but ultimately win fuck all and get sacked again, look at Ancelotti when he won the double for instance, year later out for finishing 2nd. How many years have Spurs actually gone to the wire for the title? The year Leicester won it? When Spurs and Arsenal both bottled it? Tuchel no thanks. Allegri, maybe but again not overly convinced hes an excellent coach, Jardim is very much still unproven for me as well despite what Monaco did last season. Simeone is a top level coach, hes very much like Mourinho and Conte though in terms of style and the fans and squad might fancy a change who knows? Luis Enrique wants full control of transfers which he wont get so he wont be coming, plus again I'm not entirely sure he'd really want to come here anyway as well as the fact I'm not sure he'd be a success here. Plus his Barca team were also quite counter attack orientated as well, which annoyed Barca fans, which people already complain about here. Slutsky no way in hell, not even Roman is that stupid.

Yes and also no. We’ve set the bar pretty high in Romans tenure but also pretty low in terms of managers and time peroids here, some might say we only achieved what we have because of this but if we had a clear plan years ago in what direction to take the club after Ancelotti was sacked for instance and followed it we’d not be in this mess. Tbf after any managerial sacking past 2010 a plan would of been nice.

David Luiz pros: can pass from the back (sometimes - nothing to do with defending though which as a CB I’d say is essential), iconic hair (or so people say), cons: can’t defend to save his life, no common sense (ties in with defending point) Think we should of offloaded him in January. Last season was just bizarre almost like he was somebody else.

In all honesty that poll at the top of the page is the most uninspiring selection of managers we’ve had the disappointment of choosing from in years. Honestly if we were to get either of Enrique or Simeone it would be better than Ancelotti or Tuchel but they will both get on the nerves of players, Enrique fell out with Messi and many others at Barca... Simeone makes his players work hard and sacrifice individuality to make themselves essential to the team, regularly you hear of players throwing up at Atletico pre season training, our lads are too soft for that shit, Morata, Hazard, Pedro, Fabregas... if people think Contes strict just wait. Even Tuchel if he comes in he will trst people’s patience, board and players. Enrique also seems like a complete weirdo, he builds a scaffold platform to watch training sessions from it ... suppose his nickname is sorted if he comes though “the scaffold one” or more simply “the scaffolder” 😂 Bad photo but

Klopp gets away with it because Liverpool’s expectations are lower than ours and they almost certainly will have been from the start of the season. We won the league, 7 months later possibly sack that manager, sitting 10+ points behind City and maybe not even get CL football depending how it goes, absolute disaster almost 2 years after the last time we did this. Liverpool finished top 4. Which is a huge success for them. Regardless no point deflecting our short comings at another club. Our players, management, board... somethings not been right since the summer (well boards not been right for years)

Okay I get you now. Yeah fair enough still think he should get as much flack as anybody (well not as much as Baka Luiz Cahill but the rest yeah) but remains to be seen.

Him and David Luiz should never ever play in a back line together, never ever again. I thought that night in Naples under AVB was bad but holy fuck tonight we made that that bloke they just signed from Barca, fuck the spelling (who couldn’t get a game at Everton) and Richarlison look like amazing footballers...

Enrique apparently wants Marco Reus and full control of transfers to come here. So, welcome back Ancelotti.

Same as back then, the players need a massive reality check, dropped levels and consistency from last season has also hurt us. If the players can’t deal with coaches like Mourinho and Conte, decide all of a sudden they don’t support a coach/are disgruntled at training regimes/whatever, they might as well retire (seeing as certain sources are talking about Conte losing the dressing room). Never thought we’d probably lose two managers of that top level calibre in the space of 3 seasons. Results are poor yes. Tactics could be changed yes. Players effort is something that should be there though regardless and it wasn’t against Bournemouth and Watford. Everybody from back to front, Courtois to Hazard. Hazard reliable yes but in the last 2 games? When the going gets tough? Fair enough he showed up for 5-10 mins tonight after we brought a striker on and scored a goal but other than that in 180 mins of football he has looked as average and uninterested as anybody else. If he thinks he can decide to show up for 10 mins a match and it’s okay then he’s sadly mistaken, same with any fan who thinks he can just do that and should get away with it. Just wandering about when we don’t have the ball half the time. Players effort should be there, week in week out. No matter if your the main man or some guy who plays every 5th week. Conte said he made mistakes with picking the first 11 tonight but personally I think he should have threw every single one of them under the bus. Jody Morris’ boys in the u23 or u18 day r whatever would have played 10 times better than whet these guys did tonight. And if they didn’t win they’d of at least given a fuck and put effort in.

Is it safe to open the Koeman thread yet? All were gonna get at this time of the season, unless even he thinks we are too much a shambolic mess to manage.

Think he'll be a big possibility to go come next summer. Not that hes been shite all season, but as a captain, as a man, as a captain after JT.... not so good along with his clear declining quality.

Hated Mourinho playing inverted fullbacks because there was no width. Conte playing inverted wing backs with Zappacosta as LWB, in a system where the wing backs are crucial in creating width, the fucks the point?

Wait and see. 4-1 coming

Thoroughly deserved for Watford. Nobody in blue worth their weeks wages. At this level, PL title winners last year, embarrassing. Players, manager, board, whoever you want to blame. Poor.