Guest

It sounds like a proper diamond in the rough which I understand is basically the grand tradition of Stalker. I will definitely be having a crack a few big patches down the line when hopefully it's a bit more stable and the performance has improved to the extent I'm not going to have to set everything to low, crank up the upscaling and turn on frame gen just to stop it running like a slideshow.

The fact is that he joined in 2021 and being our third best player in a game we lost 3-0 is genuinely one of his highlights - that is why people want him gone

Yeah it's no surprise whatsoever that very few people want to be refs and the ones who stick with it long enough to make it to the top often turn out to be complete weirdos. You're expected to be both an impartial arbitrator with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the laws but also an elite athlete quick and fit enough to keep up with Premier League footballers for 90+ minutes. On the day you actually do your job you spend the game being berated and lied to by every player on the pitch, and afterwards you get publicly called out and blamed for the result by whichever manager you're perceived to have shafted. Then between games your every decision gets put under the microscope on TV/podcasts/newspapers etc. while millions of fans around the world say you're corrupt, useless or both while being mystified why the standards aren't improving and ex-pros would rather go into punditry.

There's four across the whole season which doesn't strike me as being far too many. Four weeks out of a season that runs from August to May is not really that bad and as much as it's not ideal how the first three have been so close together, there's now not another one until March so we can look forward to four months of sweet, uninterrupted Cooperball

Could maybe just not set up in a way that leaves him very badly exposed when he's clearly struggling and getting targeted by opponents every week then

This is the sort of insight I want to hear from a manager

If no-one else wanted it - which I have to say I'm not 100% sure would have been the case - then presumably a large part of that was because it was widely expected we had a points deduction incoming, which we now don't. That was the only reason why appointing him made any sense and it has since vanished. In the make-believe utopia where Cooper is sacked tomorrow morning, we wouldn't be asking someone to come in and perform a miracle with us starting on -10 or whatever.

Nobody can respond to this in a way that makes any sense. It's like because the squad isn't very good we need to pair it with a manager who also isn't very good. I'd have thought if you reckoned our squad was shit you would therefore want to get the best possible manager in to give it a fighting chance but apparently not.

"He needs time" - the team and indeed most of the players look worse the longer they spend with him, not better. "It's not his fault, the squad isn't good enough" - if the squad is really that bad then it's going to take a better manager to keep it up, isn't it? "Well who would you get in instead?" - I can't be convinced there are no available managers who are better than Cooper and would want a Premier League job. "We're 15th, what's the problem?" - we are so poor in so many areas that we are unlikely to finish that high and we look comfortably second best unless we're playing against 10 men. "People are only against him because he's ex-Forest" - couldn't be less relevant. "It's not Cooper, it's Rudkin and the board" - him not being the problem doesn't mean he's not a problem. I don't hate him or even really blame him - not his fault he's not a very good manager or that we thought appointing him was a good idea.

Why would he make a change? A meek defeat but by a narrow enough scoreline that he can talk up our effort and competitiveness will be exactly what he was hoping for

Be careful what you wish for

Solid pragmatic half, give him time

I would be amazed if he's gone before the new year regardless of results. I think we would need to be well entrenched in the bottom three for any action to be taken but all the teams down there are so shit it's difficult to see any of them streaking away from us even if we have a rotten couple of months. The fact there's not been so much as a hint that he might be in the slightest bit of danger tells me that as long as we continue to scam a few points here and there, he's safe as houses no matter how shit we're playing.

Pom Pannon

You would think so but then Forest played us on a Friday having also played on Monday that week and somehow looked about half as tired as we did

Mourinho is no longer a good enough manager to make the baggage that comes with him worth it

The short version is that with his selection Cooper went for the Enzo structure that suits playing out from the back/through midfield with Vestergaard/Ricardo/Winks, but then had us building up in a way (direct balls out to the wingers) that managed to both neglect those three players and also meant Buonanotte wasn't really involved in the build up

His work for the goal is what I was hoping we would be getting when he joined. From what I remember of his stats he looked like a Mousa Dembele type who wasn't ever going to score or create many but would be very difficult to dispossess and excelled at driving forward with the ball. Unfortunately he does it about once a year which is not really enough and I think while the situation today suited him as we had all the ball and there was no danger of any opposition players running beyond him, I'm yet to see much evidence he's not a total liability out of possession. Whether you put it down to not being able to adapt to the pace of the league, a lack of focus or just plain laziness, we can't afford to carry a player like that.

The bar this season seems like it might end up being quite low with Ipswich and Southampton being so shit and the likes of Wolves and Everton not looking a great deal better, but assuming the manager and team remains as it is, I would have to say no. I don't think you can stay up playing as badly as we do, over periods as long as we do, as often as we do.

Yeah there's no way he should be getting minutes ahead of the utterly imperious James Justin who hasn't put a foot wrong all season

And so in order to keep a not particularly good side in the league, we would want to recruit the best available manager to get the absolute maximum possible out of them, would we not?

In terms of our survival prospects that is the worst possible outcome IMO but good to land a blow on Ipswich and their team of lower league foul merchants

Finish Jord

I see your point but Chris Wood only started thriving once they got shot of that dosser and brought Nuno in. I don't think any variety or calibre of striker would look especially good in a system this lacking in attacking intent or fluency.

Luke Thomas-esque