desertfox2

If Vichai didn't buy the club, none of them would have played for us though.

Vichai, Vardy, Ranieri, Pearson

They did spent 160m on transfer fees alone and loads on wages too though that season. A lot of managers would fancy their chances at keeping a team up with those kind of resources and they barely survived.

That's the thing. They're professionals. liking or not liking the manager isn't really as important as believing he knows what he is doing. They believed in Enzo, especially early on and it seems they think that Cooper hasn't got a clue what he's doing. They've experienced good tactics. They know he's out of his depth.

Can't fault his effort. It's on Cooper starting him and recruitment as a whole if we signed a squad player from a team that are near the bottom as a first team player and expected it to go any better than it is. He's a squad player for a bottom half premier league team that's it. The sort of player you bring on after 70 mins to see out a win as he will chase everything and win fouls. To start him at home against Everton and it looks like instruct him to tuck in is 100% on the manager.

Palace away will be a tough game. They are an underrated side. Eze, Guehi and Mateta would get in most sides. A draw away would be a decent result. Everton, Bournemouth and Southampton are the ones. We have to win 2 of those 3. If he starts those with a back 8 then he has to go.

Giving him a pass until after the Everton, Bournemouth and Southampton games. Hopefully we are braver against those and he has just tried to keep it tight against Spurs and Villa who are top sides. We got a point from Spurs, could have won that and lost by a goal against a good villa side. Positives: We've managed to score against 2 of the best sides in the league when we have actually had a go and we are showing a lot of fight. Negatives: We need to be braver and can't have a 3 man midfield of Skipp, Winks & Ndidi in games we are trying to win. Cooper doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes. Ricardo on his day is one of the best right backs in the league. Ndidi is not and will never be a number 10 in the Premier league. Let's hope we have a go in the winnable games and then there will be some visible method in the madness. If we line up against Everton with Skipp, Winks and Ndidi then we've made a huge mistake in Cooper. If he has a go in those games, we might just be fine with the new signings as the players are fighting.

A big concern is that we seem to be set up in a way that is hoping, at best, to scrape just enough points to survive, when it seems almost certain we will get docked 10 points. If we do get a 10 point penalty our only hope of staying up is by being a bit braver. Hopefully it's just because we have played Spurs and Villa at home who are 2 of the best 8 sides in the league and against the rest we will have a go. We have to really go for the win in the home games against Everton and Bournemouth. If Cooper picks a midfield 3 of Skipp, Winks and Ndidi in those games then I really fear for us this season. If he is a bit braver then we might have a chance with the new signings.

Good chant at least.

He was probably aiming for Southampton.

To be fair the club did go for it financially but Rodgers wasted 70m + and a load of wages on Faes, Soumare, Daka, Vestergaard and Bertrand.

They really do feel like everyone is against them or just have a victim mindset. Even Domino's. I'd love to find out what Domino's did other than make overated pizza.

Or they could as a charitable settlement grant 10 years naming rights to the new stadium as the God Save the King Stadium.

He was gone already. If we had just stayed up at the expense of Everton then its possible but very unlikely Dean Smith may have been given the start of this season. I'd like to think we would have still gone with Maresca but probably not so there is the silver lining.

And they are really getting away with it unless they have to pay us and the others some compensation. The points penalty is nothing this season. They should still easily stay up. The only way this has any effect on them is if they do have to pay compensation. Otherwise its just a slap on the wrist. Had they been given a 10 point penalty last year when this came to light. We stay up.

It was different circumstances but ultimately West Ham were playing players they shouldn't have been which is the same as Everton had they not cooked the books.

Sheffield United sued West Ham many years ago over Tevez and it was settled out of court. They rightly received financial compensation (undisclosed) from West Ham as West Ham broke the rules and stayed up at their expense. Why should our board just sit and take it? It's not like they are going after a lower league club that is struggling. Everton have Billions behind them. If they went into administration it would be a farce to stave off the legal proceedings. The most likely outcome anyway is that we will get nowhere near 100m that's just the headline amount. They will almost certainly settle with everyone if they think they will lose for 20-30m each and use the take it or good luck getting it if we put the club in administration approach. It will have been factored in to the Everton takeover price too.

I'm surprised they are even talking about appealing. Luton, Sheffield United, and Burnley are bad enough that they could easily stay up, especially if this is used to galvanize their squad. It's a slap on the wrist and could have been worse or still might be if they are sued by us, Leeds and Burnley. It does make you wonder what is coming for Man City and Chelsea though.

If its arrogant to think that Enzo may have assembled the greatest championship side ever and that we are all aboard HMS Piss the League then call me arrogant.

Great pairing with the Hemel Hempstead Xavi.

At the moment, every team we play is treating it like a cup game and trying to keep the score down and nick a goal. This system catches them late as it's exhausting to play against, which is why we seem to be scoring late. As the season progresses and everyone has injuries and fatigue to deal with, we could start smashing some sides with the strikers scoring for fun.

Nothing says you need to work harder or listen more to Enzo than not even being on the bench with 2 keepers there instead.

Anyone else think that Fulham might get relegated and Timmy I'm too good for the Championship Castagne could be right back in the same situation this time next year? Just with even less interest because the miserable sod has been involved in 2 consecutive relegations.

Is the Dolphin in the Sea...grave centre?

Exactly. It doesn't matter how good your manager, scouts, coaches etc are you're not getting into and then staying in the Premier league with 11000 tickets being sold for home games. Maybe 1 fluke of a season but sooner or later without a backer relegation would have been inevitable.