pmcla26

I disagree, if we had been playing more progressive, attacking football in a similar style to last season and hadn't quite got the points yet then I think that I'd gain more encouragement than from what I've seen so far and be more willing to give him time. The underlying data and consistently not picking our best players/making odd substitutions makes it hard to feel like a PPG (like we have currently) is sustainable. I'm happy for Cooper to get his first win at the weekend though. I have nothing against him personally and think he seems like a decent guy, but he seems to have a bit of an inferior mentality and I can't get on board with his team selections/style of play.

Wouldn’t go that far.

Is that on Cooper or the quality of our players, though? He’s said multiple times in press conferences about us becoming a premier league team when we’ve got loads of players with plenty of premier league experience, then signed Ayew and Reid who don’t improve our squad to try add to that. I just can’t get on board with his mentality, if we win games then I’m happy, but I’d expect our squad to be capable of staying up.

If there’s one thing Daka has got it’s pace. He’s got clear technical deficiencies in parts of his game but to say he’s not fast simply isn’t true.

Moyes would just be Cooper 2.0 - negative football. Potter would at least give us a definitive style of play, a bit like last season.

I'm a fan of Daka and think a front 3 of him, Mavididi and Fatawu could really hurt teams on the break in the Premier League with all that pace (if Cooper dares to play all 3 at the same time).

If we used last season's set up I don't think he'd be terrible as one of the 8's.

You know if we play 3 centre-halves with our current manager's style of football and the malaise we're in that we'll just be sat on the edge of our box for most of the game.

Really hurt watching that Chelsea game last night with Chelsea supporting mates. That should be our manager and talisman. Feel the same watching Barnes' performances last few weeks.

You're right, but on that topic I can see it being an extremely low total needed to survive this year. Was 27 points last season and think it could be even less this time around.

Daka, Iheanacho, Vardy - don't think Enzo didn't fancy him, he just had 3 better strikers to pick from last season in a one striker formation. Would always be a struggle to give Cannon game time.

Outstanding performance but needs to carry on scoring consistently before we get excited. Good for him after a tricky start though.

Hermansen Okoli (I would've signed a left-footed centre back in summer, instead, but now would put Faes in that role, or JJ) Vestergaard Faes Ricardo Winks Fatawu Ndidi Facundo/Bilal Mavididi Vardy Would be my 11

The 3-2-4-1 is by far the most effective in-possession shape in football currently. Why on earth you would come in and deviate a squad away from that is beyond me. Didn't even have to coach into them - they all already knew how to play it.

Yeah not when they're Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Edouard or Bobby Reid, though

But the facts are we didn't, and Cooper's subs in both games had negative effects on the team that played a part in us conceding late goals.

Mads JJ Faes Okoli Kristiansen Skipp Wilf/Winks Fatawu Buonanotte Mavididi Vardy

Honestly though do you really think the bloke is required as a starter for us? I can live with Bobby Reid on a free to fill out the squad, and bring the exact same assets as Ayew to the table, but I can’t find anyway to justify signing them both, starting at least one of them in every game so far, and spending transfer money on either of them.

I think betting on us to give away a penalty would be a smart move this weekend with the amount of time we will spend sat deep

He’s not ever going to play well ever again as a flying full-back or as a wing-back. To do that in the Premier League these days you have to be extremely athletic. He’s an inverted full-back and that’s it. While we play two DMs he won’t get in because there’s no room for that role in a side with two 6s - the space becomes too crowded.

I'm not sure we would have had to have changed very much at all. Just add a bit more pace at the back, and quality further up the pitch. We beat Bournemouth away with our second string and gave ourselves an OK account vs Chelsea. We certainly would have looked better than we do now, regardless.

You've got 3 players in particular who were given specialist roles within the team, and arguably the most important in terms of the system last season, in Vestergaard, Winks and Ricardo who have all been either dropped or had the roles removed. It's no wonder players are despondent.

It's not just in the attacking sense that the left foot is pointless, it's also making our build-up play less varied. We're building up with 3 right footers at the back and 2 right footers ahead of them - having a left footed player sitting in that 3 would allow us to use that side to open up play a lot better. Pretty much every piece of build up play we have ends up with our right-back, or the left side come back to the middle defender/goalkeeper. We should have signed Arthur Theate or David Hancko in the summer and kept Ricardo inverting at right-back. I hate this current system so much.

LDDLL

Hermansen Justin Okoli Coady Faes Kristiansen Skipp Winks Ndidi Vardy Mavididi Not the team I'd pick, but it's probably the one Cooper will, possibly Ayew for Mavididi if he really is completely clueless.