Les-TA-Jon

Alternatively, part of the problem is we set up to try and go toe to toe with most sides. Look at Friday night - we're against a mid table side and we leave ourselves so open and try and go toe to toe with Brentford, but we're not going to get many (or any!?) points this season by outplaying the opposition. We make no attempt to be hard to beat or to try and grind out results. But this is the problem with our squad. We don't have the attacking players to play basketball and win games 3-2 or whatever and we don't have the defensive players to play Cooper/Dyche ball and grind out results.

So I need to know, in advance, which people here might do it, and block them preemptively? You got a crystal ball?

Should be Red for Ugarte

The squad is a right mess

And Forest broke the rules to stay up and now look at them...

I think we're just misunderstanding each other. I agree we absolutely need wins, and that ultimately draws won't be much use to us. But draws, set in context, can be big. Yes Everton are ahead of us because of their 3 extra wins, but their ability to draw games much better means they get more points, lose fewer games and every game you're drawing increases your chance of winning it. But a draw away at Everton, after the Spurs win, after 7 losses on the bounce could have been the start of something. It's not about 'settling' for draws. It's simply about grinding out results. Like, let's say we win 3 out of the remaining 14 games. That puts us on 26 points. We'd probably also need to draw 1-2 games as well to have a chance of staying up.

Not an argument either. But this aged like milk The general point being, that be able to grind out draws here and there is why Everton keep staying up each year whilst circling the drain. Looking like they're going to do it at our expense for the 2nd time in 3 years...

We’ve tried Okoli, Coady, Faes and Vestergaard at CB. We’ve tried JJ and Ricardo (when not injured) at RB. Kristiansen at LB and Thomas to cover. Who exactly is in the squad that we’re not using!?

Lost 7 in a row. Win at Spurs, draw at Everton would be a big chunk of momentum. Everton's ability to grind out draws is exactly why they're above us. Sure, we need wins at some point, but we shouldn't turn our noses up at some hard fought draws

Correct....? The point I was making was, last time he scored, FT got all giddy about the prospect of him scoring a hatful, getting into top 10 etc - and then he went 7 games without a goal and missed crucial chances.

He's the GOAT and he was great vs Spurs. But let's not forget that (especially at this age) he's streaky. He played and scored really well in RVN's first 2 games and then he went 7 games without a goal, and missed a good few vital chances in that bad run...

It’s no mystery is it? - Historic mismanagement means our ability to spend on transfers and wages is limited - Squad is hampered by deadwood and poor loans we can’t cancel - PSR restricts our spending and means deadwood is harder to shift, without it going down as a loss - Recruitment ‘system’ struggles to identify players - As a relegation threatened team that’s clearly poorly managed off the pitch, we’re not a massively attractive destination

What's all this nonsense about Spurs being in a relegation battle? Teams will probably need 27-30 points to stay up this year and Spurs are already on 24...?

How many added on?

Didn’t Moyes turn us down?

Most managers will have twigged that we're a shambles off the pitch - both when we appointed Cooper and when we appointed RVN - we can't have had many takers...

So no one has a quote or source then? and some saying Buononotte and some saying Winks, as part of a bust up?

What’s the rumour/source/quote for a bust up with player(s)?

Who is this from? It's lacking any kind of information or wider context

It's hard to prove either way isn't it? Would the players have kept playing for him? Would the crowd have turned more strongly against him? Would our clinical finishing maintained itself under him? How would we have fared under Cooper, with Mads, Ndidi and Fatawu out? How many points would we have if RVN had a preseason, influence over signings and a fully fit squad?

It's an 8 figure deal, is it not?

We are absolutely awful no doubt. And poor off-pitch management and recruitment has led to a bad and unbalanced squad. But this is just the psychology of a football fan. When you're in a bad run you can't see where the next win/points are coming from. But I'm sure Ipswich, Wolves, Southampton fans will be feeling the same. Looking at their fixtures I can't see where they pick up 3-5 wins either. Whoever does best out of Leicester, Wolves, Ipswich stays up.

We keep saying 'sack the board' and 'drain the swamp' etc - but isn't the problem that, even if that were to happen, Top himself would be responsible for/heavily involved in hiring all the replacements? And we've lost a lot of faith in Top so...? Never mind the fact that it's simply not feasible or realistic for the DOF, CEO and other seniors bods to all be replaced at once.

The only thing going for us is the bottom 4 are all just about as terrible as each other. We keep saying "you look at the fixture list and you can't see where the 3, 4 or 5 wins are going to come from" Which is true, but it also applies to the others. The main problem is, they can get their wins vs us, and I'd say we probably have the worst/most unbalanced squad of the lot...

No. Because it’s looking like 28-30 points might be enough to stay up and they’re already on 24