deep blue

I feel that there is some truth in this. When he initially came into the team I thought his command of the area and crosses was very good, and the only criticisms were his poor kicking and his tendency to palm saves into dangerous areas (both weaknesses that could have been addressed by a decent coach). He seems to be regressing week by week now ... I can't help but think his confidence has been affected by the defensive dross in front of him.

We have a style?

So true. By the time we got into a relegation fight with Rodgers he had already regressed the squad into one that had no commitment about them ... they didn't have the mentality for a fight at the moment we most needed it (only a little more fight and purpose by the players would have been enough for us to have avoided relegation). Similarly, our players this season have so often demonstrated the lack of fight needed to hold onto leads and acquire points. Can you really see them being able to show sufficient commitment in a dogfight? We can't afford to think we can just coast along with Cifuentes to a mid-table position at the end of the season. The reset has to start now, and Cifuentes must be replaced with someone with more football nous and courage.

5 subs are allowed - that's half a team. Our manager could optimise the team further by not starting with the likes of Ayew, L Thomas etc. He made the worst of his allowance to use the subs bench by not making a substitution until as late as the 70th minute, and I can see no plausible explanation to making his last 2 subs after normal time was up. That last is absolutely unforgivable. Oh, and we have an amazing number of talented youngsters who need gradual introduction to the squad and proper match coaching. So, much as the squad has weaknesses, the manager is under-utilising the players he has at his disposal.

That's a really good post and touches on aspects of our demise and mismanagement (from the Top down) that are often overlooked.

The reason we have Thomas as our main LB is because our manager decides to make him our main LB. That decision is on the manager. We have other choices, as you well know. I imagine playing Aluko would pay dividends if he were trusted with a brief run of matches to get up to the level.

As someone alluded to above, it's not the size of a player that's as important as his desire to make a tackle count (as much about technique as brawn) and to win the ball, and also to do something positively and quickly with it ... à la Kanté. And the young lad in his recent loan spell at Newport , for all his lack of height, appears to be doing v well at winning the ball in midfieldl.

Why be so pessimistic about possibilities for the future? It's true that it appears bleak for clubs other than the rich 6 at the moment but things change in football over the years (you only have to look at our rollercoaster history). The current status quo could change suddenly for one of many reasons - change in governance rules, a sudden drop-off in enthusiasm for owning football clubs (e.g. World financial upheavals) etc. The most recent opportunity which unfortunately fell through was the aborted super league ... that came very close to changing the complexion of European football with some potential scenarios seeing a positive revision in the football standings in our day-to-day leagues. The most important thing, irrespective of the context unfolding around us, is to get our house in order for our own good so that we are equipped to take advantage if and when positive changes occur. I hope we never give up on the aspiration for yet another glorious "moment in the sun".

Have I missed something? I don't remember Vestergaard progressing us up the pitch with any urgency this season.

I've always thought he regressed under Rodgers, as did several of our players. Thomas also. Those two worked very well together in their earlier appearances.

Electric cars do have a speedometer in them.

Interesting that he was slated last season for finding himself isolated so often against his winger. Now the same accusation is being thrown at Thomas and to a lesser extent Ricardo. Could it be that our set-up is more culpable than simply the ability of our FBs in creating this weakness in our team?

It just gives us something else to talk about, instead of every other topic leading us down the depression path.

Our wingers are awful. They are petulant & sulky, always risk yellows, don't work hard enough to provide meaningful help to the fullbacks, make many mistakes of judgement on the ball. Neither are team players. In any other team they would be censured by the more experienced players and given coaching help by the manager. This doesn't seem to happen. I watched the whole game tonight and didn't realise BCDR was in the team - my bad, perhaps, but I can't think of anything he did of note. As for Luke Thomas, I used to feel sympathetic for his loss of confidence but I have to admit now that he has gone consistently bad - very poor in positioning and anticipation of threats, ludicrously weak & uncommitted in the tackle. I could go on. How anyone can think that our youngsters e.g. Aluko and Page, can be any worse is beyond me. Chances are they'll improve and adapt rapidly, which is good for this season and a no-brainer in terms of progression and the future of the club. I personally thought that on the whole there was effort from the players tonight but our set-up is so poor and disjointed that a lot of the effort is to no effect. One of the worst consequences if out team structure is that somehow we have both fullbacks isolated in defence, yet our wingers are usually unsupported in our rare attacks. Even with the limited options at his disposal Cifuentes must take a lot of the blame because he fails in every aspect of management.

What I don't get on here is the view that Maresca has been shafted by Chelsea (or, for that matter, by us previously). Professional people involved in the game must talk to each other and observe the goings-on within clubs. Maresca, and our other recent managers, may have been lied to by our board when interviewed for the job but surely they were aware what a shitshow our board is, just as Maresca could surely see how Chelsea operated before he took the job. Surely the reason a manager takes a job is simply to better his current situation. Maresca could see us as the perfect way to get into the English leagues, and Chelsea gave him the next natural and promising step up. Cifuentes must have seen us, with our fairly recent history and achievements, as a better bet to advance himself than with QPR.. etc etc. At the end of the day, managers are looking to their own ambition and in doing so must accept that that doesn't always gel with the ambitions and workings of the club they have chosen to move to.

Yes, got a goal, and an assist for the other goal. I think the issue is quite clear. He is almost certainly up to our level already, with a much higher ceiling to reach, would flourish with better players around him, and we desperately need someone of his ability in our midfield. But on the other hand, it will be counter-productive if he comes back but then doesn't get decent minutes on the pitch. So it's all up to how Marti views him and whether he would give Sammy a trustworthy guarantee that he will compete equally for a place in the team. Going on Marti's words and actions so far I wouldn't trust him, and that's a shame. The situation is further complicated by the unstable position of Marti.

Oops, there's also David Nish, of course. A really class performer.

Banks not from our academy. Bought from Chesterfield and, as far as I can remember, was already an England U23 player when we bought him.

Agree with this. I doubt he can progress much more technically or tactically teamwork-wise with the poor players around him at Newport. But if he came back here (and we certainly could do with his ability and commitment) then it would only benefit him if he were guaranteed to get plenty of game time and to be playing in a squad with more togetherness and positivity than we have at the moment (which probably means one which includes more of our talented youngsters).

Has Rudkin been present at the recent matches?

I don't understand. If there are rules of impartiality why are they broken by (a) reporting the concerns expressed by many fans and (b) asking questions of the club?

I get the feeling that both our wingers are luxury players for us this season ... we need players that contribute more to the team.

I didn't think we'd regressed that badly at that time, but maybe we were beyond avoiding the slide at that point as our new inept owner and his sycophant DOF were in place together by then.

This continues to haunt me ... what could have been. If we'd replaced Rodgers with Emery at the right time, and there were some great Championship strikers & others available at the same time that have gone on to grace the Premiership.

At least the LibDem leader is calling out the US for their behaviour. I suppose you can forgive the reluctance of the government in that respect as their position is more delicate and they must feel they have to be more diplomatic (ironic since the US seem to have dropped that word from their vocabulary). What about the Tories? Can't remember them having anything anti to say.