deep blue

I take it you've spoken to Nige personally?

Knowing how Ayew plays, Divine will find himself in front of Ayew most of the time.

As poor as Daka is, he is more effective for the team than Ayew because he occupies 2 of the oppo defenders with his running, and encourages the quicker ball out of our defence.

The fact that he hasn't had more of a look-in this season when we've had Ricardo and Thomas and Hamza, to name just the worst offenders, barely performing is so damning of our management. Worrying that King has followed the same pattern with his selections in this game.

Re Fuchs, it's more than sheer nostalgia. Fuchs was a tremendously talented player, but it's his character while playing for us that makes you think he will be a successful manager. And as far as our situation is concerned, from what I saw of his character I think he would be a no-nonsense manager who would take no crap but would also be good at man-management, he would set high standards both for fitness and technique, and I would expect his game management to be solid and well-considered. Obviously his short time in management presents a risk, it would probably be too early for him to be approached for the job, but it's an appointment I would nevertheless warm to.

Over time, Page will be a better prospect for us than the likes of Winks, but in order to develop quickly he needs lots of game time. It is really a far better long term option for the club to integrate our young stars as quickly as is sensible, and to prioritise their development over accommodating the "difficult" experienced squad players.

Just to add .... this sort of approach, concentrating on the youth in this way would probably give Kingy the best chance of succeeding. I can't see him commanding respect from the tossers in the squad.

There's a good angle in there. It seems to me that if, with our straitened funds etc, we'll have trouble interesting anyone, then we could look at managers who like to bring on youth ... Point out our amazing crop of youngsters coming through from all age groups, and our second-to-none training facility. The bonus is we might get someone in who genuinely tries to integrate our youths as quickly as is possible. I'd like to see our first team training flooded with our best young prospects. It would be easier to prioritise fitness training (sorely needed), the youngsters wouldn't be so tainted by our septic older pros because they wouldn't be outnumbered by them, and it would spur on the recalcitrants to redouble their efforts to shape up (at threat of being dropped) and to show more commitment.

It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that the optimum solution would be to send out a team that's not set up to concede in 4 minutes.

Can't for the life of me understand why we don't go for up-and-coming managers like these. There is a bit of a risk, of course, but virtuallyevery managerial appointment has risk attached. Managers such as these give a better chance of continuity and future progression if they do manage to achieve initial success.

There's something in this. I know there's a riskin putting a lot of youngsters in the team and you have to accept that you'll get inconsistent performances from them. But I think that the current situation with several disinterested players doesn't provide an environment in which the small number of youngsters given a chance can thrive, and I think several players who do care have also regressed with the players around them. Imagine a squad comprised of the few experienced players who do, or want to, put in a shift and the rest of the places filled by our most talented youngsters. Of course we wouldn't get instant success, but I think it would enable teams to be put together which supporters could more readily get behind. It would provide a much better playing environment in which players would be more likely to progress as individuals, but also to fight and play for each other on the pitch.

He had Evans & Aluko at his disposal. And might have had a better midfield option than Soumare had he not stupidly kept an injured JJ on last time. Albeit we have a poor squad there are always better options than our manager selects, so in no way is he blameless.

So many supporters on the WBA match thread groaned when JJ was kept on and predicted a long injury lay-off as a result. How come so many supporters understand exactly the situation whilst a professional manager and medical team can't make a sensible decision? It's not by any means the first time this has happened. It beggars belief.

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?