The manager is utterly irrelevant. There isn’t a soul alive who would change this situation. It needs instilling that there’s consequences for inadequacy. And the leadership team needs to be braver than they are currently. Bin off anybody who doesn’t fit, replace them with youth or signings that do

You can lose a game or a goal to any manner of skill, fortune, passage of play etc. however if you consistently drop off the fundamentals, the basics of energy, commitment, winning the ball, winning it back, second balls, duels. Then you can fuck off until you front up and do it or you leave 10/10

And yet here we are 3 games in feeling the same pinch. The consequences for indifference on a football pitch have to be SEVERE and instant. And the leadership team, the manager and to an extent the fan base need to be aligned on this. There cannot be a single untouchable player in this squad 9/10

You fight against media narratives that build an excuse bubble around them, system, players out of position, unlocking a player, no style of play, managers not qualified, manager too rigid, abandons principles, sticks to principles. It’s nauseating. It’s a different manager, different players 8/10

Not singling out any one individual. The character assessment of the recruitment is fundamentally wrong and has been for an age. Talented players enter this void of leadership and sink to the depths almost instantly instead of rely on the skills they were signed for to pull themselves up. 7/10

Professional sportsman, the top 1% of your field. They do not play for each other bar a few stand out games. They don’t fight until the death in games. They all let adversity consume them and spread like a virus on the pitch and off it. There is a severe leadership vacuum at this club and it’s 6/10

To be better at the basics, to be fitter, faster, better under pressure, more aggressive, more determined. If you step on that pitch and physically hold yourself accountable you walk away with a comfortable victory. Anything less than that is an utter cop out. That is on you as an elite 5/10

All i read is about the fucking system. A managerless side of professionals who pick their team as 11 players out of a hat should be able to turn up to Grimsby and field a line up that can win a game. These games are difficult, Mt.Everest for these small clubs. But you’ve trained your lives 4/10

And this is the cancer that has plagued every single manager we’ve had post Ferguson. Everyone understands some of the mitigation around environments etc etc. However, big players, talented players, coveted players have all found it in themselves to shrink and shy away from competition 3/10

Do you know how utterly fucked up that is to have to keep saying that? It is his job as a coach to instill a way of playing and pick teams that can win games. He also has man management responsibilities.

However, If you think his job is to tell a professional footballer to fight and run harder 2/10

The fucking Ali Dia of goalkeepers mate. A wage thief, match fixing, useless horrible waste of space

A fly in the ointment here, because I unapologetically love Nickelback, but Coldplay are beyond shite 😂

Yeah I accept the caveat, also accept he shouldn’t really have been signed as our main man up front. But he spent an entire year backing into defenders and rarely making any form of coherent or sensible run in behind defenders. It’s like the safe option was to tussle and battle and look busy.

End of his first season I had no concerns about Hojlund, the problem is the season just gone wasn’t just his output. He was putting in 3/10 performances every single week. OT groaning with every bad touch. I didn’t think his floor was THAT bad

That’s my understanding on it anyway. It’s attractive from cash psr wise, and dealing with Chelsea in that respect is “easier”

No, I’d imagine basically we’d agree to sell Garnacho for say £50/60m and sign Jackson for £50m or so. Garnacho is pure profit so on the books you’ve got loads of money to spend over 3 years, whilst paying probably £10m a year for Jackson as Chelsea are cash rich and don’t need a lot up front.

Genuinely not a million miles off being true i don’t think. Not ultimately what we should care about but PSR wise it has a really good upside. On the pitch I also think he’s much better than Hojlund all round game. However, his finishing is shite. It’s a strange one for sure.

Yes, if ever a kit deserved a 4-0 thumping go Brentford, it was that one!