flashingqwerty

Abs or not, the guys done. I saw nothing from him in his on pitch antics that makes me think he has anything to offer. I'd pick Nakamba and Luiz over this guy everytime. Send him back, another deadwood, pointless, loan that's cost huge money

Poch is still on the market - just saying...

Tro, seems to me you are contradicting yourself here. On one hand you say Targett and Guilbert aren't good enough, and say we should be looking for better. On the other you're saying league position says we aren't a PL team. Guilbert and Targett are easily low to mid pl fullbacks. Many of their failings are the result of the sides attacking shape and mentality meaning that defensively they will get caught out of position because they are expected to be an attacking force. You can't have it both ways i'm afraid. If i were looking to rebuild this squad, for any level, fullback would be towards, if not at, the bottom of the list. We've serious issues in goal, at cb, in cm, on the wing and up top (though i think Samatta might turn out to resolve this). I'd be strengthening most of those areas ahead of fb.

We're doomed... - C3PO

I really like this distinction. Yes, DS is a good coach. I truly believe he can improve players - when the player wants to learn what he is teaching. I do not think DS has the tools/skill/whatever to take a player who wants to coast and turn them into something more. I'd call this management to a degree. I also think he has too much pride to recognise that his philosophy isn't working with these players and wont change despite the overwhelming evidence that we need to play less open football.

You make some good points, but what has any of that got to do with signing Drinkwater? Look at his stats over the last 4 or 5 years, played 20 odd games, been arrested, caused squad issues, not gotten game time at a team above us in the league. Someone who knows how to succeed at this level, does not bring a person like Drinkwater into a relegation threatened squad unless they are so desperate that they should no longer be in their job, or so clueless, they should never have been in it. The Drinkwater signing had 'car crash' written all over it from the start, and so it has proven to be.

My point though, which you conveniently ignore, is that any and all of them would have had less of a negative impact on the team in general. You also completely ignore the, literally thousands of, midfield players across europe, who could potentially have signed and perhaps could have made a positive contribution. To suggest there 'were no other options' than drinkwater is at best naive and at worst ignorance in the extreme. For whatever reason, the transfer team picked a player who had played about 20 games in 5 years, and couldn't get a game at Burnley as someone to come in and transform the team. I thought so when it was announced, and his performances and behaviour since confirms, this was a terrible decision, and we'd have been far better off with noone or a youth player in his place, rather than bringing in someone who clearly is neither physically fit enough, nor mentally stable enough, to compete at this level anymore. As i have also previously said, this type of signing wreaks of desperation, and shows why DS and his team will never be capable of putting together a team that is capable of competing at this level. They, themselves, are too limited and short sighted.

He also creates loads of chances for opponents to score and headbutts his teammates.

He could not have done worse than drinkwater tbh

1. Bruno Fernandes 2. Ben Sheaf 3. Emile Smith Rowe 4. James Olayinka 5. Matt Butcher 6. Aaron Mooy 7. Alex Dobre 8. Max Sanders 9. James Tilley 10. Tudor Baluta 11. Henry Ogunby 12. Josh Brownhill 13. Scott Banks 14. Takumi Minamino 15. Nabil Bentaleb 16. Stan Flaherty 17. Ondreij Duda 18. Lukas Rupp 19. Melvin Sitti 20. Jack Rodwell 21. Sander Berge 22. Jacob Maddox 23. Gedson Fernandes 24. Giovanni lo Celso 25. Tomas Soucek 26. Enzo Loiodice Thats after a brief look at transfers just involving pl teams. I'm not saying we could or should have signed any of these, but i doubt any of them could have been worse or more damaging signings than drinkwater. And of course this list doesnt include the many, many, other players we might have been able to sign, that never moved in the jan window. So to say there were no other options is piffle.

Look at quotes directly from DS where he says the signing was made because of the desire in drinkwaters eyes and how ds had wanted to sign him in the summer but was beaten to it.

Given the amount of playing time he has had, the trouble he has caused, the poor performances in the small playing time he has had, i'd have rather not have signed anyone. I'm not a scout, but there were more than 20 central midfielders signed by premier league clubs in january, so to say there were no other options is nieve. There are plenty of players across europe we might have approached on loan. But i say again, based on what he has brought to the club, i firmly believe that not signing him would have been better. I find it difficult to understand how anyone could hold a different view based on how poor he has been, and the friction in the squad he has caused, and his overall poor behaviour. Terrible signing, and as i say, a firm reflection of how DS is simply not up to the task of assembling a squad capable of competing at this level.

Was a DS signing, and undoubtedly the worst signing we've made. A fitting indictment of a manager not up to the task of building a pl team.

Can see this being our worst result of the season. 6-0 chelsea.

On the Wes signing - couldnt agree more. Had we gotten Samatta instead of Wes, i think our season would have played out differently. Samatta looks a much better player at this level.

And thats down to the coaching staff, and ultimately DS.

Disagree, and so do all of his defensive stats. One of the better defensive midfielders in the league, but as you have said, he is a limited player. When he breaks up play he needs someone near him to lay it off to so he doesnt have to play intricate football, as that isnt his game. Thats what Luiz is there for, but Luiz often goes missing. When mcginn is back, the partnership of nakamba and mcginn will be good as mcginn has that engine that luiz doesnt. Nakamba, of all our midfielders currently fit, is the only one i would keep if by some miracle we stayed up.

If the owners dont sack him now, they can f**k off as well. Not up to the job. I'd take fat sam til the end of the season.

Must win game, etc. You've all heard the rest and know what's at stake. Blues showed they can be got at, and theyre not a good side. If we can turn up to an away game for a change, we've every chance of 3 points. If Norwich can do it...

I'm not even sure the monday night football stuff is his, i think its prepared for him. If he had such great insight into the game his managerial career wouldn't have been such a farse.

So many posters putting words in my mouth that i just didn't say... What you may want VAR to do, and what VAR has been sanctioned to do are not the same thing. As it stands, VAR is there to check major events, as i previously stated. I agree it could be used for more, but thats not reality, so the point is moot. My reply stands, as those are the grounds under which VAR is allowed to operate now, dreaming of fantasy scenarios where it could something else is just that - a fantasy, and bears no relevance to the point i made.

Putting words in my mouth much? Please show me, oh wise one, where i mention the result at all, let alone keeping a clean sheet or winning. Putting a fullback who is poor in the air at best, on the oppositions most dangerous aerial threat is bonkers, if you disagree thats fine, but lets not pretend i said we should have kept a clean sheet or won, because thats a fantasy you created in your own head. Game after game we make basic defensive errors. We put small players against tall ones and it results in goals from set peices. I am sure the players arent choosing who they mark, so, ultimately, it comes down to poor coaching. The same issues were present last year too, but you can get away with it down there. DS and his team are simply too naieve to make it at this level and need to move on.

I'm sorry, but for that corner, Mings and Engels, arguably our 2 best players in the air, were at least 10 yards away from ant City player. I am sorry, but when your 2 best headerers arent marking anyone and guilbert is left marking a player 6 inches taller and regarded as good in the air, then the fault sits with the coaching team. Poor decision to have s fullback marking one of the best headerers of the ball when your 2 cbs are not marking anyone. Complete joke. DS is too naieve and too slow to pick these things up. And when the inevitable happens and we go down, i place no blame on the players, i blame the coaching staff for being unable to reach players to effectively defend but also in sticking dogmatically to a style of play that the players are clearly incapable of implementing. 100% the players are hood enough, and 100 % the coaches are not

Agreed, i think our goal was much better than either of theirs, but even that relied upon a poor mistake from Stones. Overall, we were 2nd best to a City team that barely got into 1st hear. We were poor throughout, and let them play. I disagree wholeheatedly with anyone who says we fought today, as i felt we were going through the motions. A few players aside, i saw little effort, and little guile, and never felt a villa player was every going to bust a gut to make a difference. Whilst we were not bad, we were a long way from what we produced earlier in the season, and never looked like being anything more than an also- ran

Blaming VAR is pathetic. DS and the coaching staff, players, combined resulted in an uninspired performance which left us with little to no attacking threat/intent. Let us not be blind here, in so much as we were not as bad as against Southampton, City were never out of 1st gear. It was not a good performance in so much as City didnt need to play to beat us, we were poor.