Haiku

16 minutes ago, Cornish Steve said:

All credit to Belgium's defense. Not many could withstand a 45-minute assault from Portugal.

This. Worth mentioning Belgium is among the highest ranked in both goals scored (8) and conceded (1). Speaks volumes about the work Martinez is doing over there.

I think he's too good to be a backup for Everton. Might go somewhere he'll play regularly.

Not bad appointment although I wanted Galtier or Martinez. Anyway, at least Rafa can handle the challenge and can built the foundation for someone more exiting to take over in a couple of years.

Digne on free kicks, Dom on penalties and suddenly we don't need Siggy anymore.

I didn't said he's top manager anymore. Of course Tottenham will look for someone else, so we should. I said he's better than the Italian fraud, who only has won trophies with the best team at his disposal. He showed his true qualities (or lack of) when he faced his first challenge with Napoli and then us. I understand his decision to leave for Real, because if he stayed any longer he will find himself where Rafa is.

11 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

i don't want rafa not because he's a red, because plain and simple he's shit.

I think he's past his prime. His tactics are a bit outdated, much like Mourinho, but to say he's shit is not justified. He has won continental trophies with 3 different teams, and none of them was the ultimate powerhouse. I think he's capable manager and surely can bring some stability at Everton (he proved that with Newcastle). If you asked me who I would chose between Ancelotti and Rafa, and that before we appointed the Italian, I would have said Rafa. He is the better tactical mind, but no, I don't want him either.

Get him in. I'm raring to see a midfield trio of Gbamin, Ramsay and James.

I think it is not appropriate to announce our next manager, while he's fully concentrated on his current job at the Euros.

44 minutes ago, Romey 1878 said:

 As much as I love Dom, come on!

Real Madrid are certainly looking for a striker. Taking into account they bought the flop Luka Jovic for 60m a couple of seasons ago, we simply can't deny the possibility of them being interested in Dom, who is more valued and prolific striker than Jovic.

I think it's gonna be Martinez. If it was Benitez or Nuno, we would have announced the new manager by now.

8 minutes ago, chicagoblue said:

Basically, yeah losing Jimenez was bad, but actually Nuno had already started to fall apart before that.  Sounds a bit like Martinez.  One good season and a half then it all falls apart.

OK, but there were 3 good seasons for Nuno at Molineux.

1 minute ago, StevO said:

I think it’s hard to say Nuno failed at Wolves. He got them out of the championship, followed by two top seven finishes. He’s had one poor season there. 

Yeah, by the same logic Pochettino failed at Tottenham. Gone are the days, when good managers could easily last a decade at one club. Clubs are not hesitating to chop anyone's head after poor season, which is inevitable. No club can be successful season after season without dip in form at some point down the road. I don't want Nuno either, but will support him if he's being chosen.

I'm really quite indifferent whether he stays or not. Rather we see him being replaced with new exciting signing, because I can't see James being a game changer for us next season given his fitness issues.

3 minutes ago, Gwlad all over said:

Or faith?

oof

1 minute ago, markjazzbassist said:

Martinez koeman silva fat Sam Carlo.  Honestly I have 0 faith we will make the right decision.  We haven’t made the right decision since bill appointed moyes.  That was the last good decision.  Was that 2 decades ago?

I'm with you on this, but we must have fatih.

51 minutes ago, Shukes said:

I have faith we will make the right decision!

I have fatih too.

10 hours ago, London Blue said:

I'm not ready to give up on Brands, I don't think the majority of fans are.

Why though? What has he done to earn so much support? In my opinion our player recruitment is below par under his management. Where are the exciting young signings ala DCL we were all expecting? Brands is Dutch, we all know about the Dutch pool of talents and I remember when he came we're all exited and were chatting about incoming Dutch prospects, but it's been 3 years and I'm wondering where are they?! He's mainly signing top club rejects, of which only Digne worked out. Some big fish in small pond ala Godfrey, Doucoure who are considered safe signings and we paid premium to get them and the rest is a bull crap. Sorry, but nothing convinces me that he's doing a good job. We are where we are because of bad management and bad recruitment. If we do not hold the people responsible for the latter, no matter how many managers we change, we won't move forward.

11 minutes ago, Bailey said:

Galtier still falls into the Potter camp for me.

He spent several years at Saint Ettiene and they did win a league cup beating Stade Rennais. His cup record aside from that is very poor both domestically and abroad. Since he left St Ettiene finished higher than they did with him and they reached the FA Cup final equivalent. 

He joined Lille in December 2017 and guided the club from 18th to 17th escaping relegation by a single point. He then saw a transformation, albeit with some significant help from his DoF. They came 4th and then won the league.

The 4th position came in the curtailed season when they played 28 out of 38 games. They ended with a goal difference of 8, which would get you about 8th over here based on the last three seasons.

They then went on to incredibly win the league this season, conceding only 23 goals. That won them the league. They were outperformed on scoring in real terms and in expected goals. 

I just cannot suddenly see any reason why after all of those years in management that it built up to this league win. There is nothing in his record to suggest he would back it up either. I could be hopelessly wrong but it just looks like one of those great footballing stories that gets thrown up every now and then. 

 

You got it wrong a bit.  The season after saving them from relegation Lille got 2nd, then 4th and then won the league. That's very consistent form over 3 full seasons. You are right their DOF brought him a lot of quality, something we're at hit and miss with Marcel. Luis Campos left as well, so apparently he'll want to join Galtier with his next appointment? Are we ready to give up on Brands?

I just read about Galtier, this the man who most recently won the french ligue with Lille? Sign him up right away! 

I would take either Conte or Bielsa in a heartbeat. Unfortunately both are unrealistic targets. Nuno is the most obvious candidate, but I see him as the next Marco Silva. I really hope Bill is calling Martinez at this point.

That's more because the looks of betrayal in the eyes of the fans than wanting the managerial position IMO. Honestly I don't think Dunc has the qualities to ever become a successful premier league manager and I think he knows it. He loves working for the club and his ambitions are to stay here until his retirement. 

1 hour ago, Zoo 2.0 said:

I'd take Roberto Martinez over a lot of the names that have been thrown about, but I'd still have major reservations as I can remember what our football was like towards the back end of his tenure and can also remember (more clearly) how toxic Goodison was in his final chapter too.

To put on record, I would take him over Nuno Santo too.

It was toxic, because he was our first manager after Moyes. We were not used to the dross we're used to today. In season when we advanced to knock out stages of League Europa, and qualified to the semi-finals of both domestic cups and finishing 12th in the best league in the world while having bang average players and ZERO depth. I think we were very harsh towards him. 

6 hours ago, markjazzbassist said:

with carlo gone i would think James will be gone as well

I would rather see him leave than to keep him, to be honest. Classy player, but his fitness is a big concern. Wages better spent for someone who's gonna have a real impact week in week out.

We should definitely keep him. I don't see him being first team regular, but he's capable enough fitting as a backup. Furthermore he's a home grown and every club needs 4 players raised through the ranks to meet registration quota.

He was not a good appointment for us. Other than his reputation, he's not used to work with mid table clubs and his tenure with us showed just that. He's not great tactician, nor he's great motivator. He's capable at securing the comfort of big players and let them do whatever they do best. Look at his biography. Other than his early days with Reggiana, he has managed only sides at the very top of their local competition and in Europe at the time. Only recently he managed Napoli, who are in the mix, but not among the best clubs in Italy, and he failed miserably. Then with us. He changed the midfield, has strengthen the defense with Godfrey and we played dross. I would expect a manager of his quality to take us a bit higher than that, in a season when newly promoted club was consistently better than us and finished above us. All in all, we did not see much improvement for these 18 months, so why should we feel sad about him leaving?