Shy_Talk

Barkley was poor throughout the whole of 2016 bar a few bright performances. He was good up to December last season - games like the thrashing of Villa and Sunderland boosted his goals/assists stats - it was his most productive season in this aspect but I'd image most of it was done pre-December because this slump in form came long before Koeman took over.

Because it's his fault we're in this mess! We were in free fall last season and there's only one person who's to blame for that and that is amartinez.
 
Fucking disgraceful he was, from shite players like Cleverley, Mcgeady, Kone and Niasse to walking away with 10 million in his arse pocket for failing to do even a remotely acceptable job.

Oh ffs steve. I liked martinez at the beginning.... let it go man. The fella got carried away with himself and abandoned any ownership of 'responsible' football.  
He treated us like some sort of experiment in the end knowing full well he was protected by a ridiculous contract. To this day he is earning less in one year than pep is at man city - because international management is the only way that any new jobs don't offset his everton compensation. Stupid by us... sly by him.
 
He may have got us to 2 semi finals - smashing. He also completely destroyed what it was he was looking at building after one year.
 
He gets criticism and rightly so. As for breaking jaws etc? No... I don't get all that.

4 league home wins in a season, the worst record in our history as co-founder members of the league.
 
clown-shoes has a hell of a lot to answer for, not just his 11.25 million pound golden parachute.

Po Boy.
 
obviously.

2 minutes research done.
 
Belgium were knocked out of euro 2016 by Wales on the 1st of July, Lukaku played, Mirallas didn't.
Belgium hammered Hungary on the 26th of June, Lukaku played, Mirallas didn't.
Belgium beat Sweden on the 22nd of June, Lukaku played, Mirallas didn't.
Belgium beat rep of Ireland on 18th of June, Lukaku played, Mirallas didn't.
Italy beat Belgium, 13th June. Lukaku played, no Mirallas.
 
This is becoming annoying, so it shows Mirallas wasn't used because he never went to the tournament. So Koeman fit Deulofeu in up front in pre season and at the beginning of the season proper then fell out withhim, yet didn't utilize Mirallas who'd had the summer off.
So of late Mirallas has had much more game time yet Deulofeu can't even get a slot on the bench yet Calvert-Lewin who signed on August 31st has been getting game time.
 
I wonder if Koeman has had a call from an old barca buddy regards Deulofeu's attitude, we've not heard any reports of misbehaviour, no injury news, or personal difficulties, it's all speculation and I suppose we might have to get our heads around that Deulofeu might get frozen out similar to Niasse because Koeman just doesn't like him.
 
Barkley being dropped and critiqued seems to have jump started his season (dear lord I hope so) yet the silence in respect to Deulofeu is totally at odds with how every other players form and chances have been approached.

Southampton were tired, and struggled to press as they normally would, as their legs fell off Barkley got even more time to pick runners and good passes. Currently he can be pressed/pressured out of a game, he's got footwork like Gene Kelly, pace for a midfielder to match any central mid runner, but close his thinking time off and his game goes to pieces, it's not even having to double up on him, just keep a man close and cut off the easy pass and he's in trouble.
 
Watching Barkley is about comparing where and when hes good versus where and when he aint. Maybe the more knocks he gets now and the more sides focus their spare man on him the sooner he learns to break the shackles, but, expectation is a huge drain on him.

No-mans land breathes a sigh of relief at that.
 
Your one man firing squad hopefully won't go rusty in the meantime.
 
Christmas was last week, an armistice is overdue.
 
Let this day live in infamy, rememberance is whats required.
 
Another half-assed-military-pun, kaboom.

Odd situation, Bolassie played every game and our game was set up to involve him first (even knocking him headers towin in midfield FFS) so with a tricky direct speedster the focal point of the side when he got the ACL injury Deulofeu seemed something like a player to involve to at least try to carry on the method of play that had been built.
 
I wonder if Deulofeu is seen as a luxury player that we simply cant afford to play as we are struggling to carry Barkley and Lukaku in the same eleven, that Barry doesn't have the mobility he once did is severely hampering the midfield, cute and smart as he is with his play oppositions are singling him out to run at.
 
We are a patchwork side, and because so many areas need cover it is reducing opportunities for trying new tactics, setups and fresh legs.
 
Depressing.

Jagielka gets the chance to finish off here for me, similar to Osman and Hibbert, hes a great pro, made it back from a usually career ending injury, Captained a once notable international side, never pushed for a move or been a disruption (or even advised a youth player to move on) so for his experience and professionalism, he gets to bow out slowly and be a regular at the club should he want it, if that eventually means coach or ambassador then fine, hes been a great player, isn't finished, and is a great example that even having to move on doesn't mean moving backis impossible and can make a massive success atthe same time.
 
Too many fans happy to catapult players that have given us everything, when theres waste and wasters galore to focus ire upon.

Can I sign 'someone' up for a tour of duty with, lets say, the foreign legion?

At least he isn't bullshitting us and himself. Lets see what him and Walsh can conjure yet before we bin him like we eventually did with clown-shoes.
 
I just want a Mario Gomez in or someone the same to join us up up front, Koeman did the business with Pelle, perhaps Giabbiadini is his choice. We've all got used to Gueye being superb, a bad day at the office was due.
 
I'm not liking the line ups and substitutions, not one bit, but he gets a nod of approval for not telling lies yet/so far.
 
Truth and improvement is all there is from here.....

re: Berahino, who was the last player to dig their heels in and refuse to sign a new contract for more to wait it out two years and force a move away? Any agent ought to have pushed for improved terms, a realistic buy out fee, and the option to talk to any CL club about a move whence interested.
 
Berahino comes away from this fiasco looking pretty bad, having tried to force a move to spurs through, but it looks like spurs are chock full of players for the forward line so that dog might not hunt this time, might we be a fit for him? Did he work well with Lukaku? Don't we have speedster attackers already (even ones with a chip on their shoulder or two), if he moves fairly cheaply this january he'll demand a massive signing on fee, only an under 21 international as well.....

Just what we need, a performance from a youth product against a flatlining leicester side so we can herald him the next saviour of the club. Lets get him built up as quickly as we can so the fall is all the harder eh.
 
Ah well, Calvert-Lewis next......

Maybe with some legs and urgency around him the ethic to bust a gut has been rediscovered. Should be netting 20 league goals a season as a minimum and that's what'll get him his dream move.
 
Maybe playing upfront with players not instantly being booed by their own fans (Barks) has rubbed a bit of positivity off on him.
 
Maybe the bright lights of an evening game at home and the crowd demanding grim-steel and loaded-challenges inspired some gusto into the entire eleven.
 
Maybe...

Koeman has pointed out that this side is weak and not up to the direct nature and physicality of the league and that we dont apply pressure and win the second balls....
 
If this was such a concern who were we linked with in the summer to address this glaring problem? Sissoko, Gabbiadini, Witsel....?
 
Gueye aint winning us many headers fighting for the long punts from either keeper, Barry doesn't have the speed to get into the aerial battle, so now we're linked with Mata Depay and Schneiderlin, the first two wont be contesting many headers, we've assembled a team of short arses and we kee being ground into pulp by larger heavier sides, I'm not suggesting we become a Stoke side but we have to find a balance that allows us to at least compete.
 
Lukaku will thrive off a classy target man - Mario Gomez is that signing.
Schneiderlin would be an upgrade on McCarthy, can we push Gueye forward to fit another DCM in?
 
Koeman didn't make this mess, it's clown-shoes legacy but it's Koemans watch now and the pressure is on, we were a disgrace when clown-shoes was phenomenalling us weekly to loss after loss - I wonder now if some of the players have it in them to pick themselves up, or if the mental scars, the post traumatic clown-stress disorder has tainted them long term. We're shockingly bad, and the average sides in the league are giving us a stuffing and we got trounced by one of the best sides in the league 5-0, theres no such thing as too good to go down, we need a bit of character, some chemistry, change!
 
Team of short arses living off of faded memories of a clowns phenominal first 80% of a season and a couple of cup semi finals. Hating the experience and have been hating it more and more to a critical mass for months leading to years. Demanded honesty from clown-shoes, demand the same from Koeman, lets hear how bad it really is, point the finger, name the names, pay off and move on the abject failures, too many feint hearts not enough dogs of war.

He'd have to be Atlas to be able to single handedly shoulder all the pressure the rest of the side cant cope with. Couple that with the possibility every player can have a bad day and suddenly when one of (or both) our two CB's are off the pace of a game the never ending cycle of aerial pressure cannot be fought off.
 
Been a baptism of fire for Williams and no ones called the fire brigade yet.

He'd have to be Atlas to be able to single handedly shoulder all the pressure the rest of the side cant cope with. Couple that with the possibility every player can have a bad day and suddenly when one of (or both) our two CB's are off the pace of a game the never ending cycle of aerial pressure cannot be fought off.
 
Been a baptism of fire for Williams and no ones called the fire brigade yet.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day
Teach a man to fish and he might finish himself off with mercury poisoning by year end.
 
Anyway, thanks for the welcomes.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day
Teach a man to fish and he might finish himself off with mercury poisoning by year end.
 
Anyway, thanks for the welcomes.

Like Hale without Pace, Morcambe without Wise and Eric without Idle, our beloved Baines was always going to be a shadow when compared to the incomparible duo he shared with Pienaar in their halcyon days. A pairing that showed there was more to football than brute force, where quick thinking and quicker feet made the ball do the work and had every side we faced perplexed at how to solve the footballing rubix riddles they regularly rolled out. There were a few highlights to the regime we had before clown-shoes dismantled it and the Baines Pienaar combo was the master stroke.
 
Anyway, left backs with Baines class and capability don't crop up often so enjoy him running the flank whilst you can because we could be in for a journey through barren years with the likes of Naismith, Pistone and although an honest grafter Unsworth was no maestro.