nogs

My frustration with Sigurdsson - and Schneiderlin for that matter - is we're seeing exactly the same problems in midfield we saw two years ago under Koeman. It was crap then and its crap now. How have we not moved on, tactically and in terms of personnel, two managers later?

I'm amazed to see anyone defending him. He's a glaring weak link. Slow, doesn't dominate the middle of the park defensively/physically, offers next to nothing creatively or defensively. Our win ratio with him starting is appalling. I reckon I could name a better midfield player ar every other Premier league club. You mention Silva leaving Delph and Schneiderlin out to dry in midfield. Well that's the issue with playing Sigurdsson. You say he did his defensive duties well, but he plays too high up the pitch. I just don't think the 4-2-3-1 we tend to play works when most teams play three a genuine three in midfield. We need an extra body dropping back, that has to be Sigurdsson or someone better suited to doing it.

So what would you think about 2 points from the next 9? His problem isn't today. Its the fact we've already lost to Villa, Bournemouth and Sheff Utd. Cornish Steve - does the fact that Keane gets picked for his country somehow disguise the fact he is prone to bad errors? For club and country? Mina - overhyped too young? I keep saying it, we're signing the wrong type of player and we're suffering coz of it.

We've been a mess defensively since Koeman. Only conclusion I can make is the CBs we keep signing aren't good enough.

Good first half, then the inevitable. Silva's got 3 games for me. I know there are injuries in midfield but keeping Schneiderlin as a starter is unacceptable. And he has a big decision to make about Sigurdsson too. Just not good enough atm.

Wow. We played reasonably well there. Do we have to have another 45?

He's woefully out of form

Well that's that then. All hope Silva might grow a pair out the window. Schneiderlin plays, we lose. And how fucking shit does Sigurdsson have to be before he gets dropped?

I'm with all the posts questioning why Silva keeps getting it in the neck for players underperforming in a blue shirt. I completely agree Silva has a lot to prove still and a bad month ahead will put him in a very difficult position, but come on - how long do we have to suffer £50m Sigurdsson being fucking useless before we start questioning his commitment and desire? I cringe every time I see Schneiderlin on the team sheet, same with Tosun - just not good enough. People on here defend Keane to the hilt but he's a mistake waiting to happen. Yeah Silva has to take responsibility for picking underperforming players, and yeah part of a coach's job is to make players better. But instead of believing we can wave a magic wand, bring a new manager in and suddenly find ourselves in the top 4, I think we have to face facts - we still have a lot of players on our books who are either not good enough for where we want to be or who are apparently not that arsed.

DCL must be loving this as a Blade - making a point for not getting a kick against his boyhood club on Saturday?

Shit thay DCL, should have started Tosun.

Agree with some of this, disagree with some of it. Wanting your wide forwards to score plenty doesn't mean you have to play like Liverpool with Firmino as a false 9. Look at City, their front 3 all bang them in. I do agree about adjusting to the players you have, though. Which brings me to a point about DCL - if Silva wanted to play the withdrawn 9 card and get Richarlison/Bernard scoring, why the hell did we spend all of Saturday launching high crosses into the box against three big, rugged CBs without our best target man on the pitch? It was embarrassingly naive, even worse when he brought Tosun on (who just isn't remotely good enough, I'm afraid). I am with you, though. I'd like to see him at least try a 4-4-2, I think it's the only way we'll get a tune out of Sigurdsson. I worry about centre mid especially without Gomes and Digne and Coleman would have to play as traditional full backs, but it's worth a go.

Give him more but I think the next month is crucial. Expect a beating from City next week so forget that. But Burnley, West Ham, Brighton... Far from easy games, if we ended up not winning any of those or winning one and losing two, I think he'd be under huge pressure. Yesterday surprised me tbh, after the run we had back end of last season I was shocked to see us look so badly inept. Ive said this for two years now but Schneiderlin being anywhere near our first team, never mind starting, is a huge problem. Sigurdsson is now a huge problem, he was garbage yesterday and I think the only way you ever get a tune out of him is playing off the striker in a 4-4-2. Keane is a problem and I fully expected him to look shit again after his mistake for England. Not having a striker who can score regularly is obviously still a huge problem but fuck me Tosun is not the answer.

Howe has made some excellent signings at Bournemouth.

We're all subjects of US linguistic (and mathematical) tyranny these days! I did think the difference in quantity was with a trillion though? Maybe not, but I've always thought of a billion as 1000 million.

Erm, no. Half a billion. Half a million is Schneiderlin's monthly wages.

Both of which are counted as under achievement at Man Utd. Every club he has been successful at, he has walked into dressing rooms full of big players, big personalities. He has been very successful on the psychology of getting top players performing well... Until Utd with Pogba, Sanchez et al. He has never taken a young team and improved them through the quality of his coaching. That's what we need.

Mourinho... Remind me how he 'inspired' a bunch of underperforming wannabes at Man Utd? Would be utterly the wrong direction for us to go in, more throwing big money around hoping to buy quick success. We need a hungry manager who understands the way the game is being played nowadays. Mourinho is 10 years out of date.

I think sadly we've gone into the game expecting it to be easy. Which is criminal. I watch a fair bit of Sheff Utd, all the rubbish about them going straight back down with single digit points was utter bollocks from people who clearly haven't watched them under Wilder. I'd love a manager like him in charge of us. I'd love some of his players. That said, they didn't even have to play well to beat us today.

Thankfully he'll be going back to Real Madrid to sort out that ponderous, imbalanced, goal-shy problem.

We don't have to be a relegation risk for fans to question wtf is going on. We've spent half a billion on players since Moshiri came in. Mid table is outrageous failure on those terms alone.

Well played Sheff Utd. Proper manager, proper recruitment policy, proper team ethic and clarity about what they're trying to do. I tried to get tickets today as my missus is a Sheff Utd fan but left it too late. I'm angry enough I wasted an hour and a half watching it on a dodgy stream. That was just embarrassing. Why do we have a team full of £20m plus players who can't pass, dribble or shoot? How did Sigurdsson and Richarlison's agents con us into believing they are £50m footballers?? Man City paid that for Kevin de Bruyne!! And why are Schneiderlin, Tosun and Walcott still getting paid a wage at this club?? I know it's easy to jerk knees after a performance like that but we just look like a team going absolutely nowhere. Groundhog Day all over again.

Only Digne but he's doing pretty decent anyway!

I'm taking credit for his two goals yesterday. Hooked him from my fantasy team, guaranteed way to get one of ours scoring!

Send the ballots back!