nogs

Brilliant!! Sigurdsson a lucky bugger it was a shit pen. And it definitely was a pen, Alonso lifts his foot with Richarlison', it's a trip.

As usual you ignore all the tackling and blocking Gana does. Agree completely on Sigurdsson. Gomes isn'tt good enough when opponents get in his face.

GET IN!! Different team this half!!

We're so meh. Miracle we got through the first 10 minutes without conceding, the way we stand off is unbelievable and our defence is absolutely crying out for a leader. We also need to sacrifice one of the forwards and find 3 genuine all rounders in midfield. I wouldn't be taking up the option on Gomes.

Correction - we don't press.

Should be 3 down already. Outside Huddersfield and Fulham we have to be the shittest side in the league defensively.

Wahey we're back! Couldn't be arsed trying to be honest when I saw the site was down after that Toon travesty. Felt like giving up on football.

Saw absolutely nothing on Sunday to suggest we'll ever improve with him in the side.

If we don't have other players with the intelligence to play off a focal point, if we don't have midfielders with the quality to feed a front man, if we don't have a defence that you can rely on not to fuck up so we get that clean sheet and the scrappy 1-0 win... Not much will change. I've said it a thousand times, our problems are far, far bigger than not replacing Lukaku.

Fuck off Silva DCL has been excellent today that's a terrible, terrible substitution.

Winter breaks work! Being punished in Fantasy League for my lack of faith, 12 points on the bench in Keane and DCL!

In these uncertain times its nice to know there are still some certainties in life.

Been enjoying a warm weather midwinter break away from the forum... As @markjazzbassist says, very happy at this rumour! Exactly where we should be investing, young talent with bags of potential to get better. As for the 'it's only the Championship' naysayers... I saw him score twice off the bench against Spurs in the League Cup when Sheff Utd were still in League 1 and he was about 19. He terrified the Spurs defence, fast, direct and clinical in front of goal.

We'd still face the same problems we're seeing this season imo, other teams playing three in midfield and overrunning our two. Bernard is hardly going to de an improvement on Sigurdsson when we don't have the ball.

Yeah I think the long term loan idea is a good one. I think English clubs could start looking at sending young prospects abroad more for their development, maybe with the current trend of going to Germany that will happen. The Championship is a great league for learning how tough first team football really is but it definitely prioritises stamina over technical ability. I don't know if that is what a player like Dowell really nerds or not - toughen him up or let him go somewhere where his main attributes (i.e. a beaut of a left foot) can shine through and develop. I'm not sure I agree with you on Mustafi or Duffy though, given how poor our current CBs are I'd be quite happy with either of them.

There's tons of other examples. Kevin de Bruyne immediately springs to mind. And I'm not sure Dowell has played for our U23s in over a year, when he's not been on loan he's been in the first team squad. So we're not talking keeping every U23 player just in case. We're talking giving the very best prospects every chance to become £35m players with us. And that only happens by playing them. I think an example coming at it from the other way is Luke Garbutt. I have no idea what he is still doing on our books, he's 25 and has made five first team appearances. It's senseless, you either keep hold of young players and play them or let them go. He is the perfect example of how not to handle a player.

Example in the papers today - remember Suso? Not good enough for Liverpool at 21, now at 25 Spurs and Arsenal are rumoured to be in for him for £35m. You just can't say for definite that players aren't going to be top class at 21.

And I gave you my reasons, several times. But instead of just saying 'fine, I don't agree with them' you chose to try to belittle them by claiming they weren't clear, ill-informed and half-cocked. So yeah, I've completely lost patience with you. You're just that loud mouthed pub bore who tries to win arguments by shouting over everyone else, making the same point over and over. The short length of his tenure, the mess he found the squad in, the need to give some of his signings more time to bed in, our form up to November, the reputation of the club - they are all valid reasons to believe Silva should be given more time. But as they don't fit in with your view, you resort to suggesting they are based on stupidity and a lack of understanding or knowledge. That's arsehole behaviour imo.

@pete0 made it easy for you in return. I shouldn't have to say any more than the above, but I'll even give you some notable examples. Pep Guardiola in his first season at Man City, who you might recall oversaw the previous season's champions thumped 4-0 by Ronald Koeman's side. Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, who for a couple of seasons oversaw an absolute shambles of a defence. Ferguson at Man Utd, who took four years to win a trophy at Man Utd and was famously reported to be close to getting the sack the season they won the Cup their league form was so bad. Our very own Howard Kendall, who was in a similar position months before we won the cup in 1984. To draw a line under this, I completely understand your argument - we've seen no improvement this season from a manager who has had the benefit of several summer signings, and from what you've seen of the way we're playing you think it's enough to pull the trigger and sack him. I just don't agree. Now you are perfectly entitled to disagree with my opinion. But for you to come out with shit like 'it's half an argument' and 'you're not being clear', I think you're just being a twat. It's an opinion anyway, why would I need to back it up with any sort of evidence? What is more, despite what you claim, the fact that you keep coming back to this like a dog to a shitty stick suggests you very much are trying to 'win' the argument. So you know what - you have this one, give yourself a pat on the back, write a note in the little diary of online forum victories you keep for yourself, celebrate with a wank if you like. Whatever you need to make yourself feel good pal. Now can we give this thread back for what it is intended for, please?

Pete, seriously - you're just repeating the same fucking points over and over again. What do you expect me to do, turn round a of a sudden and say 'oh yeah, actually you were right all along'?? What more do I need to say than 'it takes lots of managers longer than a season even to have an impact on a side, 7 months is too soon to make a final judgement'? What more do I need to say than 'I don't think our new signings have improved us as much as you claim because a few of them have been inconsistent and have taken time to settle'?? What more do I need to say than 'I don't think our team or squad is remotely balanced'? It's not a case of justifying my opinion based on what I've seen so far (although we did play pretty well from September to November, which doesn't fit with your narrative). It's a case of my opinion being ANY manager deserves 12 to 18 months, unless they're about to get a team relegated. I want to see what he can do after another transfer window, with a decent striker, a proper centreback and hopefully a quality central midfielder and some of the shite he has been lumped with out of the picture. I don't mind having a healthy debate with anyone. But do me a favour and leave the condescending 'half an argument' bollocks out. This is about opinions, nothing more, and with all respect you're hardly a forensic lawyer yourself in the depth and consistency of your arguments.

Well what's the point? You're repeating the same point over and over again. Whatever I say, you just respond 'I don't get what you're saying.' that's not a discussion or a debate, it's boring.

Yawn

Exactly. Saying 'the manager should be doing better, let's sack him' is just the easy reaction. The harder conclusion is that we have spent a lot of money on players who either aren't good enough, don't have the right mentality or don't fit together as a team. That's a tough one for fans to take coz that takes time to sort out. I don't know if Silva is the man to lead that job yet. I'm not going to give pretend positives, but I firmly believe any manager deserves more than two thirds of a season before they are judged. And I do not buy for one moment the 'he brought in 6 players, he's responsible' argument. Last summer was a very rushed transfer market for him and Brands to work in, they hardly had any time to assess the squad. He didn't bring in Walcott, Tosun, Keane, Schneiderlin and all the other waste of money crap that got sent out on loan, he didn't spend £45m on a playmaker who doesn't seem to fit into any tactical system. Again, I'm not arguing that Silva will be the answer. But the 'we' re losing games, sack the manager' equation is far too simplistic in this case, not to mention premature.

You've proven my point perfectly. Because we've spent £250m in 3 years, fans are falling into the trap of thinking our squad has to be top class and it must be the manager. Go look at the squad we had in 03/04 - we had better centre backs, better central midfielders and better strikers than we do now. We were awful that season, and yeah, Moyes was getting panned. We finished fourth the season after. All this 'Silva out' stuff, sorry its just knnejerk rubbish from fans that need to blame someone for their club going through the wringer. If after another summer of rebuilding what I see as a rubbish squad we are still in this position come November, I'll be joining the calls for his head. But 7 months in I find calling for him to be sacked fucking ridiculous.