an honest question

[pboromag]

we are second bottom
have the worst point record in the whole of the football league for the last 8 games

and have some important games coming up

if we loose to the likes of west ham ,swansea brighton stoke and are still bottom 3 middle to end of January will you start thinking about a new manager

at what point do you think Rafa could turn it around

when or if will you start to think that as much as you arte Rafa maybe a new manager would be the better thing to try and get something from this team

30 mill in the transfer window is only going to put a sticky plaster on a gaping wound and lets face it his buys havent been the best

i would change him before the window for no other reason than i just think he has lost the dressing room
from the beggining of teh season to now there has been a noted change in the players attitude and commitment
im hoping getting lascelles back may help

but its a big task

[ghostrider]

Right now it's a case of nail biting hope to get some continuity going and to get to January for an IMMEDIATE influx of the RIGHT players.
A decent striker and a decent play maker would help dramatically if they're the correct ones and Rafa plays with that added strength in mind.
How much would that cost to get us out of the mire?
I reckon 30 to 40 million, with maybe another striker on top if we part ex one of the strikers we have (Mitro maybe).

Maybe 50 million with the part ex in with that money would see us , not only escape relegation but maybe have a decent run to the finish line in a comfortable finish.

However...I'm saying this while asking for all the coins in the clenched fist to be thrown up and all land on heads, with, at worst, one landing on tails as a minor hiccup.

Chances?
I'll wait and see but I hope to all hell something changes in Rafa's head to kick start an assault to take us to January and then motor on.

Fingers crossed but daren't hold my breath.

[Zippity]

I won't lie and say I haven't considered 'what if...?'

I think Rafa is the right man for us to build something meaningful and worthwhile in the long term. The problem is, his success has been with big clubs with decent squads. For various reasons, ours is barely fit for purpose in this league. The question now is not about polishing a turd, it's about making sure that it doesn't get flushed down the bog. Can Rafa stop this particular turd from getting flushed away? I really hope we can get a couple of key additions in January that will help us do this because then he can buy the players he wants. And then he can be judged properly.

But, in the short term, can he halt the slide? I think he can.....although I'm not confident enough to say he will.

There you go-honest answer.

[HughieG]

Right now a lot of things are up in the air with the takeover. Depending on how this turns out, we will see what Rafa can do in January. I still have a feeling we'll start winning some games soon. We're not getting completely played out of the arena, and though it isn't always pretty, this team should be able to pick up more points, even if it's generally shyte.

[ghostrider]

I won't lie and say I haven't considered 'what if...?'

I think Rafa is the right man for us to build something meaningful and worthwhile in the long term. The problem is, his success has been with big clubs with decent squads. For various reasons, ours is barely fit for purpose in this league. The question now is not about polishing a turd, it's about making sure that it doesn't get flushed down the bog. Can Rafa stop this particular turd from getting flushed away? I really hope we can get a couple of key additions in January that will help us do this because then he can buy the players he wants. And then he can be judged properly.

But, in the short term, can he halt the slide? I think he can.....although I'm not confident enough to say he will.

There you go-honest answer.

That's as fair as you can get.
I hope to hell something happens because us arguing about it all isn't going to solve anything.

[ghostrider]

Right now a lot of things are up in the air with the takeover. Depending on how this turns out, we will see what Rafa can do in January. I still have a feeling we'll start winning some games soon. We're not getting completely played out of the arena, and though it isn't always pretty, this team should be able to pick up more points, even if it's generally shyte.

The thing is, this team should be able to pick up enough points by actually playing football in a general acceptable way that the fans can accept as some form of entertainment.
All he has to do is stop being pig headed and stop messing about with baffling set ups.

[HughieG]

The thing is, this team should be able to pick up enough points by actually playing football in a general acceptable way that the fans can accept as some form of entertainment.
All he has to do is stop being pig headed and stop messing about with baffling set ups.

I agree that Rafa needs to try and shake things up, also for the sake of his own job. We haven't been smashed though, not even away at the @rse. Lack of luck plays a part, but so does playing Joselu. It's a bit of both and Rafa needs look himself in the mirror for me and ask himself whether it's worth playing Joselu ahead of Gayle and Manquillo ahead of Mbemba, things like that.

[TheOtherTerryMac]

Let’s be realistic here Rafa has Lascalles, Ritchie, Merino and possibly Atsu who I would deem as Premiership quality. The rest of his squad are Championship or lower players

That squad needs a major overhaul to escape relegation. You can put any permutation you like into a starting 11 and it will fall way short of a competitive Premiership side

[toptoon]

Let’s be realistic here Rafa has Lascalles, Ritchie, Merino and possibly Atsu who I would deem as Premiership quality. The rest of his squad are Championship or lower players

That squad needs a major overhaul to escape relegation. You can put any permutation you like into a starting 11 and it will fall way short of a competitive Premiership side

True. Without Rafa, we'd be challenging the mackems for the 11 point record.

[ghostrider]

I agree that Rafa needs to try and shake things up, also for the sake of his own job. We haven't been smashed though, not even away at the @rse. Lack of luck plays a part, but so does playing Joselu. It's a bit of both and Rafa needs look himself in the mirror for me and ask himself whether it's worth playing Joselu ahead of Gayle and Manquillo ahead of Mbemba, things like that.

This is all I'm asking.
I'm questioning Rafa because his mindset appears to be on making sure we do not lose big and half defending being one nil down rather than seriously saying, "eff it, let's put these to the sword."

The chances of goal difference being the major factor in relegation is the slimmest of margins.
However, in one way I can see why he does what he does but in another I fail to register the sensibility of it.


In his mind, if we get beat by the odd goal then it can actually mask the overall performance and fan mindset on the team and also the overall confidence of the team in not being tonked.

The major problem is in getting found out by doing this and not doing anything about it.
We have points by luck in many instances and some by genuine well deserved field of play and balanced set up.

Balance it up and stop relying on playing players who can graft but produce little to nothing that their position suggests they should.