I fear a target of finishing 17th by the 49ers, was a very high stakes roll of the dice and may backfire. It is true Farke has not been backed by the board financially and we?ve been lucky to get what we have from DCL to date. But, I believe the squad we have is good enough to survive the PL this season. Why though are Longstaff, Tanaka, Bijol, James, Gnonto not a major part of a rotating squad. Some of our players v Sunderland looked knackered. Only when our subs ( who were brought on far too late ?.again ) appeared did we seem to have any energy. We consistently fail to deal with teams that employ momentum stopping tactics and a low block. I?m certainly no football expert, just a normal fan but with the potential to score at set pieces etc surely that extends to banging in loads of crosses to our tall guys too? Just old fashioned footy, wingers getting down the byline and supplying crosses. Add corners, free kicks where we are better than average makes for a more intense game, getting ER to its loudest atmosphere, is surely a better tactic than what we witnessed Farke reverting to in the last match.

If he continues like Tuesday, the famous atmosphere we have at ER will quickly change into a wholly tension filled cauldron of fear which will lead to players freezing and being unable to put even simple passes together.

I really do believe we have the squad to give most teams a more than good game but if the tactics are wrong than Farke carries that blame. He has his favourites and Tanaka who may or may not be able to cut it at Prem level has had his confidence severely dented as has Longstaff. There are sides to Farkes thinking that are beyond me but I accept, I?m not the manager and don?t see things he does in training, in the dressing room etc.

Let?s hope he gets it right coz we?re now in a dog fight which we shouldn?t have been in.