having been at the play off semi , players got out played tonight + tactics wrong .

I think you can put blame on both if i'm honest.

A good manager should be able to get the best out of any players. Pulis and Allardyce both managed it with us. And being honest, we do have players who we know can be of top top quality on their day. Sakho, Zaha, Luka, PVA, Benteke (despite his injuries, he has been awful under Hodgson) have all been outstanding at times and they are good footballers. So what's happening right now?

On the other hand, we've know about our weak forwards for over 12 months now. But in the summer, we spent £10mill on a defensive mid with Kouyate and nothing else.

Ayew came in on a loan and has been awful. And that was seen as adequate firepower. And here we are, into December and our strikers have scored a total of 0 goals this season.

Roys.....

The team looked ineffectual to say the least.

Tomkin is just one of many to lose his head in that game.

Roy played our team so narrow it was infuriating.

The passing sideways and backwards whilst tapping 1 meter passes to each other until they lose the ball is back again.

The lack of enthusiasm, the lack of pace, the constant moaning at the ref and this constant passing in the oppositions box until they lose the ball is also infuriating.

There is talent in the team, yes we need a striker, Sorloth isn't good enough, the team need to practice set pieces if we can't score from open play and Roy needs to drill them to death in being able to take a shot on target.

We've got a worse squad than last year. Meyer is nowhere near loftus cheek or cabaye. Sorloth is poor. The bench today would struggle in the championship

Edited by Dean_CPFC (04 Dec 2018 10.54pm)

You could pick any combination of ten men from the eleven that played tonight and add a 20 goal a season striker and we'd still have been out played. woeful.

The balls up of the tranfer windows is a huge problem but the above, our lack of consistency and Roy's snail's pace reaction to changes in the game (if he reacts at all) are the more worrying problems that may not be solved by a good transfer window. Personally I think there must be something wrong in our training regime somewhere too. I think we're really missing Sammy Lee, letting him go (I don't know the facts tbh so it may have been unavoidable) was a mistake.

I have a worrying feeling that Roy is taking it easy and just working through his last season before retirement (lack of support from the board could also be contributing to this).

Edited by boo909 (04 Dec 2018 11.20pm)

Bangell - If Camus wrote The Myth of Sisyphus today, it would be about Jason Puncheon eternally trying and failing to pass with his right foot.