It's entirely possible and I'm sure he'll get his chance in the not-too-distant future. It's not that dissimilar to the situation that Jansen found himself in prior to the 2002 World Cup (although Jansen was vastly more proven and experienced in club football). I just think it would be a big risk to throw him in at the deep end and a waste of a spot in a squad to take a player when you're not certain that you can totally trust them at that level.

I took a break from the messageboard because I grew tired of how people were disagreeing, not because they were disagreeing. An example of that being the fact that the way that you responded to my post is different to how you would have responded had it been virtually any other poster. That's tiresome for me, but if some messageboard grudge gets you through the day, then more power to you. And if you're only just realising that saying someone's name at the end of a response can come across as condescending or patronising, then that's somewhat surprising.

Gosh this is depressing.

It's a pretty sizeable difference when it is such a limited sample size. Not to mention, as bad as United's season has been, it also involves him playing in some 'bigger' matches than Wharton has ever got close to. Plus, there are the two England caps. Wharton will likely get his chance at some point in the next 12-18 months, especially in the post-major tournament shakeup that's likely to include a new manager and a few of the older heads in his position stepping aside (Henderson, for example), but you would be throwing him in at the deep end to include him at this stage.

Well, he is also significantly more experience at a higher level when it comes to selecting a young player for a major tournament. He's got more Premier League experience and a couple of England caps already.

I think this is the toughest pill to swallow. The 'no excuse' culture has been filled with excuses and, what's worse, the lowering of expectations to a point where an excuse is perceived to not be needed.

That's probably true and things were very bad at the time that he left, but I can't imagine they would have been any worse than they've been under Eustace. We've won 3 league matches since JDT left. Would we have beaten Leeds? Probably not, but we would have picked up a win or two against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, Birmingham, or any of the host of other bad to mediocre sides we played. Would our goal difference be worse now? Probably, but we've also lost by 5 to Bristol City, by 2 to Sheffield Wednesday, and drawn against a weakened Coventry side that played a third of the match with 10 men. So, are some rewriting history as to how bad or good JDT was? Probably. But the sad reality is that things couldn't have gone much worse since February. He had to go, but let's not pretend that if we stay up it is because of some Eustace turnaround. I think JDT would have picked up a similar number of points. Fewer draws, more big defeats, but a couple of those draws would have turned into wins.

Also, I suppose it 'benefitted' us, but what's the point in sending a manager off if he's just going to sit in the stands and get on his phone? Surely he should be barred from interacting with the touchline.

Is it? I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a similar incident over the past 2/3 years. You don't see many managers actively try to get the ball off of an opposition player. You'll see plenty control it themselves or rush to get a ball if it is near them, but the multiball system has kind of done away with any need for a manager to be actively fighting for a ball.

He strikes me as the type of manager who would have seen that as an opportunity to 'set an example' - even though his overall approach to matches is defensive and lethargic. It's straight out of the David Brent book of management. I'm sure he'll have shown it a few times to the players as an example of he intensity they need to bring to the match on Saturday.

I agree. It's a great move for his personal development. In terms of a 'stepping stone' move (not to be dismissive of Palace) he's also landed on a team with the pace, athleticism, and movement around him to make the most of that vision and passing.

But JDT at least put Telalovic on the pitch. I think Eustace just doesn't like making attacking changes. We've been in situations where we've been down by more than a goal and he still won't make a forward-thinking change.

I don't think he's been awful. He's not been good, but not terrible. To be perfectly honest, I don't notice a huge difference between him and Gallagher.

Even if he is absolutely awful in training, there's no reason to not be throwing on attacking players in the situation that we were in on Saturday.

He doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as either of those two managers. We can only dream of having someone like Moyes and, as for Pulis, even with all of the awful football he at least had a clear system and plan and an idea of how he could exploit weaknesses in the opposition. Eustace is just shoving men behind the ball, not pushing forward, and hoping for a 0-0.