RevidgeBlue

Can't head a ball though seemingly. What a chance.

He mishit it but it worked out perfectly - right in the side netting. Edit - he caught that one though!

Brilliant from Cantwell. Becoming the sort of player we expected last season. Due to the lack of reaction from Kargbo I thought the whistle had already gone.

TGH is not vaguely in the same League as Travis and (imo) as I've always said we're seeing how good Tronstad really is now without Travis alongside him to do all the donkey work.

Exiled sneered at me on Wednesday for saying I couldnt see any hope because imo there's just no-one in the team you can turn to for a bit of inspiration. If he's saying a major difference is Eustace v Ismael though Id have a lot of sympathy for that viewpoint.

That particular thing is down to lack of desire not ability.

Morishita high fiving everyone on the way back to his seat in the dug out. Did I miss something and we're actually three up?

Why isnt anyone following in the Cantwell shot?

My thoughts exactly.

There we go. Didn't take long. Shocking from Ribeiro and Toth made it easy for the Stoke player by going to ground too early.

Very good. Probably won't matter, Ryan will miss a sitter, Balazs will throw one in his own net and Sorba will seal the deal.

Only caught the last 15 mins of the half, we didnt look particularly good but had one or two chances. Sadly looks as though the only realistic threat of a goal comes from Cantwell. Thomas putting a much better shift in than he ever did us. Looked like he really didnt want to be here when he was with us. Toth fortunate when he parried the shot straight back out in front of him before the end of the half. Given the pitch problems apt choice of music just then playing Gimmee Shelter by the Rolling Stones......"Oooo the storm is rising"

Fair enough!

Why on earth do you you refer to him by his first name? I could almost understand it if he'd been here years and was our best player but he's only been here 2 mins and looks miles out of his depth. No one ever used to call Shearer "Alan". It sounds borderline stalkerish. Lol.

Depends on your definition of success. A lot of managers probably wouldnt have done as well as JDT (for a period) or Eustace under the same conditions. Equally, as testing as VI'S conditions are, Im sure there are a lot of managers out there who could do a far better job.

Impossible to pick just 4 I'd say. Couldn't really differentiate between Crompton, Douglas, Clayton, Faz, Parkes, Garner, Shearer, Jack, Dalglish. Edit: playing wise if you had to pick just 4, guess it would be Crompton, Clayton, Douglas, Shearer.

We'll have to agree to disagree about Lambert. I think he's been poor everywhere he's been except Norwich, never had any intention of staying here more than a few months, and was only brought in by Pasha as someone who (at the time) had gravitas to flog Rhodes and create the impression he knew what he was doing.

Id be surprised if much actual in the flesh scouting where someone with an experienced eye watches a potential target over a number of games takes place these days. The only one of the summer signings who passes the "eye test" is Alebiosu. He's looked decent since minute one of his first game and seems to be getting better. The rest not so much so - and that's being somewhat kind in certain cases.

Two separate things can be right at the same time. Few would disagree with the second bit but that doesn't mean VI isn't also a very poor manager. I think he's terrible. One game and ten minutes of the next one to unravel all Eustace's good work. Eleven defeats from Twenty competitive fixtures. Arguably most important going forward, can anyone see what he's trying to implement on the pitch? You could maybe cut him a little slack if you could see any signs of a defined style of play or identity taking shape. Instead we were promised exciting high intensity pressing football and are getting the polar opposite. Needs replacing asap for me. Obviously doubtful whether he will be due to the length of contract etc but you'd have hoped a sensible Club would have inserted some sort of break clause somewhere along the way as insurance.

As you say so did Coyle. And Lambert. We tend to specialise in these sort of guys who primarily have been a failure but might have had a good season at some point because in general we refuse to pay the compensation for a manager in employment who's on an upward trajectory. Preferring instead to take a punt on someone who's either out of work or on the managerial scrap heap and desperate for work.

Like when we ended up with Coyle instead of Warnock.

Chaddy did have a rare moment of enlightenment at the end of last season and (quite rightly) wanted VI gone after the five successive defeats. Taking a critical stance obviously doesn't sit well with him though and he quickly changed his mind back again as soon as we won a few in what at the time appeared to be dead rubbers. Now things actually matter again, we predictably can't buy a result and are back to square one with chaddy now fairly isolated in his support of VI and doubling down by becoming ever more strident in shooting down any criticism of the fella.

As that would probably guarantee relegation why would anyone take it?

Complicit certainly.

For older fans Jim Iley is the one he reminds me of - always has done from the moment he walked into the place. The manager absolutely no-one wanted and performing accordingly.