He has been crap but I feel that the questions over how much he cares are unfair. Today, every time anything around him broke down, you could hear moans around me suggesting that he wasn't trying. Tomasson's tactics don't get the best out of him, he is a player suited to being more central and further up the pitch than he plays. He is quite quick, quite powerful and offers a threat in behind. He can also finish. He has never been the best player technically or the most elegant.

If Tomasson went in the summer for whatever reason, would you have him here?

"Very" well? Like I said, had we won, it would have fit the grinding out a 1 nil win narrative but we certainly didn't play "very well." Very passive, no real intention to attack and never offering a threat hence why the only other chances you can think of were blocked! We played well at Huddersfield, that is the only game we have played well really since the international break, where the results have been won 0, drawn 3, lost 2. Continuing with things is not right, we need to have a re-think because we are again as for much of the season are not offering barely any goal threat. Performances are dull, we struggled to break teams down and we are not half as defensively stable as we once were. How were the subs bizarre? Going to a back 5 as we did unsuccessfully at Sheff United handed the initiative even more to Coventry. Taking Adam Wharton off was strange too.

He was hopeless. Very happy with the performance? Really? If we see that out, its your typical grinding out a 1 nil and thats great. But I didn't see a very good performance at all. Cagey, even first half, little in it. Did we ever look like scoring after that? We didnt seem to have any interest in pushing for a second and going forward we offered nothing. You say keep playing well, we have been shit lately. Tomasson calling for VAR post match.

Feels like a decisive night in a bad way losing those 2 points to such a dodgy goal. But controlling what we can, not good enough. We backed off and it felt somewhat inevitable. The subs didnt help, Dolan was shocking and couldnt keep the ball and Thomas was all over the place as a wing back, the third centre back invited pressure. Brittain was hopeless too. Wharton absolutely outstanding and the 2 centre backs and Rankin Costello were good. The attacking players struggled to contribute and Pears doesnt instill confidence.

I dont understand how Gallagher has maintained his place at all. Glad to see Wharton play in midfield but worried that they might over run us in midfield. Glad to see Dack back on the bench. I don't necessarily mind Leonard dropping out, there is a lot of pressure and it is a critical game and you'd fancy the 3 attacking options on the bench over him at this stage.

It seemingly doesnt "fit our recruitment model" to sign experienced players. Mainly because everything is done on the cheap with an overreliance on the academy to make up the numbers. I doubt it will change.

I guess if clubs are stupid enough to keep giving him jobs because of his name as a player then you keep taking the money. But management doesn't seem right for him, probably more suited to being a pundit, albeit he was hardly the best at that.

Laughable.

4 from 4. At least he knows the club and might win the Champions League.

So Buckley deserved his?

We will sell out I am sure, but yes, people will pick and choose especially in a cost of living crisis and with the game moved for TV.

They are but a footballers career is much shorter and earning more within that time can transform the life the player and their family live for the rest of their life.

You slag players off when they go for more money and say that they shouldn't move for massive pay rises...

There would be no reason for that money to at least be partially available. If it was essential for FFP or cash flow reasons, they would have taken whatever they could get. With Venkys, it is genuinely an uncertainty which feeds into the knowledge that they don't run the club in a logical manner.

Fair enough. So as I thought, random bits of gossip and Tomasson suggesting that he isnt as good off the ball as on it.

Do we know why he was dropped exactly? Tomasson hinted at it but he certainly didn't specifically say what he had done wrong.

Tomasson may rate Morton higher than Wharton. His judgement is not going to be perfect, he decided to play Clinton Mola against Burnley.

Theyll also likely have to pay Dele Alli off as Lampard for some reason decided to sign him against all logic. Tom Cannon would presumably come back into the thinking.

Copy and paste.

Been a lot of pissing around in the recruitment department over the last few years with staff coming and going so hard to see this as a new dawn until the actual recruitment improves. This season its not improved or changed (borrowing kids including a token one from Liverpool, players on Mowbray's list and players already known to staff ie Thomas and windows that were as much about what we didnt get and paperwork embarassments) and with seemingly a closed wallet in the summer, time for Kimberley and Broughton to show what they can offer.

In those first 2 seasons, it wouldn't be sparing anyones blushes who said that he couldnt do the basics. He couldnt. But he didnt go from that player instantly to a Chilean international and regular goalscorer. He had a full season inbetween where he really improved, he scored 7 or 8 goals and was part of a very threatening front 3. He would have certainly justified a pay rise and I don't see why he wouldn't have accepted it, he wouldn't have generated too much interest at that stage but was settling into life as a competent Championship attacker. But even then, assume the nonsensical argument that there would have been uproar had we signed him up. Or put it down to Covid. Or assume he wouldnt have accepted it. We had a chance this summer to make a profit on him despite that inability to tie him down to a new deal. We compounded our mistake (the owners did) by turning that down based on an unrealistic asking price. And yes, maybe he would have turned moves down to Nice, a top French side with plenty of well known, English speakers and playing in European competition. Or Everton and Fulham, both Premier League sides. If he rejected them all, then whilst you can criticise the inability to give him a new deal 2 years ago, they have some leeway at least on preventing this mess we have.

Some cretinous comments underneath here would make you think the fans are creating an impossible environment to play football in. Why a section of our fanbase seem desperate to put our supporters down so much is bizarre.

If you need to be a clairvoyant to be proactive in protecting assets, then most football clubs employ clairvoyants and we need to get looking for some.

Onana would get them some good money, Belgian international midfielder linked with Chelsea mid-season. Calvert-Lewin may even allowing for his injuries.