Groundhopping Owl

At least we tried something a bit different. I could see the logic behind the Pelupessy as a right wing back idea, get him to do the legwork on the wing and free up Murphy to offer an attacking threat - which he did throughout. He made good changes at half time too. The goals we conceded weren’t really tactical, they were just down to the defenders having no confidence at all. A large part of that is on Monk’s head but purely in tactical terms I don’t think we did too much wrong yesterday.

My approach to Forestieri is to enjoy him when I can and try not to get too wound up about the dafter stuff. He’s massively talented, probably the most naturally gifted player we’ve had since the 90s, but he must be up there as one of the most frustrating too. He played well on Saturday given the pretty massive task of leading the line on his own, he deserved his goal. With my pragmatic hat on, I’d say that owing to his age, wage and injury issues we’d be wise not to give him a new deal. We’d have a job replacing that spark though.

Yeah I’d go with the OP’s XI. Plenty of threats across the pitch and we seem more defensively sure when playing a back four. Massive, massive game this one, if we’re going to arrest the slide then it’s pretty much now or never - the positives from Saturday will evaporate immediately if we don’t get a result here.

And Winnall and Sunderland. The way we’re run, particularly regarding transfers, is farcical.

We'd be at risk of too many vicious financial cycles. If you go down without much financial baggage and use the drop as a chance to rebuild and reorient towards youth then it can be a blessing (think of Southampton going up twice under Adkins), if not then there's little to stop you turning into the next Portsmouth/Coventry/Bolton.

Would you say DC was behind them being dropped under Jos too?

Shambolic. I read somewhere that Sunderland had a deal lined up for Winnall but again we blew it up after deciding we wanted more money. DC absolutely refuses to be helped.

Strong smell of pork in this thread.

Yep - it’s easy to say “I want to take this club to the Premier League”, it’s even easier to then avoid the necessary groundwork. It’s much more exciting to spend £8 million on Jordan Rhodes on deadline day than it is to listen to words of caution from a Director of Football who’s trying to build the infrastructure necessary for long-term success. It’s a pretty classic road to ruin story really.

We’re certainly using him wrongly, I agree there’s no way he can be used in a 4-4-2 other than on the left. Him and Hutch have the same problem, they have next to no tactical discipline. Shape is vital in 4-4-2, but it goes out of the window with those two in the middle because they’re liable to go off chasing lost causes every two minutes. The passion’s great but it’s not very helpful in getting results. Bannan probably does need using as a no.10, it’s the only position where you’ve got licence to go walkabout.

If Bullen ends up in charge again I suspect the first thing he’d do would be to recall them, just because he needs results. Hutchinson may have played in plenty of defeats, but there’s no way he’ll play worse than Pelupessy did yesterday. Dawson looks in need of taking out of the firing line too.

Well you did ask... Chansiri to sell up to an owner who appoints the right people in the right structure, then steps back and lets them get on with it. Let’s have a Director of Football to reorient our transfer strategy towards younger players from the lower leagues and Europe with resale value, rather than players on their way down in search of a last pay day. Beef up the academy in the hope of getting more players coming through into the first team. Honestly don’t really care what happens with the manager. Monk seems to be a dead man walking but the incoming point penalty means we’re essentially doomed to relegation regardless of who we bring in.

Absolutely bang on.

There will be no meaningful rebuild with Chansiri in charge, because the rebuild has got to encompass an awful lot of stuff off the pitch. So if you think getting rid of Monk will solve all of our problems, you're in for a disappointment.

HT - we've played worse I suppose, but our confidence looks absolutely shot. Windass and Wickham need to come on, we've got no goal threat at present.