We have one chance to stay up...

[FulhamStu]

And that is if we sign at least 2 strong Premier ready defenders.

Today we played well but we are so below the required level in terms of the quality of our defenders it's not true.  Get Mawson fit, Odoi doing ok, but ideally both full backs not up to this level.  Ream, not good enough.   Thought Max was good, I can live with Odoi but at least 2 required to give us a chance.

[supersimmo123]

Moses & Cahill and we have a very slim chance. Christie and Ream cannot be anywhere near this first XI

[JoelH5]

Moses & Cahill and we have a very slim chance. Christie and Ream cannot be anywhere near this first XI

Absolutely spot on. Never a truer word spoken. We've got 9 days before Brighton. If we get people in before then and win that, who knows.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Funny how Ream was loved last year and despised this.

Fickle, fickle football fans.

[JoelH5]

Funny how Ream was loved last year and despised this.

Fickle, fickle football fans.

Not despised at all. He's a great bloke just not good enough in the PL.

[Luka]

Funny how Ream was loved last year and despised this.

Fickle, fickle football fans.

Rubbish, he was good last season and this season he is not. He is either off form or not good enough.
Either way he is a liability and needs replacing.

[nose returns]

And that is if we sign at least 2 strong Premier ready defenders.

Today we played well but we are so below the required level in terms of the quality of our defenders it's not true.  Get Mawson fit, Odoi doing ok, but ideally both full backs not up to this level.  Ream, not good enough.   Thought Max was good, I can live with Odoi but at least 2 required to give us a chance.

i am afraid it is too late and to imagine Khan jnr will purchase the right players is fantasy and i think there is no chance they would now want tot come, what for. Jan 3/4/5 th were the dates for signing players. the board and tony khan in particular may be nice people and committed but they are clueless, the road to hell being paved with good intention and all that. thier arrogance in bekieveing making the same errors over and over will somehow come good is spectacular. but they are are z- in ability (zed minus).

and as for the new manager that was going to save us, he said he could fix everything, well he is in nthe branfoot class, falling out with players and generally being clueless.

[FulhamStu]

Funny how Ream was loved last year and despised this.

Fickle, fickle football fans.

What a silly comment.   Nobody despises Tim Ream.  He was wonderful last season.  This season his style cannot cope.  He likes time on the ball and he just does not get that in the Premier League.  He can't body swerve an onrushing striker taking him out and then playing a 30 yard pass to Cairney in space because he just does not have the time to do that.   

The reason Tim Ream, Christie, Bryan, even Odoi have not been picked up by Premier League clubs is because they are not Premier League players and frankly only good but not outstanding Championship players.   The failure to bring in better defenders is killing us.  Mawson and Max have been slight upgrades so decent aquisions but other than that, this is the absolute no1 reason why we are in trouble.

People moan about Seri, who I constantly defend, Anguissa the worse player we have ever signed etc etc.. this is not the problem, the problem is our back 4 or 5.  If they were decent. We would be mid table.

[Matt10]

Wait...Ream's name is coming up for one whiff of a kick? Is that it?

Sorry, that's at least a football move. Odoi whiffed on a kick as well.

It was a comedy of errors though, yes. Ream's whiff, then Odoi's hands up duck. Ream's is believable, but Odoi's...is mindboggling.

[FulhamStu]

Wait...Ream's name is coming up for one whiff of a kick? Is that it?

Sorry, that's at least a football move. Odoi whiffed on a kick as well.

It was a comedy of errors though, yes. Ream's whiff, then Odoi's hands up duck. Ream's is believable, but Odoi's...is mindboggling.

What the hell is a whiff of a kick 😉.  Matt, you know the game, I think I do also, I played pro football in the very lower leagues.... Tim Reams style requires him to have time on the ball.  He just does not get that in this league.   His distribution today was rushed and he gave the ball to their midfield many times.   If you can't pick out your own player, you lose it... get it out of danger.  Tim is just not cut out for the Premier League,  my guess, and looking at his body language, he knows it too.

We need physically and mentally much stronger players in the centre of our defence and better technical with better defensive quality players at full back.  Christie and Bryan worked very hard today, they were not rubbish, but frankly not at the required level. Christie all round, and Bryan defensively.

[hovewhite]

Funny how Ream was loved last year and despised this.

Fickle, fickle football fans.

Rubbish, he was good last season and this season he is not. He is either off form or not good enough.
Either way he is a liability and needs replacing.

I voted for Tim last year but mistakes on the left side of our defense him and Bryan not up to standard of PL along with Christie in fact the lot of em.

[FulhamStu]

We have a Premier quality attack, the makings of a Premier quality midfield, a just about Premier quality goalkeeper and a mid championship defence.   We all know it, I suspect the club know it but they seem incapable of finding the necessary quality replacements.   We got promoted with a better defence that we have had all season. In the Premier League and that defence was suspect.   

How anyone thought this would work this season I have no idea.   I guess we expected Chambers to play back 4 with Mawson, but the full backs were always suspect.

[toshes mate]

Start with the manager and work your way through the squad and you'll find as sorry a bunch of inadequates for the job in hand as you could wish for.  Mistakes were made that didn't lead to goals against and yet, on here, it is the times a goal against is scored that draws attention and a player is named and shamed and condemned.  Nobody was blameless, however, because no one was adequate for the job in hand, on the pitch or off it.

Start with Rico and work your way through the whole team and you'll just about cover all those who squandered possession.  There are players in this squad who appear unable to break from a jog trot when possession is squandered to the extent that for every minute played we only had seventeen seconds on the ball.  The guilty ones in midfield are clueless about what needs to be done when that ball changes sides.  The defenders then have to attempt to deal with another attack knowing how close to breakdown they are getting.  When you don't have possession and cannot cut out dangerous crosses then the same vulnerability that was present in August is still present today.  Jokanovic must have taken five minutes to suss it out those years ago but apparently nobody in recruitment could hear him and/or understand the message. 

What has gone missing since May last is the hope of fixing things and finding a style of football that may work for the next four months in achieving the wins (yes, wins) we need.  We can rue the missed chances in the first half yesterday all we like but that was because Spurs have players who stick close to opponents and we do not because a lot of the time we have already been broken apart by superior but not brilliant opponents.  We now have ugly football to go with ugly results, a case of being much more careful about what you wish for....

All the offenders know who they are and they don't need any further publicity from me.