I think if you were so inclined to go back and look past at threads on Hodgson you will see that, for a lot of fans on this site, he was anything but a hero. I recall him being mercilessly slated and abused. Okay not by everyone, but towards the end of his tenure, with us playing negative, turgid football, majority wanted him gone.

Yes, in hindsight, we were able to appreciate what he had done. However, at the moment, I don't think PV is getting the same level of vitriol that Roy was receiving ... although give it a few more a games without an upturn in fortune then things may be different .....

Edited by Pete53 (13 Feb 2023 12.55pm)

Oh, I agree, such is the fickle nature of the average football fan. The point I was trying to make between the lines is that we haven't really progressed much in style of play despite there being talk of us playing in a different manner to Royball.
Water does reach its own level I guess, and here we are.

All season Vieira has had to choose two of the following to play along side Doucoure: Jairo, Luka, an injured Jimmy Mac, Hughes and Schlupp. Two aren't up to it, one's injured, one can't maintain his form and the other is an inside left who doesn't know what's happening behind him. So he's used Eze, Olise and Ayew playing deeper to cover our lacking midfield. But there are only so many perms you can come up with before you find you don't have the cards in your hand. We missed the Gallagher/Kouyate replacements in the summer and it's come home to roost now. But PV hasn't suddenly become a crap manager - we just need patience to allow injured players back and the new boys to bed in. We'll flirt with the bottom three at some point, all the points about lack of progress over ten years with envious eyes for Fulham, Brighton and Brentford are true, but I think this is part of a temporary slump in the middle of a squad rebuild - the owners put their hands in their pockets the summer b4 last - they'll need to do it again this summer, but we don't need to lose faith in the manager all of a sudden. If we don't rebuild in the summer and the new stand is kicked down the road again, then I'll start to question Parish for the first time - but we are nowhere near there yet. COYP.

Well said. I well remember my early supporting days in the 3rd tier. The football was often poor but we were only Palace, a club which had spent almost all its existence in one of the bottom two leagues. Expectations weren't high. Yes we could dream and the odd success against a bigger team was satisfying even memorable (e.g. our run to the 76 semi-final).

Now, though, we're an established (lower)-mid table PL club and expectations have changed. We've beaten the big 6 mega clubs on a number of occasions over recent years, perhaps too often for it to mean much for some fans these days. Do I want to see us relegated?

No way! I want to see us continue to punch above our weight in the PL and do so playing decent football (as we did for much of last year). Hopefully, we'll see out the current form dip and will still be a PL club come the summer and we'll regroup and go again in 23/24.

Lots of differing views on here which is natural and understandable. However I don't really think anyone can argue with the fact that with the games coming up and with the way we are playing we are going to be in or very close to the bottom 3 by the time we get a run of 'winnable' games, if there is such a thing in the Prem. What worries me is the lack of a leader, a Jedi, a Damo. we seem to have a team of coasters and will there be the fight there when we need it ? Still think we'll be ok but attitudes have to change. PV seems to want to be every players mate which is fine, but players need a rocket up the arse every now and then, SD understood that and was shown the door. Do we really think PV is getting the best out of what he has ? I don't. Saturday should be a wake up call, 25 pct possession at home and hardly any passion against our arch rivals is worrying, if the team can't get up for that game, when will they ? certainly nowhere near the PV out contingent but getting more worried by the week.

Have we become like Charlton and Stoke fans did and wanting more entertaining football combined with mid table comfortableness as a minimum? I expect many have. Until Roy came in, we were always in a relegation battle. The way the Premier League is with now 7 mega rich teams and a number of others who have far greater resources than us we are likely to always at best 2/3 defeats away from a relegation scrap. That's our ceiling I guess.

Last season was far better than we could have hoped and I think it's raised our expectation barrier for this season. Personally, I felt our summer window was awful, it needed 4-5 players who were 'oven ready' for a first team place. We effectively got one. As it's been pointed out our midfield has Jairo, McArthur and Luka, who are going to be bit part players at best. We have one left back and two right back's who should be on the bench at least. Oh, and only 2 strikers, neither who would be first choice for any of our competitors. In the winter window, we have bought in a loan from Arsenal who hasn't set the Premier League alight and another promising youngster,

How anyone can blame Vieira is beyond me. Is he perfect, no. But he is hardly equipped with a full tool bag to do the job effectively.