Bournemouth were last season arguably one of the worst teams in the division. Gary O'Neill performed a minor miracle keeping them up. To try and prevent this happening again they have spent 137m Euros on new players according to Transfermarkt, and that excludes the fees for loan deals. In comparison we have spent 38m Euros, and the only one of those arrivals that is a regular is the free transfer Lerma.
Its an arms race every year to get new talent, and our transfer activity this summer was really poor, with money spent where it was not needed. In my view it is a combination of the injuries to key players and the lack of overall quality in the squad that is the real problem and we are now being found out big time.
Sacking Hodgson won't resolve this, unless we do what we have done in several previous years by taking on a new manager and spend panic money in January.
There is no doubt however that we are in trouble. Luton are beginning to show a bit of form and and Everton will easily overcome their 10 point deduction.

He's probably still bitter for having to apologise for his comments re the youngsters. I've met people like him, they never accept responsibility when things go wrong. They're not the most reliable of sorts.
Maybe Roy will have to track back on his comments re the fans too, to which I would say "Roy, it's all a bit too much at this late stage isn't it? Don't be so stubborn, hand in your notice graciously, and have a well earned break".

Edited by southnorwoodhill (07 Dec 2023 8.41am)

Looks like we're going to have to do this or we might well be going down. I couldn't muster a single positive to cling to from last night, nothing whatsoever.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I opted against going to the game last night due to the train situation. First home game I've missed in years.

So I saw the TV pre match interview with Steve Parish.

Asked about the intent in the January window, he said he was looking at bringing in experienced players on loan.

Now, although I personally don't believe we have a batch of Academy players ready for the first team, this strategy smacks of short termism and could be seen as a blocker to those players development - something that he had previously committed to.

Just little or no coherent thought from the Top at the moment.

Old, Ungifted and White

Whilst that 'seems like a plan' NEILLO unfortunately we have found ourselves in a position no different from years past. We have long seen reactive, short term models lacking adherence to a longer term, effective plan - the academy, signing younger players, bringing in new managers a la FdB and PV etc. None of this has really ever felt properly thought through or executed.

It almost seems the singular goal of remaining in the PL has remained in place whilst some flimsy attempts at anything else have been made. It's not particularly a criticism from me, I at the very least recognise that the ability to 'do more' is very limited.

Where things are now however, I have little thought or care for academies, young prospects, new stands or anything else. We need to win some football games and look a million miles from the capability to do so. We need to change the manager and desperately need some players. If Parish is only identifying the 'loan market' that's very concerning but at the very least might be something as anything is needed.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

well not sure what to say about last night but here goes .
we was all over the place , we lost shape very quickly never seen us do that for along time , we lost the ability to pass to our own players same at west ham, The Richards experiment is a no go , ok against west ham , looked lost last night ,
the passing problems last night was the players not the coaching Guehi seemed to have his boots on the wrong feet ,
Sadly Olise is no Zaha and didnt know how handle 2 or 3 players around him when simple ball was the better option ,

we did miss Eze alot and Doucoure , the loss of Mitchel didnt help even if i think that we has not progressed from his early days ,

we must buy in Jan 1. to cover cheick , 2. fresh full back , and see if we can find the holy grail a striker , hopefully one who can jump , until then we must play 5 at the back 4 midfield and Olise on his own up front , hopefully when Eze returns we could at least counter attack , just looked at the latest injury list and its long again ,

with the run of matches coming up its damage limitation time 2 points would be a good return at the moment ,
And at this point the fans must sing there hearts out as its going to be a rough ride until we sort this out , you know the other teams expect to beat us and thats when us palace fans start singing louder , we can turn this COYP

Edited by mtp1958 (07 Dec 2023 9.33am)