Far too optimistic a reading. We did not have a single clear chance and only a few openings. They had far more of both. The start of the second half was especially depressing. I was waiting for us to up the intensity and put SU on the back foot. That is precisely what they did to us. After that we had no attacking ideas beyond hoof it to Tekkers, or give it to Wilf or Andros and see what they could do. With nil result.

The right place at the right time

What you say is true but if Roy won’t make best use of what he has then.... I guess we’ll find out soon.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but we’re not going to suddenly get players in now, unless a decent scorer come in on loan, but as someone else said, Parish isn’t going before Roy and I doubt Freedman will either.

It’s not Roy’s fault but he’s not making it any better for himself.

Edited by Rudi Hedman (19 Aug 2019 10.02am)

COYP

The issues are two fold....lack of investment and poor transfer policy.

The yanks are causing massive unrest at the minute wanting out and witholding much needed investment as a result. That means any money we get in is either being used to pay down debts or to line their pockets before they feck off.

As for transfers...we made two GOOD acquisitions in Cahill and Camarassa...so why aren't we playing them. However in general our transfer policy is awful...we should be bringing in players to cover for those being sold...we knew either AWB or WIlf was going as did the club...so why not get on with this? The reason being that we needed the money to come in BEFORE we could then afford to buy anyone..getting stripped for the price in the process.

Again this is down to the Yanks not paying their way...it all comes back to them. The sooner we have new investors come in the better...problem is would they be any better?

The Voice of Reason In An Otherwise Mediocre World

Durham on Talksport before the season started tipped us to go down and this game as a 6 pointer. I laughed at both but he was probably right

Indeed they do! LM just afte signing a new deal should be leading and bollocking as a captain. I am hoping he isnt just comfortable now?!
There was a real lack of quality all over the pitch for both teams yesterday. The only difference in the two teams was heart and desire. They had all of it and we had zero.

I can take a loss on the chin, I can't accept a gutless performance. This team needs a rocket up it and several hairdryers thrown at them.

Bring back The HF!

It appears American investors in Premier clubs expect a return on their money, they don’t go in for pumping loads of cash in to raise their profile as Russians and Middle East owners.

Calls for new owners is just desperation on our part, a number of clubs have been sold over the last 15 years with varying degrees of success and failure. There is no guarantee any new owner is just going to throw cash in and get nothing back, they are businessmen not fools. As an investment we don’t look very attractive, the ground is the main issue, which Parish is trying to correct, but finding it difficult to get past CROYDON Council, Sainsbury’s and the Mayor of London.

There is no easy solution.

agree entirely, but it was a general malaise, no individual could be picked out although Luka dropped off his marker for their goal - the squad needs big changes, i.e. Wilf has to go - it's not really Parish's fault that he never got a suitable offer - I thought at least one top club wud bid 80mil, but we have an unbalanced squad and the players know this, the progress towards making us a comfortable rather than uncomfortable mid-table side has stalled and gone backwards, hopefully McCarthy and Camarasa can get some attacking drive going and we put Tompkins at right back and drop Ward who was awful yesterday, those aimless crosses from the deep!!! Roy needs to come up with one of his plans - Zaha and Andros as a front two two seasons back, Schlupp and McArthur (past sell by date now) as inside forwards in front of Luka last season, some new system with the new personnel will see some improvement, but failures in the summer window have made finding an effective tactical set-up much harder, that's the root of the problem, that's what's sapping the players' belief and motivation. We have to prepare for life after Zexit!

Because he is left footed and playing on the right? Maybe we should think about playing Townsend on the left Wilf on the right and actually give Benteke a chance of scoring by crossing the ball.

There is always a positive in every bad experience and I am praying that after that abysmal performance on Saturday that it is going to have to force Roy's hands in making changes. If he had of nicked a draw then it would have papered over the cracks and he would have continued as normal.

I think we will all be waiting for the team sheet on saturday with a lot of interest. Lets wait and see.

If he starts Schlupp then I am going to put 2 lead blocks around my ankles and walk off London Bridge.