Please lets all be grateful for what Roy has done under the most difficult of circumstances to name but a few, lack of investment in the team by the board, an aging squad, a super star who does not want to play for us and who sulks a lot when he does not get his own way, a Chairman who extends contracts on rubbish or injury prone strikers and we also have several player that are prone to injury as soon as they put their boots on. Yet despite all this Roy has kept us in PL with a fairly average squad and by doing so has generated significant revenue for the club. The style of football might not be to everyone's liking (we are all different, which makes the world interesting), but its gets us over the line even without the striker that Roy has been asking for over the past few windows. When Roy does eventually retire, we will need to find a replacement but those who think we can attract top Managers to a club that has a dysfunctional board, who will not invest in the team are delusional. Many of Roy's predecessors walked away from this club because of the lack of desire to invest in the team and until that changes it is what it is!

Unfortunately this is the bottom line. He has year on year achieved his ultimate objective. I detest his style of football. Last season was awful turning up to the ground with such apathy. I understand where we are with the owners and club yet I believe we could be doing more with what we have. Regrettably I understand why he is still with us and I am grateful for what he has done for us. I understand the risk of when he does go but I cannot help wanting more from my club in the best league in the world with all the resources and riches it brings.

Spot on Rachid. Roy was clearly annoyed after the game because the team hadn't played the way he wanted them to.

Whilst Roy will continue to base his systems around a sound defence (which we will have when our first choice back 4 are available - we don't have one of them in place at present except perhaps Ward because we haven't seen Ferguson yet to assess how good he actually is) the systems used in pre-season and against our first three league opponents saw us with more attacking intent than we saw last season.

We were very good under Roy in the 2018/19 season away from home scoring 3 or more goals in no fewer than SIX games and Batshuayi was on loan with us for FIVE of those games and scored in three of them.

Let's give Roy and the squad time to settle down and stop making judgments after a single poor performance.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and remaining in the PL is no easy task. He has to be given credit for keeping us in the mix. Granted he's not the most creative or experimental of managers by a long stretch and it will eventually be time to move on, but I for one don't view him in a wholly negative light.

I don't think that's entirely true particularly in Ayew's case besides which any wide player would generally be expected to hit the far post when the ball is crossed from the opposite side.

Nobody was complaining about the front pairing after the first two games.

Edited by Rachid Rachid Rachid (06 Oct 2020 7.28pm)

We have issues I agree with holding the ball up and bringing the team together long enough to put teams under enough pressure to cause the sort of mistakes Chelsea capitalised on against us and have for far too long relied on Zaha to do something to create, so far this season Ayew looks a little bit lost which is a big worry because he was pivotal with many of our successes last season, I do feel though that when PVA, Schlupp, and Cahill are back and involved our attacking will improve, having said that Mitchell has really been a huge plus and it would be sad for him not to continue improving on the pitch, Sakho is a worry and I know he's come back from injury and still a bit rusty, but ...fuck me

Mr Hodgson is doing a very decent job in keeping our club safe in this league which is what we need in order to attract a very decent manager to take over from him when the time happens and hopefully he'll play the sort of football we all crave, meanwhile I just hope our attacking play improves enough to keep you lot quiet lol

..he has managed to keep and bring together a healthy string of young players for our future manager to play with when he moves on ...Eze, Riedewald, Meyer, Ferguson, Mitchell, that's quite an attractive collection to entice a good manager in.

[quote=Tim Gypsy Hill '64;3563618]

Ok, hands up, that was a rant from me. But the 'Roy out' brigade are just exasperating. Every time we lose, the same hackneyed phrases are touted. "No plan b", "won't use players with flair", "Always plays his favorites", "Dinosaur", "Football has moved on" etc.&etc. Hardly any of these posters are around when we win. They never give credit for finishing mid table. It's just they don't like the style of football. Well, to be fair, nor do I mostly. But if you want to debate it, then bring something to the table. Bielsa and Santo or not available, so not worth a mention. Dyche has been mentioned I believe, but that's a 'like for like substitution' (see what I did there?), as has Howe, who got relegated recently. I'll debate if you have a suggestion as to how we move to a different phase.

We should be finishing lower mid table. Well done Roy. You've done the minimum of what was expected of you whilst playing incredible boring football, lining your own pockets whilst emptying our as we watch the slow decline of a club that's lost all reason to be optimistic. You've worked the same miracle that Pulis, Pardew, and BFS did..... moving on.

We know the 3 predicessors listed have good spells but aren't outstanding. Managers have a shelf life before they run out of ideas and grind to a hault. Credit for his first two seasons (although arguably Pardew's first two full seasons were better with a worse squad) but he can't keep hiding behind excuses for last year. I think Roy is the longest serving manager in the premiership that hasn't won a league or promotion. Hodgson own motivation seems to have dwindled over time too.

Dyche I see as someone who can build long term success. Howe would be a risk but the whole squad could do with someone fresh coming in to break the lethargy and add a bit of life back into things. Like Roy and BFS, he may come here feeling he has something to prove. We'd get a couple of good seasons out of Howe and it would be worth paying/travelling to go to Selhust and watch again.

Wagner is currently out of the job again.

There's a long list of others the do the merry-go-round, Silva, Pearson, Houghton etc. Wouldn't want any but it would stick some life in the team.

Hodgson was a long, long way down the list of prefered managers when he appointed and if we appointed a manager from scratch again, he probably still wouldn't be first choice. Apparently Parish wasnt willing to pay Dyche's release clause from Burnley at the time. Then it cost more to sack FDB.

The club would be wise to be looking for a longer term replacement now, rather than have a frantic search at the end of the season. Although, if they sack Roy they could now get an age discrimination case chucked at them.

I'd say he's stuck in his ways, and it's too late in the day for him to mentally adjust.

Far too exciting for us. Look at how Villa thrashed Liverpool. How Leeds are playing. Fast attacking football. Not for the 2 dimensional Palace. We keep men back then rely on fast counter. Not so easy at home. These new young managers are really stirring up the boring football method. Great to watch. Not for us. Boring staid safe. That’s the way. Hope to stay lower mid. I’m sure we will.