I know stats can be misleading , but the fact that we are at or near the bottom of all the metrics is very damning.
It confirms what many of us believe we have been observing with our own eyes.
I would be interested to see how this compares to last season as to whether there has been a significant drop off in e.g running, sprints, shots.
For me there seems to have been a drop off since the World Cup, but this could be an illusion brought about by our lack of form since this time.

I agree that PV is not entirely to blame for the current performance as they warning signs have been there long before he arrived. The long term lack of investment in the first team sits firmly at the heels of the current investors and DF, the latter have never be able to form a good worldwide networking scouting system that has paid such good dividends for the likes of teams like Brighton and Brentford. This lack of first team investment and succession planning really goes back to Sakho/Benteke when SP got his fingers burnt with his involvement with those two transfers which were expensive investments and that never really worked out.

This was really the start when SP through lack of experience stated to agree silly salaries, rather than make them performance related. He then exacerbated the situation by renewing contracts on player who were sick or just not plain good enough for EPL.

This has resulted in what now seems to be a preference to renew contracts irrespective of performance rather than go in to the transfer market which require real expertise these days and spending money wisely for a club like ours.

Therefore for the reasons stated, if this club is to move forward it needs better investors and new leadership. Neither of the latter can happen until SP accepts that it is time to move on for the sake of the clubs future.

Agreed. We also had Kouyate who allowed our wingers and Gallagher to push forward, he went very much under the radar on how important Kouyate was

“This is a crisis, a large crisis.... in fact if you have a moment, it’s a 12 storey crisis, magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24 hour portage , and an enormous sign on the roof saying “This , is a large crisis” - Edmund Blackadder

Watching West Ham in Europe. Antonio is back and scored two. They don't look like they'll go down. Antonio looking good, plus the midfield is much better quality than ours.

Red and Blue Army!

Not surprised! Just look at our 2023 form, no need for intelligence to see that we are in trouble. With a manager seemingly unwilling to make changes, but sticks to the same "guns" game after game.

After looking into this a bit more some fellow suggested that talk sport have done this on purpose to get a reaction out of palace tomorrow against city as they are arsenal fans on talk sport mostly?….
Interesting let’s hope it works

Edited by SwordFish (10 Mar 2023 1.47pm)

“This is a crisis, a large crisis.... in fact if you have a moment, it’s a 12 storey crisis, magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24 hour portage , and an enormous sign on the roof saying “This , is a large crisis” - Edmund Blackadder