Polarboy

Seems like the people on twitter have read the same article as me 😂

There's been an article this evening in Bild the German paper, which is usually pretty accurate, that Farve has moved ahead of Fonseca as favourite, or at the very least is even with him in the minds of the people making the decisions. Personally Farve's greater experience, given the position we're in, puts me more at ease than if Fonseca was to get the job. I think I'm correct in saying that Farve actually has experience in coming into a club very near the bottom of the league, I think it was Hertha Berlin, at an even later stage than this in the season, keeping them up comfortably, and stabilising them. Report: Lucien Favre now favourite to take Newcastle job (tbrfootball.com)

Murphy was also saying, in regards to Solksjaer, that at the end of the day the manager bears responsibility for the way the players play, their tempo, attitude, application etc., and the stats concerning efforts on goal, goals against etc. are important. Again the hypocrisy when comparing their comments about Bruce, to their ones about McCarthy and Solksjaer is ridiculous. It's got to the point where I think it's possible that Bruce runs a knocking shop on the quiet, and has compromising videos and photos on various figures in the football world Jeffrey Epstein style.

Personally I won't be able to indulge in the fantasy football transfers until we start looking like we might stay up. Not to piss in anybody's cornflakes or anything 😁 👍

He's going to quadruple his wages supposedly, so might as well get our monies worth if he comes 😉

😄 Aye, I'm sure we can, but who would be more ideal than Overmars to communicate ten Hag's football philosophy to the players. A Dutch translator who perhaps doesn't understand the subtleties of football would be no substitute for Overmars. Look obviously managers have come in before with poor English and done well, Poch being a good example above, but I can't think of any who've had to come into such an already chaotic situation. And obviously most managers, apart from Bielsa apparently, look to improve their English as soon as possible for obvious reasons in terms of wanting to be able to get their ideas across personally.

Having read a bit about ten Hag the one worry I would have is that apparently his grasp of English isn't great. That might be OK if he had a bit time to settle in over a summer, get extra English lessons etc., but to come in this far into the season it wouldn't be ideal to say the least when you need to work quickly. Of course Overmars could translate for him in the short term I suppose, and a poor grasp of English didn't hurt Bielsa, at least for his first season in the league.

The Mirror are saying we've opened talks with Overmars about being the director of football, and that he'd want to take the current Ajax coach Erik ten Hag with him as the new coach. As I've said I'm very impressed with what Overmars has done at Ajax in terms of finding players, keeping the albeit already legendary Ajax youth system ticking over, and the amount of profit he made for Ajax from players he found that were sold on. ten Hag I'm less sure about given how badly de Boer did at Inter and Palace, although in fairness he wasn't given a lot of time at either. Coming from the Dutch league whether you're a player or coach can be hit or miss. You can be a Suarez or Kezman. But the point I'm making about de Boer and ten Hag is that it's very easy to look great in basically a two team league with most of the best players. Of course I think I'm right in saying that ten Hag's team has been a fair bit more impressive in Europe than de Boer's team. I mean it could be the dream team if it worked out given they presumably already have a great working relationship, which of course is what you want and need between a DOF and coach. As I've said I'm not convinced by Fonseca even though it could be argued that his CV is a bit more impressive given he's been at a number of big clubs in comparison to ten Hag's Utrecht and Ajax. It should also be said that ten Hag is also an attacking coach who likes to play a high pressing and possession game, which it could be argued is a style of play that is beyond many of the players in our current squad. I can't give a reason backed up with facts, but I just get the feeling ten Hag would be the more solid choice. I mean if only for the fact that's already been stated, that he already has a working relationship with Overmars, and they could perhaps create what they did at Ajax with us, but on a much bigger scale.

Yeah I mean obviously the mentality that thinks to wear a tea towel, or be the back end of a camel, isn't going to suddenly become an Arabophile, and pick up genuine Arabic clothes and headdress.

Burnley, Brentford and Norwich at home. If we don't get at least seven points from that lot mid December to January is looking grim.

It was 100% a foul, he had a full hand of his shirt and pushed him over for good measure.

With regard the supposed turnaround about the Arabic dress I think the distinction is that people wear traditional dress, as opposed to a dirty old tea towel and an inflatable camel. I presume that way it could be seen as an homage, as opposed to a parody of their culture.

Ritchie has been a liability for most of this match.

Is Robbie Earle a Palace fan, or does he just dislike any team that isn't from London.

Is Gallagher ever going to get booked for diving. He's a fucking joke.

Gallagher is a diving bastard.

I have to say that while I'm excited by the brand of football Fonseca likes to play, should he be confirmed, I do worry that we don't have the players that suit said style, at least of course until we get a transfer window. Obviously people who are far more knowledgeable about football than me will be advising Staveley and the rest of the consortium, but from a relative laymen's perspective it does seem like we are seriously lacking in terms of players who can perform high pressing and possession football. Then again a lot of the players under Bruce looked barely like professional footballers at times, so maybe Fonseca will elevate the form of players like Hayden, Longstaff, maybe even Fraser etc. At least enough so as to get us to January with a few wins under our belt. Edit. It should be said that Fonseca has said in the past the he would never compromise the way in which he wants his teams to play, so yeah a lot of coaches would just adapt to the players they have at their disposal, but Fonseca seems very resolute in his idea of how a team should play. Again it could be the we get a good manager bounce and the players prove themselves to be more capable than I am perhaps assuming, but only time will tell.

I mean it's really not going to improve the quality of your life if you find the answers to those questions.

Palace are improving under Viera, but they do still seem to find it tough to finish off teams. Arsenal were very average against them and still managed a draw in the end. I'd be happy with a draw, but I don't think three points is beyond the realms of possibility. Obviously it will all depend on how much of a lift cabbage going has given the players. If they have anything about them at all they'll want to impress the incoming manager, and also make it seem like the poor results were mostly down to Bruce.

Yeah so you pick a DOF with a good track record and not a cowboy. Both Overmars and Campos for example have made the clubs they've been at hundreds of millions of pounds in profit from player sales, and consistently found players that improved the team. Very few managers can be across scouting and recruitment to the extent that they can as consistently find quality players at a cheap price. Rafa is about as obsessive as they come when it comes to being across player info, but even he picks some stinkers from time to time.

It does sound like the title of a The Fall b-side.

Maybe Fonseca could hire you as a motivational speaker, if he gets the job.

Does he hate him, or is he just following where he thinks the wind blows in terms of fan opinion of him. Call me cynical, but I would imagine real passion from journalists in the twitter journalism era is fairly rare.

If that's true about the Mike Bassett thing then that explains a lot. The players likely thought he was likeable enough, especially given how much time he appears to have given them off, but didn't respect him as a coach at all. There's no way performances can be optimal if you don't respect the coach, whether it's his coaching methods or the way in which he addresses the media. A respected coach like Fonseca should be able to get 10 to 15% straight away just by his mere professional presence.