OTF

Jones: "Krafth and Fraser have trained well and showed me they both want to be in the team" So turns out he thinks Krafth is good enough. Yech.

Was Patrick Vieira's head always that large?

Fernandez not on the bench, would assume he must have some sort of knock or else Jones really does not like him. Some kick in the face to Schar as well, a very ordinary side back deployed in centre defense ahead of him, ouch.

FYI: Those stats are only on Premier League matches.

Yep, very well said. I will say though that in isolation, to be rid of him for £8M is the best possible spend of the money that the new owners could make. It will bring about a net improvement in the entire squad as well as delight from supporters who have endured his inept reign of destruction on the solid foundation left by the incumbent. With financial investment and a stable platform to begin, versus Rafa starting with a wreck of a team essentially already relegated, Bruce managed to be inferior to Benitez in every aspect - Bruce's sides conceded substantially more goals (1.655 per game compared to 1.244 for Benitez), scored fewer (1.119 vs 1.128) picked up fewer points per game (1.095 vs 1.174) had less possession and were unquestionably worse to watch. The steady march backwards of the players who were here under Benitez tracks through Bruce's statistics with more and more goals conceded season on season with the current season on track for 90 goals conceded. His previous season tallies were 58 and then 62. Benitez's highest conceded tally was 48.

I think you've found Monkeys Fist's limit. The shed is safe.

They all have their top brass there and we have Charnley reading pre-prepared statements. Love it.

Brilliant! Sums it up best from all angles.

We honestly need to get something out of this palace game. It will be interesting to see how Jones changes things up.

Steve Bruce, 2021 - "I was useless, a fat waste of space, a tactically inept cabbage head" Yes Steve, honesty is the best policy.

Exactly, he's been absolutely dying to have a retaliatory jab at the supporters for ages. The best he could come up with is acting like we're mean because we didn't like him because we thought he was tactically inept, which he then went on to confirm many times over. Honestly, he should have kept quiet on it, having a sook now is only going to endear him to those already in his corner, to the rest he just looks like a sore loser.

There's a very big difference between wanting him to fail and knowing that he would fail. He obviously doesn't have very thick skin and also was listening to what was being said. If he wants to be factual though it was said of him prior to day 1.

Puddy Power

GET IN!!! (Get out)

Ah yes, IBM (Ibrahim Bin Muhammad).

I'd say it's not working cheers

I'd say this has legs - it's been a dream of his to join his boyhood club AS Poissy.

Why stop at sponsorships? Why not bring it in for player transactions and the like? In my esteemed legal opinion I can't see this having any legs long term.

Just by having a strong core it's both tactically and muscularly superior to Bruce.

BUCJ

He's no doubt tactically superior to Bruce, so coming in to the players he would have seemed an innovative world beating genius. The memories of Rafa will have washed off after more than two years of Bruce's brand of unprofessional training and laissez faire tactics.

Someone needs to have a good honest chat to our Jamaal to let him know that he's not nearly as good as he thinks he is, especially given he seems to have a propensity to blame everyone but himself. Hopefully that's what Hayden was doing. Can't play the ball out, loses his man constantly, is lazy and doesn't close down. He's occassionally a threat from set pieces in attack and is reasonable at winning balls in the air but I'd have Fernandez, Schar and Clark ahead of him as far as being more rounded footballers (in that order). He works in a back 5 only because marking a man isn't as essential. I think Bruce favours him and Clark over Fernandez and Schar simply because they're native english speakers.

Aye, but remember where you heard it first: listening to any casual fan ever since the beginning of time.

If he was to come in for the remainder of the season there would be worse things we could do. He knows the league and the players and frankly the first hurdle is a vastly different ask to the mid-long term job that starts proper once premier league status is maintained. Big bonus for keeping us up, doesn't hurt his prospects for getting a job elsewhere. With our roster if we can rack up a few points by January with a bit of focused strenthening he should be more than capable. As a clean slate with Premier League status assured and a summer of spending you'd have to think we open up our options substantially.

"We're leaking from the back, well past our prime, so first thing we need you to do is come in and plug the gaps" (On the) Wayne: "I'm in"