Don't be fooled by the thread title, the night isn't over yet and it could very well get darker before sunrise. After another abject, pathetic, gutless display that has become symptomatic and synonymous with - and more depressingly, expected - this season, there doesn't seem to be any positives. None. No signs of improvement. No fight, no character, no skill, no pace, no belief. No clue.
With it extremely unlikely we'll get 4th this season after tonight's result, (arguably for people like myself it was already a lost cause) I feel we could see ourselves hurtling into the abyss. Let's start with the manager. He has no clue about anything anymore it seems. There really doesn't seem to be any indication of tactics employed. There's no idea, no creativity, no plan B (or plan A you could argue). Even this wouldn't be half as catastrophic if he could elicit some sort of response from the players, you know, motivate them, man-MANAGE them. Unfortunately we could very well be lumbered with him for a long time yet. We're in such a state that we can't afford to sack him, in fact it could prove suicidal to do so such is how precarious our financial position is. So we've got to hope someone will take him off our hands. Yet admirers may dwindle if he keeps this sort of form up, as well as the fact his high wages and desire to stay, and perhaps stubbornness, could see him staying put. If that's the case we would be stuck with him for another summer transfer window with players who clearly have lost any desire to play for him, and we would have to trust his ability in the transfer market to strengthen us with whatever pittance we are afforded with to buy new players. Which wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't had such increasingly bad transfer windows in recent times.
Now the players clearly seem to have forgotten how to play, but the fact is it's pretty much every player, with the exception of Mascher and Reina, makes for pretty grim reading. Is it solely down to the manager and his tactics or do they not want to play for him any more? Either way a few of them may be looking to move. We can't afford to this given the fact that if they were sold we probably wouldn't be able to afford to replace them. If a key player like Torres or Gerrard started to question their future with us, and perhaps rightly so, then how could we replace them? Man City reportedly are tabling bids of upwards of £75 million for our star players. I wouldn't be too confident that we'd see that money reinvested into the squad. Nor would I trust Benitez with the cash. A real catch 22 situation.
In the race for 4th it pretty much comes down to Man City, Spurs and Villa. If city get there it could very well prove to be disastrous. An infinite budget to sign new recruits and newly achieved Champions League status could see them strengthening and thus widening the gap into a chasm. Europes best would see them as the place to go to rather than us, not least Man City feeling that they could perhaps poach a few of our players. This would be disastrous. Villa and Spurs however, I don't believe would gain a similar foothold in Europe. Ideally one of these two clubs would get 4th if it wasn't to be us but my money is on City. If this happens it could spark a decline for us as a football club as Manchester City could have leapfrogged us and we would never have the funds to gain our place back.
Now hopefully some billionaire comes along and ploughs his riches into our club, or perhaps even one of you fine posters could cheer me up and give me some positive news about our future. But both seem increasingly unlikely.
At every level of our great club something is rotten. For me, this truly is our season on the brink. And I'm not sure we can survive it.
With it extremely unlikely we'll get 4th this season after tonight's result, (arguably for people like myself it was already a lost cause) I feel we could see ourselves hurtling into the abyss. Let's start with the manager. He has no clue about anything anymore it seems. There really doesn't seem to be any indication of tactics employed. There's no idea, no creativity, no plan B (or plan A you could argue). Even this wouldn't be half as catastrophic if he could elicit some sort of response from the players, you know, motivate them, man-MANAGE them. Unfortunately we could very well be lumbered with him for a long time yet. We're in such a state that we can't afford to sack him, in fact it could prove suicidal to do so such is how precarious our financial position is. So we've got to hope someone will take him off our hands. Yet admirers may dwindle if he keeps this sort of form up, as well as the fact his high wages and desire to stay, and perhaps stubbornness, could see him staying put. If that's the case we would be stuck with him for another summer transfer window with players who clearly have lost any desire to play for him, and we would have to trust his ability in the transfer market to strengthen us with whatever pittance we are afforded with to buy new players. Which wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't had such increasingly bad transfer windows in recent times.
Now the players clearly seem to have forgotten how to play, but the fact is it's pretty much every player, with the exception of Mascher and Reina, makes for pretty grim reading. Is it solely down to the manager and his tactics or do they not want to play for him any more? Either way a few of them may be looking to move. We can't afford to this given the fact that if they were sold we probably wouldn't be able to afford to replace them. If a key player like Torres or Gerrard started to question their future with us, and perhaps rightly so, then how could we replace them? Man City reportedly are tabling bids of upwards of £75 million for our star players. I wouldn't be too confident that we'd see that money reinvested into the squad. Nor would I trust Benitez with the cash. A real catch 22 situation.
In the race for 4th it pretty much comes down to Man City, Spurs and Villa. If city get there it could very well prove to be disastrous. An infinite budget to sign new recruits and newly achieved Champions League status could see them strengthening and thus widening the gap into a chasm. Europes best would see them as the place to go to rather than us, not least Man City feeling that they could perhaps poach a few of our players. This would be disastrous. Villa and Spurs however, I don't believe would gain a similar foothold in Europe. Ideally one of these two clubs would get 4th if it wasn't to be us but my money is on City. If this happens it could spark a decline for us as a football club as Manchester City could have leapfrogged us and we would never have the funds to gain our place back.
Now hopefully some billionaire comes along and ploughs his riches into our club, or perhaps even one of you fine posters could cheer me up and give me some positive news about our future. But both seem increasingly unlikely.
At every level of our great club something is rotten. For me, this truly is our season on the brink. And I'm not sure we can survive it.
