In or Out?

[Muskrat]

Dead man walking imo. Better just to lance the boil and move on.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Kick the players arses....get an extra 20% out of them...we are playing catch-up for sure.....a little leadership on the pitch might help too

[leon]

2 assists tonight for JDB away at a half decent national side

Be very disappointed if he doesn’t start vs leeds

As our only senior recorgnized striker available he simply has to start, regardless of his deficiencies.

We're bad enough when we play a team with everyone in their rightful positions. Why we think we have the right to consistently piss about starting games with no striker is arrogance, ignorance or a combination of the two.

We're oxf*rd struggling. Stop trying to reinvent football and do the oxf*rd basics ffs.

Well quite. We've got the talent in the squad. Just use it Stam and stop pissing around trying to be right.

He's as bad as mrs leon. Just accept you can be wrong every blue fcuking moon.

[Hound]

Yep. Which is why I think Leeds will be very interesting regardless of the result. If he doesn’t change things about then doesn’t reflect well on him at all

Those 2 assists were great actually - seen the highlights. Left foot cross and right foot cute through ball. Like after Hull would think the chap should be buzzing and full of confidence - get him on the pitch

[CountryRoyal]

Yep. Which is why I think Leeds will be very interesting regardless of the result. If he doesn’t change things about then doesn’t reflect well on him at all

Yeah, think Leeds is make or break for him tbh.

[genome]

Anyone else actually enjoyed this international break?

Not for the quality of England's football, but it's quite nice to get away from it all if you're on a shit run of form

[under the tin]

Anyone else actually enjoyed this international break?

Not for the quality of England's football, but it's quite nice to get away from it all if you're on a shit run of form

Is it just a bad run of form, or are the players losing faith with the system currently in use?

[genome]

Honestly not sure - it's not like we're getting trounced every week, the defeats are all by the odd goal (except for QPR) which suggests it might just be something that can be turned around with a little bit of tinkering. Jury's out on whether Stam will change, though.

[genome]

I thought it was interesting to see how Holland's national team have suffered recently, alongside Everton's struggling form under Koeman, De Boer at Palace (although that was a ridiculous sacking).

Maybe the Dutch style just doesn't work at the moment, now players are fitter/pitches are better and can close teams down for longer periods?

[Hound]

I thought it was interesting to see how Holland's national team have suffered recently, alongside Everton's struggling form under Koeman, De Boer at Palace (although that was a ridiculous sacking).

Maybe the Dutch style just doesn't work at the moment, now players are fitter/pitches are better and can close teams down for longer periods?

possibly. But both Koeman and Stam did well last season and I doubt anything has massively changed in the course of a summer. The Dutch national side are an odd one, but they are still on the likes of RVP, Robben and Sneijder

In terms of the break, can't say I've enjoyed it a great deal, though I am looking forward to the Wales Ireland game tonight. The team and Stam badly needed the break though, we were just sleepwalking into the same performance week after week.

As the commentators said a number of times in the Norwich game, they were an absolute shambles before the last break, and completely turned it around following it. We could do the same

[under the tin]

I don't think it's just a Dutch thing. Nowadays, world football is full of teams with limited skills and resources, who are organised in such a way as to nullify technically superior opposition. The days of the "gimme" fixture where the "little" teams get thrashed are largely over.
I point you in the direction of the South American group, where Argentina are struggling to qualify, Messi and all.

I think the Championship reflects this general trend. We all understand that a way to counteract this is with patient passing and movement to pull the opposing defence out of their positions so that the spaces can be exploited.
The key is about pulling the opposition defence about, and that means playing your football in their half.
However, when the passing is sub standard, or the movement non existent, or both, it turns into a dull chess game. Sound familiar?
You also need the real flair players. Everton were a much more daunting prospect with Lukaku up top.
You also need a credible Plan B, and players capable of executing that plan.

[Muskrat]

Welcome to the relegation zone folks! (false 22nd though obvs)...

[royalp-we]

Some will disagree. As crazy as it sounds. Vito Mannone / Bacuna may have saved our season (Stams job) today.

[Hound]

Think I said before but it was seeing the tactics change that gives Stam more time for me. If we’d play like we did at Millwall but scraped a win, I’d have been less convinced than if we’d plays as we did yesterday and unluckily drawn or lost

[Royal_jimmy]

A heavy defeat yesterday I think would have been the end for him. I still think one in the next 2-3 games could be as well. Though yesterdays win bought him 4-5 more games.

Delighted he's made the change, but will he stick or switch things vs Sheffield United next week?

[windermereROYAL]

A heavy defeat yesterday I think would have been the end for him. I still think one in the next 2-3 games could be as well. Though yesterdays win bought him 4-5 more games.

Delighted he's made the change, but will he stick or switch things vs Sheffield United next week?

One a total knob, you think internet warriors on their keypads will have say on which way the owners will go? for me that was a huge plan B yesterday, a while new way we can play, by all means if we want to go back to square one lets get rid of him, but any new manager now would be starting with a blank page.

[leon]

A heavy defeat yesterday I think would have been the end for him. I still think one in the next 2-3 games could be as well. Though yesterdays win bought him 4-5 more games.

Delighted he's made the change, but will he stick or switch things vs Sheffield United next week?

We all want to see Stam do well. The key is to learn from where we've been going wrong and make the tactical changes. yesterday was an indication of that which is positive.

[leon]

A heavy defeat yesterday I think would have been the end for him. I still think one in the next 2-3 games could be as well. Though yesterdays win bought him 4-5 more games.

Delighted he's made the change, but will he stick or switch things vs Sheffield United next week?

We all want to see Stam do well. The key is to learn from where we've been going wrong and make the tactical changes. yesterday was an indication of that which is positive.

[windermereROYAL]

A heavy defeat yesterday I think would have been the end for him. I still think one in the next 2-3 games could be as well. Though yesterdays win bought him 4-5 more games.

Delighted he's made the change, but will he stick or switch things vs Sheffield United next week?

We all want to see Stam do well. The key is to learn from where we've been going wrong and make the tactical changes. yesterday was an indication of that which is positive.

I love you, what you wearing?


EDIT, cant delete this after coning home after a night on the piss, but you get the picture, I agree what you saying.

[Sanguine]

I've not followed this thread, but I'd just like to say that anyone seriously questioning Stam's position, just 11 league games after a playoff final (in a season when mid-table safety would have been a success) is absolutely fcuking nuts.