sandman 2 world wars, 1 world cup Gomes backer here.
"We can make the playoffs" neck-sticker-outer here.
Yes sadly I agree we lost the game before Swift was sent off. One could even argue Swift was just generally pissed off at how we were doing.
What baffles me is this was so unnecessary. We genuinely have a very good squad. We stumbled across a good starting 11 and a good system that stood the test of a few games and just needed to be built on. In the words of Greta Thunberg "this is all wrong".
We can easily pull it round. Gomes is the man, and we have good players. My only concern at this point is confidence. It's a fragile thing, and once the players lose confidence in themselves and in you as the boss it's a slippery slope. Big test for Gomes now. Back to basics. 5-3-2 with the best team out but not so crazy with attack leaving defence open. Get some confidence and belief back.
Do we? We've spent a bit of money and had a good week a month ago. Doesn't mean we have a good squad on anything other than paper.
Good question. Yes so first we did spend a bit of money as you say. We also had some decent players here including younger breakthough players like Rino we were scared would be taken by a PL club. And yes the fruit of that was the golden week we had. They weren't lucky or fake results. Those performances were solid by each individual and as a team. Everything clicked. Everyone shined.
Rafa - Not a bad keeper at all. Maybe no Martinez but fairly decent and no complaints there.
Yiadom - people here calling him possibly the best RB in the league. Definitely a very very good player IMO.
RIchards - has frankly been a revelation and has shown what he is capable of. And remember I asked that he never plays for us again, so I'm eating humble pie here. Maybe not the best LB in the league but in the 5-3-2 he was brilliant. Why he was swapped for Obita I have absolutely no idea. If you reckon Obita is better, fine.
Miazga - brilliant defender , great in the air, we were crying out for him to return and he has. We've hugely missed his absence and *I* put the failure of 5-3-2 to continue to be effective down to losing him.
Moore - we were sh*t scared he'd leave us for a PL side. I know he's been a bit hit and miss this season but we know he's a good player.
Morrison - we know he's a very good defender, no more needed to be said. V lucky to get him somehow.
Rino - As above, we were scared he'd be taken by a PL club. He probably will at some point. Will he outdo SIggy? Tiem will tell.
Ejaria - pure class. Too good for us.
Swift - I'm finally vidicated for the positivity I've been spouting about him over the years. Good to hear Adie acknowledging he's our stand out player. I wouldn't go that far when we have Ejaria in the ranks but he's certainly better than most. And he never gets red cards... oh.
Puscas - we've seen what he's capable of. He is a very good player who will score many goals. Unlucky not to score against Fulham. We
Joao - has already scored and created enough to prove himself as a capable striker, if paired properly.
Meite - many would say he should be a starter. He's actually surprisingly good to the point now that I'm also torn whether he or Joao should pair up with Puscas.
Then we have up and coming players like Barrett, Loader, McIntyre, Olise etc and the likes of Boye, Pele etc who aren't bad. I wouldn't call them very good players (yet) like the above but certainly these are all players who enrich the squad for sure.
I struggle to say we have a shit team.
I'd go so far as to say if we had kept Barrow and Martinez and brought in a good right winger we could be unstoppable. Without that I reckon this squad of players should be knocking on the door of the playoff spots.
We hadn't lost anything.
