Peeking Duck?

Of course, anyone who criticises The Average One automatically wants Jose back? Give me strength!

Agreed Quiz. Especially since the Carlin Cup is supposedly small beer to someone who's won it all before like Avi. But let's not allow the facts to hold up the love in!

I'll have evissy's line up where we get 12 players! Excellent, Smithers!

They'll regret it if they go. All of them will be nothing without Avram - they'll learn the sames lessons Anelka had to learn the hard way. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Because they have no other argument. The results speak for themselves and Avi has proven/is proving he is well out of his depth here. He has won once against a top six side and that was still cagey affair with our first team against Liverpool's reserves. What's funnier is if we beat Spurs the Avi Mafia will be the first to proclaim it the greatest Chelsea victory of all time and Avi should be given unlimited time to make his mark. Even funnier still is all the congratulations as if he's trying to compete against the likes of Man U and Arse with a lower division squad, not a squad comprised of more internationals than any other Premiership side. Avi doesn't need more time to teach his brand of football. It's football, not brain surgery and this team has been together for a long time and the players have been doing this their entire lives. Let's just wait and count the trophies at the end of the season. Anything less than 2 is a step backward - end of. This man is Clownio Mk II minus the tactical nous and charm

bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahah! *breathes* BWBWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Selective memory beggars belief sometimes, this is firmly one of those cases.

oh the irony

against the top six... P7 W0 L3 D4 Don't give me any excuses. He has a team worth more than the rest of the league combined (close to £250M) and one that ANY manager on the planet would kill to have. We don't need him to have more "time to place his stamp" on the club. We've had quite enough of his imprint already and he simply isn't good enough. As they say in the barber shop....NEXT!

I would have to say Anelka. Yeah he hit the bar against Spuds but other than that what has he given us? nothing...

Loz, does table position mean anything until the last day of the season? As POINTS are the determining factor in table position I would describe them as being more important. So, it's really quite simple, we were two points off the pace after 6 games (and no I don't care who the manager was then so can trying to change the issue) and we are now 6 points off. Not only that, we are 6 points being the leaders after losing to them and 3 points behind the 2nd placed team after losing to them. What does that tell you?

Good point. Might as well have Ranners back if we're happy not winning trophies. Can you ever warm to a cadaver?

That's true too, and we' are further back than we were when he took over...(cue "injuries this", "Jose took the notes", etc etc)

No I haven't misunderstood you, Loz. I think your comparison is well wide of the mark as the two leagues are completely different. I'd fancy an Italian third division club against any top Israeli side any day of the week. More importantly, it's not my opinion of Grant that counts. What counts is that of the players. Do they think he's a no mark who has not got the tactical acumen to help them play positionally sound and winning football, or do they see him as a guy who has been given a difficult task under the circumstances and is someone who understands football enough to help them win matches? I believe the clear lack of of public backing for Avram from the players is proof they do not believe he knows what he's doing. In fact, I can think of two instances of praise for Avram, one being John Terry's poorly read Simon Greenburg press release chocked full of marketing babble and pc doublespeak. The other is Joe Cole's staunch defence of Grant just the other day as Joe has managed to keep his place despite reverting to parlour tricks, most of which fail to work and he ends up giving away possesion more the SWP (and that's saying a lot!). More importantly, the players have been asked directly by interviewers on several occasions whether Grant's tactics made the difference in a game we've won and not one has come out and said "Yes, Avi got us going in the right direction again after a poor start". Not one has said this despite being offered several opportunities to publically back, or even just put in a nice word for the guy. Couple that with public comments from Drogs and Malouda (you can't just blame them for being French) and it all points to a man who doesn't have the trust of his charges. These reasons are why I do not believe Avi is fit to be our manager. If the players come out and back him then I'll change my tune, too. But until they do, and as long as they purposefully go out of their way to avoid giving Avi any credit, then I won't give him any credit either. ;) off to a meeting... P

Not at all - any silverware won in Italy (yes I know the cups are not cared about) is still leagues higher than the highest level in Israel. I'm sorry, if you can't see that, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. The Gronks remark is that I think you've changed your tune about Ranners. I know when we won that match I thought he could take us on to much bigger things. It was only once he was consistently exposed against the big teams with a big squad of his own (just like Avi) that people realised Ranners wasn't up to snuff. Avi = two games played against top opponents & two losses to show for it. I will go on record and say that Avi will not beat Fergie or Wenger this season. I also think he will manage to lose the meaningless home win streak record we have going this season.

You conveniently omit that in the meantime Ranieri completely rebuilt an aging squad and qualified for Champions League BEFORE Roman arrived, thus proving himself a manager off at least decent quality. I'm sure the prospect of Champions League football had nothing to do with ease of recruitment once Roman arrived. And I'll bet when Gronks put in the winner against the red scum that season you were still wise enough to remind everyone of his poor crossing. Weren't you?

...with a manager of proven pedigree"

I think you're being a little harsh on Avi G. While Mourinho could use his Champions League, UEFA Cup, and successive Portuguese league titles to lure Drogba, I'm sure Avi can do the same. Let's see, he can cite winning the Israeli Northwest Region IV U-30 Invitational Championship in 1977 AND 1984 and almost qualifying for a world cup in a weak group. That should should be enough to convince any transfer target he's going to a team with a vision. So hang in there and give the gaffer a chance!

Well, maybe Avi's black tongue (all reptiles have black tongues don't they?) will work the same?

Don't worry BLUENUT. I have it on good authority from several poasters on this site (who happen to have inside information) that footballers only ever transfer for two reasons: 1. a pay rise - OR - 2 To graft as hard possible for a club they've always loved but never been fortunate enough to play for and would be their honor to pull on that club's shirt each and every time they step out on the pitch regardless of whether said club has a total numpty in charge and their career could suffer accordingly. Yup, those are the only two reasons fro transfers. Well, that is if you listen to the gospe as preached by some.

We will all know very soon, but it appears Sven has beaten us again in getting the right Mexican, Nery castillo, in his camp. This guy is the closes thing I've seen to Zola since, well, Zola. Dos Santos may be good but after watching him play for Mexico and in bits at Barca I believe Castillo will be better suited for the Prem. Guess we'll find out soon if I'm right or not!

Would almost be worth the money (for Berba) just to see Spurs well and truly collapse when Ramos walks out barely two months after joining :lol:

Good points but Drogs is probably off in the Summer to wherever Jose lands (AC Milan?) And we should definitely jettison Sheva + Pizzaro and cut our losses. Willing to give Kalou the remainder of the season to show some consistency but in all likelihood he will not make the grade. Therefore we can bring in Anelka, Berbatov in Jan with Huntelaar (aka Kezman Mk II) to come in the summer. I don't know he'll be Kezza Jr but he certainly shows no strength and I fear he'll be muscled off the ball easily just like a certain Ukrainian - no, not the one at Ligapool. This can be Roman's gift to patch things up after enforcing The Cadaver on us. Happy New Year! P

They can start the transfusion at the top by ditching the cadaver. Then maybe, and only then, will the new signings have a chance.

One good match in 50 (and that includes the lower league teams he routinely struggles against) does not inspire confidence

Or we now only win against the dregs of the league?