Arq

Yeah, I wouldn't see him coming here either. He's got a sweet setup with Germany and a squad that could be a powerhouse for the next 8+ years. However, if he had an itch, I'd love to see him come here.

For 10 million? Yes, please. I'll do that deal all day.

His tactics, at least on the club level, are usually spot on. I'd say he's more of a tactician than AVB is. Plus, he's (imho) a better man manager. Germany do have some of the biggest names in football. They all listen and respond to Löw. Germany will never be out hustled for first and second balls like we saw from our match against WBA. Germany has been defeated, but they always play hard. I believe he'd be able to replicate that here.

Whoa... Whoa... Seriously? Löw? I wonder how much of this is just more media garbage but if true... Löw could be an excellent good manager for the club IF given some time. He was the tactician behind Klinsmann's teams and would certainly get the best of our players. The question is whether or not Löw can translate country success into club success. I, for one, believe he can. Wow... Please let this have some legs.

Great news for the club! Ramires has been a workhorse for us and deserved the new contract. Plus, we were smart to keep him wrapped up for years to come. Let's hope for more good news in the near future.

Is it? Where?

Team I hate the most? Has to be Tottenham. I'm not sure the word "hate" covers it, it might be deeper than that. When I even hear the word "spud" or "spur" in other contexts, my blood starts to boil a bit because it just pops them into my mind. Sad part is, I love me some ham but the two teams I despise the most have "ham" in their names... Tottenham and West Ham. Rage.

I'll check when I get home tonight and resend if I don't see you in there.

Last I looked, it was still pending. I haven't been on for over a week myself. Darn those toddlers in their terrible two's.

It's interesting to look at the numbers in this poll. It appears that most are clear cut from a fan's perspective except AVB, where people are split down the middle. Interesting indeed.

I don't believe you've yet accepted my friend request on the xbox. It makes me sad.

Yeah, Origin is horrible. I can't believe how much of a bloatware program it is.

Ranieri - Correct... He did well for us and got the ship going in the right direction but started to "tinker" just to try to prove his worth. It didn't work. Mourinho - Too soon... He had the funds and he brought the attitude. That was the thing we needed. Maybe, and as we saw, it was doomed but he delivered and he should have stayed longer. Grant - Correct... He steered the ship after Jose's departure and did fairly well. However, I get the feeling that the downhill slide would have started here and I believe the board was thinking along the same lines. Scolari - Correct... He started off brilliantly, but after the issue with Drogba things started to sour really quickly. This may be the first time we saw this "player power" influence a sacking. He had no answer to correct the problem, except to go to extremes in training. Ancelotti - Too soon... Here's a man with a reputation as a winning CL manager and delivered our first double to us. He got us through our "bad moment" and we finished second behind United. I think his lack of tactic change and constantly playing the older players instead of some youth could have been what sealed his fate. AVB - Too soon... So we hire an up-and-coming manager, albeit maybe too young, to steer the ship out of the murky waters. Eventually even AVB had to revert to the old style of play versus the more flowing high-line he initially started with. After alienating press and players both, along with underachieving, there was little chance to see his job saved. I hope our next manager gets time and can keep the players' respect on and off the pitch.

I wonder how much of this is true... The part about Rafa scares me. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1030893/roman-abramovich-to-target-guardiola-for-chelsea-job?cc=5901

Oh, I understand both are probably unavailable. Hiddink definitely and would only be a short-term solution due to his age but since he's at Anzhi, he's probably not coming here. Pep on the other hand would be an amazing grab. The problem is that he still has the same issue of rebuilding the squad. And as you pointed out, even though he does yearly rolling contracts, why would he leave Barca for us? I'd love to see it, I just don't see it happening.

Hiddink and Pep. Those are the only two that come to mind at the moment.

Gutted, but not completely shocked. I ask you, who would want to take this job? With the player power the way it is and the constant sacking, who in their right minds would take this job? Just getting more angry by the minute. The board better have something up their sleeves...

Great read, thanks for the link.

Andreas, there's a good chance Sweden can make it out of their group. It's harder now with France looking a lot better.

This is absolutely spot on. Watching our match, WBA was out hustling us to most of those first and second chance balls. Credit to WBA though, they did it and we did not. Once you don't want to give 100% to try to help us win, you can leave. I'll take less talent and more hunger over more talent and less hunger.

Wasn't much to go off of, but Cech clearly for me.

I do, but in relative terms it's an Asian dish where burgers are typically not.

Sturridge's effort was still better than what Malouda showed today. If that was really his thinking, give Kalou a shot (unless I missed that he was injured). Malouda's form has been awful. Kalou has some great misses but we've seen him come on as an impact sub before. Clearly AVB has to know this as well. And if it's true that we typically play better with Mata in the middle, which I won't disagree with, why not start that way? This is where I scratch my held with some of his decisions. He knows better than I though, and I have to trust his reasonings.

Chinese. And my answer is biased since I'm getting sushi for dinner. Figure I need some joy after watching the match today. As a Duke fan (college basketball), it's our rivals (UNC) tonight. I don't see that going well. Back to the AVB debate...

I don't think there's much of a choice but to back the manager 100% at this point. If we sack AVB, the players will have "won" again and we're going to be in a worse spot than we currently are. It's time for the players to understand that nothing less than full effort on the pitch will not be tolerated. It boggles my mind that some of our players, who have given us fans some of the greatest joys we could ever ask for, are not giving it their all. I don't care if they like his methods or not. They are all professionals who get paid one heck of a wage to perform at the highest level of football. If they don't want to do that because they don't like something, well they can f**k right off. Which brings me to my second point, and I said this in chat. AVB has made some decisions that are just head-scratching. He seems to try to make points in some places and not others. Why did we pull Sturridge for Malouda? What was that going to buy us? And if you're going to tell me he did that because Studge wasn't listening or it was because of his mistakes earlier, then fine. What about everyone else who seems to continue to make mistakes but still get time on the pitch? He seems to want to make a stand with Danny but he doesn't with everyone else. I could continue to provide examples but we have gone over them. We need to continue this overhaul. I'm of the mindset that I'd rather have players here if they're going to continuously give it their all instead of the best in the world if they're going to slag off if they don't get their way. I'm behind AVB. Continue the overhaul then we can really see if he grows into a great manager or if this is just another big mistake. I just wish I knew what he was thinking with some of these decisions...