Boards

The best of a shit bunch went elsewhere in the summer.
I still reckon Solbakken was a decent manager, but the bunch of clowns on the pitch were responsible for his demise.
We now have a clown of a manager to complement the idiots on the pitch.

Since Saunders has come in, we've not won a game and have for the majority played appallingly, however in every single one of his post-game interviews he reckons we did well and should've won. What a prick.

- Chairman decides that the West Brom/Swansea model is the way to go and wants a full change of the club, backroom and front, in order to make Wolves more competitive in the long-term with the changes in football (ie, pass-and-move over McCarthy's hoofball). A Director of Football was promoted from within as well.
- Gets in Solbakken, who is known for a very unique continental style that saw Copenhagen's best CL performance ever. His time at Cologne can be put down to the general disorder at that club.
- Start extremely well. New players (Sako, Doumbia, Peszko, Sigurdarson) look a step above the rest of the division. Two more players arrive injured - Boukari and Margreitter - but also are well-rated in scouting reports.
- Just before the October international break, Boukari is injured just as he comes back, and then Pezko is injured too. Both first choice wingers injured. Then Sigurdarson picks up some knocks, and Doumbia (who arrived without a preseason) clearly suffers exhaustion and has to be shipped off to France for a few weeks to recuperate. Hasn't looked the same player since.
- Further injuries reduce the squad for most of November and December to a first eleven that picks itself, with benches of kids. Whether some of those (Davis, Forde) are ready regardless is debatable, but it's clear that Solbakken stick with a passing style even with players from the McCarthy days that have poor off-the-ball movement and are uncomfortable passing the ball quickly as he wants. Results deteriorate rapidly.
- Culminates in four games over the New Year where we concede loads, get one shot on target, and lose to Luton in the Cup. Solbakken is sacked. I'd say it's fair to say the fans were split on his dismissal but the general mood was turning against him. People were reminded of the dark Hoddle days. It's also worth saying that by this point it was clear some of the key players under McCarthy were almost publicly resistant to the changes Solbakken was making
- Saunders comes in, recommended (so I've heard) by his close friends Ian Rush and Graeme Sounness. Came with a reputation for honest, British football at Doncaster, and of having knowledge of how to inspire players in a rut. The general mood at the club was that the players were good enough, they just weren't inspired by Solbakken's cold professorial style.
- Saunders, as expected, has been an absolute train wreck. Clearly out of his depth. Team selections and formations change from match to match regardless of previous performances, with key players under Solbakken (like Peszko) frozen out for no discernable reason. The players injured under Solbakken, plus long-time injured and key player O'Hara, have come back, giving Saunders lots of flexibility, but he doesn't have any idea what's he doing. Stephen Hunt came back from months out injured, straight into a match at left-back, where he's never played before. We went 1-0 up against Barnsley at ten minutes then were switched to a defensive setup to try and see the game out. The players look even more dejected.
- We've brought in Gorkss from Reading at CB, and Robinson from Liverpool at LB, which are good moves, but apart from that it's very bleak.
- Solbakken was on TV last night being interviewed (http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/360/8530650/video-stale-solbakken-interview) and was very accurate in his observations that the chairman doesn't know what he wants. The club has a good financial situation but we're now at a point where that's been threatened by the footballing side of things, which should never have happened. Saunders took over when we were as far from the playoffs as we were from relegation and all he needed was a point a game to survive. He's not won a single game.

tl;dr It's a bit like a Lidl version of the AVB-at-Chelsea situation when Solbakken was there, followed by a really, really clueless appointment afterwards.

Only wish we had a DiS contingent for every crap team to explain exactly why they are crap like we have you guys.

like say, Aberdeen or someone, if it would have mattered more.

What's the deal with those? Knock offs?

Also along with everybody else who haven't watched QPR recently there remains the illusion that a team which has had that amount of money spent on it surely cannot be as bad as they, in actuality, are.

Is it just me, or has Pochettino gained weight and become paler since he arrived? Fair play for embracing the local culture with both arms if so.

if you want insightful, measured thoughts and comments, don't bother
if you want to laugh at a twat, worth a watch

Ronaldo's obviously still negotiating his latest one, judging by the amount of rumours about him re-joining United

they can't be far off

If so, has anyone seen him and KiK in the same room together?

We'd have been comfortably top half both times, iirc.

thanks lawro

they beat Chelsea away.

then he can maybe be rested against Stoke, protect him from a left hook or the like...

i like it when you do it against people i hate.

Palace were to meet Brighton in the play off final at Wembley, the train and tube journey to Wembley would be interesting.