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O'Neil In, Out and Shaking it all about

1 win in 17 in all competitions conceding 38 goals or 2.2 goals per game.

If you remove the back end of last season for the "he didn't have a pre-season" enthusiasts we've conceded 14 in 6 this season or 2.3 goals per game.

It's no longer an aberration, it's a feature.

It's not sustainable.
 
I'm not on the GON out train because he's not the issue. The taps on/off approach to the squad has left us with 4 goalkeepers yet just 4 cbs as well, and 1 left back. Who knows what our forward structure is, there's one recognisable striker, Cunha and then wingers? forwards?

He's not the problem. It's kinda funny that he was talked about as next England manager in off-season and now we want him gone asap after 4 games.

I just don't trust Fosun and whatever job Hobbs is doing when he isn't saying "yes" to Shi. The same people who just gave him a 4 year extension are the ones in charge of firing him. You think that's happening soon? So you do sack him then what? Again, those same people are now in charge of getting a new manager in.

By the time they do get a new manager in and we we're in a softer part of the schedule, a couple of wins and everyone will say "new manager bounce" but we'll just revert to the same under new guy.

I just think we have to wait and see, at least until the NY. There's an inevitably to being relegated under this Fosun approach ever since the first time they pulled the rug under Nuno..
 
"I haven't checked, but if you go through the odds that go out before matches, I would guess we've been second favourite in all of them so far, and we probably will be for the next few as well. So, we are having to fight against the odds at the minute in the games, we're doing enough in them to give ourselves a chance of taking results and falling a little bit short."

- D̶e̶a̶n̶ S̶a̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ Gary O'Neil
 
I'm not GON out yet, all of the above although in the main correct fails to acknowledge:

Turning games into basketball matches we invariably lose

Terrible in game management, such as trying to defend the 1-0 on Sunday

Awful substitutions which actively make us worse

No idea at all on how to keep a clean sheet - this goes beyond this season and 'selling our best centre half'.

Picking a formation then shoehorning players into it. Saying he wants his best players on the pitch but not taking into account a formation that delivers that. Do one or the other, playing Lemina where he did was weak, then denying he did in his post match press conference either insulting or delusional

Has a small time attitude, bigging up how Newcastle are going to finish above us. Great motivation for a team in the main full of Internationals.

The results
 
We never laid a finger on Arsenal

We were four goals short of Chelsea.

That is more than falling "a little bit short"
 
"I haven't checked, but if you go through the odds that go out before matches, I would guess we've been second favourite in all of them so far, and we probably will be for the next few as well. So, we are having to fight against the odds at the minute in the games, we're doing enough in them to give ourselves a chance of taking results and falling a little bit short."

- D̶e̶a̶n̶ S̶a̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ Gary O'Neil
We were second favourites in the same 4 games last season, we got 5 points. He's playing the Cyber game of league tables which didn't work then and doesn't work now. We won't beat at least 1 of Palace, Southampton and Bournemouth, so you need points in your unfavoured games
 
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"I haven't checked, but if you go through the odds that go out before matches, I would guess we've been second favourite in all of them so far, and we probably will be for the next few as well. So, we are having to fight against the odds at the minute in the games, we're doing enough in them to give ourselves a chance of taking results and falling a little bit short."

- D̶e̶a̶n̶ S̶a̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ Gary O'Neil
Oh ffs
 
wonder if he’s worked out why we weren’t favourites at home to Newcastle and away at Forest
Exactly this. It's his losers mentality that frustrates me.

He's clearly not a stupid man but he needs guidance and to acknowledge he needs help.

I don't think Hobbs is helping him out in this department and GoN needs it.
 
All the statistics are grim. Another being that apart from the cup game against lower league Burnley we haven't been in the lead since the Luton game in April. We are in the shit
Newcastle on Sunday?
 
Ought to be pulling the trigger now, I’m just hoping he wasn’t brought in last season with a view to Championship football and got lucky.
 
I want Gary to turn it around because he seems like a decent chap, but the realist in me just doesn’t see it happening. On that front, I would take Moyes in a heartbeat. At least he’d organise us & keep us up.
 
We were all saying the same things at this time last season and then he pulled the Man City rabbit out of the hat. The chances of that happening again at Villa are probably <5%. This is just going to drag on and on in a lingering death spiral as we circle the relegation drain.
 
The difference in game management between now and the Nuno era is night and day. One of the best things about those great days were the times when we didn't look like we were going to concede, and I really believed in the players. Even Matt bloody Doherty on occasions. And it didn't matter who we were playing - we restricted the opposition not just in chances but also in territory.

Now, it's completely different. The players don't look comfortable or confident when we're on the back foot. I don't have many issues with us going forward, but when teams come at us, I never feel that we're going to keep them out. It means games are often chaotic PES-style affairs which might be good for the neutral but it sure as hell isn't good for us, as we keep coming off 2nd best in them.

I don't dislike O'Neil - I really want him to succeed, and when he leaves us, I will be glad if he's a success elsewhere. I don't dislike most of the players either (this is different to the Lage era when I really didn't like a lot of our squad) but we're so naive, so easy to play against and we are terrible at controlling games.

I really don't want to be calling for O'Neil to be sacked for 2 reasons: 1. as stated above, I really like him. I want him to turn it around but 2. I'm petrified at who they'd replace him with. Shi hasn't a fucking clue what he's doing - and it's a matter of when not if his leadership gets us relegated. And that's exactly what is going to happen unless we change our mentality and improve that goals against column.
 
I'd even consider Southgate, if he was interested. He'd stop the defensive rot, I'm sure.
 
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