Gomez

That's how I read it. No point in talking about who might be coming in in Jan, we only have the players we have now and they are the ones that needs to get us out of it. It's exactly the right approach, no buck passing about not having the 'right' players etc.

Because we need a win after the last 4-5 results.

Fine, replace him with someone better then, not with someone worse, which is what we did. And if you can't get better than what you've got, keep him. You can't replace him with no-one just because we want him out. Replacing Reina with Mignolet was a f*ck up, can't see how anyone could conclude otherwise.

Still hard to see bombing him out for Mignolet as anything other than a very costly mistake.

Good shot stopper is the go to line when you are trying to find something good to say about a 'keeper. Like saying a film is 'beautifully shot.'

They'll sack him like any other owners if attendances start to drop, it's what it forced their hand with RFH. Already seeing talk of cancelling standing orders and a lot more tickets available on FB/twitter. Just hope they are exploring their options in the event that it comes to that, rather than the reactive way they've generally done stuff before. It's not the right time to sack him yet and it's right that they are backing him, hopefully Sunday was the rock bottom that was needed to get BR to reassess the multitude of errors he's been making the last 4-5 months. But if this continues it will need swift decisive action, because dithering could be catastrophic, we are not equipped for a relegation battle so we cannot allow us to get drawn into one.

I wouldn't read anything into it. I don't think his position is under immediate threat but if it was we'd hardly announce it to the world on twitter. Hodgson's position wasn't under threat right up to the point we sacked him.

It means we need to sort the people out above BR before we go off half-cocked and sack him. When we sacked Kenny we had no plan as to what to do next, We had noone at the club who could advise on the appointment of the manager, we had to go outside to canvas David Dein and Bergiristain. We need someone or something to change in the way we approach transfers because it's not working; in closing big deals (Mkhitaryan, Costa, Willian, Sanchez) in buying players that the manager won't play (Sakho, Alberto, Assaidi, Markovic) in buying players who don't look better than what we had (Lovren, Mignolet) and in not addressing areas that have needed addressing for several transfer windows (Keeper backup and now first choice, DM) We seemed to have a plan when FSG first came, but they tore that up after Andy Carroll, when that was probably more to do with FSG panicking over Torres rather than a strategical flaw of Comolli. Sacking BR doesn't fix any of that.

As ever when it comes to changing manager, it's not whether he should be sacked or not, it's whether we can get a better manager in. If Klopp was realistic it would be a no brainer, but I don't think he is, at least not mid-season. Who else really could we get? I don't like the idea of interim managers either, spurs had half a season of Timmy Tactics whilst they waited for LVG to become available and then missed out on him. They probably could have got Pochetino last xmas had they really wanted.

Just can't see FSG sacking him mid-season unless it gets really messy (ie, another 4-5 defeats before xmas) I think a quick, decisive move now could give us a top 4 chance, a bit like when Chelsea brought Rafa in with that goal. But they dithered over Hodgson and left Kenny with too much to do. Hodgson wasn't their man and was hugely unpopular. The results and performances might as bad but they are not under as much pressure to act as they were back then, so they are clearly not going to sack him. I don't really have any confidence in Ayre / FSG to pick another manager. I think they need a top down restructure.

We only look a competently run club whenever JWH deigns us with is attention.

Don't really want BR to go, don't think changing managers at this point in the season is ideal, but it has the feeling of an end game. There's no obvious choice, Rafa I guess would possibly walk out on Napoli, but FSG don't have the balls for that, not with Ayre in situ. What I don't get is why BR has stopped learning from his mistakes, one up front, Sterling ineffectual out wide, Lovren shot to pieces, Gerrard not coping, Mignolet a liability (and that's generous). Game after game after game.

Further info: He's moving to London, as opposed to Liverpool. In which case it's my guess (my mate doesn't know) is that it is a ramping up of the commercial side rather than a threat to Ayre's position.

A friend of mine in Boston who knows him & his wife.

Billy Hogan is moving to the the UK in August

It's good to know we will be failing to sign a higher quality of player in the summer.

Not that straightforward no, but I'd expect there to be less money available this summer if we'd have gone big in January or last summer.

Can't say I know that much about poker, but if that person claims it wasn't a mistake, that they intended it and as a result won, then you have to give it to them don't you? Even if you feel that they fluked it and will lose more often than win in the long term? Mistakes are made in every football match, mourinho will claim he set us his team to not concede and he knows he has the talent to capitalise on any mistakes made. It is not genius, it is base, but it is effective, it is is not a fluke, he's been doing it for years and he has a lot of trophies. I don't understand how people think he got his tactics wrong just because they are ugly. We all knew what he was going to do, he did it, he won, why should he have done something different? He'd have been blown away had he come here and tried to attack. The fact that he has to resort to Alladyce football with unlimited funds should embarrass him, and does reflect on him as a manager, however when you have the trophies he has, he really won't care. Football is about winning,

Fair point on the bosmans, but if we could get a FB on a bosman of similar quality this season, I'd be doing that and lashing the £30m up front. I am not sure I agree on getting an impact player for very little. Yes, we have Yossi and Garcia for ~£6m each, but I think they are exceptions rather than the rule, and I think we need more than that as well, we need a starter. Sturridge, Suarez and Sterling cannot possible start every game next season, we need someone who will start as many games as any of them. On the last point I agree. We were supposedly ready to spend £30m on Willian or Costa in the summer and I don't think that was at the expense of Sakho (given we were after Papadopolous all summer for a similar amount if not more) and we had £16m actually spent on Konoplyanka in the winter. So we should, theoretically have £30m ready to spend on top of what our normal spend is, never mind the guaranteed CL income. We could feasibly spend £80m net. Doubt we will though, I would expect some of that to be kept back, there is no guarantee of CL next year, we do need to invest in the squad to make it as likely as possible though

I appreciate that, but you need to consider a couple of things. Firstly, there is no guarantee on any transfer. Shaw might not develop as expected, he might get injured (or a Rob Jones-esque series of them), he might go off the rails, suffer a drastic drop in form etc etc. f***s knows we've seen more than our fair share of young promising full backs drop off the map. Secondly, it's all very well having a fancy pants left back, but if it means we end up having to fill the forward/winger roles with more Aspases and Mosii then it is likely to be more detrimental than getting top class players in those positions and getting a 70-80% of a Shaw, for ~£10m who could play for 4-5 years. Some of our best full backs in recent years have cost peanuts (Babbel, Aurelio, Finnan, Arbeloa) there is probably more value to be had at full back, in terms of ability to cost, than any other position. It's like with Lallana, if money is no option, or we only need to add one or two to the squad, snap them up and pay the (hefty) fee, but we are not there yet.

Not entirely. If someone wins, you have to say they got it right, but that doesn't mean that the loser got it wrong. The way BR set up may well have represented our best chance of getting a win. You can get the tactics right without being hailed as a genius. Mourinho got his tactics right, but they were base, if he was a genius he wouldn't have to resort to them to beat us with the resources at his disposal. He probably had a 10% chance of beating us playing like that and he still thought that was the best way to go. We beat West Ham, but Alladyce still got his tactics right because that was his best chance of beating us. There is no tactic that will 100% guarantee a result. Over next 10 matches against alladyce teams, he will play the same way and 1 of those 10 he will probably get something. He will then claim he out-tacticked us.

His tactics were to reduce the game to luck though, he won the tactical battle because he achieved that. Had we won it we would have some how stopped him from doing so. You did back when I did my A-Levels / Degree. I can't say I've given it much thought since then.

Nope, but it's churlish to say the least to retrospectively claim some one got their tactics wrong in a game they won. It's like not showing your workings in an exam. If you get the right answer, they have to assume you got the working right as well.

I agree, I think we should be replacing Luis this summer, whether he leaves or not. We can't replace like for like, but our formation will change if he goes anyway, but one or two top class forwards in now whilst we have CL would be a smart move. If he stays, then we have a flexible enough front 6 where they will all get enough games given injuries and cup matches. Don't think it will happen though, FSG do seem to prefer a bare-bones squad structure.

I didn't say we could have played it well. ;-) Hence why I said BR wouldn't have thought it represented our best chance of winning. Had we set up like that to play against a team that was inclined to attack, I don't think our defence could play like that. As it was, it probably would have been one of those boring 0-0 draws where there was a lot of passing about midfield and the odd set piece chance. A bit like those chelsea matches in the CL group stages in 2005/6