LondonBristolian

It doesn’t matter how much they cheat on you and let you down. There is always the hope that next time will somehow be different…

Not to mention a Gerry Gow reference on “This One’s for Now”.

Indeed. The whole “yes but it’s okay because he didn’t clarify which Holocaust he was talking about” is one of the strangest arguments I have ever seen on these boards. Everyone’s mind goes to the same place with the word “Holocaust” and - as you say - even a nuclear Holocaust is a deeply in appropriate comparison. I’m not a big fan of calling for someone to loss their job but comments like this - aside from the PR damage - are massively alienating for any Jewish Rovers fans. At the very least Barton and the club should have quickly and sincerely apologised and Barton should have committed to learning about the seriousness of the Holocaust and why it is utterly inappropriate for glib comparisons.

Confirmation no further action taken being taken over the banner. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59042671

We need to win it. Simple as.

Gives United fans an excuse though. “We only lost cos of the sending off at 5-0 down…”

It's easy to knock Solskjaer but that totally discounts the fact that he did get a good result at Paris St Germain once in 2019...

I think we need a home win from somewhere and this is one of our best chances of getting it. It has to be seen as a must win game in my view.

I really hope Sheff Utd hold on…

I suspect this is it. If someone has reported it then the police can’t really say “nah, we’re not gonna be looking into this one” but I struggle to believe that they will find an offence has been committed.

To be fair, that Poster 2 is a **** though…

Indeed. One strength LJ had was that - apart from that absurd losing streak - he generally had the ability to scrape out a win at the exact moment the fans’ patience was exhausted. That was a bad thing in some ways as it meant he stayed longer than was good for him or us but Pearson needs to find a way to do the same. There is only so long reputation and improved early season performances can stave off the angry mob…

When O’Dowda scores his fifth of the afternoon, you will look very silly.

Today is depressing but the barometer for me is next week at Barnsley. We need a vastly improved performance and a win. If that does not happen, I will believe we are in real trouble.

Yeah -I always saw Pack as the “sitter”. I thought that was the problem in LJ and Smith’s last season. Neither Nagy and Smith were natural holding players and both would have preferred running around the pitch than sitting deep. Smith did it out of necessity but it did not get the best out of him or the team.

I think Bakinson is a decent player but not a Nigel Pearson player. If we’re aiming for a high intensity team that work hard, put teams in pressure and break quickly then that isn’t Bakinson. For me, it is not that I don’t rate him but that he and we would be better off letting him move to a team that suits him rather than trying to make him something he is not.

If either of King or Bakinson are likely to leave in the summer then I agree a defensive midfielder makes sense. Assuming we aren’t in the relegation mire, I’d like to see a Tanner type signing of a player who can do a job this season whilst developing to be a key player for the future. To be honest, I don’t reckon we’ll get new strikers until Martin and Wells are out of contract.

He came to us from Guernsey now lives in Barrow Gurney…

I'm very most not one of the posters with inside info but I'd imagine there's no horrific or nefarious secret reason underpinning this. Simpson (and Downing) were appointed by the previous regime. Pearson is not only likely to want his own people in but has done so already in getting Fleming in. I don't want to criticise Simpson as I've no idea what he's done or not done, or how much Holden or Pearson have listened to his ideas. But it's utterly fair enough for any manager to want their own coaching staff. Good luck to Simpson where he goes next but I'm neither shocked nor horrified by a change being made.

I think the reality is that the team that we all expected to be a lower midtable team in a season of transition has proven to be a lower midtable team in a season of transition. We need to turn around our home form and we need Williams, Massengo and Semenyo fit. O'Dowda and Palmer are going nowhere unless somebody agrees to pay their wages, let alone a fee. I'm guessing Simpson and King are here as low cost cover options. Moving them on is all well and good but we'd need to replace them AND stay within budget. I don't think anyone - either in terms of fans or the management of the club - is under any illusions about where the weaknesses of the team lie. I don't think addressing those weaknesses whilst staying within budget is anywhere near as easy as some supporters think.

The problem is we can only attract one of three levels of manager: 1) A manager where the Championship is their level. 2) A manager who has managed in the top flight but is now on their way down and may or may not get back up to where they once were. 3) A manager who not yet proven they are a top flight manager but will do so in the future. All three come with risks. The manager is category 1) is most likely to do a steady job but is unlikely to do more than that. Most 'journeyman' managers have their successes and failures so even that steady job is no guarantee. The manager is category 2) has succeeded in the past but may not have kept up with changes in the game or may not have the same appetite for success or finger on the pulse that they once have. The manager in category is 3) is always going to be a risk but is where the reward is greatest. So too, however, is the possibility that - if it doesn't work out - it looks like a naive appointment. Thomas Frank, Sean Dyche, Daniel Farke, Graham Potter, Brendan Rodgers (at Swansea) (at both Swansea and Brighton) and Dean Smith (at both Brentford and Villa) have all succeeded and now manage in the premier league but, had any of them failed, it would have been easy to have written the narrative as to why they were the wrong appointment and inexperienced managers and how their respective clubs could easily have avoided the mistakes they made in hiring them. Ryan Lowe might never manage above League One level. Or he might get a job in the Championship and prove to be an absolute disaster. Or he might - just might - be yet another manager whose career overtakes ours and we wonder why we never offered him the role. All we know at the moment is that he wins matches, has two promotion on his CV and plays attractive football. We could decide he is too much of a gamble and let someone else give him the opportunity. They might find that gamble pays off or they might not. But, if that gamble does pay off, he'll be yet another manager where we'll only know he's good enough to manage us at a point when we've no longer any chance of recruiting him.

I think this helps explain the current problem too. I think it's very hard to pick a good, balanced team from the current squad that does not include at least one of Williams, Massengo or Semenyo. Without them there's just a lack of running and energy in the team and moving Weimann around to compensate just means he is missed further forward.

I quite agree it is the same for every manager every where but the financial restrictions over the summer have massively hampered the ability to change things. I'm not defending last night's performance - and I certainly agree with points that people (I think including you) made earlier in the thread about giving younger players a chance rather than continually picking players we know won't succeed but I also think that last night's performance - and where we are in general - has to be placed in the context of: 1) The absence from the starting line-up of two midfielders who are becoming essential to how Pearson wants to play 2) A strike force comprised of players that the manager would probably agree aren't quite good enough. 3) A complete absence of pace in the team that has not been resolved over the summer and is exacerbated by injuries to Semenyo 4) A failure of certain squad players to make a compelling case for inclusion. None of this is to give Pearson a free pass. I think the subs last night were wrong and I think it's hard to argue the team is being selected on merit whilst Martin gets selected week-in week-out off the back of a raft of anonymous performances. But I also think that any manager right now is going to be primarily doing a job of papering over our limitations as much as playing to our strengths. We don't have pace, we don't have attacking quality and we have players that show mental fortitude at QPR and at home to Fulham and then crumble whenever we're one-up at home. And of course Pearson need to resolve these problems but they're not problems Pearson originally created nor ones that can necessarily be quickly fixed.

This is it. I reckon there are at least seven players in the squad still that Pearson wouldn't have signed if it had been his choice and who he'd happily move on if he had the resources to do so. I also reckon another three are only at the club because they fitted the budget rather than because they were who Pearson would have chosen in ideal world. That only really leaves eleven or twelve senior players and a smattering of youngsters who are actually players Pearson would ideally be working with if he had the choice...

Job for Cotts?