It’s Surely Only A Matter Of Time?

Paul Clement looks like a man who has run out of ideas. He sets his team up to not lose first and foremost and to have to wait until the 95th minute for a shot on target at Burnley is just not acceptable to any of us.

It should have been all so different this season. Clement was a breath of fresh air last season as he accumulated 29 points in the second half of a season to secure our Premier League status. But after a poor summer transfer window (again) where we saw our two shining stars of last season depart it has all gone wrong.

Wilfried Bony, Roque Mesa, Renato Sanches and Sam Clucas were all summer arrivals and none have lived up to any of the expectations that we have of them. When you then factor in that these players cost us in excess of £40m then you realise just why the squad is not what it should have been.

Whether these players aren’t working because they aren’t good enough or because the manager can’t get the best out of them I honestly don’t know but it is clear to everyone that the football is terrible and when that happens, the buck tends to stop with the manager.

Garry Monk, Francesco Guidolin and Paul Clement were all managers who started promisingly in their time with us but for each of them it has turned sour. Add Bob Bradley (ha!) into the mix and you have a series of poor managerial appointments who have cost us millions to put right.

That millions probably should have been spent on a Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martinez when we had the chance because, frankly, this is one important role in the club and one that we should not be trying to do on the cheap. Leon Britton is a club legend and always will be but his appointment this week just seemed to be one to try and appease the fans and for me was a way of undermining the manager. Hence why the belief is it is only a matter of time before we start the hunt for yet another new manager.

We have gradually gone backwards ever since we parted company with Michael Laudrup. When you look back now it seemed mad to lose someone who had taken us to (at the time) our best Premier League finish, our only major trophy and the last 32 of the Europa League. Maybe he was too strong for us but since that moment we have drifted and continually gone backwards.

We still have chance to stop the rot but it needs a change and a brave move very soon to reverse it. Whether it is before the Bournemouth game next week remains to be seen but if it’s not then a defeat next week will almost certainly signal the end.

Could be an interesting week ahead – let’s see what happens