After spending so much money...

We shouldn't be playing this shit

I don't know what's going on. It's not the money, we simply aren't playing as well as we did last year.

People are still saying we've not got started yet, but we're nearly in November, the season has been running for nearly three months. If we don't start soon, there won't be anything left to play for.

My only thought is, we're missing de Jong. I'm willing to bet the dressing room isn't half as much fun without him and I can't help but wonder if the absence of fun is sucking the morale out of the team.

I agree it's complete bollocks, Mancini is screwing around with sytems and playing players out of position, why?

He should stick with the formula that won the title. I would also suggest that he drops that awful zonal marking, any fucking midget with a running start can out jump Lescott and get a free header. It's time to stop pissing about and get back to a regular back 4 and ditch the zonal marking. Lescott continually plays the ball sideways or back if he's not humping it aimlessly up the park. He under hit a back pass to Joe which nearly cost us an embarrassing goal too.

Zonal marking is a stupid system. Marking space, what a joke! When did space ever score a goal?

zonal marking works but not with a slow clumsy fucker like lesser!

If it doesn't work then why do all the top teams use it? We used it last season and had the best defensive record in the league.

Don't blame the zonal marking. We were just shite!

Joe, zonal marking only makes sense when the defence is preparing to be attacked. You don't stand around marking space when there's someone stood in the penalty box and you don't mark space on corners. Like I say, space isn't a problem, it's the bloke stood in it that's going to cause issues and standing more than a foot away from him is lunacy!

Maybe I'm just old school like that. I see a striker in the penalty box, I want one of my defenders stood on his boots to make his life harder.

I think management and players are clutching at any excuse they can; lack of preperation, injuries, systems, players out of position etc.

But to me the one thing that's costing us this season is a complete lack of leadership, both on and off the pitch.

I was screaming at the telly the other night when it was all unraveling in the second half, for someone to step up and take responsibility. There were some big players, on big wages, who simply hid away. Where was VK, Yaya, Micah etc? Somebody should've had the balls to stand up and pull the team together.

And when the manager gives indecisive messages from the bench (Clichy didn't have a clue what was going on) then that just compounds the problem. Bobby should've called Vinny over and ripped into him to lift the players.

It is all looking disjointed and horrible at the moment, and I can't see the owners allowing it to last too long.

Please somebody, grow a pair and pull this team together.