Tumbleweed

I don't think it is trashing Farke to say that the public comments about the Chelsea may have been misguided. He might think privately that we stand little chance, but surely we expect to play to our max and try and sneek points wherever we can. It explains why the team was so languid and I am staggered that any coach should mark any games down as 3 pts, 1 pt or no points just like fans in the last throes of a season. DF did sime great stuff, but the club needs to learn from past mistakes which means analysing where things have gone wrong.

There's also Placheta, another who seems to have disappeared without trace, and Hernandez out on loan. I think we do have enough flair, it just didn't get used effectively with all the tippy tappy between defenders and then route 1 stuff.

The team did look constrained by the systems and tactics by the end and had lost belief that what they were being asked to do could work. I am hoping that there will be less obsession with possession stats. With the first win now ground out, an international break to take minds off the survival battle and a new voice and approach I do feel optimistic now. The timing of DF's departure may have looked harsh at the time but in the bigger scheme of things, absolutely right.

Had we picked Smith when doing well at Brentford or just having saved Villa he would have been exciting. Had we picked Knutsen before doing anything with Bodo he would have been underwhelming. You can't just take a snapshot at one point in time and say good or bad depending on league position. Looking at the longer more strategic term, Smith seems a good shout. Farke was sacked because of his record over 49 prem games, not a knee jerk short term run. It should work that way too with appointments.

Problem is that last time I looked the league table is based on stats, not excuses.

Looking at Smith will keep those aghast at a superstar manager happy.

Yes the skysports comment does defy credibility. You know these might all be smokescreens for Roy coming out of retirement to be announced as caretaker.......

I'd be happy with any of these 3 they all have pros and cons but seems like a good shortlist. However Talksport are acting like Lampard is in the bag.

You can't agree with Lakey, it is impossible. Lakey has this need to just take a different view from everybody else, so once you try to agree with him, he'll just argue the contrary. That's what makes him such a "treasure" here.

I agree, I don't quite understand the negativity, maybe its some sort of weird fear of having somebody that people have actually heard of. This is to me a good statement of intent, a "we mean business" appointment. The club could easily have bailed out and gone for a young no name, another Alex Neil type moment. Lampard has EPL and Champions League managerial experience (but those who wanted that seemed to then decry the usual suspects and people like Dean Smith), he is young & hungry (needs this to work), well respected, probably one of the best contacts books in the EPL, has worked with some of the best managers around, brought through some young players at Chelsea, knows Billy G so can hopefully turn him into the Euro marauder we saw in July, and his teams played good football. I'm not really sure what some people expect. We have replaced a much loved manager with one of the highest profile names in English football, a star of his generation. Seems to me he ticks more boxes right now than almost anyone else so as to minimise the risk. In addition, the profile we will get with FL is something to look forward to, personally assuming it is confirmed I find it exciting.

Great thread! Seems to me that the players lost confidence in Farke as a tactician because they were being asked to do things that weren't working and getting pilloried for it, as well as the debilitating defeats. By the end all confidence had been eroded, they resorted to long balls, probably fed up with trying to play out in an "over the top of the trenches" adherence to dogma. They looked shapeless and disorganised as a result. Some of the selection decisions were very strange and that probably didn't help: we played in a way that didn't work with players that weren't suited.

I agree that if one has to pick one moment it was probably the kabak/krul affair having just got back into the Leeds game. If there was one opportunity to bounce back and show a sign that there was hope, that game was it. As Adrian Durham said, Leeds were awful, but still beat us. Hope that DF could do it finally died for me after that.

Lampard, Knutsen, Favre all seem great choices. There's obviously never any guarantees but I feel that any could give us a big boost and get our team really playing. Hodgson on a deal until season end wouldn't seem to be the worst idea. If it were Dean Smith or Mark Robins I think they would be ok, just not quite as exciting. I actually really like the idea of Lampard, whenever I have heard him he speaks intelligently and would carry great weight and contacts. It would be a statement "signing", one of England's best players from the last generation and I think he did very well learning the managerial trade at both Derby and Chelsea.

Absolutely take him. One of the most experienced out there. Good choice until May, then see what the situation is.

Solksjaer soon, then Benitez? Carnage.

Farke seemed to lose his mojo pretty quickly after the start of the season. I think that seemed to get through to the players, hence the limp recent displays. I am pretty sure DF knew it was coming even if not formally. Sad day.

Good post. Shows how one needs to detach emotion from decision making. We have a bond with some of them, but they will always be transient. It was the right call yesterday, the trajectory was clear and it had to change.

Agreed. Remember also that it was only Brentford yesterday. Important though the win was, it was a backs to the wall effort against one of the poorer EPL sides. Not a repeat of Man City in 2019. So while it is sad to see DF go, it sort of sums up where we had got to when that sort of result brings such joy. I just hope Webber has someone lined up already.

I wanted a change. But I'm still gutted.

So, appraently one swallow does make a summer.

Home vs Blakburn sealing promotion at CR, one of my best City memories. The right decision, poor timing, but will now be remembered as one of our top managers. Hope he goes on to great things.

Right decision wrong timing. Should have happened after Chelsea. I feel for DF, but that battling performance could indeed be because the players knew somehow. It was out of kilter with what we have seen so far.

Can't see it being Warnock. I think he's a good manager who wears his heart on his sleeve but too abrasive for Delia.

Nuno. I think we need the experience.

Much as I felt that DF was out if his depth at this level, the news of his departure still seems a shock and a sad moment. That it comes after a first win even more so. The decision must clearly have been made last week after the Leeds game, with the desire to have a new boss in place to use the international break. It takes the shine off today's great result. That was the lancing of a boil. I feel really quite sad at a human level, but at least that long bitter decline has been avoided and DF can go down as having delivered some wonderful times. Its probably the first time I have wanted a change but disappointed it has come.....