Fabrice29

They let him go a year ago, not sure why anyone thinks they've got some sort of hold over him now just because of a buy back clause that doesn't kick in for another year. I think City is the least likely option because they've A) got to convince themselves that the player they let go a year ago is better than the player they signed a year ago B) got to convince their finance people that he's so much better that it's well worth the millions they have already spent and the millions they would need to further spend to get him back and then sell Phillips for a cut down price and C) got to convince Lavia to come back to a club he left a year ago in search of first team football. Just seems far fetched to me. Doesn't make business sense, I don't really see how it makes football sense bearing in mind it was the opposite a year ago and I don't think "not letting someone else have him" is a motivation for a club that is already streets ahead of everyone else anyway. Think it's probably between United and Liverpool based on those being the two teams that need a young CM. Liverpool probably ahead but our relegation seems to have really thrown a spanner in this kids plans weirdly because he's probably too young for a move to a challenging club but probably too expensive for anyone else.

Yes, the club should definitely listen to the opinions of some guy who despite being presented with facts about goals and shots seems to have doubled down on his opinion because two people who he has never met and cannot validate their identity have signed up and posted within hours of each other on another teams messageboard.

I think Trippier even told people in an interview it was happening didn’t he? It’s incredibly obvious he’s going, his interviews recently are a massive giveaway too.

Pretty sure it was posted on here it’s a done deal to Newcastle a few weeks back.

You’ve got to convince City they want him. A year ago they didn’t and they invested in Phillips instead. I’d be surprised if they roll back everything to how it was a year ago for even more money. They were probably hoping we’d stay up, Lavia stayed with us and they come back next year when they know if Phillips had worked out. It doesn’t make much sense for them to come back now.

We were close to getting a deal done with him previously but either he pulled out/Chelsea pulled out and I believe he ended up on loan in the Championship instead.

If he stays, he ain't switched on.

Nope. Actually can't wait for him to pull out of the running by the end of the week so all the people who don't want him can be even more angry that we didn't get it done.

Saint Rob is an even bigger arse than that Andrew guy. Self proclaimed voice of the people. Proper nut job.

I’d understand if we have actually been playing possession football but as has been pointed out a few times now, we simply haven’t. The only time we have more possession than the opposition is normally at home and it’s normally because teams rightly set up deep against us and concede the ball to us…because they know we’re clueless and they’ll pick us off.

Duk at Aberdeen might be one to keep an eye on. Clinical (the actual definition of clinical) too.

Probably a good thing that we’re appointing someone who seemingly will prioritise us being much better at this then isn’t it? I’ll say it again, being angry at the idea of us passing the ball to each other is genuinely mental.

The coaches voice video Martin calls Piroe a clever player a couple of times and highlights he was playing in attacking midfield rather than as a striker. I've also seen it referenced somewhere that he was forced to play Piroe up front because he lost Obafemi and Swansea didn't recruit anyone. Think Saint86 is right that Piroe's finishing stats are a little questionable and the lack of quality up front for Swansea would explain why their shots and possession last season were very similar to Burnley but goals 20 less. That said, goal scoring attacking midfielders is something we've lacked for a while.

Walking out on 70 minutes is going to send absolutely no message to anyone. The moment the bar shuts at half time is the moment the club have taken all the money they can from you so unless you're either not going or leaving before half time, they couldn't give a shit.

You know this is something you think rather than the club, right? Nobody appointing Martin is thinking they have resigned themselves to an average joe. They think they've appointed someone good. Similar I'm sure to when Poch was sacked for being bottom of La Liga and we saw something good in him. Obviously people are welcome to their opinion on whether they are correct or not but this concern you're raising is one you have, not the club. Maybe try changing your mentality, it might be more fun. Also btw, stating in one sentence we've settled for an average joe and in another praising clubs appointing "half decent ex PL managers" is quite special.

Please set up a rival youtube channel to the coaches voice with this sort of content. I'd genuinely watch it.

Sad to see Brighton resort to boring possession football today. Hope that's not what Martin will bring to us.

Interesting about Maresca. Think that's further proof that Wilcox is heavily involved with this decision and should relax a few of the "SR chose it so it must be awful" narratives. Of course it's foolish to think SR and Wilcox aren't aligned but clear desire to be better in possession is a fundamental driver for this managerial choice.

Just a few of the examples. Little reasonable debate to be had here and this doesn’t include the NUMEROUS posts that just say ‘possession in our own half with no purpose zzzz’ which as I’ve stated is just fundamentally incorrect. There is some rationale debate on here but a lot of it is underpinned by this belief that his Swansea team doesn’t attack 😂

Don’t try mate. I showed them the stats on this earlier and people just ignore it and shout ‘zzzzz, won’t get out our own half, something wrong if you’re scoring a goal after 56 passes’

For a forum that is so desperate to be annoyed this place continues to amaze how spectacularly wrong it can still be. There’s legit concerns to be had by the defensive record of this guys teams yet all the standard dinosaurs on this forum are frothing at the mouth because he might coach us to put a few passes together.

Just love the idea that the fourth highest scorers in the league had no purpose, were boring and disappointed the fans and was turgid and rarely got out their own half.

And here is the crux of the summer really. Whatever manager we have it’s going to come down to recruiting a good squad. I personally am chuffed we’ve got a manager who will make us more pleasing on the eye at the very least but we’ll have to give him the players to succeed.

Yep but you don’t just copy and paste his results at Swansea to us if we get him as manager. You hope that he brings the good stuff and in a different environment he has the solutions to smooth out the bad stuff right? That’s the whole point of appointing a manager. We want you to bring certain qualities and hopefully it improves what we have here already. That’s the risk with any manager. Fundamentally our players haven’t been good enough this season and we’ll need squad building whoever is manager so that the player quality is improved. Any manager is at the hands of the quality of his squad and it’s something that all 3 managers we’ve had this season can point to as an excuse. However having a manager who has clearly shown he can improve something we’re really not good at right now, seems like a positive. Hopefully he can help us and we can help him by giving him a good squad.

Point I’m making is we don’t do possession very well and a move to being better at it seems sensible.