coalman

Dunno how good Lampard is at coaching defence. It wasn't exactly his strength as a player and his sides at Derby and Chelsea were a bit leaky at times. Then again I'm not sure how good our manager is at times too 😉

World Cup chances? This deal is getting more delusional all the time

Is it an American owners thing? Is Todd Boehly the new Glazers? Buy up overhyped English talent for silly money.

August is just a crapshoot. Things won't settle until mid September. Then it'll be time for the world cup and another reset after. It'll be interesting to see how teams start again.

It's going to happen in the build up before a ball is kicked

I'm sure he was available for £14m a few days ago. With the big clubs the value goes up with every speculation. When it's one of our players they get progressively cheaper. Almost like those stories are planted to affect negotiation...

Could this be what we've been missing in past transfer windows? Not enough engagement on Instagram 🤣😂 The medical is as good as booked.

We can add him to our stable of non predatory strikers then.

After this thread, Turkish is no longer my benchmark for forum troll.

The good news is we managed to keep Son and Kane quiet. 🙃

Ralph is going full Pep. Get rid of the centre forwards and have lots of midfielders instead.

Wake up, Saints

Got to seriously think about subbing off Valery and Armstrong here.

Sessegnon scored then got a yellow for lunging in on KWP

How is that only yellow?

If we look at where we are versus last season. We've lost Forster, Long and Broja. Forster gave us more solidity in goal than McCarthy but both had terrible distribution. Bazunu is going to give the ball away less even before we get into him being more willing to claim crosses and talk to his backline. We shouldn't underestimate the confidence that comes from a keeper that's not going to invite pressure. KWP is still here and will have more licence to come forward in a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2. Livramento will be back. Djenepo gets in good positions but has also looked defensively solid (never thought I'd say this). Perraud is solid and has a season in the premier League behind him. We've added Bella-Kotchap who looks like a beast. Bednarek may be a bit checked out. Lyanco is always committed if erratic. Salisu can be dominant. Stephens can be solid or erratic. Overall I'd say we're stronger in defence. In centre mid we've added Lavia who looks tidy and will only get stronger. JWP is JWP. Romeu may be off the pace a bit. Our new system may suit Diallo more. I'd say stronger in the middle where we've sometimes been overrun. Creatively we've added Aribo who looks key already. Stu is fit. Walcott not what he was. Redmond great on his day but frustrating. Tella not sure yet. Moi largely anonymous. I'd say we're starting stronger than last season. Up front we look lightweight but peversely it may force us to give Armstrong and Adams the run they need to find form. Mara is one for the future but very exciting. We're weaker up top. Overall I think we have a stronger squad than last season. One which hopefully gets stronger as they gel and get used to the pace of the league. Goals are the concern and adding an extra striker makes this a good window. But I think we'll be harder to break down and have less moments of madness in it. Also excited by the backroom changes. Never understood why our first team coaches were all ex keepers. New training methods will also come into play as we progress through the season. Whether that's in time to save Ralph or to set up the next guy is an open question.

Our best transfers tend to happen without fanfare and quickly. The more a player is talked about the less likely it seems we are to land them.

The area Spurs usually rinse us is when we play high press but don't mark Kane and he has time to release Son through on goal. With 3-5-2 and more pace at centre back I see us less susceptible to this. That's not to say they won't cut us open or that we'll have any cutting edge but at least is might be different from our usual pattern against them. Cut out the Kane-Son through ball supply and there's a 0-0 bore draw awaiting us. Throw in a midfield that can be pressed into a mistake and fullbacks that can be got at and it may not be hopeless.

Successful management is about lots of things including: - Showing empathy and compassion to the people you're leading - Setting clear boundaries and expectations - Being perceived as fair - Being consistent Without compassion and empathy you can't have difficult conversations without resorting to being an a$$hole. The downside is that when someone doesn't believe their situation is fair then none of the rest really matters. But, making people happy isn't your job. If people are making progress and they feel they are treated fairly then they'll perform for you. If you bend over backwards to appease people then they won't. Once people lose themselves to their own hype and become entitled then you have similar problems. With premiership footballers then a large part of your job is also going to be keeping people grounded because no 20 year old is going to turn into a functioning and responsible adult if they're earning millions (or even 100s of thousands) a year without the right support. Particularly with social and agent pressure. I think Ferguson was good at empathy - he gave a shit about his players. Mourinho clearly is not and only cares about his players for what they bring him.. Which is one of the reasons Mourinho has a shelf life wherever he goes and Ferguson had such a long career at Man Utd.. What both have/had is a burning will to win and intolerance of low standards. But without that connection will to win only gets you so far. And without that will to win and intolerance of low standards then empathy only gets you so far too.

I'm actually hopeful for this one and will remain so until the first 2 goals go in. I think Spurs will struggle to break down our new formation.

Djenepo has looked like the player I hoped he would be. And defensively solid too. Why do you think awful?

If the fee is £20m and we haven't got an additional striker in then yes, please. I wouldn't wait around on Chelsea though if the right player is available. They don't know what they want right now and, whatever your opinion of Russian interests, it seemed like Marina had her sh!t together as director there. Whereas the new American owner is still exploring his shiny new toy.

I wouldn't be unhappy with this signing. Looks like a pacy winger who likes to take on his man and get crosses in. Hope Fabrizio is right rather than Benjy

Chelsea have left themselves in a bit of a weird position with Broja. By pricing him out of a move they face the risk of him sticking around and being an example for all their youth team that they shouldn't sign long term contracts, reduce their asking price or finding someone to loan him out to. It's not like they're going to make him a starter. So we might be in with a shout about a loan but I get the sense from Ralph's comments about Mara that he's not keen on developing their players for them any more after last season. In both Chelsea and City's cases with Broja/Delap it seems odd that they're not looking to sell their player for a decent chunk with a buyback attached. We'd be taking most of the financial risk of a developing player, they'd get a wad of cash and have the freedom to nab them back for a cut price fee if their player really shone. In neither case is it likely that they'd get serious game time.