Sheaf Saint

I wonder if we made a genuine error when we were offered him on loan by City and we thought we were actually getting Divine Mukasa, who has done alright for West Ham so far and looks a much better prospect.

Yeah there was definitely something fishy going on between Villa and Everton when they signed LD for £10m in 2024, with Tim Iroegbunam going the other way for a similar fee. Neither of them had shown any sign at that point that they were worth that amount, and both clubs were known to be at risk of PSR breaches so it was quite blatantly just an accounting trick to show large sales of home-grown talent. Lewis is yet to prove that he is worth the fee we paid for him, but the potential is there. I reckon he has a higher ceiling than Cam Archer, and we paid a lot more for him.

You might want to make your mind up Duckie. It was literally only a week ago that you said this... You even said it yourself that he looks OK when he's got space to turn. But you totally dismiss the idea that maybe his former teammates might also be aware of this and set up in such a way to completely nullify that threat, and then go and totally contradict yourself in your last paragraph. It was entirely predictable that he would be marked out of the game today by defenders that trained with him all last season. It was also entirely predictable that numerous bedwetting posters would jump on that and scapegoat him for the result.

Firstly, Dobbin is not a winger. He never has been, despite Tonda playing him there at times earlier in the season. He can play in a left inside forward position, but to call him a winger is just wrong. Throughout his youth development he was always a striker. Secondly, he absolutely can and does get into positions in the box to poach goals. He did exactly that for our third at WH recently. The reason he was less effective today was because, predictably, PNE marked him very tightly having played with him last season and known all about his strengths and weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is he does, unfortunately, often have a poor first touch, and that is something you cannot afford when you're receiving a ball to feet in a tightly packed defence. And because Preston defended so deep, the option of playing through balls for him to run onto just wasn't viable today either. But to say he doesn't get in the right positions is just as wrong as calling him a winger. And finally, no we didn't pay £10.5m for him. That figure on Transfermarkt is in Euros, so it was actually around £9m.

Got to hand it to Preston really. They defended very well in the second half. We had the chances but it was just one of those days unfortunately. All teams have them. I'm very concerned about Leo though - what on Earth has happened to his finishing? It was never great, but it's like he's just forgotten how to put the ball anywhere other than straight at the keeper.

Cardiff 5-4 up now!

How is that a FK!?

Mubama has to score that surely.

Cardiff have clawed it back to 4-4 after being 1-4 down to Burnley.

As I predicted, they are marking him very tightly so he's getting very little space.

Oh, good save. Deflection could have gone anywhere.

PNE player deliberately tried to stick his foot in and block that FK from about two yards. How is that not a yellow?

And another limp, half-arsed effort from Leo.