Midfield_General

'Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton are waiting for a sign from Lazio before making a concrete move for goalkeeper Christos Mandas.' 'That’s according to Il Messaggero, via La Lazio Siamo Noi, who say both sides have show ‘concrete interest’ in the 23-year-old.' 'They’ve shown concrete interest in the goalkeeper according to Il Messaggero but are waiting for a signal from Formello before they ‘manifest themselves concretely’.' Presumably he's useful against teams who look to get it in the mixer.

What actually was 'Death Metal Football'? Presumably it was meant to be about high energy, pressing, aggression, making life horrible for the opposition. Given how much they went on about it when he joined, did we ever see even one instance of it under him? We definitely cut out the suicidal passing at the back and went more direct, more often, but did the energy and aggression levels really rise, given it was meant to be his thing?

The best centre back we’ve got

They really like him up there

Yep. Said it before, but the first few months of his tenure are going to be critical. If they do well in the CL qualifiers and/or the first Old Firm game, he'll be off and running. But if they bomb in those games and/or gift stupid goals, then he will be under a hell of a lot of pressure very quickly, and then he needs to show he can cope with that pressure better than he did here where the mask slipped and he reacted badly when he was asked fair and valid questions about the suitability of his approach etc. By all accounts the squad he's inherited is not great, and is certainly not a natural fit for his playing-out style - Butland and the CBs are no good with the ball at their feet, Tavernier the club captain is in decline and not very mobile, etc. He's only got six weeks to get them ready for their first CL game, during which he will presumably want to play 'his way'. I couldn't really care less whether he succeeds or not, but you're right that it's going to be very interesting to watch it play out.

I was listening to some Rangers fans yesterday who were explaining the extent of the packed defences that Celtic and Rangers are faced with every week. They said that with the exception of the Old Firm and European games, no-one will attack them and almost every other team in the league will set up to try and grind out a 0-0 or to nick something from a set-piece. But what's funny is that even if that opposition team concedes, then it's not unusual for them to literally defend a 1-0 defeat, as they still consider that a very good result from a goal difference perspective. So you get the spectacle of teams continuing to time-waste when they're a goal down. So all this revisionist crap about how Martin's system is so effective at unlocking a low block is going to get very thoroughly tested, because he's going to come up against a fleet of parked buses that he's going to need to break down every week they're playing someone other than Celtic. Their fans don't just expect them to win every week, they expect them to do it by an acceptable number of goals, the way they remember them doing when they dominated Scottish football and won 9 league titles on the bounce. It's a very different type of pressure. The media love-in has got them expecting fast, aggressive, free-flowing, attacking football. I think they're in for a bit of a shock.

27 defensive errors leading to shots on our goal

Is there anything in this thread that is actually about Aaron Ramsdale?

He certainly doesn’t look very happy in that photo. That is a look that says ‘this had better fucking work’ 🤣

Because he made a few suggestive, non-committal comments in the press to get them nervous that as a lifelong Cardiff fan he might be considering it, presumably to use as leverage in negotiations for a new, five-year contract. Very few managers get offered five years, so he's played a blinder, to be fair.

He's not going to have loads of money to spend, so of our players I could 100% see him coming in for Armstrong, who would probably do very well in that league. He will also know that Stephens is out of contract next year, so you never know.

I had a quick look. They're running through The Five Stages Of Appointing Russell Martin in textbook fashion: 1 week ago - Denial: "Ah think we'll be aiming a bit higher than Russell Martin, don't ye?" ✅ 3 days ago - Anger: "If we appoint him ah'm burning mah season ticket!" ✅ 2 days ago - Bargaining: "Ah didn't want Davide Ancelotti, but ah'd take him if it's a straight choice between him ay Martin" ✅ Last night - Depression: "I cannae believe the board have done this. This is the worst day in my 50 years ay supporting this club" ✅ Today - Acceptance: "Just seen his first press conference - he talks so well, ah take it all back!" ✅

Domestically maybe, but they're in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. They'd need to be aiming a bit higher than that if they were serious about getting through. Can you imagine lining up against PSG with a wing-back who got destroyed by a Leicester substitute?

Oh I don't know, I reckon we could work something out

OK this made me laugh from the Rangers boards (sound on)

Absolutely this. The St Mary's crowd was unbelievably tolerant and supportive, considering the results. He had an incredibly easy ride in that respect. The vast majority of Rangers fans are horrified at this appointment and don't want him, so he's seriously on the back foot with the fanbase before they've even kicked a ball. He's then got up to three Champions League qualifiers as his first matches, with the first on 22nd July, which gives him 6 weeks to get his team together and get his ideas across and implemented before they get tested in a proper competitive fixture with very high stakes. If those qualifiers don't go well, and then they don't win the first Old Firm game, he's in big trouble straightaway. He desperately needs to get off to a strong start otherwise it could get very toxic, very quickly, and when the Ibrox crowd turns he will know about it. I wish him luck, because he is going to need it.

They are in the qualifiers but would need to get through three rounds of qualifying to reach the actual Champions' League stage. 1st round of qualifying - they'll need to beat either Panathinaikos (Greece), Servette (Switzerland) or Brann (Norway). If they get through that - they could play RB Salzburg, Fenerbache, Nice or Viktoria Plzen (Czechia). If they get through that - they could play Benfica or Club Brugge. Not easy, by any means.

That's a good move for him. He'll be able to look a lot better up there bullying pub teams every other week than he would have done starting on -12 in a tougher league at Leicester. He'll be able to say he's coached a team to runners-up in their country's top division, and managed in the Europa League, both of which represent another step forward for his own personal profile. He should be able to have a shot at a domestic cup final reasonably easily too. In terms of progressing his own CV, he's made a good choice.

I think what’s most likely with Bazunu is that the new manager will watch him, assess him and decide whether he wants to pick him or not. If he doesn’t want to pick him, he’ll probably brief the signing of a replacement who he thinks is better. Just a hunch though.

Full quote: “My last job was in the premier league…” ”…where they realised pretty much instantly they’d made a terrible, terrible mistake and sacked me after 8 games, forcing me to drop down two divisions because literally no-one else would employ me.”

If he walked out on Charlton, having finally found a fanbase that doesn't hate him and where he's actually started to deliver some success, to take the Cardiff job, back in the third tier and under a volatile owner, it would be the most Nathan Jones thing imaginable. Even more so if he then bollocksed it up and got sacked six months later.

I mean so do we, to be fair

Jesus. Hate to think how they’d have reacted if they’d lost. Detonated a small nuclear device over the arc de triomphe presumably

Yep, that was an absolute result at the time. Can imagine the high fives all round the St Mary’s boardroom when that call came in