Convict Colony

Then the fitness team need to sharpen up if the rest of our lot are slacking

Thought I'd do a check to look at the total possible mins (Europa & League) v actual v current average performance rating from Whoscored - https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/18 Interesting that we only have 3 players rated higher than 7 (Virg, Charlie and Sof) and Virgil is the freak of our team both in performance and outfield players endurance (He has played 1709 mins out of a possible 1800 mins so only missed 91mins!!!) Some of the other players: Oriol played 1632mins in total so missed 168mins Redmond played 1582mins in total so missed 218mins Davo has missed 5 games Pierre has missed 10 games Jay Rod has missed 14 games in total !! It then leads me to ask if Puel is pushing the "rotation is important for rest and recovery" routine then why does Virgil hardly ever get rotated out of any Euro/PL games ? You either rest your players and make the changes or you don't, yet him and Romeu are basically playing every game they can, Claude can't have it both ways. There should be a hell of a pick up in the 2nd half of the season given some of the minutes a lot of our key players have rested. Also for the JWP has been playing better this season "he's one of ours so have to pump up his tyres" bias, he is currently averaging 6.58 (both Europe/PL), the previous 3 seasons he averaged 6.55/6.65/6.62. I know these are just "stats" but stats are the only metrics we have to use for a factually based discussion rather than "individual interpretation".

Forgot about this thread and saw the title and thought it was about some prolific striker we had been linked with. Left disappointed.

Some of the posts have a bit of this about them hahaha

Well I don't watch liverpool on principal unless we play them so I'm not sure how he has played but if I remember rightly from reports he was playing well at one stage before liverpool ruined him. Edit: So went back and checked how he played when he made his debut as a left back and then was moved as the starting CB the next season for PSG. Big, fast, high % passing accuracy (high 85-92%) who has been rated over +7 on whoscored for the 3 seasons he's been at Liverpool - https://www.whoscored.com/Players/29575 And I would ignore any liverpool fans as this is what one of their websites put in a article. "The right sided centre-back I would buy would be Caulker. He is a fantastic prospect who is in and around the national side, so a move would suit both parties." http://www.thisisanfield.com/2014/01/scouting-long-term-partner-mamadou-sakho/

Not sure how to play this, I support a football club therefore I'm emotional attached and hence reactive to news that is negative. Having said that I have never considered Jose to be this deity that a lot of you think he is, he's been ok, ****ed up a lot (van Persie goal) and has felt like a captain by default as all the better players have left before him. The real facts are we offered him a raise to 80k and another year extension on his contract but he wanted 2. No one gives a 33yr old a big contract like that, terry was happy to be a year on year and So was lampard, apparently Jose thought performance related contracts were not valid Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am god hahahahahaha

Virgil is the only answer Davo/Bertrand back ups

Understand where you are coming from but Toby and Virgil are the best CB's to of played for us in the last 5yrs. Jose was very good but was always prone to an error every now and again but was the leading CB when he wasnt partnered with Toby or Virgil

Aim for the stars and land on the moon. I'd prefer to think big, counter-act the subversive tactics of agents, players and have a few loyal journalists on our side for a change. Viva Commandante Reed

Meh, footballer earns lots of cash, now thinks he can earn more and wants to move, such is life, not captain anymore

Why does everyone think Redmond was meant to replace Mane, he isn't his replacement he is a improved squad depth (Juanmi replacement) if anything Boufal is the new "mane".

Finally something is happening in the transfer window

apparently started very well but the coach started putting him on the bench and he is grumpy about that.

just rewatching it now, absolute wizard, looks more AM that Bouf

A rumour !!!!! Nicolae Stanciu - 10mil is a AM/Winger with Anderlecht nickname the little maestro - werent we linked in the summer ? he hasnt settled in belgium. https://www.anderlecht-online.be/es/article/150276

I know I couldn't believe it, at least I'll get to watch him on the 29th v Den haag Will be supporting Morrocco for sure but hope they get knocked out.

Double post

Whilst I understand we defo need a striker, the service to our strikers is pretty naff at present, surely the formation or personal in midfield needs ot change to create more for the front men.

Whats Marcelino up to at the moment, similar sort of project. Left Villareal after disagreement before the season after leading them into Europe and 4th in la liga after improving them every season. http://en.as.com/en/2016/08/10/football/1470866058_859588.html Rated above Conte and Poch according to 4-4-2 mag as the 14th best coach in the world. http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-50-best-football-managers-world-2016-no14-marcelino?utm_m_medium=t His tactics: http://www.thetacticsroom.com/articles/2016/4/27/marcelinos-magic-at-el-madrigal-continues-to-guide-villarreal-to-glory

Trying to make a deal for Ben Arfa on loan, not hopeful. http://www.football.fr/transferts/articles/ben-arfa-a-la-relance-en-angleterre-861304/ http://www.butfootballclub.fr/ligue-1/psg/psg-mercato-ben-arfa-relance-par-puel-a-southampton/

Cheers bud that was super interesting, Cruyff is awesome.

No news about today but here is a good scouting report on Sebastian Haller for those interested. http://outsideoftheboot.com/2016/09/28/scout-report-sebastien-haller-utrecht-gifted-striker/ "Haller can be compared to Olivier Giroud in many respects (for those of who you have not seen much of him). Where Haller surpasses the aforementioned French stalwart is in technical ability and his efficiency in the box when presented with a scoring chance." Just what we need.

Well played yesterday

After a decent sleep I have reflected that the 1st half of our season "could" be an unfair representation of how our team and manager could perform. Manager in a new league, lots of Europa games, playing more total games than we have every had to and having to rotate like it is going out of fashion has meant our quality has erroded over time by fatigue/unbalanced teams to lead to us becoming a poor pedestrian team. If I step back to how we played in Aug/Sept before we really started to get the fixture pile ups (but we were playing claudes style) we were creating a lot of chances and were just frustrated that we needed so many chances to scored the below are our first 6 EPL games (yes I know shots isnt the best metric given what a "shot" can constitute). V Watford - 24 shots (most) v (A) Man U - 13 shots (most) v Sunderland - 16 shots (most) v (A) Arsenal - 11 shots V Swansea - 19 shots (most) v (A) West ham - 18 shots (most) Average - 16.8 per game Now the below for comparision are our last 3 EPL games v Spurs - 9 shots v WBA - 10 shots (most) v (A) Everton - 12 shots Average shots - 10.3 per game So what do I hope happens now. With no Europa and getting back to weekly games Claude reverts back to a more agressive approach to playing football as we no longer need to manage games with a possession based style of football. He starts with a perferred team and manages the workload of the key players and limits the changes to normal game subs/injuries and our tempo of game play increases significantly. If we do that then I think we have a good chance to go on a run but if we continue down the same path of the 1st half of the season then I think we will drop down the table and lurk around the bottom half for the rest of the season.