Smirking_Saint

This I agree with, I know Ive been banging the SR positive drum for a while, but I have genuinely believed what I was told regarding their want to get us promoted I 100% agree with this sentiment though.. we have a decent core of players here, a manager whose style should work in the Champ and, as you say, an absolute warchest comparitive to the division We can’t have any excuses but to be leading the chase to some degree this year

I looked through and the only ones that caught my eye really are Chalobah, Andrey Santos or Chukwuemeka… or maybe Broja but.. injured

And considering Martins and Tactically Matts comments it ties up

They won’t buy adams now

😂

I have absolutely no idea how they played but he was at Blackburn, under Mowbray who recently plays a sort if counter game, he plays a high press then gets direct balls up the pitch, so that would suit him, finding half spaces etc behind a retreating back 4 OR catching a back four out of possession We don’t play to his strengths in that regard, favouring a much slower paced tika taka style Of course Im guessing mowbrays tactical philosophies havnt changed

Ive wondered for a while if he is genuinely any better than Che.. I appreciate Che isn’t everyones cup of tea, but he knows the squad, has had a full pre season and is realistically a good striker at this level Piroe however, also knows the system, knows RM and has scored plenty of goals in previous seasons For me.. Piroe is there as an option if we lose Che, but not necessarily instead of.. I know Che is a gamble.. but any signing is really FWIW Im not hugely concerned regarding pace at this level, 90% of the sides are going to be camped on the edge of their box anyway… its largely why I doubt AA will be able to use his main weapon effectively

Grimes and Downes are very decent acquisitions at this level, we basically probably have the Championships best midfield

Id like to think we’d ensure the Downes deal is done before signing off on JWP tbh

Im quite surprised he’ll go to Sheffield tbh, surely theres much better moves for him

I actually do think Rice was worth around 100m, it’s probably a tad excessive but if you actually look at his metrics, even in a poor WHU side (sorry anti stat dinosaurs) then he is effectively the best at what he does in the prem, which is effectively win the ball, resist a press and distribute it forward… Arsenal play a pressing system and he’s very good at it, so he is worth the money Caicedo is very good, but Im not entirely sure he is in that 100m bracket, he’s probably more destructive than RL and able to bring the ball forward better, but isnt as press resistant and his ball playing from deep isn’t as good… so its horses for courses really That said, looks like Chelsea are attempting to break through the Caicedo deal anyway so might be back to square one

Different players, different systems

Liverpool sealing 110m Caicedo deal surely ends their interest in Lavia ?

It appears so

Id probably stop describing it now tbh

Yeah fairly sure its a troll account

We’re trying to find the best odds for our info before we release it to the general audience

I think, if I remember correctly, we hsve outstanding debt but it was effectively priced into the purchase and the early redemption fee is too much to bother clearing it

Completely agree, he probably isn’t ‘worth’ north of £30m in the CM market, given his age and niche skillset but ultimately he is, Id of thought, more valuable to us because despite what anyone says he was a galvanising influence

I dunno I saw enough I think, I also saw enough of the rest of the division to be confident… atleast confident enough that the three relegated sides genuinely do look better than this league, of course it was only taking the first results in isolation and you have to caveat it with the knowledge that the team will look different in a couple of weeks But im largely confident… I have concerns around a striker and potentially I think we play too much of a high line at times, but overall we were impressive imo

Said he was back training.. woukd be great if he is an option this year, but Ill be surprised if nobody comes in for him

I think we all hope that, im optimistic but we’ll of course see

It was a number of posts, and the club is committed to promotion apparently but we need a bit of realism.. has any club ever gone down and not had to lose first team players ? In fairness we’ve stood firm on all except JWP as far as our valuations are concerned, which was always the stated strategy, even Wilcox said as such So far, as I said previously, we’ve only lost players we knew we would (Orsic, Diallo, Salisu… soon to be Lavia/JWP) and we’ve extracted good value there… Tino was of course not one we thought we would lose, but at 40m it was probably sensible In return so far we’ve brought in last years best LB and Charles, who looks good but as far as balance is concerned we need to see how he turns out I am however starting to agree, we need bodies, particularly in CM and CB sooner rather than later

I genuinely don’t get any info on incomings whatsoever, I just hear bits and pieces from the training ground and on occasion stated board aims, like finances are available and we want to prioritise promotion etc… tbh a lot of the latter stuff is probably low value info and stuff they wouldn’t mind being made public Im not sure anyone is genuinely privvy to our transfer targets if Im honest, thats pretty highish level info

Did you come to that conclusion because we’ve signed an ex RM player and a City kid ? Groundbreaking stuff