Smirking_Saint

This would have been written in under the Gao years tbf

Has he ? I actually missed that bit but will be interesting if some of the info comes out then, for instance Im fairly sure, like I stated, that all 3 french lads have effectively (but not officially) slapped in transfer requests and I ‘think’ was basically why Perraud was dropped from the squad last few weeks Shame as all 3 CDAJ in the Champ but its not really the end of the world Id rather have players that want to be here

Im not completely sure what the sell on is, but I think its active now, and Im fairly sure its 40m next year but that has been influenced by what Ive read, Im not sure on figures Id say we’ll cash in over the next few weeks tbh theres plenty of interest

I would say the thinking is, they don’t want to be here in the champ and will look to play maybe back in Ligue 1 with a view to returning if we’re promoted Its not necessarily as simple as we own them we’ll keep them, theres going to be some internal pressures, both tactically and agent driven… as well as the fact we simply have a swollen squad So Id expect our better players to leave but I don’t (from what I hear but obviously the proof will be in the pudding) expect them to leave cheaply or easily

FWIW we ‘might’ end up losing Mara and Sulemana on loan deals as opposed to permanent deals, atleast for the first year Shame as Id very much like to keep Sulemana TBH I think we’ll lose about 12 to 15 potentially, all in, but the positives are that I believe we are ready to spend our way back to the premier league… the negatives are we tried to spend our way to stay in it and fucked it up…. So who knows 😂

I think they’re hoping for a bundle deal on the plane

Mara is off I think, him, Perraud and Diallo I believe have already stated they want out JWP I think is gone, as is Orsic.. I think Stephens will stay at Bournemouth too

My understanding is they can buy him back for a straight 40m in 2024 but also have a 15/20% sell on fee too, so either way they’re ok Not convinced he makes their team anyway tbh… Arsenal/Liverpool/Chelsea even probably Utd will need a good No.6… City effectively have Rodri who is probably the best 6 in the world right now, Im not concerned about City

Im sure he did, still just a conversation though isn’t it

Not at all what I said was it ? Who do you propose from that illustrious list ? Zidane ? Nagglesman ? Conte ? Ralph ?

He didn’t have to be kept ‘in the loop’ in terms of knowing targets etc But he is a senior employee, a well liked senior employee who was told at some point that his performance would be discussed at the end of the season What would be so wrong as to say to him “Rueben, we’re looking at other targets, we don’t want you to hear that in the media before you’re made personally aware” honestly what would be so wrong in that ? Potentially he could have thrown his toys out the pram and left ? But that wouldn’t have left us any worse off would it ?

He’s been here less than a year and it was Semmen’s decision to keep him on…. The rest is a lit of waffle, whether its helpful or not he is well liked by the players and fellow coaches, I’m not saying this is favourable to our current predicament.. in fact I think he’s too close to the players I’m not really sure HE has cost the club relegation either.. he was the wrong appointment, after a wrong appointment… after probably a delayed sacking of RH But still… I don’t really care as morally I do think the club should have discussed his position sooner, even if it was an open secret

lets have em then

To an extent yeah… I mean my critique really wasn’t aimed at you, more so at those that are happy to attack an appointment like Martin without actually attempting to debate any real/concrete alternatives or even those that are slightly out of our reach I personally wouldn’t of been happy with any of the League 1 guys, promoted or not, equally I wasn’t comfortable at the time with Hughes OR Pellegrino… Puel I didn’t really know enough to comment but was worried, at the time, moving away from Koeman/Poch tactics There probably is ‘other’ options out there but almost all of the others have atleast as many detrimental factors as Martin, I didn’t necessarily think that at first, but plenty of background reading, asking in industry opinion and maybe a hint of optimism has changed my mind to a degree

No not at all, I said if I were to have a choice Id of had Potter, Cooper or potentially Corberan But Ive spoken about the ‘alternatives’ quite a lot and the reason why they aren’t viable for one reason or another Potter won’t drop to the Championship, Cooper is in post and Corberan is happy at WBA (as a Bielsa disciple doesn’t play possession football either) I wouldn’t want a coach from abroad in truth either, Id prefer one that is aware/comfortable coaching in the Championship The point is Martin isn’t the absolute only choice, but I do think, all things considered, he is a strong choice who will establish a new impetus to the team Like Ive said previously everyone is a gamble and we actually stand to be more hamstrung in the backroom then forefront footballing departments (although both look like being addressed early), but Martin does show a good level of underlying success and dare I say it (sorry) favourable metrics that complement a good character, opinion within the game and a strong footballing philosophy I understand the calls of his lack of promotion experience, but as Ive said, there just isn’t any ‘real’ viable names available to us at this moment that don’t offer similar risks

Rivers post above is spot on by the way, and echoes a lit of my sentiments. Im pretty vocal on here these days but I’m happy to concede I thought the Selles appointment possibly had legs in it, that judgement was probably born out of my utter dismay at the whole Jones episode and I too believed that maybe, with familiarity (tactics/faces) we could have just enough to stay up Ultimately I do think there is a good coach in Selles, clearly the players liked him and his style on the training pitch, I even think, although they ended up too cautious some of his tactical plans were actually largely correct, they just never were carried out effectively He isn’t a manager though, certainly not yet, unless it was hus relationship wity the players, that was too close and not robust enough that allowed them to effectively down tools I wish him the best but his time is up, I’d suggest he moves back into a coaching role, finds a team (of other coaches aswell) that suits and bed his managerial reigns in at lower sides/youth sides… this was too much too soon.. if at all for him

This keeps getting trotted out and still nobody is able to give a single viable name outside of, at a stretch, Mowbray (who’s still in post)

I wouldn’t be against Vinagre Would prefer Manning or even Leif Davis from Ipswich

This is perfect… hopefully they can tie each other up with nonsense for eternity The waffling force vs the pedantic object

There is very few, if any realistic or appropriate names in that thread of waffle, and if you believe there is name them on here or on there and we’ll discuss it if you like ?

Arguably a bit of both

Apart from the fact that Martin was heavily a Wilcox choice you’d be spot on Most footballing organisations, atleast those that tend to be successful, will have an agreed philosophy and then targets will be given based on analytics there or there abouts, obviously other judgements have to be made. It really isn’t a case that they sit around a table and pick out names until one sticks… of course if that really is your interpretation, or other’s interpretations, then it explains a lot of the posts/opinions on here….

You realise it doesn’t work like that

Bookmarked

Ralph was a very pure gagenpress, hyper aggressive, effectively he would intentionally GIFT the opposition possession at times in optimal areas (for us) via a long ball but also initiate a press so to try to catch them with a bad touch etc. It was pretty effective at first, he then changed it slightly as teams didn’t succumb to that, so we’d move up the pitch then press at certain trigger points, but ultimately that was our tactical philosophy… a press.. pressing tactics are actually arguably the hardest to coach, which is why you don’t see them outside of many top leagues and rarely internationally.. players need to be aware of triggers and act in groups, there needs to be a level of autonomy. Jones… agreed, Im actually not sure if I could tell you what he was trying to do and Ill be 100% honest I was so demoralised I tended to turn games off 😅, it was a mess, he was just so out of his comfort zone it was actually quite sad seeing how badly he was failing, he just flailed around trying to find anything that would stick Selles… I dunno, I actually do think there is a good tactical coach there, I do think he has good ideas but it just didn’t work did it… I think he wants to press, but its half baked (like the end of RH’s reign) and a half baked press is a disaster, kills team shape and the opponents just wander round it. I think we pass it slowly in order to try to pull a team out, so we can press but it doesn’t really work and we end up trying to pass our way through which we can’t because our front line is, as stated before, terrible from a movement POV