Stadt

He'll have a bad 23 minutes against Port Vale in the cup August 2026 and this will be used to justify 32 year old John Lundstram's continued inclusion instead

I just watched the extended highlights back, watching with a clear head does change your perspective a bit. A few thoughts: - Jordan James is great. Shades of a young Gerrard about him - We pressed pretty well (and higher than on first watch) but Swansea were terrible at playing out - had they gone longer to bypass the press and forced Vestergaard to try and deal with Vipotnik (sp) they might have had more joy through fouls/second balls and then isolating him. - Our set piece deliveries were poor but Swansea just failed to adequately clear the first contact and were abysmal at the second. Both James and vestergaard's goals came from set piece deliveries that broke down via the left. - Ramsey added more movement and fluency to our attack when he was on, with him and James there's more forward runs which stretched the defence. I'm not overly enamoured with Cifuentes but we've yet to see 90 minutes with 11 players playing in their best position - Encouraging the wingers to shoot so often breaks down our promising attacks down too often, it's worked out with Fatawu scoring some belters but it's not sustainable. We have the hint worst xG per shot in the league because we're letting fly from stupid positions and we're not creating any high value tap ins, cut backs, rebounds.

Going on Saturday, will report back

Fiorentina were completely undercooked as they were about 2 weeks behind - I don’t think that can be used as a barometer really.

I meant to get to the Cumberland but didn’t quite make it, looks proper. The views from the pubs are some of the very best in the country though.

Wind River never seems to get much fanfare but it’s an outstanding (and bleak) film.

I like Newcastle but I think it’s a bit disappointing on the pub front. Crown Posada and The Free Trade are great but not many near that level

What’s he good at? Not his fault he’ll be on too much money but the extension was silly.

We rejected that sort of offer from Everton iirc. Cant sell for any less than that given his ability and contract length

Given our track record in the market this would just be an expensive way of weakening the team

There aren't any fences and it's seated, categorically not as dangerous

Something about the red and grey combination is so Stanno or Prostar

Whose contract would you most like to renew in 2027? A 23 year old Ben Nelson, a 29 year old Wout Faes or a 35 years old Vestergaard’s? What would it cost to buy Ben Nelson if he was at another club? We’re choosing short term ‘gain’ and it’s not really getting us anywhere given the current pair are shaky. One doesn’t want to be here at all, the other is declining. We’ll lose Nelson and probably replace him with a worse player - who’ll play more. Just play him now ffs, he could be a mainstay for 10 years. There’s little point in Seagrave if we don’t side with academy players in these marginal decisions.

Just playing as a proper striker makes the difference. He’s got his flaws but he has enough discernible strengths. Early days yet but Carranza looks like the worst of Ayew and Daka

Carranza might be a Bednar

The attacking patterns and spacing just aren’t there, risk tolerance is too low with what we do in possession and the 3241 shape, wingers are isolated so can’t combine with anyone. Cloyed version of what Guardiola did 2 or 3 seasons ago to protect them on the counter but we’re Leicester ffs, a basketball game suits us

Feels like early Cooper with the fortune

Yessssss but oh my god we need to create some ****ing real chances!!!

So little intent in our attacking play

“But how do we know Nelson is better”

He looked good when he played under Maresca in the Championship last time. Oxford fans raved about him. Even if he isn’t as good as Vestergaard or Faes now which is debatable, what about in a year’s time? Then the one after? We have to start thinking years ahead again, it’s the only way to compete. Imagine if we trusted Nelson instead of buying Coady and used that £7m elsewhere? Nelson could hardly have been worse and we may have bought a player better than the shit upfront, an actual 10 or the duds at LB.

I remember writing a post on here saying Apulia looked surprisingly like East Anglia and tagging you. I guess the mist rolling off the mountains adds to the atmosphere - I think you’d like Martin Dooljard’s YouTube channel if you haven’t seen it, he’s restored some old shepherd’s cottages in the mountains not far from Turin.

I’m there Friday-Monday (lunchtime flight back) so trying to stay in Bologna besides going to Cremona but may stop off at Modena on @CosbehFox’s suggestion. Maybe Ravenna is one for the Saturday morning. We like walking so the Santa Maria trek is up our street.

Booked Bologna for the back end of January, my girlfriend has been pining for an Italian trip having never been. Between March-May of 2022 I ended up spending a lot of time there first for @SemperEadem’s birthday, then I had a family holiday booked near Lecce in May. Coincidentally, we drew Roma a few days before so I made the intrepid 7 hour train journey hungover out of my mind. I booked first class thinking I’d get more than the paltry biscuit they gave me. Not fancied going back for a while but a Cremonese trip has already been priced in. Perhaps she’s starting to appreciate a morsel of Vardy’s ability to do the unlikely. @CosbehFox @bovril what would you recommend?

Play him at CEO