MGLCFC

You may well be correct, but Wilf or Choudhury at 6 doesn't fill me with confidence. You need someone with good technical ability and is comfortable receiving the ball. IMO Praet is ahead of these 2 in those departments. Another option at 6, as others have suggested, is is Akgun.

I've seen how Maresca has developed players, Praet could be another. He's already suggesting Yunis, who was loaned as a winger, will be better as an inside player. I'd just like to see Praet given a chance (and I know part of problem lies with his injury record) as I don't think he's ever played in his best position regularly. He may not be the answer at no. 6, but you never know?

Not sure I understand you - it's not about negativity, more reality. I'm 100% behind what Maresca is doing and I love how much confidence the team is displaying. All I'm suggesting is that if we are in the Premier League next season, we won't steam roll that league like we are doing this. Like I posted, where I said that I'd be interested to see what Maresca does to overcome teams that are better than us. Personally, I don't see this as being negative, but interested to see his solutions.

I think Dennis Praet has the technical ability to play Winks' role if, and it's a big if, he stays fit.

I think this is what I suggested in my original post where I asked the question how we would cope against teams that have more possession. I just don't see a team doing that to us this season and I'm just curious to see if Maresca alters his tactics or not. He may not and I accept Plan A is work in progress and has a long way to go to be perfect. I agree keeping the core players is essential and probably 3 of those on loan as well (Yunis, Doyle, Fatawa), but there are still areas where we need 3 or 4 new players of higher quality. We only have 1 left footed defender at present, Winks is one bad tackle from a lengthy spell on the side lines, we've no pace in our back line, which isn't a problem this year, and whilst we have 3 very decent strikers, I don't feel any of them are totally comfortable playing this new role.

So when we play Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Newcastle do you think we will dominate these teams. Look a t the League Cup game against Liverpool, we really struggled. Why can't we bring in 5 or 6 players? We are quite likely to lose Praet, Ndidi, Iheanacho, Vestegaard, they'll need replacing

Just out of interest Raj, where would you play Ricardo in our current system, other than the role he plays?

Yep, agree. We'll buy 5 or 6 technically better players and we'll compete with most. What'll be interested to see is how Maresca changes tactics when we're the team doing the chasing.

Technically he's good and as we don't play with overlapping full backs, then his role is either the one he play now or an out and out winger. I'm more than happy with how he's performing in a new role. We are only 11 games into a season, all the squad are learning a new style and his, Winks and Vestegaard's roles are essential to the the style working effectively.

Will be interesting to see if Ipswich can sustain this full on approach over 46 games. Good luck to them, they are doing brilliantly for a promoted side.

I've come to accept that the majority of teams will sit back and hope for the best and try not to be humiliated. Unfortunately I think this means there are going to be a lot of games where the first half is quite tedious. I am happy that we just tire teams out and that the last 30 minutes is full throttle and exciting. There will be the odd few teams that may give it a go, Leeds, Sunderland and Ipswich and I look forward to seeing 90 minutes of entertaining football when this occurs and hopefully we still come out on top..

I think players coming on often look world beaters as the opposition are knackered. It was the same against PNE, Nacho and Yunis looked outstanding when they came on. This is where the quality of our squad will make a huge difference this season. The ability to bring like for like quality on from the bench after 65 minutes.

Is he? I'd say Coady is a better defender and organiser IMO, but in the system we play, Vestergaard is the better option, particularly against sides where we probably don't need to defend that much and he has time to play through the line passes which he excels at.

Ability wise maybe. Attitude wise, fitness wise and application wise they are streets ahead. They actually look like a team. A team enjoying what they are doing, unlike last year who looked like a team bereft of ideas and confidence as well as a poor attitude regarding giving their all for the club. I'm sure there will be a further rebuild in the Summer should we be promoted with further additions to accommodate our Premier League survival and sustainability.

10/10 for me. I don't think the occasional defeat is that bad. It takes a bit of pressure winning the next game and also stops complacency. I'm also not too disappointed about being relegated as we probably wouldn't have opted for Maresca had we stayed up or if we had opted for him, then I think we would have encountered some heavy defeats whilst adapting to this new style, the low confidence around the players at the end of last season compounded and a fanbase still discontented. In the Championship, with the squad we have, we can get away with making mistakes as the quality of the opposition often means these errors go unpunished, whilst implementing and developing this new style.

Never thought I'd say it, but I thought we missed Vestergaard last night. Coady was good defensively and is a great organiser, but Vestergaard's technical ability on the ball was missing from the back against PNE. Faes is playing superbly too, so for me, at the moment, it's Faes and Vestergaard.

Love the change in form and this is down to a manager who has influenced his development into a new role. It's like a new signing and hopefully Wilf is enjoying playing much more now and wants to stay with us beyond the Summer. Will be interesting to see how effective he can be in the Premier League in this role.

It may well have been said already but I think we will have to become accustomed to teams playing like PNE at the KP. Whilst the first half was poor entertainment wise, it is more the process of pulling the opponents all over the pitch, tiring them out in preparation for the last 30 minute onslaught. Enzo is excellent at working things out, like a grand chess master, very rarely getting things wrong. He, the players and most of the crowd have bought into this style and firmly believe in it. Yes, there will be the odd game when we don't win, not because the opposition are better, but because we don't take our chances, like v Hull. On a separate note, I don't mind other clubs' fans having a go at us, it's no different to some on here who whinge at the top 6 and all their money and how they buy the league. It must feel the case for most opposing teams in the Championship.

I wonder if the talk of getting out of 2nd gear is going to take longer than anticipated. Undoubtedly there has been a huge improvement since game 1, but I sometimes think that Maresca can only take this system so far with the quality of players at his disposal at present. To take it to 3rd or even 4th gear may have to wait until we can purchase more technically gifted players. I'm not saying that our squad is poor, in fact by Championship standards it's outstanding and it is far superior than most other Championship squads, but there is still a gulf in quality compared to what will be required at the next level. I'm really keen to see how far Maresca can take the team as it evolves and develops.

Yes I agree, but personally, I think it's a massive advantage. It gives Maresca 12 months to fully implement a new style, where mistakes aren't penalised very often. Had we tried to play like this had we still been in the Premier League I think some teams would have absolutely taken us apart, fans would have been discontented with the new style and confidence within the players very low. By next season, adding a few new players who are technically better than what we have now should see a smoother transition into the Premier League, IMO.

Agree - let's enjoy the ride. However, looking ahead, I'm sure we'll buy better players if we are promoted to make the system more effective in the prem.

I think Maresca is concerned that we don't have a natural left footed player who can receive the ball comfortably on their left side and hit long diagonal balls left footed, accurately. Justin is a good in the left back position, but offers a different style of play to Doyle.

If Braybrooke doesn't get up to speed quick enough are there any similar players who we could realistically purchase in January who could share the workload and give Winks some recovery time?

When people say not so long ago we were on a par with Liverpool and look how far we've dropped, that is true. But we are where we are so rebuilding is a necessity. Should we get promoted, another rebuild will be required to compete in the Premier League. There's only a handful of players at present that could play to the level required. I would expect, 5 or 6 new arrivals next year, along with the same number leaving. It's getting more and more difficult to sustain a challenge to the big money boys as they asset strip your club once they see you as a threat.

If he continues with relative success when (if) we are in the Premier League next year, I can see him taking over from Pep when he calls it a day at Man City, maybe.