BKLFox

Can’t fault the defence quite a few occasions Exeter were camped on the line only for our defence to hold firm steal or force a mistake. We didn’t do much in an attacking sense, maybe that’s by design in away games or just still getting used to patterns Cheika wants, hopefully when Pollards back he can pull the strings with the backs and Montoya the towards. Saying that probably won’t see them for sometime with the new elite player match limits.

I think we can ignore what most FT posters think of a player given that many claimed ESR a sicknote and not good enough / or what we need for Leicester City, when he is exactly what we needed. He will go on to be 1 of the signings of the summer, as for Bilal as the sane have mentioned he is a young lad playing his 1st premier league game on a day that threw 3 of the seasons in 1 afternoon, I’m sure he will be ok once settled. I also find it ironic that 2 games ago Cooper getting blasted for playing and nurturing another teams player but as soon as he puts in 1 of ours then it flips back to we should be playing so and so instead…haaa only Quagmire 🤪

I see gravel chops was calling injuries just to get around fielding a weakened team in the cup then

Speculate to accumulate, we need to up our long term revenues and the KP campus plan will do that. I guess could argue let’s secure a run of seasons back in the premier by strong squad investment, no guarantee mind, but how long do we kick that can down the road, it’s like the saying “when’s a good time to have a baby”? At some point we need to start bringing in more to allow growth otherwise we are stuck in a spiral of stick or twists season on season. Then if all goes wrong again in the future at least we will have assets to juggle amongst Leicester City FC and KP although by then the ‘big 6’ would have done that a few times each and just as the rest of us try it the PL/FA will shut the door to it 🙄

yes on paper but within the tactical game plan currently deployed they are not doing the same thing, so its not a simple case of 1 or other its a case of is Ndidi better than the 2 10s we have, if yes both Ndidi & Skipp play but if no (the answer) then ok is he a better DM than Skipp yes/no...that is the question

But that’s like saying Justin and Fats, they played different positions? You need to decide is Ndidi better than the 2 lads who can play the pocket / 10 position if not then is he better than Skipp in the role Skipp is playing or vice versa.

Like my fear of being caught up in a match day thread

"I received the message from De Rossi telling me that he was waiting for me in Trigoria.” “That’s where the spark went off. Because they wanted me so much that it was impossible to say no. The coach’s calls, then the Friedkins were personally involved, the management made me understand how much they wanted to focus on me. Their desire to have me pushed me to consider only this opportunity even if I had others in the Premier League.” “Leicester wanted me a lot, both the manager and the sporting director had called me to convince me of their project. But then I felt the affection of De Rossi, of Roma, of the teammates who contacted me and I decided from that moment to say no to all the other clubs and to think only of Roma for all these reasons plus one.” Just saying 'a' driving factor of joining was De Rossi himself & his legacy & how he wanted to use him, he is now no longer there, of course other factors come into play but a driving factor was the legend... ps The +1 reason was their fan base & can't knock him on that he's probably read this forum

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Let’s hope Soule gets on with the new manager then, as wasn’t his main reason for choosing Roma over us the fact he really wanted to play for the great man?

If they can claim for pencils & the like i'm sure there will be a clothing allowance in the long list of expeditures they can claim

Yep they will certainly get bums on seats but there’s probably a reason Man U and Chelsea have let them leave and that it’s Brighton they have ended up at. Saying that they only need to give them the edge over 3 or 4 teams of which we are 1 so could turn out to be a great on field decision also.

I do find it ironic that most posters have Skipp as a starter yet most posters believe we over paid for him with a general census it would have been a good deal for £10m. The Premier Lge teams spent over £2bn in this window with no more than 15-20 signings being £10m or under, now if we look at those signings how many will be in the starting 11 for their new clubs and how many can do the same role as Skipp? Skipp is lumped in with Ayew & Bobby as a bad buy but I think we’ll see 20 hopefully 25m turns out to be a good bit of busy, he improves us from day 1 & there are not many 10m signings that improve a 1st 11 nowadays. As for the other 2 I don’t see Bobby as a 1st teamer but handy to have late on when/if we are holding a lead. Ayew isn’t as bad as some make out it’s just that we have seen him for such a long time so it’s kinda underwhelming but he’ll do the job he was brought in for and once Mavadidi gets his head around what’s required Ayew will probably slip down as per Bobby, especially now that Eddie is back up to Vardy. On the whole it’s a pretty decent window for a club in our position, what did we get 8 in (9 with Fats) with 5 probably seen as & making starting 11, we lost KDH a single starter, how can that make the squad worse than last season 🤷‍♂️

Chelsea have loaned, sold or released 40 players during this summer window, with D Fofana potentially making it 41 (according to SSN) Bloody ridiculous and damaging to players careers with clubs like Chelsea just stacking players

I think their comments and to a degree some from our own is that fans look at a ‘best 11’ as the best players on paper where as a manager looks at a best 11 to play against a certain opposition & therefore there is a degree of rotation which to the uneducated translates as he don’t know what he doing 🤷‍♂️

I think Skipp will surprise a few within a few games when he strikes up a decent partnership with Winks enabling us to keep the ball for more than 30secs and build through the middle, out of interest who did people have earmarked for that position because most names were 10s and we have brought in 2 very good players for that position. Solid signing in my eyes and probably worth his fee when looking around other transfer fees made in the premier for starting players which include added tax for being that league not decent players moving within mainland Europe. Reid and Ayew granted but I don’t see Reid being anything more than a sub which he was probably brought in for on a free, he is 1 of those players that used to cause us issues when they came on as subs, full of running and come up with something different (crazy) to change a game late on. Ayew whilst he’s had a few more minutes than expected so far will probably revert to sub once things settle down also, but in the meantime the game has changed and the bench is more important now than simply used to replace injured players we do need tactical options & running players that can cause tired defences issue later on, looks bad now because of the single point but maybe given more than 3 games it might pan out. Okoli, is €13m such a bad investment for a future Italian National CB? A few more strong performances can see him being a starter. Is it Reid and Ayew people can’t see past due to age although what 5m for the pair, or Skipp for 20m?

I know we are all biased and yes we all want our team made up of our lads but come on let’s stop trying to put academy lads into the 1st years ahead of schedule. They say the gulf between the championship and the premier league is massive with seasoned players struggling to make the jump up but some believe our academy lads can just walk in? The last 16yr old to break into a 1st team was Rooney in 2002 that’s 22yrs where not a single 16yr old has risen to the dizzy heights and not 1 of our lads is being talked about how Rooney was back then because they are not yet ready. Foden is probably the next youngest at 17/18, even Cole Palmar was 20 & not done him much harm..let them grow! They have a pathway as mentioned this lad is playing in the U21s as are a few others that are playing above their age group no longer do we have a U21 made up of 23yr olds. As for losing him if we don’t put him in the 1st team, we are in the lap of the gods because he can’t sign any professional papers till he’s 17 anyway and if a Man C or Chelsea come a knocking and turn his head very little we can do.

Happy to take the hit providing the FA don't fail to ensure their referees do not behave in an improper way & apply consistency

33yrs old & since joining Liverpool has missed 140 games through injury which is more than the 133 (full lge matches) he's played in the 8 seasons at Liverpool, are people serious about taking him? When 1 of the top 3 Qu's asks when you google him "Is Matip still injured..." i think that says it all & i'm shocked its not a firm 'steer clear' given the battering other players we have signed or been linked with who were labelled sicknotes! We would also need to match West Ham's offer of a 2yr deal + probably better wages than we would want to give, pure bloody madness to even think it.

Ayoze leading the line for the European Champions

You might also like Colin from Accounts if you’ve not watched that either. For everyone else S2 starts tomorrow 3rd Sep weekly on BBC2 or as most of us will watch it all via Iplayer in 1 go.

As is Ayew

For all the we don't play the youth comments & they have more chance at a big 6 club, don't we hold some sort of record (or at least up there) for playing the most consecutive games with at least 1 academy player in the team? It was 1st mentioned when the training ground was opened that it would / could take up to 10yrs for it to start really reaping rewards from the academy side, we are pushing towards the halfway point in that estimate & we have quite a crop on the cusp of breaking through with most going out on loan, we also have a few of the lower age groups starting to get mentioned, not sure there has been a time when we seem to have such a large crop being talked about. It's also worth noting that this crop we are talking about now are younger than the previous group that sat in the U21s despite being 23 & of those 23yr olds who has actually made it at a bigger club? I think we are doing well & will start to see them push on into the 1st team after their loans, or in the cups in the case of Alves, & will become useful assets on the spreadsheets as well as the pitch.

Isn’t it Tackling ‘through’ a player from behind that is a no no no but tackling from the side (scooping) making direct contact with the ball whilst behind a player is a yes yes yes 🤷‍♂️

A very dramatic "Not a chance" there Jason so where is it overly worse to cause the panic your obviously in? For regular starters we have lost KDH but we have added 2 more fair players in that single position we now play with a perm & a loan, time will tell if better but on the face of it it would seem so. Better Strikers yes down to Vardy & Daka but it was only them that were used last season in the main (& yes Daka currently injured) but again are we worse off than last season as a squad in that position we lost Nacho but fill with BDR & Ayew so as a squad does it scream worse or maybe break even? Wide players remain the same so how can that be worse? In defence only Souttar has gone but gained Okoli, Souttar never played if Okoli never plays are we worse off? although i believe Okoli will play so better? Then we have added Skipp into the middle without losing anyone so again 'much' better? And keepers remain although Jakub injured for now but Mads probably playing every league game anyway as he did last season. So not sure i agree with the panic in his "not a chance " that the squad is overly worse.