BKLFox

How do you nullify a low bloke? It seems this season we will face much of the same therefore we will have the lions share of the ball it’s what they do with that ball that counts and that’s not so much on RM who was going mental on the line about how slow things were, the players will need to get slicker and hopefully will do. We didn’t have many chances to counter attack yesterday & we’ve proved we can’t be the low block team to counter in a tradition sense because we can’t defend, us & invite pressure is a recipe for disaster. As for changing tactics he has said he’s buying players that will enable him to do that but if the league goes as yesterday the players need to get to grips with the speed of passes and movement around the edge of the box not so much as RM do something.

To understand Skipp is to understand the position but sadly I’m not sure armchair managers do, they see a price tag, a wage & don’t hear his name in a game therefore he’s shite. If I was to ask, name a standout player from Man U between 1992-2004 the list will go like, Becks, Scholes, Cantona, Giggs, Keane, RVN, Cole, York etc not many will mention Nicky Butt if at all yet a lot of those players were dependent on Butt doing the simple things, even Carrick didn’t get the recognition in that role until near the end of his career & neither got as many England caps as they should because the role wasn’t sexy enough and it was all about can Scholes, Lampard & Gerrard or the fair players of “a” time play together & put simply no because you needed a Butt in the team to do the simple mundane churn things, intercept, recycle 3m pass to a flair player and go again. Now I’m not saying he’s a Butt, Carrick, Kante but he does a lot more than people think in a game it’s just that it’s unspectacular. He’s not doing 30yrd diagonal crosses to the wingers, he’s not steaming into the box to get on the end of a cut back or threading Tielemens style thru-balls into the forwards but that’s not the position’s role. We need money and if someone was to offer good money then I’d take it and get Collins in for sure but if they don’t I’d expect Skipp to be 1 of the 1st names on the sheet not because of his price tag or assumed wage but because he’s probably the best we currently have at doing the churn.

Cullen’s played 14 mins and already put in a better cross than Mavadidi did in 43 games last season

Thank god for that, 1 of the very few that resembles a footballer in the squad, I’ve not cared about a single player that has left so far…

Yeah not a great start to Bristol City’s expensive new front line & manager 😝

No, 24/25 they got a 6th place but other than that you have to go back to 18/19 to get a top 10 place (8th)

Not sure what’s wrong with his highlights reel a lot of those finishes are composed he’s not just shooting in hope, he puts the keeper on his 4rse a couple of times to go around him and slot in, he looks strong & holds off defenders to get a shot in, he’s scored with both left and right feet and has a decent turn of pace. You can go on about standard of defending but any good goal in any league will make the defence/ keeper look silly.

Why all the bolloxs about what we are paying compared to what others are paying in Lge 1? Were Mansfield, Bromley or Burton playing in the Premier Lge just 2 seasons ago paying premier league wages but have now got all their players down to 4k-5kpw? Of course we are going to be the highest payers for gods sake, obscene or not you can’t drop a premier Lge squad wage to 1 more fitting in Lge 1 in 1 full season and this current preseason, as much as we all would want it to be. Some comparing wages of Skipp to a Bromley player for instance and knocking the club thinking the lines are equal is laughable

I think we’ve brought him to play across an attacking 3 behind a striker as there will be times teams will just sit negating any real threat from wingers therefore we need players comfortable on the ball in tight areas so could see all 3 of Chaplin, Cullen & Alves for instance all inter changing along the front with Page & Braybrooke behind them or a variant of with maybe Cullen as the 9 depending what Bristric is like in a crowded box. Going to be a case of horses for courses

Loooking at the clubs he’s been with nothing suggests he’ll step up, Wrexham the highest place club he’s been at only brought him back this year and after 4mths of championship football are willing to get rid 🤷‍♂️ Also will be 29 in 3mths and you willing to pay 4m & give a 3+ yr contract for a striker that has only scored in Lge 1&2. We won’t see any of that 4m back I’m not sure that will go down well generally.

TBH I don’t know where he fits in or why they have brought him in, given their current midfield.

To keep us afloat, what is your time line here, do we need another 45m now or in 3-5yrs? If we go on your model spend £1m on a 20yr old when is he being sold & for how much for, how much will £1m turn into in 3yrs playing 2 of those yrs in Lge 1 & the championship? Or do we spend £10m on a half baked playing hoping in 3yrs he becomes fully baked but even so still playing for Leicester city in Lge 1 and championship you hope to get what, 20m? We have 10-15 academy lads that could generate more than 20m (combined & some) in the same 3yrs without spending a penny. We need players that can contribute now and in the way the manager wants, it is all about getting out of Lge 1 and sitting on the next Yamel that we brought in for 700k wont mean Jack if we don’t.

Arsenal have struck a deal with Newcastle to pay £77m + add-ons (so 80+) for Bruno Guimaraes, the lads 29 by the years out where is the resale value don’t these companies know what they are doing, they should get some fans in to explain to them how to run a business.

But we could if we wanted to fill a starting 11 + a good chunk of the bench with our own academy lads right now... there is our resale value & all pure profit. We need to get out of Lge 1 at the 1st time of asking & will therefore need some street smarts not just pure enthusiasm, the likes of Chaplin, Cullen, McCarthy will aid in this. I've also asked previous how much are fans willing to spend on these 'new young players with future resale value', 1, 2, 5m more & how old should they be 18-20 or 21-23? Which next big thing in any of those age brackets that would cost us 3m-5m+ be willing to drop down into Lge 1 for a start, you are also spending for future potential will they help now & will they reach potential, ooh & then where is this 3-5m+ coming from? So far i think the blend is ok, our own youth, a few older heads & a good splattering of loans all with the sole goal of getting out of Lge 1, Chaplin & Cullen will still be able to help us in the Championship & if the gods are with us & we hit Premier lge in a double bounce then we sell them back to a Lge 1/Championship team for their final year even if its for £200k that £1m-£1.5m outlay will have been well spent.

Out of interest who are all these young lads we should be buying now to give us this future sell on price against them, instead of the 27yr olds we have brought in so far....ooh & how much should we buy them for now given Brighton paid 10m for this Watson when he was 18yrs old?

It was the same with Chaplin he said talks started shortly after the season finished but things take time… Trouble is most in this forum think if you say a name by the time you close your mouth the deal should be done

Did Swansea play a front 2 last season? i see a lot of 3-4-2-1 or 4-2-3-1 with Cullen playing across the 3rd line or as the 1 ??

Personally I would hope the likes of Chaplin, Page, Alves, Skipp, Braybrooke, Mavadidi & whoever else forming the midfield & attacking positions aren’t getting 90mins week in week out but alternate portions of. Part of Martin’s game is high energy pressing and ball recovery so would hope he will have them running their socks off, I don’t think we will see what we have seen from the previous 4 nuggets of a substitute coming on with 4 minutes to play but more around 70min mark to keep energy high (he looks upwards in hope anyway). Ideally we don’t have a best ‘11’ but a best ‘squad’ with the bench being ridiculously strong like it was with Enzo, man how I have hated looking at the bench recently thinking now who would I bring on 😫

Arsenal will need to break the Premier league transfer record to capture Vinci Jnr and some thought they wanted to pay 5m for Monga to actually play him, ooh think of the kids we need to show them a path to the 1st team 😂

I currently do and yesterday out painting my fence it wasn’t pleasant, if the bloke had a job that had lives balanced on a pin head and he needed something to bring him down at the w/end I’d get it but Jesus he’s in IT how f’ing chilled does he need to get. I don’t care he’s smoking it, it’s just the smell, why can’t they brew it to smell like coffee or freshly baked bread or better still like a Gwyneth Paltrow candle then I wouldn’t mind so much 😝

See now here’s where it becomes sticky for him, he’s played in the premier league for us now where do Man C place him? He’s not going to their 1st team so where, most 17yrs old will be getting Lge 2 or SCO loans but again he’s played in the premier league already so what League 1 where we are or Championship? If League 1 that can turn the noise off for all the ‘we need to show a way through to the 1st team…’ slayers because I think I’ve mentioned he played in the premier Lge for us. ok then the championship but he’s 17, I doubt there are many championship clubs willing to spend the money it will cost them & have the trust in him to perform week in week out as they need for a season, we have seen 1st hand what a Man City academy lad can do but also seen how inconsistent they are due to age. I think his loan will prove losing Monga was nothing to do with that we as a club don’t show a path to the 1st team but for the draw of labelling yourself to a giant of a club.

It seems to be showcasing all our academy players seeing as the 4 biggest clubs in England keep trying to poach them. We also look to be starting the new campaign with 7 or 8 of them in line to be starting. 5yrs ago most of them would have been 12 so something must happen there.

It’s more likely that some journalists has overheard something in a sauna, I imagine even Dave Fishwick would have known if Leicester City was up for sale before it was leaked to a paper and he’s not even a billionaire.

So in a few years time he could be worth 30m but not now is that what you’re saying? What’s he worth now? Arsenal offered 5m no other club bid more than that other than the accepted bid from Man C. We got 10m upfront + a further 2.5m in add ons + a % of any future sale. The rumoured sell on when Arsenal were negotiating was around 15% so if we use that and the potential 30m sale in a few years, on paper we have sold a 17yr old for £17m, a kid that only Arsenal had offered 5m for. Once a kid wants to join the biggest club in the premier league it’s pretty hard to stop them, maybe we should have offered him the £67k per week he’s getting at Man C for the next 5yrs 🤷‍♂️

Not sure billionaires use local rags & the exchange and mart to identify potential business opportunities