Jobyfox

The sensible money would probably be on a 0-0, although I’ve got a horrible feeling of 1-0 to them with Wood as the goal scorer. So now I’ve said that - It’ll be a goal fest

Well I put him in my fantasy league team last week because we were playing Southampton. I’m going to keep him in for this one in the hope it’s a positive omen

There is actually a strong argument that one of the reasons for our demise was not selling players. Our model for years was sell one a year and then reinvest. A bit like Brighton are doing now. The season we went down was about the first time we didn’t sell one of our star players and had finished (from memory) 5th, 5th and 8th in the previous 3 seasons. The squad and team were easily strong enough to survive that season. The real reason we went down is that we’d got a manager who’d checked out and mismanagement off the pitch. It wasn’t selling players that caused it, but buying too many players that just weren’t fit for purpose

… evidenced by Brendan Rodgers playing Ward in goal and Amartey as the first choice CB

… or, presumably, throw away a 2 goal lead and lose in the last minute

They looked pretty good against us for 60 minutes. Might have been a completely different narrative if that Faes (almost) own goal had gone in

The narrative from Bristol City about Maynard was that they “wouldn’t sell to a rival”. They had relatively new ownership and were quite ambitious back then. Our bids got higher and higher. It really was like Monopoly money under Sven. Bristol City held firm, but eventually lost him to West Ham at a fraction of the price we offered. It turned into a very poor decision from Bristol City and Maynard never did much at West Ham. Considering the money we’d have parted with we were the ones who probably got lucky (Interestingly enough Maynard hasn’t played above Championship level since 2014 and is only 1 month older than Vardy)

It’s interesting that we’re now advocating a shape that is similar to Maresca’s from last season. When he first came in and there was all this talk about inverted full backs many of us were pretty skeptical whether it would make the best use of Ricardo or Justin’s talents. It started off fantastically, but towards the end of the season there was some evidence that Maresca had been found out a bit. It was quite frustrating when he stubbornly refused to change shape or style in games that we were chasing I believe we should always start a game with a plan, but isn’t the real answer to have some tactical flexibility? Cooper displayed that against Southampton and it changed the game. Prior to that game he’d displayed little of it.. I’m happy for Ricardo to come back in and for us to revert back to the inverted full back system, but I have my concerns. It relies on intelligence from the players to change shape in the attacking and defensive transitions. It became quite stale at times last season when teams sat on the likes of Vestergaard and Winks to break the passing lines Are we intelligent enough to play this style in the PL and is Cooper clever enough to coach it? And, unlike Maresca, would Cooper be able to spot when the system wasn’t working and make the tweaks required?

I can - unfortunately

I think it’s a reasonable question. Over many years we’ve seen players make fantastic impacts as substitutes only to lose that impact when they become regular starters. Fatawu is young and inconsistent. It may well be that shorter impacts on games bring out the best of his abilities. I’d probably like to see him start in the short term to test the theory either way. One thing I’m already convinced by is that Ayew should be only used as a substitute. I think he’s ideal in that role rather than as a starter

Whether we stay up or not he’s gone next season. We aren’t in a position anymore to poach players from Brighton and if they are selling then it will be to a bigger club than us. I love his commitment and attitude as a loan player. He does play like he’s one of our own and you can’t ask for more than that. There are areas of development, but there always will be with a player this young. Let’s just hope that we stay up and FB helps us do that. Ultimately we’ll need the recruitment team to do a good job as we need to find more midfield creativity and forward power with or without Buonanotte

Strange appointment after Puel, Rodgers and Maresca. Report so far: Cons: No discernible style of play Strange team selections In game management usually poor Pros: Despite looking very poor at times we've managed to stay in every game Players have more fight than they did last time we were in this league Has a points total that is acceptable and, if we did beat Forest, it would actually be a good start To be fair today was the first time I've seen good game management. The change in formation and proactive substitutions. I'm still not a fan, but I'm pragmatic enough to not care as long as he keeps us out of the relegation zone. Better game management and use of his better players (Fatawu, Ricardo) might help convince me, but I can't see it working long term as I just can't work out what he stands for in terms of his style and philosophy

Indeed it would be ironic if Wood would score against us, but even more startling if Woods would

Great win - feels a long time since we’ve been on the right side of a game like that. Do I still want Cooper out? On balance, yes. Largely because I think he was the wrong appointment to start off with, but also today I thought we were tactically poor for most of the game. Credit where it’s due that we did get over the line, but it still doesn’t feel like the manager has advanced his credentials on the back of that game. I’m not one to want him out at any costs. Six points from two games is huge in the Premier League. If we were to beat Forest then this would suddenly look like a good start to the season (expectations in mind). If Cooper maintains a position similar to where we are now then I wouldn’t expect the club to act. Just this win today will probably see him through to Christmas

I actually thought it was a good sub before he scored … honest. That’s really because I think he shouldn’t start games and should come on as sub late in games. He can help transition the ball upfield - especially with his falling over. He’s not a bad signing in that role but, due to the money we paid for him, I think he was bought as a starter. He’s not a starter and nor is he a long term prospect - but today he’s a legend

My problem is that I should be feeling that this was a massive win in the context of our season, but I don’t. For 60 minutes of that game Southampton were the better team. We looked technically and tactically poor. I’m probably more worried than I was before today, but maybe I should just take the win and move on to the next one. It feels a long time since we’ve been on the right side of a dramatic late win

Fatawu only played 30 minutes, but was easily MoTM. We were going nowhere until he came on

Our record under Italian managers: Ranieri - won league Maresca - won league Mancini …..???

My only claim to fame is that I once urinated next to John Elsom whilst in corporate hospitality at Old Trafford.

Did you mean: “fewer” full stops and more “commas”?

At this point I’m just waiting for the first screen announcement at the King Power stadium to wish Happy Birthday to someone called: Koo Prout

Perhaps he was just seeking an answer and this is not the one he sought?

I think we were pretty close to getting him before we threw our lot in on Patson Daka. It’s debatable who got the best end of that deal but, right now, I’d sooner have Daka

I do think that any Edouard stats are skewed by his Celtic time though. Irrespective of any debates about the quality of the SPL it’s irrefutable that Celtic were in an incredibly dominant position when he played there

We might be the club who put the first nail into the coffin that is the PL’s PSR rule book. The damage that Man City could do may make the whole thing unravel. I’m not sure how sustainable it’s going to be for the PL to spend all its time in court fighting case after case while lawyers get rich interpreting the fine print of a rule book that already appears to be ambiguous. Will the clubs themselves vote it down? I still think that the way forward might be for owners to pay a bond that is recoverable if the club goes belly up. I’m not, however, knowledgeable enough in the world of finance to know whether that is really a practical suggestion. Either way I’d like the ethos of the rules to be tested one day. They should always have been to prevent owners from taking clubs into financial peril and not to restrict competition and protect the status quo. I’m not convinced that the intent isn’t the latter. The big six will not, therefore, vote for anything that doesn’t protect their status