nnfox

Why so salty? He came here, it didn't work out, he sees his future elsewhere and wants to play top flight football. Coming to Leicester was always going to be a stepping stone for him, his ambition was NOT to become a Leicester legend, it was to move to best place him to secure an even better contract elsewhere. It was obvious at the time and folk shouldn't be at all surprised. The whole downing of tools is an unfortunate side effect of player power in the modern game. Heck, we've benefited from exactly this in the past. It's unsavoury but he isn't the first and he definitely won't be the last. I'm at peace with it, I recommend that stance for others.

There has been a certain resilience over the last two games which has been absent for the last 12 months, so that's super nice to see. I'd say we are 2 or 3 signings away from a team capable of challenging right at the top. Grit and determination are needed for sure, but it only gets you so far, still need an extra little bit of quality.

And Daka might still be a success here. He just needs a run of games

So Palace were sniffing around when the price was £25m but now it's £35m, suddenly West Ham are all over it? Right. The only thing I know for sure is that nobody has got a clue what's going on. Everything will become clear by this time next week. A bit of patience is needed.

And there was a cut off point. There was a time not that long ago when Chelsea were bang average and Man City were worse. They were able to spend, spend, spend with reckless abandon and get their place at the top table and now they sit there smugly, knowing nobody else can replicate their method.

Clubs have overspent in the past and performed badly, it's just that when we did it, we got whacked with the PSR baseball bat. PSR clearly gives an advantage to the big 6 clubs. It's well documented that player wages are a fairly accurate predictor of success, certainly in the medium to long term. Clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves, Brentford, Palace, Burnley, Southampton, Sheff Utd, Forest, Fulham, Villa, us and so on can never attain sustained success because they and we have to massively gamble on player wages. When the wage bill is in excess of 90% of revenue, there's not a lot of wriggle room for mistakes. Yes, they can punch above their weight for a season or two, but missing out on Champions League football can be devastating. Doing it twice in two seasons (Hi Brendan) can be fatal. Palace are a good example of a well run club with limited ambition. They are on a decade plus run in the Premier League and know their place... Mid table mediocrity and the hope of getting two or three easy cup games and riding their luck in a couple more. Meanwhile, the likes of Man U, Man C, Arsenal et al can pay the big wages for the top players. Their wage bill hovers around the 50% of revenue mark due to huge global revenues. If it all goes wrong for a few years, no problem: reinvest in the squad and go again. For anyone else, because of PSR it's a disaster - being forced to sell promising academy products whilst honouring big contracts for under performing established pros. The whole thing then just serves to weaken the underdog and strengthen the big boys. They are absolutely locked in to a status quo that serves them and them alone. A fixed number salary cap, perhaps around £120m, which is still an awful lot of money, is the only thing I can think of that can possibly make the game more exciting in the Premier League but I cannot see that ever happening.

Two glaring takeaways for me is that we desperately need a striker. Every single time Ayew receives the ball, his first (and often only) thought is to try and win a free kick. If plan A doesn't work then we can all see there is no plan B. Daka is... rusty. We also desperately need a CM. We literally have three senior CMs in the team. Skipp and Winks are similar style players (but Winks is better). There's a player in Soumare but he just seems lazy and always looking to do stuff at half pace. My fear with the midfield is that we are one injury or suspension away from going from a weak midfield to basically no midfield.

Not the free flowing attacking football I wanted, but a resolute defensive performance. Okoli with quality blocks, Hamza had a good game too. Fatawu generally poor except for his goal. We gave the ball away cheaply waaaaaaay too often. Looked better with Winks on the pitch.

Great goal from back to front.

The thing is, Daka just needs a run of games. And we obviously have Ayew too. No point spending money we don't have on players we don't need. Bin.

Kasey has a part to play this season. He seems to be getting better. He's not a starter, but decent cover. I wouldn't be against selling, but at some point we need incoming players. This transfer window's policy of sell, sell, sell seems to be extremely short sighted, unless we are in serious serious trouble.

Well "confident" seems a little bit of an exaggeration. The article says he's one that they would like, initial talks have happened with Leicester who told Sunderland to poke it. Also says Cifuentes wants to keep him. Sounds like misplaced confidence to me.

When the manager makes comments such as: "I'm very aware of the task I have in my hands. I'm very aware of the dynamics of the team unfortunately...so it's not going to be an easy task but I'm 100% committed to change things. It's not going to be an easy ride." He sounds like a guy who needs backing from the fans, not the blame.

There was no way she was expecting a "slap on the wrists"! She was always going to prison and would have got a longer sentence if she had pleaded not guilty. The wheels of government were turning to restore order to the streets. Punishment was swift and harsh and order was restored. The subsequent Go Fund Me campaign has enabled her husband to pay off the mortgage and put their daughter through private school, but y'know, crime doesn't pay.

With a 50 point deduction we might, but not for on the pitch performances. New manager, new tactics - takes a bit of time. Depending on who leaves between now and the end of the window might be the difference between play offs and mid table, but not relegation.

If AC Milan come in for him then farewell and good luck and he should definitely keep his agent.

Actual celebrities in a celebrity edition. About time!

This lad has a future. Impressive.

Concentrate on the league

No Fatawu. He's off isn't he?

I can understand BEK going. There's a release clause in his contract, probably for this exact reason: He signed for a Premier League club with a sizeable risk of relegation and wants to be a top flight player and he wanted a get out of jail free card. I'm pretty sure he'd have stayed if we had remained in the Prem, but we didn't, so I can see him going, unfortunately. I am OK with this to a degree as we have some decent youngsters coming through that can play that position, so all is not lost. Fatawu though - he is special talent. Miles above the standard of this league and could have just about every full back on toast. For me, he is the difference between promotion and staying in the Championship. If we do sell him, this late in the window then that would be one of the most incredible of all the bad decisions made at the club.

I miss the days when fans used to just get behind the team. For me, Cifuentes has been like a breath of fresh air and is going about his business in exactly the right way - concentrating on the football with purpose, clarity and confidence. We've had a torrid time and a lot of the players have been poor, but how much has that been down to the ineptness of the past two managers? Lord knows both managers got absolute pelters most of the season last year. It is time that certain sections of the fanbase took it upon themselves to change their attitude. We're not going to offload half of the squad and put faith in academy graduates. These 'cancerous' players are going to be with us for at least a season or two. I'm confident that Cifuentes will bring them through gradually - it's a long season! Cifuentes has to work with what he's got and his job is made 10 times harder when fans boo substitutes onto the pitch and then boo him when he scores the winning goal. And folk on here think that other teams' fans are weird!

They've had a great start to the league. They should be aiming for promotion so might rest a couple? If we make wholesale changes and they don't, it could be a tricky night. Would love to build some momentum and have a cup run. Hope we win

Ayew immense. Fatuwa looking sharper and looks like he'll have fun this season. Faes and Vesty undroppable.

Faes. Wow. You beauty!