NewburyFox

I'm no Rodgers fan but he's chosen Ward as our number 1 for better or worse and he has to back him. You can't just rotate your keepers every couple of games. Iversen will know the spot is up for grabs if he does well in training and Ward continues to struggle.

https://dominicwellssj.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/boubakary-soumare-scout-report/ This is an excellent report of him from last summer. In short, it says he's excellent in possession and carries the ball well but struggles big time defensively, particularly with interceptions and tracking runners. We haven't seen much of the former as he struggles to get up to the speed of the Premier League, but the latter is glaringly obvious and has been from the start. This is presumably why Rodgers saw him as more of a box-to-box player for us, and that he needed to add goals and assists to his game, rather than as an Ndidi replacement. I have no idea how he's getting on in training so it's hard to say whether he should be shipped out asap or given time to adapt. Rodgers certainly doesn't seem keen at the moment.

How did Crystal Palace go about moving the Holmesdale Fanatics from the corner where they were to behind the goal? They must have just relocated all the season ticket holders already there? It shows it can be done, but there will inevitably be lots of unhappy people.

"The season" aka two weeks. It could be anything.

They're pretty consistent with a sort of 3421/343 style as opposed to Rodgers' 433. They do tend to have a scoring problem but it's usually finishing rather than creating, whereas we've looked as blunt as a hammer in recent weeks. Their movement is far better than ours. I'd love to see what he could do with the likes of Maddison and Iheanacho.

There was a lot of talk last summer about Tielemans entering the final two years of his contract and refusing to sign. We're now getting into the same situation with Maddison but there's not a peep anywhere about discussions being opened. We certainly can't afford to let him run his contract down too so I sincerely hope we're being proactive.

Brighton's movement is worlds away from ours at the moment. I do wonder what Potter could do with a better squad. I'd happily take him here.

Castagne is typically a better defender than JJ though I'd say. They both have strengths and weaknesses.

Their midfield was as crap as ours.

Lol. Completely and utterly deluded.

Watching up in the gods at St James Park today it's clear there's a real lack of movement from him - he just doesn't make that many runs. We had plenty of counter attacking opportunities today where we'd won the ball on the wrong side of their midfield and had the chance to break, but he didn't try and stretch their defence. Instead he just stayed central in front of the centre backs. He has a lot to learn.

I think the discussion of whether he is or isn't the most influential is irrelevant - it's simply saying it in the first place. You can make an argument that he is for the decisions he made while chairman, but why can't they simply say "one of"? It doesn't dumb down his legacy, avoids this pointless debate and doesn't give the impression (again) that LCFC only started in 2010.

It's a superb gallery that really brings together the journey the club has been on over the last decade - plus Elliott, Taggart and Walsh for good measure.

Unbelievable cross off his weaker foot.

His contract expires in just over two years time. We should be looking at renewing it asap.

KDH was booked for waving his arms and giving it the biggun at the Rennes fans Incredible atmosphere

I had a bit of a moan about goal music, pre and post match music and clappers to that LCFC email and got a reply from Jim this morning. "Thank you for your email. We appreciate your thoughts on the points raised. The issues were raised at the recent FCC and the club are looking at all things matchday for the new season. Kind regards Jim"

And suddenly this becomes the biggest game of the season. I'm not sure I can take another collapse after blowing the Europa League, then the Spurs and Forest games.

Yes, and good timing from him too. We don't hear anything from him so it was unknown whether he wants to run back to France at the first opportunity or knuckle down here. This interview, which he didn't have to do, very much suggests the latter.

Poor today again, although I don't think he was helped by being the right sided number 8 and trying to link with Hamza and Albrighton, who are two of our weaker players on the ball. He's much better with Ricardo there who is much more on his wavelength.

Miles off the pace tonight and was rightfully subbed.

King has had surgery on his hamstring, James has a foot problem (dunno what), no idea about Simpson.

He's struggling more this season because his weaknesses are exposed by our defence's inability to get their head on the ball at set pieces.

I like Lookman but he's far better on the left than the right, and we have Barnes there. If we sign him, we will still need a left footed right winger - plus two centre backs and a replacement for Tielemans. All depends on the fee and if we're planning on having any other big outgoings.

As bad as the football for the first 35 minutes and then picked up hugely once the players got stuck in to a few tackles and took some risks with the ball. That spurred the crowd on, which in turn gave the players a lift and they started to try and make things happen, particularly Barnes who had Coufal on toast. One feeds off the other. The players need the support but they also need to show some fight and desire to make things happen.