fazzyfox

Wasting my transfer window buffet evening last summer was the last (cheese) straw. We have Premier league status, you’re not part time secretary of the Dog And Duck phoning round to patch up your A team on a Sunday Morning after the skipper and half the team are missing after a stag-do (OK you sort of did have to do that once but anyway…) We had to make every penny count, fee and salary. The combined input of Eduaord, Skipp, Reid and Okoli and those wasted first half opportunities given to Ayew, shocking.

Who’s this Embargo chap we’re signing? Spanish, Columbian, Italian? Gerrimin!

Frustrating as it was there for the taking, just so sloppy and riddled with individual errors. The three behind Vardy played some great stuff first half, after the goal it was a shambles until the subs and then not all that good. We’re handing in Premier league team sheets with Vestergaard, Soumare and Justin on, who can we be expecting to beat? Other results went well for but we can’t do our bit, this was as close to a bread and butter league match as you’ll get, the opponents were admitting they’re poor in the first half and we gain nothing from that.

Tonight proves It doesn’t take much to earn three premier league points, it’s just that we don’t get to play Leicester

Needed to make hay in the first half. Or score a goal.

Noticed that, asked the mods to move it to the transfer window thread

Who shouted “Shoooot”, it’s Soumare not Pele ffs, waste of a move

Agree, there was still a lot to do but I instantly said “s**t, I don’t like this”. A decent ball but a sharper CB plays him off side whereas Vestergaard needs planning permission from the council to change direction!

It ‘s there, it’s do-able, we need one of the front four (or anyone else) to just be that bit more composed with their shot, we can see the daylight but then try to force the issue prematurely, just needs a bit of calm after the higher tempo stuff has created the opportunity. They stretch us occasionally with a bit of pace and flare but we’re dealing with it collectively quite well.

Schwarzer no longer welcome back to the club the clown. He had one job to do and he fluffed it.

I suspect warm balls. Well if they insist on wearing nylon trousers under the tv lights….

Noooooo. Cue the focus on Ruud.

Also noticed the immediate flags for offside rather than seeing the move out before flagging, it really keeps the flow and rhythm of the game. An offside is accidental by the attacking player, not a real offence so there’s no need for it to be a major stoppage (Arsenal try and fit a water break in), just put the ball down and take the free kick.

Maranakis will spend next weekend preparing his legal defence against suggestions of match fixing, meaning he will miss that days exciting 2-2 draw.

Was that the doctor Dra Cula ?

Lucky so and so, I got Kenilworth Road…….

Hey Jamie, there was a cake but the post office queue was long and the inevitable happened. Hic. Have a red bull and champagne cocktail on me tonight, great stuff, a living legend doing his thing, gives me goosebumps.

Devastating team news, we can’t play him vs Palace…..how will we cope

Losing away to Ipswich with pitch covered in snow and ice, ref considers the factors - Visibility of lines poor, risk of injury high, flow of ball inconsistent, verdict = must be postponement....then Ipswich Manager Roy Keane comes across and suddenly it's......."Game on".

Just the type of player we've been seekin'

Not the very worst but De Bruyne in one of our home games v Man City had at least 4 yellow card incidents including a blatant cynical foul on a break away attack, throwing ball away & standing over ball when conceding free kicks and several follow throughs on Kasper after clearances, he just seemed to have a free pass that day. I think the ref wanted his signed shirt for his son perhaps

I think we'll field a side of non-regulars, on paper man for man it will look stronger than QPR's side but the relevant factor could be the QPR players play alongside each other week in week out, have an understanding and established partnerships whereas our lot will act like they've never met, like the first half v Birmingham last season until Albrighton came on and steadied / improved us. With the new-ish manager there are opportunities for players to come in and impress and stake a claim for further opportunities but I'd rather it was just a couple (Alves / Wormleighton) surrounded by an otherwise "normal" starting line up to see how they fit rather than a group of players who individually can offer something but collectively don't have the character and spark of the better regular starters or any cohesion. Prediction 1-2 (Daka)

Ah, so he is capable of having a shot on target!

Re this threads relevance, in part it can answer some of our questions about our club regarding whether there have been players in the market worth signing. Of course the list of players who have been available isn't exclusive to those who have joined new clubs as some may just stay with their existing club but as each transfer comes up you can ask "Should we have been in for him?" It's pretty rare that one comes up and you think, yes that would have been a great fit for us, a position we need, affordable, we're the right sized club for them etc. Some you won't know for a few months if they're a speculative signing, a bit of an unknown but generally you can have an opinion over most by looking at what we already have and the factors around how realistic it would be. The other angle is an indication of activity by those around us in particular, if we are in a battle with Southampton, Ipswich, Wolves and Everton (or other) for survival then knowing one of them has improved significantly would be a gauge to compare our own activity with (So far Doris the Tea Lady has taken on a part time assistant...). The first point also answers those counter arguments "Well there's no-one out there", "There's no value in the January Window", "It's alright saying sign a right back but who's available" etc. It's an understanding of the current market as opposed to tunnel vision although I accept the argument that you can make things happen yourself by being pro-active, asking questions, putting in bids, it's not just an agent led cattle market with a fixed number of players available. For our club it is about what we do to improve ourselves that will have the impact and rightly the focus but a rivals bigger improvement can ultimately affect our season too.

Re this goals compilation and the evolving versions of it throughout the season you are aware that your opposition study you in minute detail looking for weaknesses in the days leading up to a game, you can be sure they didn't even have to try to conclude and back up this weakness with high resolution detail, 3D graphics or hairline lines it's so blatant and so obvious they've been exploiting it week in week out, I know exactly what I'd be telling my side leading up to facing Leicester, it's not even a fine detail, it's a massive chasm where a defender should be present.