Big_Nige

Realistically, we know Alves, Braybrooke, Page & Aluko are ready for men’s football and this will be their breakout season with us. The last thing we should do is sign a player that’ll block any pathway they have to the first XI. I want those 4 starting week in week out But the two lads who have impressed me most are Carr and Neale. Probably because they are new names to me, but both are technically excellent, and Carr is so direct. They both feel like new signings. It’s one of them where would there development be better off with regular minutes with a league 2 club or as part of our first team squad. Id personally keep them around, and re-access in January

You can never blame a player for the fee, whatever we paid for Skipp is down to the club. He don’t set his own transfer fee. Blame the club not the player My issue with Skipp as a footballer is two-fold. One on the club and one on the player Last summer we spent the majority of our available transfer budget on a 5th defensive midfielder. Now if that purchase is someone who immediately improves that area, and we move on some of the other players who play in the position then fine. But we didn’t. Last summer we stock piled midfielders who offered no attacking output when we should have been investing in a centre forward. Not Skipps fault, but woeful transfer strategy from the club When we have the ball he hides. Running around and getting stuck in is the absolute minimum I’d expect from any player. To be fair to Skipp he’s been one of the only players who has consistently “ran around” and that last minute block against Middlesbrough the other week when he was running on fumes epitomises the good part of his game. But……when we have the ball he doesn't do enough for me, he doesn't give an option to the centre backs, he doesn’t support the attack, and if he does get the ball he doesn’t progress it. Only passing backwards or sideways taking the easiest option time and time again. Now on Tuesday against Bristol City he didn’t shy away, and he played some lovely football at times. This is the Skipp I want to see, easily man of the match. I’ve not hated what I’ve seen from him this season, but let’s not call a sow’s ear a purse. I want to see him take more responsibility, I don’t want to see him holding hands with an opposition midfielder when we have the ball. I want him to make space and start dictating the play and I want to see him consistently do this. Then he’ll complete the redemption arc for me

It was quite noticeable he didn’t play a ball into the centre of midfield once. It was like he was only allowed to go square to Nelson, or wide to Hamza or Fatawu. He looked a better player because of it

I can see it playing out the following way Rowett keeps us up, quite comfortably in the end. The fans really take to Rowett, the players play for him and finally there’s a bit of positivity and togetherness between fans in the stands and players on the pitch. The board, knowing the fans are back onside are hesitant to part ways but also they don’t see him as the right fit to take the club forward. They give him a 2 year deal, but will look to get rid at the first sign of a bad run

True, but just felt he got pulled into the wrong area that time, Thomas was too high and it left a gaping hole behind him I love an aggressive centre half, but it needs to be in the right moments, we’d just turned the ball over and weren’t in any kind of shape I’m nit-picking. I really rate him, but that’s the kind of thing he’ll need to learn from if he wants to play at the very top. Don’t stop being aggressive, just do it at the right times

Very good last night bar the penalty It wasn’t even the tackle for the penalty, it was the fact he was too tight and got turned that put himself in the position to make that tackle. That’s the stuff that comes with experience He has all the attributes to be a very good central defender

Let me caveat this by saying I’m as frustrated about the state of this club, the mis-management, the board, the players, and the weather as much as everyone else. I hate everything about us at the moment and I’ve never felt so disillusioned But football is a mental game just as much as technical. Booing your own players during a game will not suddenly give them a kick up the arse to play better. Confidence breeds confidence. Good performances and good decisions on the pitch come from being confident in your surroundings. Our lot have been in hiding for months, scared to do anything other than choose the safe option on the ball, nobody wants to put their head above the parapet and take leadership and ownership because it puts a target on their back It’s easy to say they get paid their money they should be able to deal with it, but psychology doesn’t work like that, I guarantee if the crowd tomorrow make it a cauldron of noise, in a positive way towards the players , then you’ll see more of a fighting, battling and brave performance.

Absolutely spot on this, the last thing we need as a club is more manager upheaval, but it’s painfully obvious Marti isn’t the man to take us forward. I suspect we’ll limp along to the end of the season win 2, lose 2, and finally keep a clean sheet some point in April. We’ll appoint a “new DOF” in the summer. Sack Marti in October after an indifferent start to the season, the new manager inherits a squad he doesn’t want and we will have wasted another 12 months while we turn into the next Stoke/WBA or Norwich and become marooned in this god awful league

He’s another manager, just like Potter did at Brighton, that benefits from a well run, structured, club that has a clear way of operating, and has joined up thinking all the way through from owner to DOF to manager. As soon as these types of managers move to basket case clubs a-la Chelsea and Spurs they fail. What would make either of them be a success here? As much as I as I admire Frank for what he did at Brentford, his failure at Spurs was so obvious. I’d be the same here. We’re a shambles of an operation

I really hope Alves stays fit for the second half of the season and really kicks on. He had the talent, just needs a run of games

Nail on head

He’s potentially class, has all the tools, but he needs coaching. Enzo was turning him to a world beater. I get the impression Marti is giving him too much freedom to do his own thing, which can lead to either A) scoring from the half way line or B) making brain dead decision after brain dead decision I’d sell at the right price, but a player of his talent should be ripping up the league. And it’s just another in the long list of Marti’s failings

Ollie Skipp and Waterloo have the same syllables. Just saying woah woah woah woah Ollie Skipp finally looks like a footballer

He’s here He’s there he’s every f###ing where Ollie Skipp Ollie Skipp if anyone deserves to take on Walshies chant it’s Ollie Skipp. I’m fully onboard his redemption arc

I wonder if he’s stuck on 9 games because there’s a clause that if he plays 10 it triggers his loan meaning we have to keep till the end of the season. Either that or he’s doggo. Properly just doggo On a side note, here’s AI’s overview of JC Julián Carranza is an Argentine striker on loan at Leicester City (LCFC)from Feyenoord for the 2025/26 season, known for his pressing, link-up play, and goal-scoring ability in the EFL Championship, making significant appearances and contributing to the team's attacking efforts with runs in behind and outside the box shots

https://youtu.be/ITVPKMznN8w God I love a thunderbastard, and Abdul’s goal yesterday was the work of a genius. But Vardy’s goal in this game against Arsenal is one of my absolute favourites in recent memory. When you consider the opposition and how we cut through them like a hot knife through butter. It was pure sauce

He was awful yesterday. Genuinely looked like was playing with a stinking hangover some of the brain dead decisions he was making. Looked a walking red card too And that was still better than any performance Victor Kristiensen has ever put in for us We have a truly terrible set of fullback. Ricardo aside, but even his ball retention yesterday was as bad as I’ve ever seen it. It’s been a problem area for years, our fullbacks actively hinder our wingers at times. They give them zero support and they don’t even have the game to be able to. In the modern game where you need to be fit, athletic and technical we’ve either got broken players (Ricardo) or brain dead players who are poor on the ball (Thomas, VK, Hamza) It’ll be interesting to see what we do on Tuesday. Thomas is banned, VK is injured, Ricardo won’t be able to manage a second 90 minutes in 3 days. Perhaps Aluko will finally get a chance, I hope to god he takes it and makes left back his own for the rest of the season

We massively improved when Ramsey came on. He didn’t do anything of note as such, but he took up better positions than BDCR and gave their defence something different to think about. The team had a better balance about it and we kept the ball higher up the pitch. One of the many problems with players like Daka and BDCR is they don’t look after the ball well enough. Moves break down and you can’t sustain any kind of pressure. Against Portsmouth the midfield 3 has to be Winks / JJ Ramsey

I don’t know. I think he has something. His movement is good, and his link up play is decent, but looks about as sharp as a cucumber. He needs minutes. Daka isn’t the answer, Ayew links the play but isn’t a number 9. Id like to see him have 2 or 3 starts on the bounce. You can’t realistically judge a player getting 15-20 minutes here and there

Did he write that sign then? The only thing you’re going off is the video. He’s not the only player there, not the only one with his phone out, and not the only one laughing yet the Foxestalk Kangaroo Court was out straight away as per

Really buzzing for him, this season could be the making of him

Porto paying about £7m for Jan Bednarek blows my mind

The tone will change if we go 1 nil down against Oxford for some The club is at a crossroads, we can’t throw money at the problem and for the first time since the Pearson era we’ve got to re-build the club. All the signs so far from Cifuentes points to he’s the man the lead the project. Big positive for me is it seems like we’ve got a manager who can affect the game on the touch line with his little tweaks and substitutions. And he learns from game to game. Preston we were caught out with a high line so we’ve visibly sat 5 yards deeper. Charlton I thought we got bullied, against Birmingham who were just as physical we stood up to it, and gave some back. Loved that There’s a tiny bit of positivity around the club (on the pitch) again, you could feel it in the ground last night and I’m here for it

I try, and it’s hard sometimes, to only judge a player from what I see on the pitch. We don’t know these people as individuals, we don’t know the ins and outs of daily life at Seagrave, and these days any media interviews are sanitised to the point of it being an AI script You don’t get a peak behind the curtain very often, perhaps Winks is a complete arse, or perhaps we’ve just twisted the narrative so we can add him to the list of pariah’s to make ourselves feel better

So far I count the charge sheet as 1. Being pictured in a nightclub at a club sanctioned Xmas do. To make this even worse he was laughing at the time 2. Not moving his entire family to Eyres Monsall 3. Being pictured at home on the day of a game after being explicitly told by the then manager to stay away 4. Not clapping the fans that boo him Obviously all tongue in cheek, in a time when feeling towards fans, club and players are at an all time low Winks is just rightly or wrongly synonymous with said feeling. For what it’s worth I’ve always liked Winks, he’s a system man and he’s a very very good player in a very specific system. Thought the issue with staying overnight at Seagrave was handled poorly by Ruud, there was no hint of animosity towards Winks in the championship last time around. I’m sure they’ll be some revivalist views but if there was a game he was unavailable for there was universal panic on here. The squad as is, Winks is our best midfielder by quite a distance. With him in the team we have a better chance of success, however if the relationship between player and club has soured to the point of no return everyone would be better off parting ways