ALC Fox

Obviously he'd probably have his head turned by Man Utd but if we were to only get back what we paid, we should just turn down any bid like that instantly. He's worth far more than that to us now.

Last season I remember watching the Preston home game thinking this is the most comfortable I've ever been watching a Leicester City game. I knew we were fantastic and I knew we would win. We were in complete control. This, tonight, was a world away from that. We had a taste of what we could be under Maresca. We need another coach like that because games like that are just not good enough. Absolutely no coherence to our play. We've gone from being able to pass Championship teams to death to not being able to string a move together against a League Two team. Sure, we looked okay in moments tonight. But we never imposed ourselves on the game. We never took real control and forced the issue. If we can't do that with our senior players, why aren't we giving some of our fearless youngsters a go. I'm willing to believe this was just a stodgy midweek game in a competition we're not focusing on, but performances need real improvement.

It's been sh!t but if it's true they went for the manager, that's inexcusable cvnty behaviour

Of course we did, forgot about that

Don't mind Buonanotte and Edouard starting. Ricardo too, he needs some minutes. Thomas and Soumare just shouldn't be here now. Would much rather Alves than Reid but hopefully he gets on the pitch. Same with Golding.

No Popov in the Barrow squad tonight.

Let's suspend a bit of disbelief: Imagine Cooper lasts the season and keeps us up (by a fingernail, presumably, if it were to happen at all). Next season we start poorly and are unable to progress, but we're aiming to establish ourselves again rather than merely to survive, much in the same way Aston Villa wanted with Gerrard and now Emery. So Cooper's out. If we were to follow the Villa blueprint, who is the Emery-like figure out there who can stabilise the team and get it competing in the top half of the table again? By that, I'm looking at established figures with good records who maybe haven't had a chance with the really elite clubs or weren't given much leeway if they did step up to that level briefly. My first thought is Gasperini. Second is Sarri. But who else could fit the bill?

Had exactly the same problem on my Pixel 6a, with FT only. Initially I thought it was the sheer amount of traffic after the Everton game but it continued on into this week. The page would appear but it would hang and I couldn't scroll or click for several seconds until the loading bar had finished. This just fixed the problem entirely. Cheers

Poor bloke. Think he needed that loan to go well.

Never heard of vampire kangaroos but they sound terrifying!

I do

Exactly. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that. Getting even in the heat of the moment is all very tempting but it's always better to remain calm and if encountering someone who is driving recklessly just let them go. There's no point adding yourself to the number of dangerous drivers on the road. When idiots and reckless drivers go past us, my partner and I tend to mutter to ourselves and put on silly voices and say things like "Ooh look at me in my Audi/BMW/whatever" and "Ooh my journey is so much more important than your journey, I must get there quicker than you". Kind of takes the sting out of the adrenaline and irritation

So what's the answer to the midfield problem with Ndidi actually playing well as a #8 last season and a roving #8 or #10 this season? Rewarding him for playing well but dropping him back to accommodate El Khannouss or Buonanotte doesn't seem right. I don't think we want him in a deep-lying role anymore. But dropping him in favour of the others seems unfair at the moment. With the other two lads actually being specialists in that position, though, this does seem most likely to me, unless: - We switch to a similar system to last season and have Buonanotte or El Khannouss as an 8 alongside Wilf and then drop one of Winks or Skipp. - We moved to a midfield diamond and drop one of the wingers to accommodate a midfield four of Winks, Ndidi, Skipp and Bilal/Facundo. - Give Buonanotte or El Khannouss start nominally as a winger on the understanding that they'll often drift inside. It's quite a quandary. Cooper obviously likes this midfield and I can understand the approach away from home. Also, Ndidi is playing well but I imagine we'll carry much more threat on average over a period of several games with El Khannouss or Buonanotte instead.

Haha yeah remember that!

I was quite positive about Cooper. He did really well at Forest under the circumstances and he appeared to be liked by his players and loved by the fans. We're going to need a different approach at times in order to stay up, but this news has me worried. Were the players not consulted on the type of manager they wanted to work with? Was due diligence not done on this during Cooper's interview? Did we just think that he was going to impose his working methods without rubbing a few players up the wrong way? No manager is going to please every player. If it's just a few of them and we can continue to work as a squad and start picking up results then there's no need to panic. But if he's pissing off most of them and we can clearly play better football than we are doing, and include more of our attacking talent, then this is a reason to worry and we should just go and get Corberan ASAP.

Could've just made it the away kit or the third

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c0494zkxprpo Fourth kits in football. Noel Gallagher has designed one for Man City. Why? They don't need them. Three is literally the max any team could possibly need. And you could argue that actually teams only need two.

https://www.jeunesfooteux.com/Yusuf-Yazici-ex-LOSC-convoite-par-3-clubs-de-Premier-League-_a72826.html Apparently Leicester, Everton and Bournemouth are interested in Yusuf Yazıcı. Apparently we want a deal to be done quickly. Give Me Sport and Sport Witness also quoting the article above. Tier 4, no doubt

He's already starting games for the U21s and came off the bench for them in a 'senior' fixture. The loans will free up space and allow the likes of Monga, Evans, King, Onanaye, etc. more opportunities at that higher level. Monga and Evans look the biggest talents of that U16s cup-winning side and will hopefully find opportunities to train with the first team and potentially make the bench in a cup game. For me the signs are that the culture is already changing. Small, green shoots at the moment, admittedly, but I can see the academy really beginning to blossom this season and beyond.

Great to see Monga starting an U21 game. I've just done some cursory research on the player's ages, and was unable to find the ages for a few of them. But the below looks a lot healthier for an U21 side now that we've sent a few players out on loan. Giving some of those younger lads games at U21 level should, in theory, give them the kind of experience that will bring their development on. Are we finally, finally, starting to see a strategy with the academy that will produce a regular conveyor belt of talent that we can either blood into the first team or, if not, sell for decent money rather than letting them go at age 22 for nothing? Bausor - 19 Wormleighton - 20 Gray - ? Aluko - 17 Amartey - 18 Cartwright - 19 Evans - 16/17? (Saw a post saying the was 16 four months ago) Monga - 15 Pennant - 20 Page - 15? (Could only find Louis Page who is apparently a defender so strange for him to be listed so far down the starting XI) Onanaye - 16? French - 18 King - 17 Dyke - 17 Khela - ? Otchere - ?

I've previously said I think he'll be our worst signing this window, but I'm becoming more optimistic. Now, of course, this could still be the case even if he is fantastic (just as long as the others are even better ). Looking at the videos of him, we need to be able to find him in the box time after time after time, and therefore we need creativity in the team. When he's on the pitch, Fatawu, Mavididi and Buonanotte/El Khannouss also need to be on the pitch, or he's just not going have a sniff. If we can get the ball to him in the right positions, we may have a renaissance on our hands here.

Well try coming up with rules that are actually fair for all clubs and that don't have a bunch of loopholes in that can be exploited because they were written by idiots.

Imagine Everton fans if we go and wallop them in a few weeks

The Saudi transfer window closed yesterday according to Transfermarkt https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/transferfensterdetail/statistik/top/land_id/146/plus/1

It's also worth remembering that Fortuna Dusseldorf are making 4 home games free for all this season, with the eventual aim of making all home games free of charge, offsetting the drop in revenue by acquiring more long-term sponsors.