ALC Fox

Sometimes I think there are self-fulfilling prophecies in football. For example, I don't think Puel was that bad until the mass pile-on. The football was boring but he cleaned out the squad, made some good signings, reduced the average age of the team and had us finishing respectably in the league. Granted, the Rodgers appointment worked out better in terms of league position and a trophy in the cabinet, but he also inflated the squad, refused to sell assets at their peak value and contributed to the problems we're still experiencing today. While the example of Puel is a negative one, I think self-fulfilling prophecies can go the other way too. By now, Will Alves is surely pretty well known by most of the fanbase. He's been talked about for years as a massive talent, and his injury was big news on this forum and beyond. If he starts a Premier League game and makes just one successful take-on early in the match, the crowd is going to go nuts. The feel-good factor is there right away, and that can influence the trajectory of an entire game. From there, he gets more appearances and the team is living off the goodwill that creates in the fans for several games. Fan atmosphere can influence games, and a run of games can influence a season. This is what I mean by a self-fulfilling prophecy. We don't know what Alves is like at PL level, but we won't know unless we play him. The crowd will be on his side from the absolute very beginning and we can essentially will (sorry) good performances from a player and the team. I know the Premier League is a technical beast and mavericks are fewer and further between now. But these things can be coached into players. The excitement of having one of our own - who is also an attacking player, a flair player, the kind of player that fans love and who all fans secretly wish they could be - is enough to give this squad, this team and even Steve ****ing Cooper a boost so big, it could snowball and affect the rest of our season.

It's a completely minor, probably entirely inconsequential thing, but for me the blue border around the pitch at the King Power is a tiny symptom of the sanitisation of football. The ground looks too 'clean' with it. And the stadium feels less organic and raw nowadays compared to, say, the late 00's. I used to like to feel as though the grass was this hallowed area that should never be encroached on, but for some reason when I'm in the stadium it almost feels like I'm watching the game on TV. I don't think I can adequately explain exactly why such a tiny thing feels off to me, but it just does.

The second half against Spurs and the comeback in this game give me hope. But how much of that is Cooper and how much of it is the players themselves? We're routinely second-best for long periods in every single league game. And I think the players are better than that.

Please just let Evans, Monga and King know there's a pathway here. Get them in a first-team squad ASAP.

I spent some time in South Korea 9/10 years ago and some of the taxi drivers had TV shows playing while they were driving. I believe it had only recently been outlawed at the time but was still prevalent. I wonder if they still do it. I also had two of the scariest journeys of my life in that country, and weirdly the drivers weren't watching TV. The first one the taxi driver was having a full-on argument with another driver. Swerving in and out of lanes, leaning out the window, pointing and shouting, leaning over. The second one our taxi driver misheard what I'd send and took us through a tunnel through a mountain. His foot was to the floor. And we streamed right up behind cars before overtaking at the last second. When it was clear we were going the wrong way he turned around and went back through the tunnel doing the exact same thing. I've never been more relieved to get out of a car in my life.

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 - ?