Steve Earle

Witness the two games we had against them in their first season back in the PL - a comfortable 4-goal win away when we got through their press at will, then a home defeat when too many of our players weren’t at the races at all.

Which means Souttar is off. Shame. Thought he’d be ace in this division but obviously his all round game doesn’t appeal to Enzo,

Absolutely. He’s not going to be Rodri, but could be good enough at this level.

How good was Hamza last night? I don't mean technically, or rabid-dog style, just sensible, responsible? I think we have our cover/rotation option.

So, didn’t get a run out at all. McAteer comes on for Nacho instead. 2+2=5?

Far too generous, but thank you!

In this tactical set up, true. What a joy in the first half to see him bust a gut to get back & stop an attack on his own - not in Tielemans’ skill set. I thought he was excellent today, tired tho he was at the end. Hugely promising debut!

Well that was interesting. Could just as easily have lost 3 or 4. Thankfully Cov couldn’t finish. A promising start to the Maresca era though, with lots more still to work on. Our 3241 in possession was widely advertised, so Cov’s 523 out of possession made perfect sense for them: they could man mark our back 3 and Ricardo & Winks. But Hermansen joining in the play always gave us a 6-5 advantage and meant that usually we broke through the press effectively. In theory that left 5 playing 5: our 4 plus the striker against their back 5. What I thought worked well in the first half was seeing Winks or Ricardo break through the lines instead of laying off to one of the 8s - that then gave us another 6-5 numerical advantage! Sadly we didn’t capitalise on that because our 8s weren’t creative enough and our wingers offered nothing. After weathering the Cov storm for 20-25 mins in the second half, Praet’s introduction changed the game in our favour. Wilf had done surprisingly well as a box to box midfielder but lacks creativity & control. We resumed domination of the ball - not without giving chances away - and class eventually told. In the last 20-25 KDH (poor in the first 45) & Madvidi (poor for the first 70) sparkled, as did Praet. Thought Winks was superb, even with the odd mistake. He looks the real deal in the ‘bumper’ role. Just need upgrades on Vesty (Coady can’t come back too soon, tho Vesty wasn’t poor today), Wilf/Praet & McAteer now. And I’d like JJ to find a way into that back three for added pace and one to one ability. But all things considered a decent start. Onwards & upwards! 🦊💙

Two big ifs there!

Agree with you - his coming on changed the game. But I still think he wants to leave and will. Expect our first choice 8s to be KDH & Casadei, but we need at least one other for cover/rotation

Well, there are legs in your second sentence. As for the first, he’d become a liability on the pitch (opinions differ as to off the pitch) IMO

Actually I’m not having that! The collapses were due to injuries, fatigue & lack of squad depth IMO, rather than to mental fragility or Brendan. And in both seasons, look to what we did in the January transfer window for your answers. I mean, Ryan Bennett FFS!

Same computer that couldn’t see us fail to finish top 4 in two successive seasons?

You have to feel for him, before signing as well. Which part of him sustained the injury?

This. Until at least two games into the season, and if we haven’t won either of them it’s pitchfork time!

There is that..

I’ve got that and plantar fasciitis. Do I win?

Good to see you back on the forum!

That, Peaky, is easier said than done for most of us! For myself, having seen my 9th relegation, and watched us last season fall apart like a train crash in slow motion, I'm surprised by three things. One, how little it hurt at the time. Two, how angry I became, and remain. Three, how excited I am by the prospect of a fresh(-ish) start.

Apart from being one of only two (I'm being generous to KDH here) players at the club who can play Maresca's no.8 role?

If he's what you call mediocre the next few seasons might come as something of a disappointment to you...

Not really. Apart from Madders, Brendan destroyed every player at the club. By ‘destroyed’ I mean one or more of: physically (overstretched like Ricardo & JJ), morale and/or motivation (eg Vesty, Cags, Vardy), or technically (eg Ndidi). You can bet Brendan had a negative effect on just about every player we had.

Well that’s obviously true. But what’s that doing in a Ricardo thread?

I can’t help but be excited for next season with a new manager implementing a new & potentially exciting brand of football. But today’s farce in Bangkok is just the latest in a long line of bafflingly incompetent decisions by the leadership of our club. Just a few examples; - not selling Tielemans in ‘21 when he was worth £50m + - long term contracts given to biscuits (Ricardo, JJ) - allowing Rodgers almost total control of the club - for example, allowing him to sign Vestergaard against the advice of the recruitment team - allowing us to go from one of the best days-lost-to-injury records in 15-16 to embarrassingly awful under Rodgers - failing to either back or sack Rodgers last summer - failing to sack Rodgers after Brighton away - total and utter failure to communicate with the fans at any meaningful level since Khun Vichai’s passing - announcing that two people whose own contribution to our relegation is open to question should lead an investigation into what went wrong. Can you imagine any public company allowing the CEO & another Director lead an ‘independent inquiry’ into what the company’s officers had done wrong? It’s unthinkable. - and the outcome of that inquiry was? - sacking Rodgers without a plan, throwing away the chance to take points off Villa & Bournemouth - the most ludicrous, stupidly timed pre-season since 2016 - etc, etc Bored now - I could go on and on - and still ferociously angry. I hope Maresca is a sign of forward looking managerial competence, but forgive me for not taking the current leadership on trust!