Ric Flair

Just seen Stephan has gone in at Rennes, so that's off. Few interesting coaches available though.

Sunderland have very strong ties to Ligue 1 and thr way they got Jobe Bellingham shows the directors off the field are working very efficiently. Not sure if Julian Stephan has got a new club but he'd be ideal.

I mentioned a few days ago that I think they'll employ a manager with Ligue 1 experience. They've a lot of links to that league and have made many young signings from there. Leeds got Bielsa and Wolves got Nuno. It's not the most outrageous outcome, although admittedly they didn't have a club at the time.

Can't disagree with any of this. Pretty much my feelings too. I just get the sense it's sooner rather than later that Alves gets to where they all expect him to be.

Rafiu Durosinmi from Viktoria Plzen was someone I'd looked at a few months back. But he's done his ACL 😂 Quite like Fotis Ioannidis from Panathanakios too.

I don't think it should be underestimated how Justin's pace bails out our defence at times. We were exposed more when Doyle was in the team IMO, but we got away with it. We were far better at building from the back though with Doyle. It's a trade off. Ideally the LCB is left footed and quick.

I personally don't think our strikers have scored enough, nor been involved enough. 11 league goals in 19 games for a team who's supposedly to good for this level, 4 of which were penalties is average at best.

I'd love to hear his thoughts on how the striker in this system creates or has chances created for him. There's likely a certain type of striker that fits this way of playing, but I'm not particularly interested if they're just a fluffer to create space for the maraudering 8's and wingers. I want a striker or a system that creates chances for their bagsman.

Going to repeat myself but if we want a left footed versatile player that can pretty much cover CB/LB/CM/AM/LW then Oliver Sörensen is right up there. Ticks all the boxes. His best position is central midfield and I like his energy and physicality that is probably more successful in Enzo's system than pure creativity.

Fatawu to score his 1st goal in front of the KP faithful. The dance will be unrivalled.

It's quite curious the content and interaction the club and the likes of the Leicester Mercury have with Alves. Clubs tend not to get involved in hype but I've never known an academy player not currently cemented in the 1st team get the coverage that Alves gets. I think they view him as the jewel in the Crown but it doesn't always work out that way. All three are class IMO, really hope they all make it. There's a few others ticking over nicely too, despite the negativity around performances and results in the U18s and U21s.

Got plenty bang on as well though son!

Him and his agent have made some very bad choices. My prediction turned out to be correct. His actions were preventing him from getting a chance here, Rodgers rated him extremely highly. He got a chance as a sign of goodwill and did OK, but still turned down a new deal. Looks on course for obscurity.

He's now got the physical stature to cope with 1st team football. Once the fitness is built up and they're happy with his knee, then he's ready. The club would be foolish to hold him back. Braybrooke close to a return with the U21s too. Hopefully next week.

I'm not sure mate. Others on here may know more. Nelson has a lot of suitors according to reports, some of which probably won't offer better opportunities to play 1st team football at the parent club, but as bigger clubs they'll likelypay more and also loan him out. He's a class act. We need to get this right with him.

Ben Nelson has the potential IMO. We'd certainly want to retain him and progress him, even if he turned out to be a Championship standard player only he'd be worth several million with the right development and pathway.

Game of cat and mouse on their contract situation from what I gather.

I've long felt Mowbray didn't suit Sunderland. You don't build an exciting team of young players and logically go for Tony Mowbray as manager. I know he was manager and that's the route they've gone down, but I don't think at his stage of his managerial career he's a project manager. I think they'll go for a manager with Ligue 1 experience in France.

😂😂😂😂😂

One quite noticeable change of late is the lack of subs. I thought it was because we had 4-5 injured prior to the international break but only 2 subs made vs Watford and WBA. Sheffield Wed's there were more but that's because he wanted to bring his players on he rested. I wonder why he's stopped making them, I think that's something he needs to be braver at with this run of games we've got coming up.

Agreed. He's one of the worst finishers I've ever seen in a similar sample size. I'm yet to see him connect with a shot properly, both from sheer power and accuracy. Never known anything like it. However, he's still an effective player of he exposes teams by going to the byline.

There's space for him, Mavididi doesn't really have much competition at the minute.

Agreed. Briggs pressing centrally made a big improvement too. That's something the 1st team need to do more and has got slightly improved since Ndidi returned.

Logan Briggs is almost as skillful as Alves. Really impressed. I know he suffered a bad accident earlier this year but like Alves, looks to be still very quick and agile.