StriderHiryu

He's a very good manager. There are major question marks but he has performed well at teams with very few resources. He's due a job with better resources at their disposal. We'll be hampered by PSR this season but still have a good squad. If we went down, someone like him in charge would get us back pretty quickly I think too. My preferred choice would be Cuesta of Arsenal, even though he's just 28 years old. But Corberan is the way more sensible choice. He's still just 41 and has a combination of experience, excitement (worked under Bielsa) and proven ability. He'd also likely be relatively cheap to hire too. I think my order of coaches I would like to see that are realistic in order would probably be something like: Cuesta Corberan Robins Rohl Still Rosenior The only person I would not want to see at all would be Moyes. West Ham were painful to watch.

Last time round they were recommended Maresca by people within the industry. It worked pretty well so I think they’ll be open to the suggestion. That said I think @Claudio Fannieri is on the money with his suggestions, even if they are less exciting. If they did ask about up and comers then Cuesta from Arsenal would be the guy. Pep Lijnders, Klopp’s number 2 might also have come up but he went to Salzburg. Carlos Corberan is only 41 and worked under Bielsa. I think he over performed with WBA big time this season. He’s probably the most well rounded in terms of excitement, experience, cost and availability so I think he might get it, though Rosenior available for nothing will make the board think.

Rosenior I feel it's a bit early, but I think he has a lot of promise. I think he's got to get a team into the playoffs at minimum first before coming here though. In the Championship Coberan I think is extremely impressive and think with a good squad would surprise a lot of people. Danny Rohl was incredible but might be too soon, though I think what he achieved was only second to Ipswich and McKenna. Potter would be the one I think we would try to go for, though not sure we'd get him.

Another bold choice would be Wilfred Nancy of Columbus Crew: Nancy plays a style very similar to Maresca: the 3241 system in possesion, and trusts in his team to play out from the back and under pressure: Notice that they are one of the few teams in WORLD football that are above us in terms of playing our under pressure. How he would fair I would have no idea, but my theme is to pick someone that would ensure some level of continuity. We don't need to rip up the playbook, we need someone to take the good parts and make it work even better and against better opposition. Yes the MLS is totally different, but his system is working and it's the 3241 system. He's transformed that team and again would probably sign up for a 3-5 year time period. The Osasuna guy could be good, and there are many other exciting coaches in football now too. But I just think that if we go for someone totally different, we will end up in a position where players are signed that don't fit the system, and we just can't afford to do that right now.

The game has changed. I am reminded of the legendary AC Milan coach Arigo Saachi who said the following! If Enzo stays, the fact is we are favourites for relegation given the points deductions and transfer difficulties. With him gone, it's hard to see that we stay up. In that case, going for someone really bold and innovative who can stamp their style and ethos on the club would be a great thing to do. Given his age, he would be interested in a multi-year project and realistically the plan might be to accept relegation but make sure we come up again straight away. There are other candidates who would also be good fits, but this is guy is super exciting, and I think Enzo showed that an exciting manager is better in the modern game than "a safe pair of hands." Look at the Championship; Cifuentes and Rohl were inspired appointments. I hope we are bold with an appointment, even though it could well be Potter that comes in.

If not already mentioned, then Carlos Cuesta, the Arsenal no.2: "Cuesta, who began coaching at Atlético Madrid in 2014 as an 18-year-old, is believed to be open to working with Knapper again after building a strong relationship with him at Arsenal. Several other Championship sides are also thought to have shown an interest in Cuesta taking over in the summer, although Arsenal are believed to be determined to resist any approaches. Cuesta is one of Arteta’s closest confidantes and has been credited with helping to transform Arsenal into title contenders through his role as individual development coach, with a heavy focus on improving tactical understanding." https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/15/arsenal-no-2-carlos-cuesta-norwich-manager-championship Arsenal play a very similar style to us, only better. Playing out from the back, attacking number 8's, tricky wingers. Look what he did to Saka, and he is known for working 1-1 with him. This would mean that the squad overhaul would be minimal, and he'd probably stick with us if we got relegated. He would have time to build a young and exciting squad in the same way that Enzo started out doing.

Already worked with Lavia, Palmer and Casadei. He's a great choice for their project.

Bit late to the party, but wanted to share this, it's a list of the PL2 players of the season. McAtee won it a few seasons ago, which is one reason he's so highly rated. However, overall the list is pretty mixed with no player really making a big name for themselves. Curtis Jones is good, but not a star at Liverpool. 2023/24: Will Lankshear (Spurs) 2022/23: Carlos Borges (Man City) 2021/22: James McAtee (Man City) 2020/21: Liam Delap (Man City) 2019/20: Curtis Jones (Liverpool) 2018/19: Aaron Connolly (Brighton) 2017/18: Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) 2016/17: Oliver McBurnie (Swansea)

@Fuchsocksblu It's fair to say he has a bit of work to do before matching Ndidi I originally had a comparison to KDH, but it's painful to look at! However, this comparison is unfair because it's all about how a player is used. Looking at the videos of the player, I can understand why we'd be interested in him. Ndidi himself was adapted from a CDM to a CAM and did pretty well. Enzo is definitely good at coaching players, look at the improvement and turnarounds from many of our players over the course of the season.

That speaks volumes to not having someone at the club who is in charge of that. Rudkin shouldn't be the Director of Football, he should the General Manager / Head of Football Operations. A Director of Football could even be someone that reports into him. But a proper DOF would be responsible for directing a style of play across the entire club, looking at player development from academy to first team level and building players throughout that time to do so. I think one of the reasons why Rudkin liked Rodgers so much is that Brendan wanted to do that given his history with the Chelsea academy. Possibly it's the reason why we went for Maresca too. But the issue is if that person leaves, you have to start all over. The DOF should be someone expected to be at the club for 10 years+. As you say the issue is that Top, Rudkin, et all have an idea of how they want the team to play, but don't know the specifics. Even within possesion football, that can mean many different things, and in the Enzo system it means players that can turn and recieve the ball under pressure and work in tight spaces.

I signed him for my Leicester team in Football Manager and he smashed it. Based on that *highly* scientific research, it's a yes from me. He's a box to box midfielder who is great at crashing the box, with a lot more guile and technique than it might first appear. His ideal position probably is as one of the 8's in a system like Enzo's. 3M is a steal, worst case scenario he gets sold to another Championship club or sent back to Belgium to OHL. Best case scenario we unearth a gem!

Buzzing for Ade! What a performance from him today! Sad we couldn't sign him permanently, he looked good here, but Gasperini has taken him to another level. Atalanta are a proper team with great fans, I hope they enjoy this win, they have more than deserved a big major after their efforts over the last 5 years. Congratualtions to them!

That's guy I would go for if Enzo left. If you look at Arsenal play, a lot of the attacking patterns of play are nearly identical to ours. Losing a manager can happen at any time, so the bigger worry for me is the disconnect between Manager and DOF. The Coady signing is an example of a player being signed that doesn't align with the way we want to play. Souttar also not used and did the manager ever really want Tom Cannon? Then if we bring in another manager that plays a different style again, then players we have might not fit that system and have to be changed. That's why it's important to have some kind of general style so you can have a smoother transition between managers over time.

So far I am not sure they have ever utilised one that they've inserted yet. I wonder if they have one for Cole Palmer as that's got to be the first real "mistake" that they have made in the market for a while. But I just don't like the idea of it on principle. This season they are bringing in Savio who the City Group signed through Troyes, but was sent to Girona to get round FFP, and now is being sold to Man City without much competition for his signature. I wonder why!? This stuff is killing football!

I don't think this is an unfair valuation given fees paid for Wharton, Scott, Bowen, etc. However, for that money I bet you could sign Adrian Bernabe from Parma who was also ex Man City and has worked under Maresca and still have some change. And there wouldn't be the buyback option which IMO should not be allowed!

I get Kramaric vibes from him in that I expect him to go on and have a good to great career, just elsewhere from here. Kramaric was great for Hoffenheim and linked with moves to Bayern Munich though stuck it out there. His record internationally is no joke. I expect Yunus to be in and around the Turkish team for the next decade and can see him ending up with a good move to Italy later in his career.

110% and you can't blame him. I dare say there's a reason why he's not too fussed not playing that much on that pay packet either, rather than kicking up a fuss. Coady's level is probably top of Championship / relegation battling Premier League sides. For that reason I wasn't that convinced when we signed him, but did think it was a good signing to help us get back up straight away. We've done that, even though he's basically not played at all, which I think is a huge surprise, but these things happen. I think getting him off the books is smart, but can't see Stoke covering all of his wages, which amount to over 3M a year at 60K a week. We might get a 1M loan fee or similar plus 50% of wages covered, but can't see much better than that.

7.5M fee, wages of 60K a week is what I've heard. There are some rumours they are even higher than that as there was a promotion clause.

At both Fulham and Spurs he's been labelled as a pace-merchant, incredibly fast, explosive shot but not that good on the ball. So playing inverted full-back? I can't see it myself as I don't think he's got it in him. It's a really tricky role that requires players that are techincal and good at playing their way out of trouble. He's not strong enough or defensive minded enough to play as outside centre back, and not technical enough to play as an inverted full-back. As an explosive winger, he does have something to offer. But I think he's more about winning the race than using trickery. In our system Enzo wanted players who against a deep block can engineer that half a yard to break open teams that park the bus, in that regard he's not so good. However, given in this division few teams if any will park the bus against us, having a player with explosive pace to offer a threat on the break with proven ability to finish is 100% something we'd be interested in. But that would still require him to play on the right hand side and cut in. TL'DR he's got a lot to offer, but think he's way better suited for other teams. The lack of technical ability I don't see winning Enzo over.

I can't see Sessegnon coming here, just because I don't think he fits into our system. If he was to play, it would be as an out and out winger instead of full back, and he is left-footed, so would have to play on the right hand side. Definitely got bags of potential and someone may still get the best out of him, but he wouldn't be suited to us right now.

The Coady signing was a mistake. I can see why we signed him, but for Enzo's system, he wasn't as good as Faes, Vestergaard or Justin. I also don't think he's suited for Premier League level anymore, which is why Wolves and Everton passed on him. This site has him down on 75K a week wages: https://www.capology.com/club/leicester/salaries/ That might be inaccurate, but the wages are right for a lot of our other players, so it's likely that Coady is on a lot, so getting any amount of them off the books is a good idea if he's not going to be used. In terms of CB's, the Premier League is 38 games not 46, and eithout Coady we still have 4 that could be used. Kristiansen I bet would be great as the LCB, but I imagine he leaves the club. I think we might "only" have to sign 2, and on paper both would be cover not starters, even though I think it's likely we do sign a LCB as a starter for the start of the season. What I want to know is who our top scouts on the forum like @kingfoxand @Ric Flair have in mind for LCB? Who from Scandanavia is good that we can get!?

Enjoy 10 years of at best Yo-yo-ing between the divisions! At worst? Well what's League One like these days?

32 goals from 78 games for Blackburn 25 goals from 89 games with Peterborough 35 goals in 142 games for Colchester Has had multiple seasons reaching double figures as an attacking midfielder, albeit at lower league levels. Overall he is at worst a 1 in 4-5 scorer from attacking midfield, and those numbers have been creeping up over time. He is definitely a gamble, but those are very decent stats. He didn't look overawed playing against our team featuring many players with vast Premier League experience. It all depends on the price. If there's an option for a lower fee plus player loan, he could be good business. But definitely appreciate the point you make.

We can definitely be competitive, but I guess the point here is say we go on a 5 or 6 game losing streak... what happens then? Even in the great escape season, even though we knew it was going to be tough, there was a lot of toxicity amongst the fans till the form turned around, and for the most part we weren't even playing that bad despite many losses. I think a lot will be down to the manner of defeats. If we lose games because we give goals away from trying to pass out from the back, or inability to defend set pieces, it won't be fun amongst the fans. If it's a case of being beaten by pure quality, those ones are much easier to take. There is also a world where we are relatively solid throughout. Chugging along and picking up points without ever really being in trouble, a bit like Fulham this season. But most of the other teams have had bad spells; Bournemouth, Palace, Brentford, Everton, Forest, etc. It's difficult to imagine we won't have at least one such spell.