JimmyC74

Is Ben Nelson injured? Would have thought he would be involved.

There is definitely a player there. Some nice touches but game passing him by a bit.

Was really pushing back against the logic of allowing Kasper further time away when we need to perform a belt and braces reset of our defence / set piece defending. I would have brought in a new No.1 but accept that won’t happen. I don’t see much difference between Kasper, who is on the decline and Ward.

This is crazy to my mind. unless you consider the root of the problem to be the back 4/5 and the GK blameless. I would be inclined to start Ward at the beginning of the season.

At this stage it looks like only minor squad changes are likely with us hanging on for Youri, or perhaps more precisely Arsenal, making a decision. if we get a left-footed right winger, a replacement for Youri and Perez, Cags, Hamza and Perez go then we are not in a bad place numbers wise. The key then is the work Brendan does on the training ground to get us organised / defensively tight plus we are relying on Evans staying fit. Would still like us to get Colwill in as I don’t see Evans staying the course and playing more than 20-25 games.

Maybe, just frustrating that we clearly have squad players nowhere near getting playing time who are coining it and we need to move. I am not sure we have the necessary skill set in Rudkin to effectively negotiate exits and free up the space we need. Hopefully I am wrong.

It is surprising, based on Brendan’s comments around player futures, that Rudkin hasn’t been more proactive with engineering some exits. Though not ideal, if we have to take a hit on a deal / cover a % of wages to get certain exit deals over the line then so be it.

You get the sense this could be a pivotal season. Can definitely see a scenario where we move Brendan on if results are underwhelming. The rebuild / refresh / healthy shake-up talk will definitely be used as a stick to beat him if we start slow. That said our first XI is solid. If he settles on a system and sorts out our set piece problem it wouldn’t surprise me if we start ok.

No doubt ….hopefully you are right and we get a couple of diamonds to push us on.

I think we may well need to reintegrate likes of Praet. Agreed. if Youri goes late it could negatively impact our ability to bring in a replacement. I am hoping tho we can get Orkun Kokcu.

Agreed but there in is the dilemma in that we need to move players out to meet squad requirements/ finance incomings.

Rudders tho is in place and should be leading efforts to clear decks of players the manager doesn’t want and recover funds to be reinvested in the playing squad.

Don’t disagree. I think a critical review of strategy and how we can be better is key for us to keep punching above our weight.

Acknowledging there are several weeks left in the window for player trading we appear to have made little progress with clearing the decks, what interest there is appears centred on loan deals or nominal pay in full deals. Our PL squad stands at 28 players compared with a limit of 25. And many of the fringe squad are reported to be on wages no-one else is willing to match. The case of Soumare raises so many questions around how well we performed our due diligence and how we have looked to integrate him. Was he a player Brendan ever wanted / trusted? Hopefully the Club has done a lot of work behind the scenes and shortly will move out a few and bring in 1 or 2 quality additions but, there is little sign of this and the later we go then the more selling clubs will raise fees to deal / there is less time to organize and integrate new players into the squad. This season will be more competitive with likes of Spurs. Villa, Newcastle all investing and it will be harder to make the top 8. Our First XI on form is capable of challenging for top 6 no doubt, but you always need 1 or 2 quality additions to drive standards / cover injury. The fear is if we don’t reach top 6 the likes of Madders and Fofana may look elsewhere. And we may also need to sell to rebalance the squad (finance moves / cover losses to paying up likes of Vestegaard’s contract). Do we need a stronger / more effective Director of Football to sort this out?

I think Brendan has said, at the conclusion of last season, he informed a number of fringe players they should find a new club as opportunities would be limited this year. So Is the real issue / failing this Summer not that we haven’t brought Glover in but Rudkin hasn’t facilitated outgoings? Should we have accepted we would need to subsidise deals to clear the decks? There is speculation around Praet (Fiorentina) Perez (Real Betis and Soyuncu (Inter) so we could still see trading but it appears we will do our business late. Whilst not ideal I would accept late deals so long as incomings actually improve the first XI.

It is surprising, I think, given all the talk of a refresh, that the Club hasn’t moved out anyone. Rudkin and team should have been working on identifying and lining up departures for months. Maybe they have and no one wants our fringe players. The worry is given the lack of interest we will need to pay up contracts or pay a % of wages to move anyone out this Summer.

Just unclear what the strategy the Club is pursuing and mindful of problems with bringing in players late. I would be happy with bringing in targets who will fit in to a formation and improve us as a group and hopefully we will get one or two of these over the next few weeks.

I agree we probably need to sell Kels and / Cags to raise funds but I haven’t seen any real links /firm interest and increasingly get the sense incoming transfers will tinker around the edges rather than inject the quality needed.

With the squad returning for pre-season next week where are we with new signings? Are we pursuing one or two quality additions and willing to go deep into the window, trying to negotiate the price as low as possible and get our main target ? Or Have we missed out on are priority targets and we are moving down the list to get more reasonably priced, achievable targets like Bourigeaud and Lewis-Potter? If it’s the second I am not sure how we have let Palace beat us to Ebiowei. Also you would think players with potential would need to be brought in earlier to help them integrate - we don’t want another Soumaré situation. If the first there is a danger the price goes up as teams will see us as desperate. Surely we should see a signing in the next week?

I see Joe Allen, the Welsh Xavi, is available after declining the offer of a new deal with Stoke. Maybe our transfer window will ramp up from here🤔

Assuming Youri stays we still need to bring in a new midfielder as competition to keep him at it. He will be motivated to perform through until the World Cup but there are no guarantees after and he can talk to international clubs in January about a deal (unless he signs an extension).

Rodgers does have previous with falling out with his recruitment department at Liverpool so that is possible. The decision to let Congerton go and delay with Glover coming in hasn’t helped us. Our first XI when fit and on form are competitive but we need to make a few quality additions IMO to keep the team fresh. Also if Youri stays a bit of competition wouldn’t hurt him. Left side CB, midfielder and Right winger the positions we need to fill but we all know that. Hopefully we can get a few over the line in the next few weeks.

If he stays, signs an extension and storms the league it should mean we have achieved something and helps us attract a better class of player. So even if he goes next year it’s a win / win.

Agreed that groundwork would have been done, but question more about whether Brendan is having more influence over decisions whilst we wait for Glover. The likes of @Muzzy_Larsson might tell you Rodgers being more involved is not necessarily a good thing.

And question is who is making the decisions on incoming players with Martin Glover stranded.