Collymore

I can only think you were born in 1842 and at the age of 183 your mind has finally gone!

If he starts Ward today Ruud brings his inevitable "Ruud Out" topic forward by about 10 games I'd say.

Not quite Vardy post production quality.

Now that's how you play the drums!

I'm not going to criticise the players too much as I think there was heightened security at the time but me and my lad a few years back were waiting at Vicarage Road to meet the players after a match. Most didn't even make eye contact, they just jumped straight on the bus as it was all Watford fans shouting to be fair. Then Vardy came. Again, kind of ignored us all and got on the bus, but as he was walking up the stairs of the bus he glanced out of the driver's window with me and my lad waving at him in our Leicester shirts. He turned around, jumped down the stairs, ignored all the Watford fans pleading for his attention and came over for a quick photo and high five. It literally made our year that did! What a guy. I always say they show their true colours when media cameras aren't around. Absolute gentleman and the only one out of 25 players who made an effort/took the risk of saying hello.

Isn't Mercians from the word Mercia which is Cov?

Shame on you.

Thanks for letting me know and welcome to Foxestalk!

Also the bloke I was sat next to who said he was going to sign up to Foxestalk... Register and say hello! (You didn't pick my cap by any chance?)

You would hope and expect for each and every decision made on that pitch there is a reason for it backed up by statistical analysis beforehand and they'd know thousands times more than the average fan. I think fans are pretty good at seeing something not working though, not perhaps why but they can see it's not working. I do wonder sometimes if things are so data driven that then the basics become ignored. "Forget the fact we're getting overrun everywhere over the pitch, we're conceding goals right left and centre, we've got an 8% better chance of getting into the upper left quadrant where we can start phase D if we kick the ball there..."

Yeah this is the problem. You need a Chris Wood type player. I always think it's good to have that type of player in the squad, a huge unit you can pull out from time to time. We saw Manchester Utd buy Weghorst for this a few seasons a go. I mean he never scored a goal for them and Utd have been ran worse than us but it gave them an option. I'd love us to scour Europe for a 6ft 8 Eastern European brick laying monster who'd be happy to sit on the bench and be wheeled out for times like yesterday to give us options. The fans would love it, I'm sure!

Enzo played more risky stuff in the Championship with say Winks often coming deep and playing tippy tappy stuff. Most of the time it worked, but there were a few times (Blackburn away) where we were caught out. You could see it was far more a benefit though. Under Cooper we started to set up to play the same but Mads would either just suddenly quickly boot it with everyone back set up on the 6yd box or sometimes Faes or the other CB would kick it to Mads for him to then boot it. I never saw this being implemented so much under Maresca. Yes, the idea of it is to entice the opposition up and bypass them and hopefully then have a better chance of attacking with them not set in midfield properly but yesterday we didn't even try and disguise we were going to do it. It was kick after kick after kick over the the wing where Newcastle were like "What, you really going to keep on doing this, the exact same thing over and over again for us to set up and easily win it back? - thanks!"

What the hell is going on with these absolutely abysmal goal kicks we've been taking this season? Yesterday we percevered with putting 2 men on the corner of the 6 yd box, only for Mads to fire the ball over to the wing for us to lose possession time and time again. What's worse, Newcastle were set ready with an attacking shape, pushed up, as our defenders were still stood on the 6yd box ready for attack after attack. We saw against Chelsea (Faes horror show goal) how this is so dangerous unless you're sure you're going to keep possession. Surely if I'm Ruud, I'd be like "you know what, I've got no midfield, the defence is like a siv, let's try and win the ball higher up the pitch and go back to basics" I do worry that Cooper's team is still having a say with Ruud. I've seen some identical stuff that I only saw when Cooper came in still being implemented with Ruud - it's like the ghost of Cooper is still haunting the dugout. Sometimes it's little things such as ball back to GK on KO or ridiculous goal kicks, but it worries me that Ruud might have said "go with what he said for now" I'm hoping over time he changes things and bring his own team in but we seem so fundamentally bad at times. We're unable to do the basics at all.

It must have been the season before. I thought he had played at the start of that season and then dropped.

It's becoming clearer to me that the Vestergaard horror show in the relegation season was predominantly down to the way Rodgers set up. He's looked a different player ever since Rodgers left.

One thing recently that has surprised me about Mcateer is his obscene pace. He was beating everyone he was in on a foot race with and pace is something you've either got or haven't got. I think Mcateer hasn't reached his ceiling yet.

I think and hope there's a bit more to it than that.

Vladyslat Vanat I mentioned this guy at the start of the season. He's already bagged 9 for Dyn Kiev this season. He looks like the next gem to come out of Ukraine. He'd be relatively cheap too and would sky rocket if he found his feet in the Premier League.

I expected to see the ball sailing over his head while he was back pedaling to his goal there!

If Winks is fit.

We could be seeing Skipp Choudhury at Newcastle!

Some of those goals I'm glad I've revisited. Some absolute sensational finishes I'd forgotten about.

Got to completely ignore the transfer fee and hype around the deal. Did I remember reading on here he might have a bit of an attitude? If so, he'll need to get rid of that. He'll also need a Barnes style successful loan in the Championship before he can be considered progressing with us. I'd say that goes for everyone. I hate to say it, I'm really surprised Braybrooke hasn't kicked on at Dundee and I'm starting to doubt my blinded faith in his ability. I think he needs to be recalled ASAP and sent out somewhere else. As for Alves, he is desperate for a loan. Somewhere like Birmingham where he could be a focal point in a league he'd dominate. Next season perhaps QPR, Portsmouth or Hull where he could go nuclear in League One. These players all need minutes in competivie football now.

..also have you got funds to spend in January? He thought for a moment and then a cheeky smile and a simple "yes" He could have gone down the diplomatic route of keeping cards close to his chest to keep pressure off the board or for better negotiating with clubs if he'd made out we're skint. Instead he thought and it came across to me as "I'm saying yes now publicly because you told me that in London so you better stick to your word" Also the single "yes" so much more powerful than some waffle.

Loved it how he said he was looking forward to learning from Kingy about the club. Great leadership not putting himself on a pedestal. He seems so intelligent.