Verumex

Praet is more suited to play there in an attacking capacity. I do genuinely believe that Ndidi has been trained to play there to offer us a different strategy in the same formation. I expect to see Casadei there more often than not, but I do expect to see Ndidi pop up on the starting team list every now and again, depending on who we're playing.

Oh so you can read Maresca's mind? Ndidi has started league games now as that number 8. You don't start a player in a key position of your new system in your first league game to make a point. You do that because you believe they can play the part. His role in that position hasn't been the same as it will be when Casadei fills it. He's there to lead a big press and retrieve the ball in their half when we lose possession. And he's done that well. On top of that, due to him being closer to the box he's ended up in positions he's not used to being in, and, including friendlies, scored 2 goals as a result. Again, I'd say that's him putting in good performances in this system. If a good offer comes in for Ndidi, I imagine we take it, but if not, he has a role to play in this system. He's a player that offers us an aggressive press which will be very useful against certain teams and set-ups, as well as an option to switch to later in games to help us control them.

They've seen us put 9 goals past him in 90 minutes.

Glory supporter. Get rid.

Genuinely. It's not about whether he's worth that, it's about what the value of a player of that position is to the buying club, and they set the price when the agreed to buy Lavia from Southampton for 60m.

The market has changed drastically since we sold Maddison. If we had held out, we probably could have gotten an extra 20m now. (Although it was best to sell him early imo) You can't value him based on the Maddison and Barnes sales, you have to point to the sales of Rice, Caicedo and Lavia to judge what he's worth.

Minimum acceptable offer has to be £60m. The market for midfielders has changed in the last 2 weeks, and to take a young Midfielder that has shown plenty of promise, who is important to a Championship side, would take an offer that at least matches what Southampton were offered for Lavia. I don't see this happening because KDH is unlikely to force a move, we have no reason to sell, and Liverpool would have to grossly overpay for him, and they're typically shrewd with their money.

Shhh, you wanna get sued?

.

The amount they've just spent must put us in a strong bargaining position for an option or obligation to buy loan I'd have thought

Chelsea have been very busy today, I think it's understandable that they've not really being paying attention to a loan outgoing...

Welcome Casadei!!!

Are we fluffing our lines by not playing Ward?

I'd like him to be asked what he means by "Technical Decision"

"If we had been playing a Premier League team we would have been rinsed." To everyone saying this in this thread, and I've seen quite a few: I have good news for you.

I like it. It gives Enzo options if we want to change things up, given us having keepers with different skill sets. It means we can start with a sweeper keeper, swap to a shot stopper with Iversen if we want to shore up our defence, or if we've scored loads and want to give the opponent a chance to get a few goals themselves, we can put Ward in.

We've played two games

But would he start for Lazio?

Their pancakes were divine!

Are we trying to take out each Burton player one by one?

Hamza looking solid. Very happy if he's the backup to Ricardo. Might not be as good at getting a pass forward, but I feel much more comfortable about our defence.

I thought we collectively agreed to ban J from here?

Well, he will.. He's got a spot all nice and warmed up for him.

Not the norm no, but that doesn't mean that every player has to cover themselves in bubblewrap. Ndidi has a reputable for being a 1 dimensional player, which wasn't really an issue when he was the best in the country at what he did, but if he wants to find a suiter, he'll have to prove to other clubs that he can do more that just defend well. That's my guess anyway, I could be off the mark and he's always intended to stay. Maybe he was one of the 6?

Two wingers and a CB if we can manage to offload one. If we manage that while keeping hold of Iheanacho, then I think we're laughing.