Chelmofox

We cant based much on yesterday. I fell apart the moment i saw Ward warming up so god knows how the players felt, especially as we had a 3rd or 4th choice midfield. By the 2nd half it was a weaker team than we served up in the Carabou cup. Ruud will need time. A lot was undone in preseason. Newcastle were able to exploit us in a way i think most of the bottom half won't be able to. If we can get back to almost full strength i think we will see similar improvements we saw against West Ham and Brighton. Mads is key, as is Jakub as backup. I hope Jakub is only weeks away from coming back. We can't have Ward anywhere near the posts.

I think there is a reason Iversen isn’t being selected, and Jakub isn’t fit yet. Let’s not think that Ruud wanted to play Ward today.

Shite. No midfield and was game over when Ward came on, which is something i would never see again. Hopefully Mads its just sick, and we actually have a midfield to pick for next week.

It was one of the most stupid decisions he made, and wasn't one made for any commitment reasons as there were better penalty takers on the pitch. Pretty sure he wanted his 'ball under the shirt and sucking thumb' picture as he had just announced his missus was pregnant.

Gonna be Faes isnt it?

Do we know what they agreed to implement though? And even if they had agreed to implement it, what sort of timescales were they working towards. I could be wheels are (slowly) in motion still, or that if Enzo had people in mind to bring in then these all of a sudden became unavailable when he left.

Ndidi? “Correct, he has a hamstring injury so he’s not available. We’ll see how he reacts, but it seems like it will at least be a couple of weeks.” Wilf usually likes most of the winter off anyway. This injury was always coming.

I also wouldn't put it past him to start a massive season long unbeaten run starting on the the 29th.

Is it a great escape when we've never been in the relegation zone, and currently sit 5 points above it?

Sorry - make myself clear here. Enzo well within his rights to have a moan but they are just going to have to man up and work around it. And i agree, out of any club that can moan Chelsea are the ones who are better prepared to deal with it than anyone. Pretty sure a youth team could do a job for them out there. Maybe they could play the same Casadei that they took away from us because he wasn't getting enough game time.

Its not just about the squad though, and its very unlikely you should rotate the entire team and many first teamers would have to travel even if they don't start. You have to get coaching staff / medics etc at both games. They should do what Spurs did and just say fu** it to the Europa and not play.

I think both are reasonable. This season, there is a euro campaign and an fa cup run to come. He is training with some top players in a club that is pushing for the title so he will get playing opportunities and could get to experience some special moments. Would make sense to have chats about his career at the end of the season. But agree i don't think he has a long term future there.

Surely, months in to your transfer, fighting for your place is the right attitude?

Contract expires June 2026. I think regardless how this turns out we should be looking to sell in the summer. I don't think we should be renewing his contract on existing terms and we certainly shouldn't be letting him run it down if we can help it. A good season should mean he can go somewhere that might pay a half decent fee.

Mavadidi would scuff them all the time when he joined. Scored a nice scuffed free kick last season.

Did well last year, but didn't make the difference the season we were relegated. Sad to say that i don't think he would make much difference now. Bilal and Facundo are providing the attacking quality, and we have Soumare / Winks / Skipp / Ndidi who can all rotate. Not sure a 6 month loan makes sense to me.

14 goals scored? Everyone saying too good to go down but they aren't scoring enough. They have managed to eek out some decent draws recently though, but they have played Villa when they were at their worst and a Man City side that seem to be imploding.

Everton have a nasty run of games coming up. 'If' we can beet Wolves we can jump Everton and they may find it hard to not get sucked in to the bottom 3. I still have a gut feeling Palace go down with Ipswich and Southampton though. But the 2nd half of the season is going to be fascinating and will be dependent on what teams sack their managers and the replacements they get.

Yet we saw an improvement against Brighton though?

Could be argued that Brighton are more of a feeder club for Chelsea these days. Chelsea simply buy a lot of players. If they are willing to pay the money, then i don't see why we should stop selling to them.

Would be sad to see many of those Man City fans become Man United fans again.

I went to see 'we will rock you' a few years ago. There is a well known encore, but loads of people around us disappeared before this. Brian May turned up to do the solos. Not as good as seeing Vardy score but still a decent moment. Weird to leave early.

Lady behind me usually leaves early and says its because she has to get to work. I always think that's fair enough. Yesterday just as Vardy scored she said proudly 'im just going to have to be late today'.

I really need to read up on the models. Does Bobby's xg apply from the moment he receives the ball or from the move as a whole? Because if its the move, i think Vardy's pass is above average and thats where i think a lot of teams would have missed.

The one i am genuinely worried about in the January window. Match of the day yesterday they made a comment that Chelsea are probably a GK and one other away from mounting a title challenge. I can see Chelsea making a late charge for him and gambling on trying to win the title. Regardless, wil be gone in the summer so we need to make sure Jakub is ready to take over.