SafewayFox

Marti’s words and actions haven’t added up in relation to the academy. Before anyone suggests Monga, he’s a completely different beast plus our winger options are more limited than we’d like to admit IMO. Page not making the squad the moment that Reid is fit, is concerning for me. Nelson getting a lot of minutes in pre-season surely would have given him the appetite to kick on rather than be 4th choice, so with his contract running out in the summer of 27 is a worry. Aluko being our most athletic FB not getting a sniff in match day squads has wound me up a lot more than it should too.

I’m 99% sure that we looked at Bowen but thought he was “too slow” and “wouldn’t make it in the PL”.

I typically agree but he had a whole half and whilst we lost our shape completely, he looked devoid of anything other than wanting to rile up his markers.

How many of us have been asking for more low risk signings? (think the alleged £4m fee) Imagine last if last summer, we spent that on 4/5 players rather than Skipp and Edouard’s loan fee?

Exactly this. I genuinely don’t think their player is even getting to the ball. The ref doesn’t cover himself in glory but we’ve seen them given before (without VAR) so not sure why everyone is so surprised.

I didn’t realise that Marti doesn’t have other CB’s to choose from 🤯

So out of curiosity, you’d rather start Ayew?

We’re going to draw this game after going behind, from a defensive mistake aren’t we?

Top post. My basic reply is look how few players are in the opposition box when attacking? We are so averse at properly attacking teams under Marti.

Nelson was captain when played in pre-season, which clearly now means nothing but that’s not normal for a 4th choice CB surely?

That’s what I mean, play him or lose the lad! We all know what Jannik and Wout’s ceiling are yet still getting game time.

Jannik has had moments this season both good and bad. Preston his lack of mobility caused our downfall IMO. Yet against I think Birmingham, he was making big and decisive challenges. I think the Nelson in noise, is due to us all knowing that Jannik/Faes etc aren’t good enough for the PL yet in Nelson, we could have a first choice CB on our hands for the next 10 years.

Is it not “Ric’s not getting a haircut until Page and Nelson start?” that seems to be the current trend doesn’t it?

Anyone else more annoyed about last night the next day or just me? I think watching a very average Hadji Wright score his 7th goal of the season hasn’t helped.

Watching the Millwall v Cov game and whilst there is quite a lot of sideways passing from both sides. The biggest difference is how quickly they go through the gears to get up the pitch and both sets of wingers have taken on a player down the outside rather than cutting into a really congested central area. I’m showing my age when harping about the good old days, but when our wingers aren’t having much joy against their FB’s, why don’t they switch like they used to?

Any chance of a pod soon? @Ric Flair Definitely curious to hear your thoughts on Marti and whether Jake’s got any other scarily accurate predictions like Stephy’s form?

Imagine thinking it’s sensible to have Bouba and Skipp on the bench when Reid clearly won’t last 90 minutes. Page should have made the bench as a minimum but also considered for offering some fresh legs and impetus as a Reid substitute.

I started phasing out press conferences when Brendan started spouting absolute PR Brendan nonsense. But imagine if we all did that for Marti, his talking has probably been his best asset and that’s a worry.

We’ve had one shot on target in our two last games. We should do a sweepstake on what minute we’ll achieve this milestone against Swansea 😢

It was done last summer IMO. We had a horrific PL transfer window and none of the players bought out of Skipp, Soumare and Reid improve the starting 11.

Ruud impressed me (false dawn) when he first came and said he wasn’t a romantic and set to a particular style but we all know how that panned out. How many managers have we had now that say one thing and offer the complete opposite? Also, during pre-season we were able to offer a high press as he actually played academy players who had the athleticism to do it.

Jannik doing Jannik things yet those not wanting Nelson reference one first half against Huddersfield. We know Jannik’s ceiling and frankly it’s not very good. Nelson could be another £30m asset but we refuse to consider him after he had a great loan at this level. We deserve everything that we get with this leadership in situ.

A random game to compare tonight to but does anyone else remember when Nicolas Pepe made Thomas look like a competition winner?

Not the cleanest of strikes but the movement and drive from a CM highlights how awful the Bouba/Skipp pairing was. JJ signing in the summer regardless of what league that were in, seems like such a good bit of business. £4m fee too, which is allegedly half of the loan fee that we paid for Edouard to just sulk around Seagrave.

Completely agree. Daka isn’t my ideal striker choice but he’s got to be the choice. Just him running in behind will make it harder for the defenders that he’s up against, especially at this level we need to appreciate that his poor movement wouldn’t be so easily defended against.