SafewayFox

“Does he have enough PL experience?” Surely would have been muttered based on last seasons recruitment under Cooper 🤮

It’s obvious, Winks is Trump. You heard it here first 😜

I clearly have too much disdain towards Top and Rudkin but the compliments that they’re getting on here baffles me. Our entire transfer window has been controlled by PSR issues which they caused. A few examples that highlight this and my anger, Vardy hasn’t properly been replaced yet we’ve known for how long that he was leaving? Bilal (eventual) and Mads fees seem low compared to the current market.

He loves a diag doesn’t he? Anyone else picture him pinging them to the like to Abdul, Stephy and Monga? 😍

Skipp who we’ll never get anywhere close to what we paid for him. Or Winks who is on a huge wedge, who is likely to continue to sulk and walk on a free in 10 months 🤯

Exactly this. We have moved players on after we had an overpaid, bloated and unbalanced squad. We broke all sorts of unwanted records last season, what player refresh have we undertaken to stop the rot?

A good player but like a lot of modern day footballers, genuinely have no idea what his best position is. He doesn’t have the pace to play on the wing, his numbers right now aren’t screaming out that he’s a 10 but not sure he has enough defensive nous to be an 8. Technically a very tidy player but best for all parties that he goes and we make a small profit on an unhappy player.

It might be too simplistic but I think Thomas’ athleticism is what has given him the nod over Alves?

It’s too early to write off Alves but on face value, Monga and potentially Silko have leapfrogged him in the pecking order. All a game of “what if’s” but I wonder what Alves career would have been if he didn’t suffer that horror tackle.

Yet all the players have had a relegation wage drop. Vardy was considerably our highest earner as an example. I don’t think it’s asking too much for a few shrewd loan signings, Akgun would have been on how much as an example?

But how much have we saved in wages from Vardy leaving in the summer (even Ward was on £50k per week), on top of the money that we raised from this summers sales?

This 100% I was surprised how Kyogo made so few attempts to run in behind him. When the game is played in front of Jannik, he is a very good CB as witnessed last night. If you have a mobile striker (or even slightly one) wanting to run behind, we see the big flaw in Jannik’s game.

Okoli is clearly getting the nod next to Vesty due to his athleticism. Jannik was great last night but as Sky said numerous times, that was helped with the ball always being played in front of him. This morning is about enjoying the 3 points and Jannik was a MOTM contender but there is an obvious blueprint to play against him and Okoli.

Ayew infuriates me so much. He plays as if he is contracted to take two extra touches.

Or just take him out. Page’s and Abdul’s pressing has been the only half attacking threat that we’ve offered.

The only problem with that would be the fan response to Rudkin and co for selling Bilal for an apparent “below market value”.

What a fantastic pod, once again. Shining a light on mental health for men is always a win in my eyes. Lee was a great guest but also a special shout out for Jord also articulating his own experiences too. Jake was spot on about the “draining of the swamp”, we’ve moved players on for a fee (who knew we were allowed to do that hey) but until we get some of the overpaid leeches like Faes, Soumare etc, off the books, we’re far from draining the swamp.

JJ has never been better than Chilwell. Chilwell infuriated me when it was clear that his head had been turned. But there was a reason we were able to sell him for such a big wedge.

Spot on to be fair. We’re also very guilty of overvaluing our own players. I was with a couple of mates who are ST holders for two other PL clubs and when said about Mads, they think that we’re “lucky” to have got £18m for him. I loved Mads but the version of him since his injury is quite worrying and has had a dreadful start at West Ham so far.

Wasn’t there a video doing the rounds about 9 months ago about how many goals were conceded due to JJ? We’re a fickle bunch, he’s been part of our downfall in the past few seasons and I can’t shake how overpaid he’s been…anyone know what wedge he was on originally to the big jump after he re-signed?

To be fair, Cags was put in with the kids under Rodgers. Why would he have considered signing an extension? Youri though, I completely agree, it felt destined that he was happy to just plod on and take a huge signing on fee.

I know it’s been said but these stats sum up why we’re going to be so awful this season. In the first 8 minutes, apparently Charlton have won 5 aerial duels and 1 tackle to our zero for both. No fight from these dossers.

Is it not the fact that draining the swamp includes the likes of Bouba, Jannik starting after last week etc!?

From a fans perspective, it’s a bit rubbish as always want an academy lad to do well. However, the price that we got reminds of playing FM back in the day, when you’d create a manager just to pay inflated prices for squad players.

Did this exact thing not happen with Mads too? People were genuinely saying they’d start Jakub over him.