SafewayFox

Did I really read that you can’t compare Enzo’s pre-season coaching ability to Cooper’s? That’s madness - it’s the only fair comparison that you can make as anything else is all prediction based. Enzo as a manager (tactical awareness mid game etc) was a novice but his coaching is at elite levels, Cooper on the other hand is far from it and that is evident from his pre-season showings.

Way too early to put him in the bin even if the early signs from previous clubs/limited pre-season games suggests too. I’m with the many others that are frustrated we have blown so much of our limited budget on a position we are stacked in.

The “highlights” sum up our current reality - it looked like a Lens showreel for some sort of promo. Every clip was us defending/conceding.

Okoli a CB that Enzo would have signed off? Not having that….he likes CB’s who don’t treat the ball like it’s a bomb.

Whilst I agree with your sentiment. The painful admission from your post is the fact the players have gone from a well drilled team to looking nervous, devoid of confidence and quite frankly amateur in comparison to the passages of play that we witnessed last season. Enzo was a stubborn mule and I hated his lack of pragmatism when our wheels appeared to be coming off last season but I will openly hold my hand up and say I was wrong, I miss Enzo - he choose to leave though but the board went for the cheap/lazy option.

I know that I was talking about lack of transfer activity but Cooper’s lack of tactics today has made me smash the glass box on my panic button.

Same! Buzzing about this announcement.

With their data led scouting model, I’d much rather loan players from Brighton compared to a high % of other PL clubs.

My worry with Alves is the lack of minutes in pre-season.

Which is bonkers. I wasn’t overly keen on Jannik and Wilf being given new deals but the rhetoric was it’s financially advantageous to do this. With Alves, integrating him into our squad for the same as a minimum is the logical/simple choice surely?

I’m sure it’s been mentioned numerous times before but with Alves only having a year left on his contract. Why would the club not at least make a statement by tying him down on a longer deal? That would create a lot more excitement than the clubs awful attempts at social media to pretend everything is fine - lame videos in the pool, Coady’s odd interview with BDCR etc

Totally agree. It’s inept and delusional from Rudkin, they surely never expected anyone to buy Souttar and his loan was the most obvious outcome. Same could be said for Soumare, Thomas and any other players who we want rid of - they will leave on a loan with us likely still paying part of their crazy high wages.

The fact that four managers have been in and not fancied him is saying something. He was an extremely expensive flop and a sign of our poor recruitment under Rodgers.

Exactly this mate. Sadly it’s proven to be an echo chamber in the important places. Any other corporate industry heads would have rolled for so much less.

So the moral of the story is that me asking if I’m alone in worrying (agreed panicking might be a tad extreme) about our chances at survival this year appear to be minimal. I totally understand the club not coming out and saying we can’t afford X or Y player but how Top hasn’t then shown even a glimpse of a pair of cojones and actually showing the outside world that mistakes have been made and acted on is what annoys me the most. Imagine keeping Rudkin (as a minimum could argue Whelan too) after the clear self inflicted running of the club leaving us in this miss….there is loyalty and then there is blind faith/ineptitude.

I think there is a player in there but like 90% of our squad if a decent offer came in, we’d be foolish not to entertain it.

Has anything been said about how serious his injury is?

Firstly, a great post. Secondly, I didn’t post my concerns to create a debate about what type of supporter everyone is, you’re sadly right that you get labeled for even muttering a different thought process on here it seems. I just wanted to see if I was being OTT with my concerns and perhaps panic is a bit extreme but the direction of our club is definitely cause for concern in my eyes. For the record, I’d love to be proven wrong just can’t get at all excited for this season with our signings so far, match day ticket hikes and charging to watch pre-season “training sessions” etc.

Ok, I’ll bite - please enlighten me. What cracking logic have I shared by asking a simple question?

Perhaps panic is the wrong terminology and frustration with the wasted opportunity as you rightly put is the better way to describe our current reality. A player or two shy? We relied on KDH as our only 8 so need at least 2 CM’s. Plus a CF who actually scores goals or at the least the opposite of Daka and holds the ball up. As for the bit boring comment, you could say that the most obvious decline in the three year period that you referenced was like a slow motion car crash, so surely a justified thought process?

I like to think that I am a rationale fan (most of the time) but I can’t think that any of our signings vastly improve our starting 11. Then you take into account we’ve lost last seasons’ Player of the Season and biggest link is that of a 32 (33 next month) Ayew. Worrying times even for the biggest fan of Top and co.

With our opening game just over two weeks away. Not sure if it’s just me who is starting to panic about our lack of starting 11 signings? Surely we need to announce a new CM (KDH replacement) in the next couple of days to integrate them into the squad?

Playing in the Championship under a rookie yet exciting manager in Enzo appeared to have more of a lure than the PL exposure and a more experienced but less exciting manager it seems. That or all of the players scouted under Enzo have been scrapped? I sound like a broken record but we should be raiding the Championship and throwing our weight around in that pool rather than this apparent desperation for PL experienced one. On that basis, I can’t see this season ending well 😢

Such sad news. RIP Shakey.

Exactly that mate. I always think you pay PL tax, then to a lesser extent Championship tax compared to the international market but I’d be proper chuffed if one of Sara or Jordan James got announced in the next couple of weeks.