SafewayFox

Living on the south coast, I can confirm that is far from true. Baleba was being looked at by the “top 6” before Brighton took a punt on him. He’s much more of a rounded CM than Caicedo and loads of rumours that it’s more than just United sniffing around. They’ll sadly get silly money for him.

Not having a natural striker is a big part of our problem TBF. Abdul and to a lesser extent Stephy/Monga get double (sometimes have three players on them) as they’re our only attacking threat, minus JJ. We’re so easy to play against, as everything is played at a walking pace and in front of the oppositions back line. Ayew playing up top condemns this, Daka is no better as whilst he can run, my three year old lad would likely win a 50/50 against him.

Marti won’t turn this dross around. Feels like the ultimate placeholder until the summer and we lose some players on silly money.

I’m going to sound like a dinosaur but not having this “mid block” means we run less. We get out fought, out run by players who are paid considerably less - as some have stated, it’s down to our complete lack of standards. Marti isn’t solely the problem, but Top isn’t going to sack himself, if we have any ambitions, Marti has to go, but we’re likely stuck with him as haven’t got two coins to rub together.

Sounds like a novel 😜

Similarly to when RVN was starting a front 3 of Vardy (sorry to lump the GOAT in but has to be called out), Ayew and Reid as our front 3 and not scoring. It’s painfully obvious that if you start Ayew and Reid as our front line, that we’ll have zero chance of pressing consistently. Considering that we have Skipp and JJ who surely run more than a lot of CM’s, that stat is such a damning one.

Let’s hope that you’re right. I think that I have such little faith in KPFC that I will always look at their decisions from a cynical perspective. Personally, I’d love to have Evans around the match day squads more.

The problem with this logic is that you’re forgetting, that we’re the club who offered Coady and Winks silly money when didn’t have it either. I hope that you’re right btw, just have my doubts as we’ve hardly been run sensibly over recent years have we?

But with Antonio joining, Evans won’t be doing any learning, as he’ll be even less involved with the first team. Besides, let’s not pretend that Antonio is a prolific striker.

Which is why this signing seems so unnecessary. If we have such little money, getting a LB who can start ahead of Thomas seems more pressing. We have a 17 year old prospect in Evans who has scored a decent number (again) in the u23’s, give him some minutes and see how he gets on. The other issue is that Daka and Ayew both (hopefully) leave in the summer, Evans could save us money in the long run, but what do we do, add another striker with no long term future to the squad, horrendous planning.

Spot on. It’s the PL money that makes our fall from grace so horrendous. Great post btw!!

But he’s our outlet 9/10, he’s been below par for more games than not IMO. Which isn’t totally on him, Marti’s lack of tactics are a big reason for this. But, I stick with my original point, Abdul has a PL ceiling but his value will only decrease the longer that he’s here. We will sell him either this window or the summer, it’s nailed on.

How about a PL youngster on loan? I can Google search some but surely the point of having a scouting network, is to do exactly that? Sorry that I can’t get remotely excited about a 35 year old, who smashed both his legs in a car crash and hasn’t played a competitive game in over a year.

TBF, I might get a job for Top with that football knowledge 🤓

I completely agree and why I’ve said that he has a PL ceiling, I’d not say the same about Stephy as a comparison. We should get a decent fee, but we probably got under market value for Madders, Barnes etc in recent years.

A fair shout but that’s why stats shouldn’t be used without rationale. He was new to the country as a 19 year old lad, he was taken out for a stretch of games if his form dipped. Also, he wasn’t considered the main guy as that mantle was held by Vardy or KDH.

Bamford didn’t smash both of his legs in a car crash TBF. Nor does Bamford rely on his physicality like Antonio. I view the potential Antonio signing, as an ok one at best, but a big question mark on his wages and length of contract. Can anyone genuinely say that they have faith in Rudkin?

Abdul’s ceiling is that of a PL winger. Has he regressed under Marti? 100% It’s genuinely best for both parties to sell him whilst we should get a half decent fee.

Calling it now, another player who’s best times were a long time ago. If on Championship average wages (he won’t be), it’s an ok signing for 6 months.

The problem is games away at Bramall Lane, playing Reid is probably a luxury that we can’t afford. We are so weak defensively, going 433 with a solid 3 at CM would be a much better option.

That was when we let slip a 2-0 lead to Brentford was it not?

He is such a horrible manager. Can those that were defending him, still spout such guff?

Well done again Luke. Dosser! Where’s the JJ 2024 compilation video of his errors?

Bigger than Marti but you opt for a bargain bin manager, expect bargain bin results.

Luke Thomas, doing Luke Thomas things. I think my three year old son could put muscle him.