JimJams

Not a fan of his (potential) appointment, but I'll do what I always do and reserve judgement until I see how we go in preseason. Now some people will bemoan that as being too early, but it's a pretty good barometer for me. When we got Enzo in, I knew very little about what to expect, but you could see the implementation of his structure and tactics very early on. Whether you liked it or not you could see how he was shaping the team and the roles being expected of each player. The apprehension going into that season was down to how good the signings would be given we signed wingers for a system that heavily relies on them being able to beat players and create opportunity. We got that right with Mav and Fatawu and it largely proved a success. Then we got Coopers pre season. He spent half of it trying to make Mav a makeshift striker, dropping in, killing our width. We were terrible at the back and we couldn't score. Despite him saying he was trying to tweak and add to what Enzo had done before, he essentially butchered the system, ripped out what made it effective, nullified our threat and that carried on through to the season. You could see that his whole philosophy hinged on trying to get Mav to support Vardy centrally and it didn't work. And that was that. So Martin has said he's learned. Let's hope so. It's always interesting to see who we have lined up for preseason. Whilst some only think of it as an exercise in fitness (and let's hope we get that sorted out ffs) I'll be intrigued to see if we opt for lower level opponents or a higher level. Results don't particularly matter, but performance does. Especially as we have a number of players to bring through into the senior side as well as the first 11.

I suppose that depends on the contract he's signed and what benefit that provides RvN to do that. If he's entitled to be paid off on dismissal, if you want to defer that payment later than agreed as per the contract then you're either risking breach of contract and getting in a legal shitstorm that way, which you'll ultimately lose, or you'll have to come to some sort of agreement with him that needs putting in an addendum, but why would he agree to that? I'd expect he'd get an additional fee for doing so. Or would we expect him to do it out of the kindness of his heart? Given we'll have just sacked him!

Well, it's due to him not having had a career yet, but I get what you're saying! Like you say, it's risky, but I'm not sure it's as large a risk as it could be perceived. Monga, and maybe a few others getting tied in this way with some expected success in terms of their career trajectory would then be a proven example to other young players to come through due to the footballing side, not the financial. Assuming a player like Monga or Evans do well and get a big move to a big club like Bellingham did as an extreme example, then you can point to that pathway for young players. You won't (shouldn't) need to be referencing what you paid Monga and co at the time to get them to sign.

You don't just think he's referencing Levi Colwill then?

I'm sure Saints fans agree.

Buo coming on...

Best not to think about that tbf.

Funny (or depressing) that our first half highlights are Skipp blazing well over when inside the box, and also Skipp scoring from a McAteer cross in which Kasey had ran 200 metres offside. The future's Skipp.

Good stop from Stol, lots of bodies in the way there.

Ah, not Skipps fault. Kasey runs a mile off despite being able to see along the entire line before making a run.

Looked a square ball.

You get some right results when you search his name on youtube.

Spurs on to break the magical 40 point barrier on the final day...

Don't tempt fate man for fxxks sake!

And is always blowing out of his arse for 10 minutes after a 3 second sprint.

I had the Chinese one on cos it's a little ahead of the French one, but I'm with you now, it is less annoying. C'est magnifique!

Who else is watching this in Chinese?

Let's hope Daka has the game of his life against the only club that's ever expressed any interest in buying him. All the yoof on at half time too.

So you're saying he might have a drinking problem?

@Sankey93 Steroids shrink your balls.

Think this is something people forget. We love counter attacking football. It's what brought us our greatest success, but you can't do that if teams are happy to come and sit on a 0-0. And many will. Trouble is the possession stuff gets you found out when you step up to technically better players who can just do the same thing as you but better. For me, athletic, high energy, hard pressing works at both levels. Well enough anyway. Win the ball quickly, use it quickly. Not playing it round looking to create gaps for 10 minutes. The higher up you win the ball the less you have to do to get an effort on goal. That can then be adapted when you're up against better players.

I wonder what's happened to the list of candidates we were looking at when we appointed Enzo. We were looking at that young lad at Arsenal, Carlos Cuesta. I mean, come on, the name's a fxxking clue surely?!

I still think it's largely to do with the teams you'd usually expect to see in the mix for the drop are all currently being managed by very good managers. In some cases better than those at the bigger clubs. Glasner, Iraola, Frank. Whilst they can keep hold of them you'd expect them to be comfortable. Palace rode out a crap start because they had faith Glasner and the team were just going through a rough spell. Patience he'd earned the season prior. But once those guys move on it's just one shit appointment compounded by a series of injuries or sale of a key player and they're right in the shit. Then you need to take advantage. Maybe the timing will be right for us in a year.

Will it be weaker though? At present we've lost Vardy. That's massive but other than him right now we're not much different to the side that got promoted. The defence is the same bar Okoli and VK instead of Doyle. The midfield is the same bar KDH for Bilal. Mav and Fatawu were and still are our wingers. Daka got 7 in 20 apps last time and we've got a window to bring players in and get some loans going as well as potentially some exciting youngsters to play. If you factor in Nelson and Souttar and to a lesser degree Alves I'm not sure it'll be weaker really. Time will tell, it's not a cert either way right now. But it's not as though we were an elite squad and now we're poor. It's just poor by Prem standards. Which doesn't matter. The points deduction is the big factor. I agree on that. The not knowing being dragged on can be just as bad as taking the hit as we found out last summer.

Yes but we almost had him gone! Wilder loves overpaying for poor players. We need money, so anyone who isn't an important player we can get actual money for is a big plus.