JimJams

Win 2 lose 4 and we'd still be on for a point a game. And I think we can take points from 5 of those 6. Chelsea should be too good though given their losses this season have only come with defeats to Man City and Liverpool. But the others are better on paper they're all capable of poor performances and dropping points. I suppose the thing there though is that we're relying on opponents to have off days rather than thinking about ourselves.

But that's not how we started the season. VK was tasked with being the fullback who pushed up and it didn't bare fruit. It was then changed to the opposite flank. He has no assists for us this season, and even going back to his successful stint at Bologna he only had 4 for the whole campaign. And only 2 of those came from crosses. Whilst I agree it's likely tactical, Coopers literally only got one tactic of trying to push a fullback up and he gave that task to the Dane and it didn't work. Now you can put that down to the rest of Coopers set up and that's fine, but VK wasn't some sort of massive provider at Bologna, one of those 'assists' was just being pulled over in the box. I would dispute that his crossing is great because there's not particularly any evidence of that.

Last season for Fulham he played in about 1400 minutes in the league, so somewhere short of half the available minutes. He had a goal involvement (6/2) every 177 minutes. He's not had that in the league for us yet. I don't think he's goiig to get anywhere near that for us as he won't be the one turned to off the bench as he was at Fulham. He has been a body on the pitch and that's it really. He's not offered anything other than running. But he's not had much time, and I don't think he'll be getting much so for him it's all going to be about moments. If we bring him off the bench to waste some time and he carries on as we've seen he'll have a very unnoteworthy time here. But if he does one or two things in those brief minutes he gets it could drastically change perception of him. Like some of our other business in the summer I think the signing was partly about prepping for the possibility of going straight back down. Though question marks would be raised about whether he could do a job at that level right now.

He gave the ball away a few times, but only once in a dangerous position with that header to nowhere (well to an Ipswich player if I remember right) as that was near our box. Otherwise defensively when one on one against Hutchinson he was good, marshalled him well. A couple of times though he was drawn out of his position chasing the ball which left the Ipswich winger completely free. That's something both he and those around him need to have a look at. For me he's another Danny Simpson. Traditional defensive fullback. He's got a bit more about him going forwards in that he won't get a nosebleed past halfway, but he doesn't drive into the box, overlap or offer any threat himself (a la Leif Davis yesterday), and his crossing isn't all that great either, but we usually have few targets to hit in that box anyway. It's ironic that he left us last season because he didn't want to play that role Enzo uses because I think his skillset is better suited to that than the current nature of a fullback in getting up and down the line and offering threat. At this level anyway.

Have we? We've played 3 of the top 5, 4 of the bottom 5 and 8th, 10th and 12th. We've had a fairly broad mix of games so far. We've got a nasty 3 matches as a Christmas present, but over stretches we've got a nice looking calendar I think.

He's scored 1 goal in over 200 senior games. If he does score for us it'll be more Incredible Hulk than Ade!

With our dearth of ample cover at striker I do wonder if he could play a false 9 if Vardy needs a lay down.

I think we win. They're shit.

Is it? Neither have done anything of note when played.

Whilst this is true, you could also say of the teams above us, up to the European spots, we've only lost one. And we haven't lost to anyone below us.

I think that depends on the manner in which we stay up tbh. If we're comfortable and safe with a handful of games to go, I think they'll go again. If we survived by a point or GD, then perhaps not. Of course that also depends how many points that is I suppose. If we survived with the lowest recorded total to stay in the division, again, he might be moved on. He's only on a contract to 2027 so he'd only have 2 years to pay off.

Not sure there'd be many offers to be honest. He needs a lot more consistency. It might be a cheeky ploy if Stoke were in the promotion/playoff spots to scare them if he becomes vital to them. Perhaps a scenario we should hope for. But I'd suggest that scenario may be more likely for Souttar who Sheffield Utd will absolutely want to keep a hold of, and they're currently in the mix for at least playoffs. Would be interesting to know what we value him at.

We were better than Wolves and Palace when we went down. On current evidence they're well in the shit. The only thing I think that puts Palace ahead is that Wolves have a lot of unproven players at this level, much like we did in the defence when we went down.

Part of the reason I'm starting to think Cooper will keep us up is because I don't think the tally will be all that high and whilst we're not currently on course to get a shitload on the board, some other clubs look like they'll genuinely struggle to get beyond the mid 20's. Our fixtures are quite nicely spaced in terms of the caliber of opponents so we should never be looking at too much of an uphill task. I'd still fancy us for results against all the teams below us whilst picking up more unexpected odd ones here and there, so I think a point a match could well happen. Over 30 will probably be enough. Any deductions in the offing for anyone else this season?

Wolves are at home to Southampton next game. Doubt they'll let him go before that.

No it's Vardy.

We agree.

Simple explanation for you, we are in a relegation battle. The term isn't reserved for those exclusively in the bottom 3.

So the relegation zone and the relegation battle are the same thing then?

Yes. If he keeps us up that's a massive win. But if he also makes Soumare look a player whilst doing it then he may just be a miracle worker.

Solid showing from the champ lads today.

Are we out of the relegation battle then?

Given the frailty we seem to be constantly having at fullback, it's got to be a possibility. The trouble is, in a fight for survival, where do you test it?

Any more so than we've seen from anyone else in our backline? Faes and Okoli as a partnership have shipped loads too.

So how about Okoli and Vestegaard?