shen

Looks like Albrighton's giant Scandi cousin

We don't have much of a choice. RvN seems decent, level-headed and has the respect of the players. But he's not a miracle worker. He has to conjure up some confidence and points very, very soon or we won't recover. We have to make one or two signings before the Palace game otherwise what's the point?

3-4 first team starters and Hermansen returning would be enough to keep us up I reckon.

RvN has also been without our player of the season, our best winger, our best right back and arguably our best defensive midfielder for most of his games. Hardly a fair comparison. I'd argue that we are less worse off than if Cooper had stayed. We were going into free fall.

All ifs and buts. As long as we're conceding 2+ goals every game, how are we meant to get points? You also have to wonder how and why we keep making "individual" errors. Surely change it up or make it so these individuals have backup.

If only Ayew was on the pitch now

Aww man

Surely, if LCFC offer to pay up the rest of the loan, then Palace won't object. They will get the option to get rid for the remainder of the window at no economic loss.

That's not the literal translation of Schadenfreude. Shame is Scham/schämen, which isn't the same as Schaden (damage).

He wasn't the finished article by any means, but he was easily the best central defender at 19/20 I'd seen. More impressive than Rio Ferdinand.

Purely from a footballing perspective - what a shame. He was a breath of fresh air when he joined us. We all instantly knew that he was the next big thing.

My guess is we can pay off the remaining wages of his loan to free up the loan space. Would be expensive, but Palace wouldn't be worse off and have effectively saved some money and have the opportunity to offload him elsewhere.

We've completely wasted Iversen. Not only would he not have been as diabolical an option as Ward, but instead we've pissed a decent wage up the wall and not been able to sell someone that would have been pure profit in PSR terms. Not convinced Latte Lath would be a big improvement on Cannon, so quoting figures that are 5-12mil higher, makes me apprehensive.

Surely we could accomodate them for a bit

Wow, Hoffenheim buying Gift Orban for around just £7,5m seems a steal!

If we keep Edouard, as RvN alluded to, then who goes? Daka?

Get Mahrez and Kanté in on loan for a nice little swan song

He's more of a wingback/winger. And he's being monitored by bigger clubs already, so he'll cost way too much for us.

How is Dolberg doing these days? Seems to have found his mojo a bit again. Also, Skov Olsen is very inconsistent as you say. I'm not too impressed myself.

Yes. Yes, it is! It's decent as well. https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banos

Did an interview in Danish with Viaplay which was posted yesterday. Transcribed the 2-minute video below. On RVN first impression: "It's been good. He's a talented coach. He has a lot of experience, you feel that clearly. You listen when he speaks, he knows his stuff. Obviously it's never optimal to be hired in the middle of a season. I think every coach would like to have a pre-season with some calmness and a few friendly games without pressure to build up everything. But these are the conditions, and yeah, I'm sure it'll happen eventually with his ideas and get them implemented well. RVN is a big name in football, a proper legend of the game. How is it having such a character in the dressing room, who commands such a big aura? "As I said, you bloody listen to him! He knows what he's talking about. He's experienced standing on the pitch and feel the pressure, feel the buzz et cetera, so it's amazing. I love playing for coaches who've done it all before. I tried it last year with Thiago Motta - it was exactly the same. Amazing leaders and as I said, they have an aura." So you think it's positive to have a leader who's been in your position and played in the big games at big addresses himself? "Yes, I think so. I think it's great." And what noticeable changes do you feel he's made in his time so far? "Well, uh, he's tried to stabilize and settle the defense a bit more, put some positional templates in place, but as I alluded to earlier, it's always difficult when the fixture list is so congested. There are lots of games, few high-intensity training sessions, so yes, in that sense it always takes a bit more time."

Best first half of this season?

At least we can score goals!... Oh...

We have youth keepers better than Ward, I'm sure of that. I'll accept Stolarczyk not being selected, although I'd seriously consider playing unfit Hermansen or Stolarczyk over Ward. We know Iversen isn't the second coming of Christ, but he's a fine shot stopper and has proven this consistently over the past seasons. I can't accept the notion that he's not being considered because of his distribution skills, especially when we are facing as many shots as we have done under Ruud. There is NO excuse not to have an able shot stopper in goal.