Chief Keef

I thought no.44 for Oxford Peart Harris looked very useful. Quick, strong, good in the air and an excellent presser and ball carrier.

Is Jake Evans injured? Not sure if I’m wrong but I thought he didn’t play in the last u21 fixture. Frustrating if not as we badly need an alternative to Fatawu at the moment. Makes the decision to send Will Alves on loan baffling to me as he could have easily contributed to this team both on the wing and as the 10.

Any chance it could be 3 at the back with Choudhury and one of Fatawu/mavididi wingbacks? Or maybe Nelson at left back with choudhury on the right.

I thought Okoli looked much more secure than Nelson against Coventry so he wouldn’t be the one I’d take out unless he’s being rested. I still want to see Nelson continue in the team and think he has some good qualities which could be great in time. But our defensive record since he was introduced into the team has been abysmal. 26 conceded in the 14 he’s started, 14 in the 13 he hasn’t (in the league). Of course there are a lot of other factors at play but still a bit concerning.

Can we afford/attract someone with multiple good seasons in a good league? It’s a risk but it’s where we are now. And at 2m if he does hit the ground running in the champ he’ll be worth many times that.

Interesting to read the start of this thread. Lots of comments on the strength of his crossing but it doesn’t seem like he gets into those positions much anymore. Still has that in his locker like we saw at Derby away but we don’t usually tend to use it as an option.

I think this is an interesting idea. I can see that midfield being able to hold much more control than we have had in games recently.

Whilst I think today was one of Ricardo’s better performances this season, I do feel that this squad is crying out for two athletic, forward thinking full backs more than anything. It would give us so many more options tactically than we have at the moment.

Get Fatawu out of the team he’s been absolutely shocking lately

Find the shouts to replace Stolarcyk a bit bizarre given his performance in his last game. Overall I think he has been fine this season particularly as it’s his first full season as a regular starter. He’s still young for a keeper and has plenty of time to improve so not sure replacing him with a 40 year old would be the right decision at this moment.

Clearly you have as he’s the 6th highest outfield player in the league for progressive passing distance per 90. I don’t think there should be any doubts over his passing ability at this level, more so over his ability to defend in a back 4 where his lack of pace gets exposed.

I would play Evans over BDR and have him and Monga playing off Thomas. But otherwise I think this system with Vestegaard helping us progress up the pitch with two young CBs covering could be the way forward. Would help us get our attacking players playing closer together as well.

Apologies if there’s an obvious answer to this question, but is are there differences between technical, sporting directors and director of football? Are they all simply different names for the same role or do have different responsibilities?

We need Leo’s. Leo Castledine Leo Cornic Leo Walta The more I watch us the more I feel most of the squad would benefit from a 3 at the back formation. If we can shift Faes I’d want to replace him with someone like Daylam Meddah who’s playing for Pau in the French second tier. Athletic, aggressive and excellent on the ball. As for the striker we need someone who can occupy both centre backs. Kieron Bowie would be my pick. But this is assuming we can/will spend anything.

Don’t think Hamza is a problem if played at right back or in midfield, in fact he’s probably been better than Ricardo there this season. With the right system around them, I think him and Skipp could complement each other quite well at this level, but at present it doesn’t seem like Marti wants to move away from this system.

Can’t help but think most of this squad would suit 3 at the back. Our main attacking threats are too wide and isolated, need to get them closer to the striker where the three of them can play off each other. None of our centre backs are particularly convincing either and a third on the pitch would hopefully help us defend set pieces better as we are quite a small team everywhere else. Doubt Marti is brave enough to make that kind of change though and to be honest bar Aluko I’m not sure any of our fullbacks fit the right profile to play as wingbacks, but would like to see it regardless.

Same please 🙏🏽

Has the Joao Rego link gone dead? Wouldn’t be surprised if we had a deal in place assuming BEK left and now he has it would make sense to get that one over the line.

If it’s a loan with a relatively low option then it’s a sensible signing. Looks technically sufficient and his record in the MLS is decent. Similar or better to someone like Agyemang who Derby dropped a decent fee on. Seems he’s an effective presser as well so fits what Cifuentes needs in his style.

I’d much rather Alves be given a chance. I personally thought he performed well for Cardiff out wide and at present backing up for Fatawu would be the ideal role for him.

To be fair to him there can’t have been much time in between the games last week to do much tactical work. Hopefully for Saturday we start seeing more of his ideas come through.

I agree with what you’re saying but have no faith it will actually happen. Hopefully I’m wrong.

I see the term ‘happy clapper’ get thrown around a lot but I’m not sure there are too many that go to home games. Interested to know how others feel but in my view the vibe and atmosphere at home games has been mostly miserable since 2022. And increasingly so year on year. More than anything I think the match going fan base is passive. Passive in support towards the team and passive in anger towards the board.

Maybe his agent should work harder if he wants a move away. Wouldn’t be surprised if the reason Marti dropped him at the start of the season is because his attitude towards the club had been made clear. Guess he now feels playing someone who doesn’t want to be here is still better than playing Skipp.

Maybe I’m just delusional but sometimes I feel as a fanbase we are a part of the problem. The team is low on confidence and it certainly can’t help if you know the crowd will react negatively to any misjudgment, rightly or wrongly it kills the appetite for taking risk in some of our players. We’ve seen before how a supportive fan base can help spur a damaged team on. People will hate to be reminded of this but I distinctly remember the shift in atmosphere when clappers were introduced vs. West Ham in the game which kicked off our great escape. Perhaps it was the performance inspiring the fans, but could equally be the other way around. I know a lot on here will say our discontent with our decline should be more vocal, and I agree. But it can still go hand in hand with supporting the team. Just look at Wolves fans when they came away to us last season.