Lillehamring

3 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

What's the advantages and disadvantages? Agreeing to sell to us on a loan with obligation next summer if we stay up means if we don't go up but he has a very good season then they may benefit from a larger sale to another club as we can't legally enforce the purchase.

 

The downside to this deal for them vs Hoffenheim is they get a guaranteed £15-16m this summer, less the remaining amortised book value for Hozlek which is circa £8m. So they get a current year guaranteed profit of £8m. But perhaps they don't want to sell to another Bundesliga club and perhaps they get more from us in loan fee and potential future fee than what Hoffenheim pay now.

I'm sure there are many reasons to do so or not - my thought was entirely from the point of view of not wanting to strengthen a rival club.  It feels like selling to us is likely to be more appealing to them.

8 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Means nothing? 

He gets a chance to play in the Prem or a relatively mid table bundesliga side having just won the competition 

This is also assuming that they'll want to sell him to a rival club.

13 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

It isn’t just about KDH though and it isn’t hypothetical.

 

We previously had 4 strikers to choose from and now we are down to 1 who the manager seemingly doesn’t like so we are now very likely going to be using Mavididi out of his best position, therefore also having to use someone else in a position they don’t usually play in instead of him - even if both Vardy and Daka were fit going into the actual season with those 2 being our first choice options is dreadful.

 

For whatever reason it appears Cooper doesn’t want to use Ricardo in a pivot with Winks meaning our options for that pivot are now Winks, Ndidi, Choudhury, and Soumare. We could get away with Choudhury being an option if Winks got injured or suspended in the Championship but in the Prem the idea of us using 2 from Ndidi/Hamza/Soumare is horrifying.

The hypothetical element is that no one on earth can predict how a player will settle into their new team or what impact (good or bad) that will have on a team.  No one knows - we can only conjecture.

Regarding the striker situation - Nacho, for me was spent - he was ripe for replacement.  The other 2 we've 'lost' are injured. And even if fit, clearly we're looking to add to them otherwise this thread wouldn't exist.  What then do you expect the club to do - you can't sign players to cover short term injuries?  

I wouldn't have you down as the type of poster who has unreasonable expectations - but maybe we'll just have to deal with having ndidi/hamza/soumare as back ups this year - gasp! i know - shocking, but maybe we can't just go out and by superior players.  FWIW, i expect us to play much deeper this year, in which case i agree with cooper, i'd put ndidi in the middle rather than ricardo.

6 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

That's more than half of the Premier League to be fair - you've excused three of them because of FFP tricks but not acknowledged that we've done that too. 

 

More interestingly of that half it includes direct rivals such as Forest, Southampton, Ipswich, Everton. 

Yes, but, as i said, most of that list are on it by virtue of the fact of having brought in 6 rather than 5.  I'd argue that our FFP transfers weren't quite as cynical as the others, and also we only did one deal.

As pointed out elsewhere - that southamnpton and ipswich have brought in more players than us, doesn't mean they've done better business than us - we shouldn't piss on our club just because other clubs have taken a different approach to recruitment.

Besides, my point isn't that we've done better than everyone, it's that we have, despite what the OP suggested, done something - that we haven't done nothing and that more-or-less we aren't any worse than most of the league.

If you step away from your hatred of the board to objectively look at our business this summer you'll see that it is fairly reasonable and in line with our position, that it stands out as neither remarkable or catastrophic.

5 minutes ago, It'sblueupnorth said:

Why does that make you laugh, a well run club off the back of premier league, fa cup and comm shield wins, and 3 European runs would surely be able to attract young talent? The fact that we can’t surely shows they are right?

Can't we?

We managed to get Fatawu and Hermansen immediately after being relegated, with an untried manager and in the 2nd tier - or was that a different club that pulled that off?  Not to mention getting players like winks and coady to drop down a league.

We also have the best academy teams we've had in years - i think you underestimate what we've managed to get done.  

2 minutes ago, RedSoxUK said:

We're starting from a much shitter position though, it's almost laughable.

 

Ipswich and Southampton have strengthened and are continuing to. Most would argue we've regressed due to loss of KDH / Nacho.

 

It's not comparable saying Liverpool haven't bought anyway for example 

I haven't said that.

Southampton have brought in 13 players with only (jesus) Adam Lallana the only one with any PL experience,  even downes and taylor have spent most of their careers in lower leagues - so there's really nothing to suggest they've strengthened.  Whilst ipswich have gambled on some PL u21s who may or may not be able to step up to the top flight, whilst losing the keeper that pretty much got them promoted replacing him with a keeper with no PL experience.

I fail to see how that business can be classed as 'strengthening'.

10 minutes ago, Brizzle Fox said:

I think the melodrama more surrounds the quality rather than quantity of players brought in.

 

How many of those new signings seriously improve our starting 11....I'll answer for you....0 (Fatawu doesn't count as already here).

 

Also we start from a lower quality base than pretty much everyone else in the league, with the exception of the other promoted clubs.

Unlike you and most posters here, i'll wait until i've seen the new players play before condemning them to the also-ran pile.

And is our base really that much lower than these other clubs - we have stacks of PL experience, it's not like we're coming up with a first XI of PL virgins.

7 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Only 4 additions to last seasons squad though
 

Our squad is absolutely weaker than it was at the end of last season

I suppose that depends on how you view KDH as a premier league player - this idea of strengthening/weakening is all hypothetical - my issue with these kinds of posts is that a) they're unproven conjecture and b) they seem motivated more in this fashion amongst our fans to be seen to hate the club and the board, this desperate need for something to moan about now we're no longer fun-winning leicester.   

5 minutes ago, Fox 4 Life said:

So your confirming all our rivals have strengthened? We lost our best player and have added a CB we don't need, a youngster that will get nowhere near the team and a journeyman from Fulham. Fatawu was already here and the only other one that looks ok is on loan from Brighton. 

 

We have a 38 year old Vardy, Cannon and Daka (who is injured) as striker options. What BS are you referring to?

No not at all - i'm just saying that we are in a comparable situation to the majority of clubs, whilst some clubs have quieter windows than we have.

2 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

But those clubs have brought players in to strengthen their team.

 

We've brought a CB who's said to have the manoeuvrability of an Oak Tree, a Fulham pensioner and a kid from Chelsea who we'll probably never see.

 

Fatawu (not really a new addition) and the Brighton lad are the only two who might be good additions but I still think we are no better off than last season. In fact losing KDH, I'd say we are weaker unless the Brighton lad really excels.

How do you know the impact of any of the signings of any of the other clubs?

Just a casual glance would suggest at least everton and palace have lost better players than they've recruited.

3 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

Agree to an extent, but each week we aren't strengthing our team, we are dropping points. 

 

With the points deduction as well, we really can't be dropping unnecessary points when really, we should have strengthened and integrated them in to the squad by now.

 

Besides Fatawu, who's not really a new signing, who have we actually brought to strengthen our team? Having lost KDH, we literally have a weaker starting 11 than we did last season.

 

People have every right to be negative and worried.

 

I do agree that some aspects are over the top, but lets not pretend things are alright.

That's not really the case though, or certainly it's a factor that's entirely impossible to measure.  Would you rather us sign a player a week who is poor/unsuitable, or take our time to get the right players?

We've spent the last few years listening to fans moaning about the quality of recruitment, and then every season we get the same fans complaining that things aren't happening quick enough or to a large enough degree.

On 13/08/2024 at 10:39, kingcarr21 said:

I want to know what the 2nd belly button is for  

To remind us that AI images are still crap.

Made a trip to the big city and picked up the first new LP i've bought in ages.  Very happy with it.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/laetitia-sadier-rooting-for-love/

Final League Position:- 14th

Date relegation certified:- not this year

Date survival confirmed:- pretty late, our 'easy' run in will see us scoot from 'in danger' to 'comfortable'

Top Scorer:-  None of the current squad

Goals scored in Premier League:- 50 

Goals Conceded in Premier League:- 58

Team to give us the biggest whipping:- Man City

Date (if any) Cooper gets sacked:- Nope

Date (if any) Rudkin gets sacked:- Nope

Our biggest win in Premier League:- Villa at home

8 hours ago, Babylon said:

I would love it... but with potentially two points penalties hanging over us I fear it might be too much. Especially having lost our manager and best player as well. 

I think the problem with the points deduction is that it's easy to get sucked into thinking that we'll be chasing it all season.  But we have the second easiest start in the league, if we can capitalize on that, the points deduction could effectively be wiped out in no time at all.

Last season, after 7 games, there were 7 teams who had only averaged a point a game - say we get docked 6 points and get 1.5 points per game in that period, we'd be on 4/5 points which would have been good enough to be in 16th place.  After 10 games, assuming the same points per game, we'd still be just a point behind forest in 16th.  1.5 points per game isn't a huge ask - but certainly it's more in our own hands than people are inclined to believe  - and with possible deductions lingering over other clubs, we might not be the only club making up ground.

At the end of the day, we only need to do better than 3 other teams - and as big as the step up is from EFL to PL, there're still a number of bang average teams in the bottom half. 

Also found this - not sure all if these names are still around....  (or if the likenesses (Other than Davie G) are nailed)

Back in the days of limited photoshooping skills....

Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin

Stanley and the women by Kingsley Amis

9 hours ago, Lako42 said:

That's a no then

I'm not that clued up but could probably hold my own at FT level, but i've stopped all fantasy league things as it just became too distracting doing the PL one.

On 05/08/2024 at 12:31, pmcla26 said:

I don't understand why Cooper seems to be forcing this when we have an ideal player in Ricardo to invert and the rest of the players around him are used to it too, now. 

It's one thing to do that against preston, an entirely different thing to do in the prem.

On 05/08/2024 at 12:25, coolhandfox said:

That's my concerned too, it seem is the club wanted a manager willing to carry on similar system, he use a different way to get there with the fullback but that seems to be the plan. 

 

We don't have the fullbacks with the right attributes to push up and become a winger in possession, you need some dynamic who can beat a man and provide 7 or 8 assists from that area, which is coming from VK, Ricardo or Justin.  

 

If we are going to make this system work we need a new forward, at least 1 ACM if not 2, and a rampaging left full back who can play the FB come Left winger role. 

 

With our current squad options, I would go for a counter attacking 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3.

 

SC showed at Forest he was willing to be  change mid-season, only hope is we aren't cut a drift by that stage.

And i think we'll see that in most games - it's what we did against shrewsbury (admittedly with a very odd squad selection; for various reasons) - i think pre-season has led us into a false sense of what is to come, because both ausburg and palermo played with a very low block - but i wouldn't expect to see that approach against us very often in the PL - I don't think we'll have many games where we're going to be huffing about trying to break teams down - teams are likely to come at us.  do we have the quality defensively to deal with that? - who knows - but i think we do have defenders who are more than capable of triggering  counter attacks, and pace up front to take advantage of it - we just never really got to see much of that part of cooper's game plan in pre-season.

On 05/08/2024 at 06:40, Ric Flair said:

This is a huge 2 weeks ahead of Spurs. I don't really understand what Cooper is trying to do. 

 

I get the feeling he's deploying a system and style that the club want him to play, which might be sensible if that's the best use of the squad in a pragmatic sense. However, if that's not the best fit or not the one that the manager knows how to implement the best then you risk being so passive.

 

I'm concerned we aren't going to get the required bodies in, which renders this way of playing extremely futile. We will need to be more direct and more aggressive. Do we even have the players for that? Debatable but if we're going to be pitiful at defending and attacking set pieces as well then it's curtains for us.

 

Plenty to do, I feel like we'll be giving many teams a head start with the lack of surgery to the squad in time for the start of the season and then the likely points deduction still to come as well. 

 

This is going to be about as enjoyable as watching morris dancing.

i think he's playing the system that is best for the players he has, a system close, but less limited, to the system they are used to be playing - naturally the squad is that way because that's how the club have recruited - as such, i'm not sure what else he could do.

For sure we still need a few elements to click - people were melting down last summer before we got mav and fatawu in - so there's reason to believe that the recruitment team can repeat that success with the missing players this year.

I think anybody trying to predict how we will play based on the pre-season is on a hiding to nothing, as we've yet to play an opponent who hasn't really sat deep - personally, i think more often than not we'll see performances closer to the shrewsbury game, where we'll have to defend for periods of the game but have more scope to counter - if this is the case, we could be in for something much more like under ranieri than people are expecting, and yes, i do think we have the squad to play like that.