Lillehamring

I think it's probably a bit of both - I think, tactically, it has clicked - but even when something has clicked it still needs to be mastered. For me, right now, we're at the stage where we know what we want to do, and get most of it right and some of it wrong. So i think what the 'when we click' contingent are actually hinting at is 'when we master it'.

Admittedly they were playing a poor QPR team, but Birmingham looked decent the other day - very good on the counter, so a reasonable candidate to get a result, and it probably wouldn't be lucky....

I think i get what you're saying. There're a lot of posters here that are saying we're only playing in 1s/2nd gear, and that comment about it clicking, but i'm inclined to think that, yes, this is it - this is us clicking, certainly as far as the maresca-plan is concerned. I don't think we'll see us play at a pace that people recognise as 5th gear; i don't think a maresca team will ever be a sports car, more like a Rolls just gently cruising through the countryside. However, I do think with the 'clicking' thing, that we haven't seen the full package yet, i think it will develop and players will become more natural and that's, i suppose, the 'click' I'm hoping for, but, yeah, tactically, we've already clicked. Or maybe you mean something completely different

It's a fair point - and why i suggested that it was a case of 'if we wanted to keep them' - Personally, i'd lose nacho - great guy but just not consistent enough, albrighton they won't extend, vardy - who knows! - hamza still has his best years ahead of him and does seem to have added some new dimensions to his game, also I don't think he'd demand a high salary, praet will go, but no one will even notice and vestergaard - hmm, on his day he's an international that has spent his career in the top flight, and enzo seems to like him, so maybe a short deal? Hopefully, we'll have braybrooke and alves coming through so that should save at least two signings.... But I think the key thing here is that, even as it stands, with a year under maresca, we will have a team that is capable of beating enough of the poor PL to at least stay up. We'll have funds to bring in, i'd guess, maybe 4 or 5 good players or improve some depth. So i don't feel we'll need to go crazy. And, yes, we do seem to have found our recruiting mojo again - I think it's safe to say, as a club, we know how to build a team - just not how to strengthen one!

I think we might see a couple of surprises in the squad - bristol like to sit deep and counter , lots of crosses and set pieces - so i wouldn't be surprised if it's something like ndidi and casedai as the 8's and maybe even something like ricardo/faes/vestergaard/justin at the back. Or.... He won't set up to nullify their threat at all, but rather go super creative to simply break down their rear guard. Given that this approach backfired against Hull, will he learn his lesson or will he trust the players to take their chances? Either way, can't see this being the game for daka to come in, if that happens it's much more likely to be against liverpool, where will be ping balls into the gap....

Will we though? To an extent it depends on who stays and who goes - assuming we want to keep them, it's not unreasonable to think that nacho, ndidi, hamza and vestergaard will choose to stay if we go up, the other players - marcal & nelson won't make any difference to the quality of the squad, smithies, praet and albrighton seldom play right now, so that simply frees up space and salary; and vardy might even get a one year deal! The loans leaving will be of no great significance as discussed earlier (options to buy, limited involvement etc). You only have to look at our bench to see that we have a far stronger squad than villa and forest had when they went up. I don't think the club or maresca will feel we need to be pushing for europe, just to consolidate and replace/strengthen in areas where we need improvement or depth - but realistically, it won't be in double figures, or a cricket score in forest's case.

We were maxed out on wages because we had effectively doubled up in every position to cope with the extra games in europe and to be strong enough to push for a top 6 place - i'm sure the salaries were fairly standard for the players we were buying (ie players with european experience) - more often than not the market sets the rate not individual DoFs. We don't really know what fees were being asked for, but it doesn't seem like we ever really had many offers - which is probably more to do with the drop off in form of the players rather than us asking for too much money. Anyway - he's got us some great deals this season and brought in as much money as we were likely to get - so, regardless of how we feel about his recent work, what he's done this season should be applauded.

Just been watching the Mcateer goal on loop - what a fantastic goal. I didn't realise at first that the player sequence goes - vesty - mcateer - vardy - macateer - kdh - vardy - kdh- mcateer Also, KDH plays three of the sweetest touches you'll ever see - the one touch pass to vardy is incredible, the cushioned touch to beat the defender and the final assist which he plays whilst looking at the keeper - breathtaking stuff!

Sure, but people on here have blamed him for everything at some point! Besides, no one he signed was necessarily on an unreasonable salary or unreasonably expensive for the level we were playing at (ie. in/pushing for europe), they seem mental now because we got relegated which was the fault of the manager and players. He's a key part of the recruitment process, even if he didn't chose the players he's responsible for them putting pen to paper - so we can't talk about a successful window without including Rudkin.

Perhaps, i think it will depend on who stays and who resigns next summer - but most teams buy half a dozen players these days, so i think the club will be ok with that level of signings - a refresh, rather than a rebuild.

I think i came up for the best way to use VAR for offside... the call is made on the field by the linesman, play goes on - a review is done by VAR but with no lines drawn, simply with a visual check - if the VAR official can clearly and obviously see it is a wrong decision he can overturn it, if it is unclear, the linesman's decision stands. Simple and fair - all we want from VAR is to eliminate bad decisions, not to be anal about them.

And if he plays and does ok it'll probably improve his value if we do come to sell him - as opposed to his value if he just sits on the bench. Practically speaking, we've seen that we'll have opportunities to counter attack and so far, praet, mavididi and ndid have hardly excelled when in these situations, daka, we know, can score for fun when one v one.

Not to mention that nacho and vardy seem to be really struggling to play with their back to goal - if daka can do it, he could shoot up the pecking order?

And did he not play daka against liverpool in pre-season?

Ah, the old - 'when it all goes wrong, blame rudkin; when it all goes right, it's because of others'.

If we do go up I think we'll have a basic core that would be one of the strongest ever promoted sides (depending on certain players resigning), so i think we'd have more than enough to stay up, especially with how confidently we're playing. I don't think the club would go out and spunk money like forest and villa did and, frankly, i don't think they'd need to - the club's policy has always to build gradually, and with a few smart signings, combined with a core of players with top flight experience, we'd have enough to pick off at least half a dozen of the worst PL teams.

Not sure this is really such a concern. Firstly, we aren't in any way 'over-relying' on loan players. Doyle is the only one playing with any regularity. As for the others: yunus and fatawu seem to be available and very affordable should we wish to make them permanent signings, and Casadai doesn't look like he's going to push out ndidi (or even yunus) right now. So, if we do go up it shouldn't be too hard to bring in replacements for doyle and casadai (even if he does become an important player) - if we aren't able to sign them permanently.

You must have very high standards - to have attempted 559 passes and completed 89% of them by any reasonable barometer is far far above mediocre.

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Not as bad as the entire home support not understanding the 30 second rule for treated players!

Just for some perspective.... after 7 games last season we had 1 point and had conceded 17 more goals than we have this year. And last year it took us to the 21st of January to reach 18 points. After 7 games last season, sheffield were top on 14 points, burnley were on 12. In the year reading got 106 points, after 7 games they had 14 points. And in 13/14 when we got 102 points, after 7 games we had 16 points and were 2nd.

But equally you could argue that JJ failed to do anything to win the initial long ball from the keeper, he doesn't put any pressure on the southampton player. can't put that goal entirely down to doyle, none of the other defenders react very well to his error.

Yeah, but he made a couple of atrocious passes to set up southampton chances; he got caught dreaming and then over-committed to allow che adams a huge chance, he was poor in the build up to the goal and did nothing to prevent the shot, just stood looking around him, not to mention had a miserable 66% pass completion. And there were times in possession where he just had no idea where he was supposed to be. Yes he did some good stuff but there's nothing to suggest he's suddenly a superior choice to faes; and the logistics of him coming in for doyle means that we sacrifice having a left footed LCB. He's basically a FB trying to transition into a CB and he's miles away from being a long term first choice unless there's a major injury to the actual first choice players. I think you're all just deliberately ignoring his flaws; he's not mentally ready for a run in the first team. Great to see him get some time and put in a relatively solid defensive performance, but he's still lacking confidence on the ball or a real understanding of the new role he's being asked to do.

It would be great if JJ develops into the player he could be, but personally i remember when he was at his peak thinking - yes, he's good but he makes a lot of mistakes and has no end product, hopefully he'll improve in the next few seasons - sadly those next few seasons were riddled with injuries - i hope he makes good but, for all the recent praise, i can't see how enzo sees a future for him other than a back-up/long term replacement for faes or doyle. Problem with dropping doyle is we don't have a left footed player to play as LCB - as discussed in this thread, it's hard to really play this system with a right-footer there, so i think he'll play; and i think faes will be back, fresh and ready, if there's any change it may be that he'll rest vestergaard and give coady some time.

I don't think it can be put down to rust - he played 90 minutes against burton and 82 versus tranmere - and played really well in those games, his passing was terrific - nothing rusty about those outings, even against southjampton there were some really strong moments for him - this is why, to me, it seems his problem is that there are still some major confidence issues - specifically, when he has to step out of his comfort zone of covering the wide man and having to defend in the box or to play through the press where he looks extremely unsure.