when_you're_smiling

I completely understand why people think he’s being too negative, especially as yesterday it did cost us. But looking long term, I think people have misplaced confidence in how good the defence actually are. The fact we looked so short up front at the start of the season masked the worry over the lack of quality at the back, particularly given it’s a lot of the same personnel that got us relegated last time in the Prem. That season we scored as many as Villa who finished fifth but conceded the joint third most. It’s now one clean sheet in our last 29 Prem games. That one, a 0-0, was the penultimate game of 22/23 against Newcastle where Rodgers benched Maddison and Barnes and went five at the back. The previous clean sheet to that was in November 2022 when Danny Ward won man of the match (yes, really) at West Ham with an injury hit side with a back four of Thomas, Faes, Amartey and Castagne. We have a better keeper now and Cooper’s certainly not helping with the Ricardo situation, but I haven’t seen any evidence that makes me think this defence is good enough for the Prem. It’s early days for Okali and he looks decent, but good enough to make a transformative difference to the defence? Probably not. So while Cooper certainly has been too negative, it’s probably partly because he doesn’t think the quality is there too, something Rodgers maybe realised, but not until way too late, the season before. Yes, we had the best defensive record last season, but that was largely down to dominating the ball something you’re not going to do in the Prem (or many fans want to do anyway). The gap in quality between the Champ and Prem is so big.

It bothers me. Absolutely number one thing for a manager for me. I wanted Adele.

I know why they’re doing it and I’m delighted for him…. …..but a cap for a bowling average of 63 going at nearly five an over is insane. His bowling ave is 185 for the season at over five an over! It’s like the anti-Money Ball.

We can if we then get relegated again.

I’ve had this problem in the past. Did you set the alert up on mobile app? I found it more reliable if you set the alert up logged into your account on a desktop computer. As soon as they come up, click on them and (if you’re quick enough) straight away press buy. You can always click off again if they’re a stupid price.

Presumably it stems from the greed of the Premier League in the first place by setting up outside of the Football League so they could get more money and power for its clubs. .

It’s better than Southampton’s yes, Ipswich’s maybe but it depends how their main core of players makes the step up to this level for the first time. Obviously there’s a league table to decide these things anyway. Hopefully I’m wrong.

It’s a window where we’ve very much been the least desirable option in the Premier for any player looking at their options. Do we have a squad that’s better than three other teams? Honestly, probably not. But we’ve brought in bits that were needed, presumably while staying in line with FFP, which we had far less wiggle room in compared to the likes of Ipswich whose income has suddenly grown a lot compared to what they had before. All that matters is staying up which would allow us to build next season.

It really isn’t. Beckford cost £4m and at the time was our most high profile (and possibly most expensive) signing since probably Akinbyi. This time fans are just relieved we’ve got someone in who can do a job in the Prem for that position and who is under 30! I’ve watched him a bit closer than most as when we got him rather than Daka, I wondered if we’d made a mistake. That’s despite the fact that success in Scotland on the pitch hasn’t ever translated well for us, see another top scorer up there in Mark De Vries. To be honest think there’s not a lot of difference between him and Daka but at least we’ve someone for that position and who we hope has something to prove and whose confidence didn’t look completely shot like Daka’s last season.

Played more. Someone posted the stats earlier.

Scoring record at Palace marginally worse than Daka’s here, but hey, we need someone in.

Basically what the ICC want isn’t it? Also, what happens when England drops out of the top four or five, as they have done quite recently?

Only if he’s announced alongside a new rainbow kit sponsored by Gindr.

Group stage European football in Shropshire.

Yes. It’s 144 games to get rid of 12 teams.

Any of the Premier League managers complained about extra football yet? Or they saving that for the FA Cup third round?

Can’t help but think you might be better off waiting until European dates are announced and going for a weekend in Amsterdam, Berlin or somewhere like that.

I know where you’re coming from, but leg spin is a bit different to other disciplines. You’re more likely to want an experienced head given a leggie is more likely to get it wrong at times. Also not sure the selectors care what he does for Leics. They don’t seem to for Hull with the red ball this season. Ahmed’s international bowling ave is still decent at 23 and 25. I don’t know if his brother is a leg spinner too though?

Probably about right given Blur’s were at least over £100 for Wembley.

This was about the pinnacle.

Here he was meh yeah, though he was part of the early learning curve for Vichai that you can’t just throw money at it and expect it to work. You can’t just then write off the rest of his career though, especially his record in 90s.

You’re not going to pick more than one leg spinner in domestic conditions and Rashid’s still doing the business.

Yeah, because you can have a managerial career for 42-years, most of it at the very highest level, while winning 18 trophies by not being focused. RIP Sven.

So nice to read a thorough break down and not just the non-nuanced knee jerk stuff that seems to be in every other thread at the minute.

Genuinely incredible Faes was having a go at his other team mates for that.