DJ Barry Hammond

Wouldn’t it also be down to a changing of the guard - he was very much a Pearson signing so Manning was never likely to keep him on.

Doubt Rudkin’s going anywhere at the moment

Not sure what to make of that. There’s plenty of positives you could take from that game. But Cooper isn’t doing himself any favours with some of the decisions he’s making. The international break might not be a bad thing for us.

Everton and Southampton giving us some hope I see!

Come on Coops - get Ricardo on for Justin or Kristiansen

Mav making a big point there!

Female co-commentator doing her fellow female professionals no favours for failing to understand formation shifts between attack and defence.

Sucker punch - but great changes by Emery.

We’re definitely on top here. One thing Cooper has certainly managed to do at halftime is get the 11 on the pitch fired up.

Yep, Cooper has to be looking at Ndidi and thinking he needs one of the two guys on the bench on in there. Ndidi did a good job of providing a semi-aggressive press early on; but he’s not enough of an attacking threat. As good as Facundo is technically - he feels a little light weight to me at times - so maybe he goes with the new lad? Another option - hook Kristiansen and Ndidi for Khannouss and Ricardo - play Fawatu left wing back, Perira right wing back, Justin makes a back three and then play Ayew and Khamnouss centrally behind Vardy - that gives you the box 4 midfield AND 3-2 rest defence without the need for any rotation and threat down both flanks.

Lots of huff and puff. We’re a little bit clueless on how we’re supposed to attack - which is why it keeps breaking down. The only clear, designed, link up play we showed in the final third was Fawatu to Ndidi on the inside channel - from Enzo’s time with us. Will be interesting to see what changes Cooper will make and when. Word for Okoli - he’s done well 👍

This could get ugly - Villa starting to toy with us - we have no idea how we’re supposed to attack.

We’ve posed more problems for ourselves than we have to Villa.

Forest 1-1 Wolves Chris Wood put Forest in the lead, Wolves equalise quickly after.

Not really sure why Villa have started rather passively against us… yes, our passing often proves why, but they are letting us have touches of the ball.

He’s won at least 3 already! He’s a machine! 😂

Faes lucky Watkins didn’t go down - could have been a red if he had.

Cooper’s being very naive with Ricardo. There will always be players within a squad that have dialogue further up the chain than the manager. Vardy will certainly be one; but Ricardo is clearly another - so if you drop him, you have to make sure whatever you do in his place works. Add to this that he’ll also be a highly respected figure within the squad - Cooper seems to be picking a fight that he stands to gain very little from. Should we read more into the fact Top was present at training this week? It might not be unusual in itself, but he is a new dad of twins - so whilst some might argue he would be happy with an excuse to get away on business for a bit - I’m not so sure watching us train would have been a high priority for me.

I imagine we would have known about his availability and would have had some brief discussions about viability.

Pretty sure Spurs negotiated an first option on another Betis player as part of that deal - so there may be some “offsetting” within that quoted fee.

Makes more sense than Ipswich.

Yeah, I think the criticism of him and the signing has been very overdone on here. He’s still young and learning the game and this is his first move abroad, so he may need some bedding in time - especially with a position like centre back where it’s as much about the partnership you make with your other defensive players as it is with your own play. He’s got some pretty solid defenders to learn from too, so the potential for him to develop and improve on what we’ve seen so far is obvious.

It’s very similar to the “why don’t we loan out our young players” being switched to “no, don’t loan them to that club.”

That’s a very late move by Ipswich - can’t imagine Boro really want to entertain this.