DJ Barry Hammond

No of course not - but I think clubs have realised loans provide much more than just the playing time as I’ve mentioned in the post above and that the mental aspects it develops can help decision makers decide how ready a player is going in from there. I highlighted Barnes, KDH and Thomas because I feel one of the areas Thomas lacked was a level of mental toughness and maybe application - areas that you could say Barnes and KDH are much better at - and could reasonably conclude that their loan spells helped that.

I’m not sure that is the case anymore. Of course if you’re loaning players you want them to play - but I think a bigger part of the calculation for loans these days is how players react to a new environment, new voices, one that is likely less comfortable than the one they’re already in, one where they can potentially be a big fish in a small pool rather than a small one in a lake.

Yes, the UEFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers don’t start until March 2025 (drawn December) - so in theory they could wait for Pep and only have to manage 2 of these.

Yeah, well - that was just a performative interview by both sides, with each playing to their own supporters. I get that the “he will do nothing for Clacton” is an attack line, but I don’t feel this was the occasion to really push that notion. Sometimes you just need to wait a bit and let a pattern of behaviour form before challenging.

Maguire can count himself unlucky - he’s got the profile of an iconic United defender, but he’s joined when the parts around him were so disjointed. Probably guilty of over trying too - before losing confidence, but I think if they’d settled things down, sorted their midfield and attacking lines out and worked with him in pre-season, they’d find they didn’t need to spend £50 mil+ on a young Frenchman.

Are you sure? Barnes and KDH clearly benefited from the regular playing time they got from their loan moves. Compare that to Thomas who stayed around the first team. There’s certainly an argument to say that finding the right development moves for a player is better over the long term than focusing on short term squad needs.

Oh it is sheer incompetence - you can see that from the clip of 5-10 police officers being foiled by the perimeter fence before some bright spark drives a squad car through it! It’s also being reported that the officer that came into contact with the shooter on the roof did so via a ‘foot-up’ from another officer.

It depends what the war is over. A theory I’ve pondered is whether it’s over grain. Ukraine produce a lot of it - not as much as Russia and China, but enough to be a big player especially in Europe. Indeed, if the overlay maps I’ve looked at are correct, the Donbas and other regions Russia have a foothold in seem to be fertile and strong production areas.

No team gets every signing right - and a lot of the time the signing makes sense, but just doesn’t work. Mean Inler seemed a decent shout at the time. Kramaric clearly had potential, we just couldn’t accommodate him in the side at the time.

The more that comes out, the more you can only conclude that this was a case of mass incompetence from all the security involved. Mean if it was a conspiracy - it’d actually be worrying how bad they (whoever ‘they’ are) we’re at it. But of course it’s not a conspiracy - because if you were conspiring, you don’t send Milhouse do you!

Quite right. This forum has certainly raved about signings that were subsequently not so good before. I still remember how many were absolutely pissed we didn’t sign Musa in the January window of the title winning season. And the less said about Gabor Bori and Zsolt Laczko after their debuts the better!

Probably a good job given we have a French player in our squad.

You’re wrong. The introduction of the Nations League was designed to elevate the competitive nature of international football. England’s last nations league appearance saw them drawn against Italy, Germany and Hungary - who thrashed us 4-0 at in June 2022 (we had Kalvin Phillips that night too, so no excuse!) England finished bottom of that group without a win across the six games. England’s qualifying group for Euro 2022 included Italy and Ukraine - we were competitive here, we topped the group. However, England’s friendlies in 2024 included games against Brazil and Belgium - we didn’t win either of them. Looking back through, it’s not difficult to spot serious signs of decline - struggles against Malta and North Macedonia towards the end of qualifying being examples - to the extent that you can’t help to think that England starting the tournament as favourites was unfounded hopium.

I guess that would be one way for Trump to prove notions of ties to Russia are bogus.

So assume our regular starting pair is Winks and Ndidi… are you happy with one of the other two regularly replacing one of them around the 65-80 minute mark? Cause, you know, central midfield is one of the areas you use a substitution more often than not during the season.

Or it could be coming from Juventus who are keen to create a competitive bid environment.

I think it’s naive of you to think that a player / agent would actually say or give off vibes of that effect even if they did have a personal preference,

It does shout of Cooper hitting the “recommend potential signing” when having a private chat with Harry? He’s clearly trying to build the team cohesion bar 😂

If you’re using Ndidi as the anchor, you use him as the anchor - not the primary playmaker. The idea in this role is to free up both the central defenders and central midfielders to position themselves more aggressively to receive the ball in possession because the spaces between them in that key central area is covered. This would include allowing a central defender to carry into midfield; or one of the two central midfielders dropping alongside to receive the ball. Of course the anchor can also receive the ball and play simple passes when available - but their main responsibility is to hold that central space to allow others to rotate and move around them. The 4-1-4-1 also makes attacking through the 5 planes and protecting against transitions relatively easy. The anchor either drops with the centre backs and creates a 3-2 base, or can combine with the two central midfielders (or one and the opposite side full back) to create a 2-3.

Your comment goes perfectly with this tweet 😂

I have no idea how truthful this is - and it’s both unlikely and would be extremely unfair on her because she’d get a huge black lash if she was appointed… … but I wouldn’t be totally against it - the way she’s had the women’s team setup and playing is really impressive

Yes @Bilo - he’s a World apart from the other managers mentioned to be in the frame from that. The question mark has to be what happened at Chelsea and then Bayern… was part of the problem him losing the respect of the players?

Likes shopping in M&S I’ve heard.

I do like the idea of Tuchel - and I imagine he’d enjoy positive references from ol’ Harry and Reece if opinion was courted. The thing that might count against him is his rumoured out of work habits.

I’ve never known a team that has consisted of so many constantly criticised starters to perform so well results wise! I think a big miss for Gareth this time round was Maguire - as well as Guehi played, Harry is a bit more aggressive defensively and was always a threat from set-pieces. One of the frustrating things in this tournament - and something Gareth will possibly look back on with regret - he clearly knew what some of the key issues with his starting 11 were, because his substitutions showed that. Yet, for whatever reason, he never really moved away from that starting 11 - Mainoo for Trent was only the real unforced change, given if Shaw was fit, he would have started throughout.