murphy

Exactly. We probably concede fewer with Mads yesterday because he s brilliant, rather than because Ward is s***e. I mean, Danny Ward is s***e and I think he has nothing left to prove in regard to his s***eness , but that is not the reason we got battered unless it is just the psychological effect that seeing Ward in goal might have in turning the defence to jelly.

Brendan

Sorry, I'm not buying that. You think that Martin is showcasing his talent and putting himself in the shop window by losing every week?

I take your point but his replacement is already here - jakub stolarcyk

I think we have tried to move hamza and Thomas on. Certainly, they have been out on loan. It's not sentiment that is keeping them at the club, it is a lack of suitors.

Not yet. He might never be, but he is still developing. It was a step up to break through to playing at Championship level. It's a further step up to play in the PL. He is on an upward trajectory and none of us really know where his ceiling will be, but every game at this level will improve him I think. You can't judge him now as you would an established pro.

I think the best we can hope for is that these improved performances lead to a sale elsewhere and we get a fee. He has never seemed happy here, his contract is ending in '25 I believe and I don't think he'll sign another one. Also, I think people might be getting a little carried away. He is starting from a very low base (previous performances) and although he is certainly improved, I think that the hope of him becoming the player we wanted might be leading people to see a little more than is there. Also, having finally learning how to sprint, don't you find it all the more maddening that he couldn't (wouldn't) do that before?

Maybe, but the threat of pace also has an affect on the opposition when they're in possession.

Would just like to see some pace in that front three for the counter. Fatawu is going to be a huge miss this season.

We already have a replacement in Stolarcyk who I think is going to be a top keeper too. Love Mads but I would be open to him leaving for an obscene fee as we have another prodigy in waiting.

I;m sure he can speak English by now. I mean, he's not had much else to do.

We are not winning this.

I think with the personnel we have it's an awful system. Nullified our wingers and left the full back position exposed time and again.

I think when we look at the signing of Coady we have to go back in time to put it into context. We had just suffered a wholly avoidable relegation with players that should not have been anywhere near the bottom of the table, but the team was broken, rudderless and crushed in spirit. In that context. a signing like Coady makes perfect sense. An experienced character and a leader. Something we were severely lacking. The signing didn't really work out with the benefit of hindsight. It was Enzo's greatest achievement imo, that he patched that team up and rebuilt it's spirit so quickly and Coady was never needed. Ths club has made plenty of questionable signings in recent years, but for me Coady made sense at the time.

I think that is unlikely given that one of the supposed criteria for the new manager was that he must be a free agent - ie no compo to pay.

It's a shame really. I was hoping for 400 pages.

Moyes out! I've already started the thread.

Wout Faes is also an anagram of U swat foes which is appropriate for such an impassable, towering defender that bats away the opposition forwards like King Kong swatting biplanes.

Yes, of course talk about it on here. This is the perfect place to vent our frustrations and I frequently do. I just think that at the ground, the fans have a job to do and that is to get behind the team. If the home crowd turns that can only be counter-productive.

That's pretty much the opposite of what I said . I think it is the fans duty to support the team on matchday and become the 12th man. It is the board's job to hire and fire. If were down to us, Martin O'Neill#s reign wouldn't have lasted very long.

While I agree that it was the worst relegation in history, it is not the fans' job to hire and fire managers. It is the fans job to back the team on matchday and become the 12th man. It is entirely a failing of the board that Rodgers was able to stumble on for so long and also their fault that so many players were not as invested as they might have been as their contracts were allowed to run down.

Nobody wished for Steve Cooper, what are you on about?

Peter Taylor will always be the low watermark for me. He undid all of Martin O'Neill's work and spent a relative fortune turning a silk purse into a sow's ear. Cooper started with a fairly poor team in the first place and merely turned it into a dog's dinner.

38 minutes in: Touches in opposition box - 0 corners - 0 shots - 0 I think that any manager with this depleted squad might struggle against Chelsea but surely, a league two side in a cup game would make a better fist of it than this and this is why he has to go. We are worse than the sum of our parts.

Farrah wassername on Football Focus: Chelsea 52 passes in the final third Leicester 0 passes in the final third. ZERO!