funkyrobot

I just want the best players in their positions in the team. In our weakened, imbalanced Championship standard squad (that is all it is) it’s very difficult to drop our best defender in Vestergaard. Simple as that.

So you would play Okoli and Nelson? (Souttar is injured.) We’ve already seen that Okoli’s presence in this team doesn’t improve our results. Nelson can’t find a place on the bench and it’s a massive leap of hope to say that a player that currently can’t get in the squad is going to improve things defensively. You can’t just bomb squad players like Vestergaard and Faes because you don’t like them and have judged them negatively in every way because of this hate. I frankly don’t care about what they say or personalities off the pitch. I look at Vestergaard in The Championship (very different from Vestergaard in the PL), I look how he performed for Enzo in this league and how he is playing for Marti and it’s very hard to blame him for where we are now whether he’s a nice guy off the pitch or not. The problems we currently have at this level lie at left back, at cover for Ricardo at right back and particularly to the fact we have no forwards that can score goals. A lack of a goalscorer means conceding what was. only 1 goal is more than likely to result in lost points.

If we are honest when it comes to the youngsters coming through, the only one who we can feel aggrieved with his lack of first team action is Ben Nelson, having had a good loan at this level last year. There has to be a reason that we are not aware of why he isn’t - whether that’s him being too similar to Vesty or another reason we can only speculate. You could argue that due to the form of Thomas, Aluko can feel unlucky but he’s surely behind VK in the pecking order, particularly as my understanding is that he is right footed and plays predominantly on the right or right central at u23 level. It’s a big ask to play him on his less confident side at a level he has barely played as of yet. With Page, he just isn’t yet at the level of Rambo or Ayew in the 10 role yet. He showed flashes but didn’t look ready in his two games and that’s understandable considering his age. Personally I’d have him on the bench over Skipp as we have Soumare but the likelihood Skipp doesn’t get game time anyway. Monga has shown that he’s much better as an impact sub and not ready to start regularly. I’d expect Mavididi to start Saturday and Monga making a difference when Mavididi tires. Silko has been on the bench and I thought he did ok as cover for Fatawu (no worse than McAteer was) and should continue in that role. As for Evans, he’s surely close to getting some bench time despite his age (an injury to Daka or Carrenza would put him in the spotlight.) But based on what we saw in pre season he’s probably not ready.

Still think our most pressing defensive problem is at left back, not centre back.

Tbf to Vestergaard, he at least took a wage cut when he signed his new deal.

With his age, Vestergaard will leave us when his contract runs out. I don’t disagree that Nelson needs some game time nor am I against Souttar being given another go. The fact remains that we have a better chance of being higher up in The Championship by playing our better defenders. Like it or not Vestergaard is one of our better players this season and a very capable Championship player. We are currently a Championship club with zero money to spend so he has something to offer at the level we are at. There’s a danger that by not playing players like Verstergaard, our situation would likely be even worse than it is now. Certainly rotate the centre half’s to give others game time but don’t bin a contracted player who isn’t the major issue at the moment. FYI, In the unlikely event that we get promoted I’m not convinced by any of the centre backs we have on our books being overall PL standard. There’s hope for Nelson but he is not even making the bench so it’s a big stretch to say he’ll come in and smash it in the top league.

Vestergaard has been our best defender this season

Not sure how you can call Vesty and Faes a disgrace after today’s game.The loss today had nothing to do with Faes and no more to do with Vesty as it was with Okoli. If you are going to pick out a defender who failed for the 1 goal that caused us to lose it was Luke Thomas. I thought we improved significantly when Thomas was replaced with Faes playing out of position tbh.

All from Capology.com as good info as you can get. There’s absolutely no evidence anywhere that there’s been a wage cut. Quite the opposite.

His wage doubled - there was no reduction !

The penalty was massively down to him too. Telegraphing a Cruyff turn near his own box.

Yep 4 years, wage doubled. Approx £37.5k including bonuses.

When he signed his new contract his wages more than doubled btw. £15k per week up to £30k plus bonuses. 4 years…

Why will playing Okoli alongside Nelson make any difference? Opposition managers will do exactly what Neil did today. Force the ball to Okoli because he can’t do anything with it.

Ruud who played BDCR on the wing, benched Buonanotte and banished our best midfielder Winks. He was an absolute disaster. At least Cifuentes is trying to play his most talented players regularly.

Millwall man marked Vesty to force the ball to be played through Okoli and it worked, he played the most passes and he gave simple balls away.

Stolarcyck VK Vestergaard Faes Ricardo Winks James Mavididi Ayew Fatawu Carrenza

Rambo surely will be out for 6 weeks +

Still not learnt to successfully pass a ball to his teammate 10 yards away…

He’d argue that 10th place is performing to expectations for this squad. Twice relegated players, no strikers, liabilities at left back, no money to spend.

Genuinely would rather see Wout Faes out of position at left back then Luke.

Because we had a significantly better squad than we do now! The issue is not Cifuentes, the issue is Rudkin and Top’s mismanagement. Cifuentes has a weakened, twice relegated squad with no option to spend, no goal scoring strikers and with very vulnerable left back options.

Enzo arrested the slide because he’s a good coach and he had a significantly better squad that Cifuentes. Vardy, KDH, Ndidi, Akgun, Praet, Iheanacho, Casadei and Doyle are better than their respective replacements in this squad.

Soumare is better than the only other senior midfielder in Skipp that’s why he plays when there’s a necessary rotation. Ayew isn’t a number 9 from a goalscoring perspective but nor is Daka. The jury is out on Carrenza and so if you assess the overall ability of the 3 players in question and what they bring to the team, it’s hard not to play Ayew at times. Personally I’d give up on Daka and persist with Carrenza but playing Ayew when we are so limited at centre forward but have other capable players at 10 and on the wing is understandable. A quality number 9 given good game time would’ve created more chances for himself and his team than what our 3 can muster with their skillset though the jury is out in Carrenza and Ayew has many positive attributes to his game. I wouldn’t play Thomas personally but then I’ve always said I even preferred a past his best James Justin playing on the left (despite having no left foot) than Thomas or VK, and maybe Marti would’ve too but the PSR situation meant he had to be sold. At the moment, with Aluko struggling to play for a full game at U23 level (keeps having to be subbed early) I’d give VK another go but I have big concerns with him defensively as I do Thomas. Cifuentes has had to manage the team under the most challenging PSR situation we have found ourselves in. Having to sell and not being able to buy will only weaken a squad and that’s exactly where we are now. The issue is not Cifuentes here, the issue is the mismanagement above him that has resulted in us being the only team other than administration bound Sheffield Wednesday that haven’t been able to spend ANY money.

Cifuentes getting battered on here for not playing multiple 17 year olds in a Championship team all at the same time is very unfair. I can’t remember another team that would play the likes of Evans, Page, Aluko alongside Monga all at the same time. It’s unrealistic and unfair on him and the lads that would ultimately get hung out to dry as we drop down the table. He’s got a squad weakened from last season that was already weakened after Enzo left. He’s trying to juggle long term fitness issues with Ricardo and Ramsey and deal with an imbalanced squad lacking in vital areas. Hence why he selects Hamza, moves James and chooses Soumare and keeps juggling strikers who don’t score. It’s rare that as fans we will agree with a manager about everyone in the team. I personally don’t agree with continuing with Thomas but tbf to Cifuentes, VK is only a slight improvement at best. Nelson is more an alternative to Vestergaard than to Faes and Vesty has been good this season. As for Okoli, many on here were calling him out earlier in the season for his passing and even his heading. He’s improved his reputation by not playing. I still think Nelson will get his chance and one or two of the other youngsters will get rotation time this season. Page, Aluko, Evans and Silko will get bench time, occasional starts but realistically we are playoff level at best unless Cifuentes is helped during the January transfer window.