ts_1010

Thanks. I really like the idea of him playing for you guys. We've probably held players back in the past by keeping them in the youth team rather than sending them out on loan. A full season, playing against a mix of teams, in terms of quality and style. He's going to learn a lot. Either, we get relegated and he's ready to play for us next season, or, we stay up and he gets scouted by top end championship clubs and goes to one of them next season. We win either way.

Yeah but he might prefer to play prem football for a year even for us. Weve looked at him before.

With Nketiah possibly going to Palace, does that leave room for a loan move on Edouard?

I don't mind him going out on loan. But if he and Alves both go out on loan then that surely leaves us even lighter up front.

I think the "plan" was to see Buoananotte understudying to a more experienced CAM, who hasn't turned up yet. Likely one of the failed deals that Cooper said he thought was basically done. Alves could then go out on loan and get some real game time. Now we don't have the 1st choice attacking midfielder, (I think we may be scrambling to find one still) so Cooper is playing the best one he has right now. He could/should be having Alves making cameos though if there is nobody else. Chucking Skipp on for Facundo was an odd one when we were losing.

I don't want to make this too much about Traore, but he makes a Premier League wage because he can devastate when he has his full back isolated out wide. The oily git will knock it past and be 3 yards clear before you have turned around. Once that happens he's in the box in a flash and the CBs are scrambling to get to him. Which causes penalties or big spaces for the strikers. That's why the game plan was to not let him get behind Kristiansen. And it largely worked, it just looked bad. So far I don't really have any complaints about Kristiansen this season. He has improved while on loan and the goals are coming from the other side of the defence.

Just spent 5 minutes typing out a snotty message telling people they need a reality check, right as the thread got locked. Our squad is probably the worst in the league. We can't attract players because we have a points deduction looming over us, among other things. We might have got Potter, but we backed out of that as we got the impression we were just keeping him warm for someone else to come along. And if he did leave us mid season we really would be cooked. Cooper is playing poker with no money and no cards. We should be backing him and the boys.

I just hope Mavididi gets to terrorize a fatigued Castagne late in the game. If we're still even or winning I wouldn't want to have to deal with Stephy on the counter.

Exactly mate. Some seem to think Alves is ready for this league. He could be amazing but he's not there yet. He's had a few bit part appearances nothing more. I'd rather have Facundo on the bench behind Bilal and Alves out there being 'the man' for a Championship team. Facundo goes back to Brighton at the end of the season and Will slots in. Unusually sensible for us.

Me too. But of the 3 you mentioned Alves has much less experience. Mostly due to his injuries. He might be just as good as the other two but he hasn't yet done anything to prove it. He needs to play every week for at least a season. If we have two young players in front of him in the pecking order, then we need to send him out on loan.

These are a good team. A point away at Fulham is just as good as a point at home against spurs. I don't think they will finish very far apart in the table. I'd like to see the aggressive pressing from the second half of the spurs game, and the direct vertical attacks. Like Cooper says, the out of possession game is key. Traore is a key player he can be dangerous, but he's also wasteful with possession. If we can win that battle, and out work their midfield we have a fair chance.

HMS Piss The League has arrived gracefully into port in the Premiership. All aboard Shithouse Coach Tours bound for: Lowblock, Park-the-Bus, Longball, Counter-attack. Last stop, Survival.

If soumare HAS to play, I'd much rather him up the top end of the pitch. The lad has no mind for defensive work.

If it was £10m now and £10m is we stay up, then he's only going to cost £10m. Which is nice. Can't believe we've just dropped £20m for an injury prone central midfielder when we have so many holes all over the pitch. It just shows that nobody wants to come here.

Well I'm certainly no expert. But if we are looking at an obligation to buy, surely we need to agree on what he's paid next year and for what is probably a 5 year contract.

Very true, but would be quite happy for us to throw in a goal bonus of some sort.

Yeah but, as I say they think (and I'm not saying they know everything) that he has a high potential score. 85. Which would make him better than most PL strikers. Toney is only an 80 on those scores btw. They get that sort of notion from talking to scouts and youth team managers across Europe. What I was getting at, is that he has been widely regarded as a hot prospect for years.

I know it means nothing, but the scouts they use for the FIFA games have had him as a future star for about 3 years. (Not saying that he's going to rip the league apart, but he's the potential to be a long term solution to our forward problems). Big, strong, fast, very highly thought of.

I wasn't particularly saying how dangerous he is overall. I was just saying he's quick, and he is. I think our current forwards are more dangerous in a counter attack than in a pass heavy build up. Pace is a key factor in making counters more effective and helpful is one of the fastest guys we have.

Mavididi isn't fast? I think me and you remember things very differently both about him and our old tactics. I still think we lack the quality to play Enzo ball. We would need a better midfield than we had in last year, not a worse one like we have now. We would also need upgrades in defence to guard against a much better high press from the attacks in the Prem. We were vulnerable at the back against wasteful championship attacks when we were countered. I worry that it would/will be much worse in the prem.

Please don't do this to me. Being at full mast with a broken heart is not how I want to start the week.

I don't want to see a low block particularly. But with the squad we have, I could see it working better than the Enzo style slow build up. As much as I want to see good football. We need to stay up, whatever the cost. We had a great escape with the low block, and we won a title doing just that most of the time. It up to cooper at the end of the day. He's got to find a way with the whatever squad he ends up with. With Vardy Daka Fatawu Mavididi and even BDR, we probably have one of the fastest attacks in the league. A good number 10 or maybe a deep lying playmaker could make great use of those runners.

I feel as though we lack the quality to play through teams, and we don't have a clear, set organised plan to sit deep and counter or to high press. We might, might, stand a chance with a deep block and some rapid counters. If you look at our front players now, there's some serious pace available. We would need to grind out some results, but shithousery is still in our DNA. I get the feeling that cooper has been trying to operate to the plan of playing possession ball, which the owners want, but he lacks the players in midfield to do that. Enzo did it without a 10, and cooper wants to try it with a 10, but doesn't have one in the squad. It's all a bit muddled. I can see us going a few games into the season trying to play Enzo ball without enough quality to break teams down. Then changing to a deep block fast counter style when it fails.

Even if we had to offer Liverpool 1st dibs on him in the future (like the Philogene deal) I'd still take this. He's not the finished article but he has what it takes to become a great player. Yes please.

I had no idea about that. That's awesome!