deep blue

Everyone is "unproven" until he's given a chance to prove himself.

Thomas would be an improvement from a defensive point of view, and he has quite a good forward pass so is likely to link better with Mav.

As bad as our defenders are, and as woeful our forward options, I think our biggest weakness, going back to the early Rodgers years, is for a dominating box-to-box midfielder in the mould of Izzet. Most Prem teams have one. Tielemans and Maddison were fine together when the team was dominating, largely on the back of Ndidi's ability to protect our defence, but when the going got tough they couldn't cope. This happened eventually in our relegation year after Rodgers had neutered Ndidi by trying to get him to play a more box-to-box role. Since then we've lacked that pivotal sort of player because Soumare didn't fulfil the expectation we had with his signing. And the key thing that we miss is protection and relief for the defence. So I think this is the key signing we need to make.

What I clearly suggested is that if his current club managed to convince him to settle for a CB position then it's a failing on our fault that we didn't manage earlier to reach a similar agreement with him.

I'm aware of that. Do you not think it's a failing of the club that we didn't find a way to keep him happy and eventually get him to progress in his best position? His current club managed to do that, but we didn't.

Not forgetting that Einstein's credibility was sullied by his wise words on smart meters, too.

Bassey would certainly have improved the current team, had he been given the opportunity. Given our CB shortcomings, how we must rue not bringing him through. A solid CB who also pops up with the occasional goal, ... in a successful Prem team.

Not to mention our outstanding youth forwards who might well fare better but are never tried.

Maybe Glover also at fault, but surely Cooper said that he wanted Prem experience which is why we put Ayew & BDCR, at least, down to him. It could also explain Skipp, too.

I thought Puel encouraged youth, and assembled an excellent squad. He'd be a good DOF, I believe.

So they bring on Merino for Streling and it's as if our defence are unaware of the switch, his presence. Nobody switches their attention to him. Schoolboy stuff.

Me too. Only doubt there is Faes, but for all his switching-off moments it's hard to think that any of the alternatives would be better on balance. I certainly think it's worth gambling on an attacking formation and hoping that we occupy them enough in the opposition half that our defence isn't put under the usual pressure. When you think of the continual ineffectiveness of our cautious approach, what is there to lose?

Yes, congratulations ProjectReset. You've done a great job.

Only one way to find out!!

But there's an alternative way of looking at it. If Monga could have been supplied with the ball and started to run at the Man U defence then that could have forced Garnacho to stay back to track him. Monga running at the Man U defence could have had the additional effects of unnerving Man U and giving a fillip to our own players, and of course giving us a chance of snatching the winner. By making a negative sub (McAteer) it simply helped to put us more and more under pressure so that their winner was almost inevitable. Of course, it's a case of ifs & buts, but I'd always go for the more positive option.

I would phrase it slightly differently with Pearson - rather than "experience", I think it was "character" that was an important quality for him. Our Prem-winning side had bags of it.

But surely if, say, they targetted 3 players then shouldn't the increase in prices have meant that they could just drop one of the targets thus making it affordable to still bring in the other 2?

He just might be that good

I don't believe it ever was. Uninformed people panicked unnecessarily about it.

Doesn't matter. The key thing is that he overtakes Michael Owen

If I remember rightly, it was alleged that when Lennon was interviewed at Cov Atkinson asked him what position he played. Of course, it also helped that Lennon and O'Neill shared a common Irish background and were both avid Celtic supporters (well, nobody's perfect ).

About £700.

Anyone know what kind of midfielder Gronbaek is? I think people are wrong concentrating their thoughts on strikers and defenders. I think our priority is a commanding midfielder, one whose aggressive defending capabilities can give a bit more protection to our defence, someone who can fight to turn round possession but can also start up attacks. We don't have a midfielder with those qualities and it shows when other teams take control against us. Even when Ndidi comes back, at Prem level he's limited - a good defensive mid. Soumare looks to be closest in style but he just doesn't show enough alertness and commitment. As a side issue, does anyone think our squad is a little more unfit than others? I've no idea who's in charge of fitness now. The management support team has been in a state of flux over the last few seasons. I think that could be the reason we only seem to compete in patches.

Yes, I think we ran out of steam and let a lot of games slip at the end. Was that the season where we were 3-0 up at HT away to Wolves and lost 4-3 ?

I certainly have very fond memories of that team. So many emotional moments following them. Perhaps in part because you felt that you could identify very strongly with the players and manager, and I've never seen such a bunch of fighters. I think from those aspects they even just eclipse the title-winning team. I also have a strong feeling for how under-rated was Izzet, especially outside of Leicester ... I really struggle to think of any midfielder in the country who was so complete - he could do everything - and I go back 70 years in my interest in football.