mcbendy

Not great but better than nothing: http://hockeyweb.live/daily/news/leeds02/?sport=soccer

Moi is so much better than Redmond. Him and Stu are the ones.

Slightly off topic perhaps, bit I thought this was interesting

I largely agree with this. We're pretty strong at fullback now, and Small is still coming through. At CB, I could see us upgrading on Bednarek and/or Stephens, though neither are as terrible as some would have you believe. I agree, we need another solid DM in the Romeo mould. I like Diallo, but he's a different kind of player. The position that I think we most need to strengthen at is our so-called 'Number 10'. We have a lot of players but I don't think many of them are particularly good... Wallcott, Redmond, Djenopo all leave something to be desired. I really rate Stuart Armstrong when he's fully fit, but he isn't often fully fit... Of our strikers, I think Che has something at this level and will improve. I think Adam Armstrong probably needs to drop back down to the Championship - I can't see him cutting it at this level. Too lightweight and needs too many chances. I agree, sadly I doubt Broja will stay, simply because I doubt we will be able to afford him. Chelsea will probably decide they want to see him there, and then he will sit on the bench...

I'm so glad I started the January thread. It gave us all a chance to discuss who we might sign and who might leave. A 16-year-old defender from Cheltenham, and no-one... I really do think we are keeping our powder dry for the summer though. I expect some pretty big changes. New goalkeeper, for sure Bye bye Shane Long Centreback changes? Will Broja sign? I also wonder if (hope that?) we might do quite a bit of our business early, or perhaps even quietly and secretly over the next few months. I'd love for us to have a pre-season will lots of new players to get excited about, and time for Ralph to work with them

Why would the club put out that cryptic tweet? That's pouring petrol on the flames. Surely they would only do that if something had happened, or they were looking to in some way influence someone / something?

https://talksport.com/football/fa-cup/659667/brentford-data-revolution-england-smartest-club-championship-leicester-fa-cup/

I did have a good stream but it has broken - does anyone have anything currently working?

We've gone from being weak at the back and making up for it with goals (from Danny), to being relatively solid at the back and totally toothless. In some games it's really felt like we could have played three lots of 90 minutes and still not scored. I find it hard to believe that we'll sign a goal scorer in January though - they are expensive at the best of times. Fingers crossed we can manage to stay up this season. There's the makings of a good team there I think, with a few additions...

Back in full training in two weeks, per Adam Blackmore

If you look at the body language of some of the players in one of the behind-the-scenes pre-season videos it's pretty obvious that they found him irritating and unprofessional. I suspect Ralph did too.

A lot will depend on where we are in the league, I suspect. It looks like we have some money left over from player trading this summer. Could we see some players coming in during January. Or maybe fringe players heading out on loan? Will we finally see the back of Shane Long? What about Fraser Forster - could he be pushing at the exit door by January? Could we try and make the Broja deal permanent?

doesn't it go straight to pens?

Highlights tonight at 22:30 on Quest, which it looks like you can stream live here: https://www.discoveryplus.co.uk/channel/quest?idp=Sonic&responseCode=212

Brilliant interview from the young man. He's clearly a bright lad. Hopefully he's going to join the first team squad straight away.

I wonder if we'll see Caleb Watts? He's not in the B team squad tonight. Forster Valery. Bednarek. Salisu. KWP JWP Diallo Watts. Elyonoussi Tella. Broja. If Stuart Armstrong is fit again, maybe he'll get some minutes, but presumably not 90

Livramento for only 5 million is going to end up being the best piece of business that any club has done in this transfer window. This kid is sensational. Salisu was very solid, including his passing. Diallo added something when he came on. V happy with a point. Once they'd equalised I feared we'd fall to bits. Onwards and upwards!

I lived in Nottinghamshire between the ages of 6 and 18. Hucknall is a monument sh!thole. It makes Pompey look up market. I've got no opinion on the CB!

Interesting that McQueen gets a number...

Seriously though, I think you're bang on with that. The only question mark really is over the 'Redmond' position, but I do think Redders will get the nod. It's 9 subs now, isn't it. So Elyounoussi and Valery on the bench too?

Don't you think they'll notice if we field 12? (Stu + Armstrong)

JV confirmed departure as per his own Instagram. No surprise of course, but just saying.

I don't think it's fair to hold our centre backs solely responsible for the number of goals that we conceded last season. The whole team has to be 'on it' for the system to work. If the two forwards, two 'tens', fullbacks and DMs press high up the pitch but fail to win the ball or force the opponents back (i.e. if the opponents play through our press) then suddenly our two centre backs are badly exposed. How many times did we see them either dragged out wide to someone who had run in behind one of our fullbacks, or trying to play offside with a very high defensive line (e.g. the Spurs game...), and/or chasing desperately back towards goal? It's not like they, or most of our DMs, have the pace to recover. In the first half of last season we did it brilliantly and we had 8 clean sheets. In the second half we were poor, and I think that was more about the level of the whole team and less about any change in the performance of the CBs. I also wonder if our opponents worked us out and figured out how to beat the press more often. Personally I rate Bednarek. Salisu looks like he suits our system better, as he has pace which clearly JV didn't have. Salisu still looks a bit raw - I can see him giving the ball away in dangerous situations this season - but I also think we'll see positive qualities from him.

45 million for two older players entering the final years of their contracts is fantastically good business. I have high hopes for Salisu this season. Hopefully we'll get at least one CB in before the window is shut.