saintwbu

Caleta-Car and Aribo are both 26 so clearly the SR policy doesn’t completely rule out players who have a little bit of experience behind them, so hopefully they’ve got their eyes on a prolific striker of any age.

Lincoln at home!

Taking JWP’s performances in isolation i can see why people would not be surprised he hasn’t made an England squad. But there’s no way anyone can say with a straight face that Phillips/Gallagher/Henderson have done more.

Most of their team will hopefully be in protection mode for the World Cup, whereas most of ours won’t be. Equally they’re still playing pretty poorly. I reckon we’ll go with a 5 at the back, pack the midfield and try to score on the break, and try and make it as difficult as possible for them.

£4mil compensation suggests he’s not the cheap(est) option, and we never go for a manager currently in work, so SR must see something in him.

Weird, given that the majority of this forum wanted Ralph gone, and the majority seem to be unhappy with the potential replacement, perhaps it’s not the same people who were still supporting the manager…

Just need a Jan Bednarek exclusive to the Daily Star now to complete the trio of ‘fucking useless players for us whose opinions should be completely ignored’. Charlie Austin and Nathan Redmond were wanted by not a single Premier League club upon their departure, so I think they can maybe look at themselves instead.

I think James Justin came through under him, who’s now at Leicester, so don’t know what his track record is like in previous seasons. He also gave Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall his breakthrough during a loan spell from Leicester.

Think this underpinned the concern of those who weren’t desperate for Ralph to go. A lot of our fan base still seem to be somewhat in denial of the way we are run, and thought we might get a ‘top’ manager. This appointment is very reflective of our recent level of ambition. Ralph, at the time of his appointment, was a coup and completely against the way we’ve been run in the last 5 or 6 seasons. This is obviously a gamble, but also a complete missed opportunity to give the whole club and fanbase a shot in the arm. If, in a dream world, Poch had returned (obviously was never going to happen), he could afford a few defeats whilst retaining faith. If we go a couple of goals down to Brighton on boxing day with Nathan Jones in charge, I dread to think what that atmosphere will be like. But good luck to him, I hope the gamble pays off and he’ll have my full support.

He was crap all game, but a great finish at the end whilst running on empty

It’s more his jolting action once Nketiah let go of him, definitely would’ve been a red if he’d made any decent contact but luckily ended up being more chest area and didn’t really connect.

DCC reminded me a bit of Jose Fonte yesterday. Quite simple and understated, a bit messy in terms of pushing and pulling, but just got the job done. Salisu is great at winning duels, blocking etc, it’s always felt like he’s lacked a calming influence alongside him. So far in ABK and DCC we seem to have really upgraded in terms of partnerships, and it is such a joy to not have to watch Bednarek being bullied by every forward he tries to engage with.

Yesterday was his best game so far imo. I haven’t really felt much about him either way so far. Made some great stops yesterday, i’ve always liked that he seems willing to come for crosses (even if not always successful). He played one pass yesterday in the first half, on the ground through some Arsenal players, out to the left wing which I thought was superb and was the first proper sign i’d seen of his quality of distribution.

It felt like as soon as people read some Torino fans saying he wasn’t very good, they’d made their minds up. He’s been our best player away at Chelsea in the cup last year, and at home to Arsenal in the league yesterday - not bad for a £7mil back up CB.

Great week for Perraud. Goal against West Ham, assist against Bournemouth and a big part of the goal yesterday. All round game was good in all three as well.

Lyanco for me. I’ve only seen him live 2/3 times but he’s been good each time, so i’m always surprised by the stick he’s had. He’s pretty quick across the ground too, he bombed down the right in the first half at one point. Also thought DCC was impressive, no nonsense and a proper defender, the sort that other teams seem to have and we haven’t recently - doesn’t mind some pushing and pulling but is always trying to win the ball.

A good attacker in the Championship commands pretty decent money these days, so even if we don’t deem him good enough for us, he should be worth a good fee if he continues his good form.

Makes you wonder what sort of terms they’re expecting a new manager to adhere to. We know they have a pretty particular transfer policy, maybe managers aren’t keen on it.

Gonna take a hell of a run from a very average squad to overturn last years terrible run of form, so personally not bothered by this ‘4 wins in 23 games’ or whatever it is people like to shout. I see 11 points from 11 games from this new team - less than i’d have hoped, not the worst I could have imagined. Probably would’ve been a couple more if Lavia hadn’t got injured but that’s football. Sunday will be tough, but 3 points from the next 4 would put us in an okay position going into the World Cup break, anymore and i’d be happy, any less and i’d be concerned.

He’s bullied plenty of CB’s this season, notably United and Chelsea’s. The problem is if he’s missing chances or we’re losing then naturally it’ll go under the radar. Tonight he was absolutely superb.

Surely it is plausible that we signed Bazunu & Lavia because we wanted them, and decided ‘why don’t we get the guy who found them for City’ after, rather than the other way round

He might not be our best player but the drop off in quality in his position is definitely a problem, and i’m sure we’d have had more control in that Villa game if he’d been playing, and the first half against Everton. So it will be a boost to have him back.

We don’t yet know if SR are as reluctant to pay compensation to another club as we have been in the past. They may have a very clear idea in mind of who they need for the model to be successful. This whole episode will be an interesting insight into our future.

Come off it, they walked in and took our 20 goal a season striker. They’ve also got Buendia, Bailly, Coutinho, Watkins as well as quality and experience all over the pitch. They’re more in need of a management overhaul than us! They just have enough quality that they’re keeping above water despite a shit manager.

Sort of seems like a commentary on the Athletic piece, rather than adding much themselves.