Indy_Bones

I'd rather they came out shirtless than wear that damn travesty of a shirt again...

If we combined his goal tally from the last 4 seasons in the Champs, he's still scored less in them than Pukki did in ONE season for us. He was poor at Boro, no great shakes the season before that at Preston, and had a decent season last year, but there's a reason he's had limited game time for us so far, and if his performance continues at current levels, he'll likely manage a big 4 goals for us by the end of the season. On what I've season so far this year (and in the seasons before), Idah's already ahead of him, but even though I didn't rate the signing, I'm still desperately hoping he comes good, because he does come across as a good guy with the right personality, but it's simply not happening on the pitch and that's more relevant to our season than whether or not a player is likeable or a decent chap...

Crossing is probably the least effective way to score a goal, in fact it's a complete waste of time with the majority of attempts, yet for some reason there's always this clamour to have pacy wingers whipping balls over to a striker who apparently is going to beat two big central defenders repeatedly. I have no idea where this obsession with crossing came from, but it's ineffective and doesn't in any way, shape or form play to our strengths as a squad. Wingers either need to be cutting inside to play an incisive pass, or we play more narrow and focus on consistent passing which is FAR more dangerous and difficult to defend against than 99% of crosses.

Just 3 changes for me (assuming Krul isn't back) Gibson in for Zimm, Vrancic for Dowell, Rupp for McLean.

Sorensen has played really well though and deserves to keep his place, McLean struggles to justify being on the bench...

Looks good apart from McLean, no idea how he's ahead of Vrancic, Rupp or Tettey tbh.

As someone who's also suffered badly with depression over the years, I can approach this with a degree of understanding and support, and yet I still feel like we've been shown a total lack of commitment and an unnecessary level of disrepect from a former player. Nobody forced him to come here and he knew what the situation would be in terms of friends, distance and living arrangements before he signed on the dotted line, but it appears that all he was looking at were pound signs and to hell with the rest. The job is PROFESSIONAL footballer, that means that professionalism and commitment are absolutely expected of each and every player in our squad, so not wanting to train as hard as required whilst wanting to be able to go out for a few beers whenever you feel like it is hardly meeting these standards is it? If a player is struggling with mental health issues, many clubs will be very supportive and try to give the best help they can as long as the player is doing their best with the process as well, but you can't just down tools and blame everything else and then have the temerity to complain about it a year or two later! I hope he's turned things around, is getting the help he needs and that he manages to beat this and live a nice life with his family, I just don't see why he needed to be so disrepectful to a club who gave him his best ever contract and were only asking of him exactly what they were asking of ALL our players.

Yes, we clearly paid the most we ever had for a player that the manager didn't fancy, then threw another 5 mil at Hooper who clearly wasn't intended to play just off from RVW (and Hughton probably didn't fancy either). So 13+ million on two strikers that seemingly our manager didn't fancy either of, sounds like great business and a sensible approach to transfers doesn't it...

He'd scouted RVW when he was still at Newcastle, and everybody with half a brain in football knew exactly what type of player he was, so even if he'd not agreed or wanted Hooper (which I don't believe was the case), there's still ZERO excuse for his complete misuse of RVW, so regardless of whether or not RVW may have turned out far better or not, he wasn't given the chance with such dire supply and being asked to play a role he'd NEVER be able to in any meaningful way. I still don't understand WHY Hughton did what he did, particularly in that 2nd season, but the fact is that he didn't use half our players correctly (remember that Holt and other strikers had their goal tallies HALVED under Hughton), he set out for 0-0 results and brought on defensive subs when losing, and provided us with some of the worst football I've ever seen as a City fan, and even if we can disagree over RVW, I don't think there's any argument about the rest...

Unlikely PC as it will be seen that they spent good money since Jan to do this, with around 80 million on players who are likely to be on reasonably high wages. In contrast over a similar time frame we spent around 17 million on transfer fees and our most expensive in that PL season was the loan fee we paid for Fahrmann ffs (not including the 3 mil+ we gave for McCallum)! They definitely put more money out there in attempt to stay up that we did, and it absolutely worked for them last year, this season however is a complete disaster, and the 56+ million they've spent on the likes of Brewster, Ramsdale, Burke, Bogle and Lowe isn't looking like a good investment of limited funds so far, but at least they've actually spent it which is counter to us not. (Not saying either choice was right or wrong btw).

Roeder was awful and his attitude stank, but in his defence, he had a much weaker squad to start with and he wasn't given club records amounts of money to spend on players to change this, instead he was forced into searching bargain bins and hoping loan players might make an impact which is a far cry from the situation Hughton inherited from Lambert. Hughton was an absolute professional in his manner and at least kept us up for another season before his total failure which is better than Roeder managed (although the football wasn't any better), but he had the easier job out of the two situations IMHO, and I can appreciate a man coming in to a poor squad with no support and struggling to make an impact (Roeder), I can't as easily accept someone taking over a side that off the back of double promotion had then stayed in the PL, provided good financial support for the new man, who blew the lot on players he refused to utilise correctly and who then played for 0-0 and brought defensive subs on when we were losing...

It wasn't because we spent money, it was because we had a manager that had no clue how to use the players he'd agreed to bring to the club, and who was happy to bring on defensive mids when we were 2-0 down rather than actually try to get something from the game. Some of the worst, most turgid dross I've ever witnessed as a fan, respected the guy for how he conducted himself in a professional manner and spoke well, but absolutely clueless in terms of attractive attacking play and utilising the talent available to him, preferring instead to play for 0-0 and hope to squeeze a goal somewhere if lucky, just awful to watch.

I still wonder how they did it, as this season is exactly the sort of showing I expected from them last season! Amazing turn-around at Villa as well, having stayed up thanks to faulty goal-line technology, they're solidly in 10th place this season and looking far better than last. Funny old game.

It's apparent he's simply not on the same level as Krul, which isn't unexpected for a 2nd choice keeper and the 1st choice being the current Dutch national keeper with PL experience. Yesterday was his best game for us in absolutely ages, the early reaction save deserves genuine credit and he was far more solid than he has been in the other matches. He still doesn't inspire confidence in me, nor does he command the backline anywhere near as well as Krul, but he's seemingly exteremely popular among the players, clearly gives his best with a good attitude and that should be commended and exactly what you hope for in a squad player who's unlikely to play barring injury. All that said, I still want Krul back asap.

I actually wanted us to sign Favre back in 2012 when he was at BMG, but we appointed Hughton instead, and we all know how well that went... Absolutely fantastic manager who ranks as one of the very best in the game IMHO. IF Dortmund did approach Farke (which they won't), then I'd love Favre to come here (which he won't). Still gutted we didn't make the approach 6 years ago when it was a possibility instead of being pie in the sky thinking nowadays. Not saying I don't rate Farke either, but Favre is on another level for me, think Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho sort of class.

There's simply no role that McLean does that someone else doesn't simply do better, his ONLY selling point is that he's half decent across the board, but for me that's only of value when your primary players are unavailable and you don't want to rely on youth. Still hoping he gets a Jan move to Rangers as I think it would suit all parties better.

Players with pace and intelligence absolutely love the sort of balls Vrancic is able to play which no other midfielder in the entire club can replicate. He's undoubtedly one of the best free kick takers we've had in ages, and he seems to score or assist almost every time he plays. The trade-off has always been the defensive and speed parts which are both lacking compared to alternatives, yet I've always believed he offers more in balance and something we don't have rather than what we'd gain from say a Tettey or Rupp adding defensive stability. If we're playing Hugill upfront and against sides less likely to park the bus, there's an argument to rest him and play say Rupp or Tettey as his type of balls won't necessarily be as effective in that scenario, but he's too good not to play when everyone seems to be playing 6-3-1 against us...

I haven't seen Hugill have a good game for us yet, in fact he's been about as effective as Stiepermann upfront, which is saying something. The further away McLean is from the team the better, I think I'd rather give one of the youth players a chance over him tbh, and I'd certainly play ANY of our other central midfielders over him given the choice, and that also includes Trybull & Leitner...

Well, 1 out of 3 isn't bad...

Should have brought a couple of the youngsters on sooner as there were clearly tired legs out there and it's ended up costing us. I know we're running very thin in terms of players atm, but we absolutely needed the additional energy over experience IMHO.

Not a lot of great choices on that list tbh, but one that would intruige me would be Sam Johnson. Never played at this level having mainly been in Scandinavia and the US but isn't slow, has a fairly decent shot on him, and would probably be on very sensible wages for a short term deal. Would be a total gamble and I have no idea if there would be work permit issues, but probably the best of a bad bunch (I can't see Balotelli here, even if he hadn't struggled for consistency and having THAT attitude, never mind his wages).

Hugill is performing exactly as I expected he would, which is not pleasant because as a fan you really want to be proved wrong about players you don't rate and hope they come good, but I've literally seen NOTHING from him to suggest he's even a decent champs striker, looks more like league 1/2 level at present. No pace, not strong enough, awful first touch and simply isn't on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. Now of course, the last part can and should develop over time, but at present we're left desperately hoping that Pukki not only stays fit, but continues his form, because if we have to rely on Hugill at the moment, then things look grim from a striker perspective. There's a reason he's jumped round clubs so much and a reason why he was relatively cheap, and it's not because he's a solid 15-20 goal a season striker at this level. Can't fault his effort or work rate, and I have nothing personal against the guy, but as a player he just doesn't do it for me, and he isn't doing it for the club since he arrived either. Losing Idah for 10+ weeks is a massive blow, because I'd much rather he'd have been given the chances than Hugill tbh.

Please let this be true, nothing personal against the guy, but simply don't see what he genuinely offers and would play any of our other options over him, including Leitner.