andyc24_uk

Were we flush with defensive options I'd agree with you, but when we're starting a player in defence who (a) clearly doesn't have the required skillset to play there at this level and (b) is desperately needed elsewhere on the pitch where his particular talents can be much more effectively put to use, I think we need to take the risk.

I'd honestly bring in Famewo alongside Godfrey. Youngsters stepped up last season when needed, let's at least give it a try again this time around. If it works we've got another multi-million pound player on our hands, if it doesn't then he's surely no worse than Amadou in that position - Amadou looks a fantastic option in the DM role (and having him there would likely take a lot of the pressure off the two CBs anyhow) but clearly isn't cut out to be a successful CB himself. Byram I don't see as a CB and I don't think Farke does either otherwise he'd surely have played him there before now? Wouldnt be opposed to Byram starting if Max is tired or carrying any knocks though, he's a good player and we can't afford to have anyone else picking up injuries. Krul Byram/Aarons Godfrey Famewo Lewis Tettey Amadou Buendia Drmic Cantwell Pukki Bench : McGovern, Byram/Aarons, Trybull, McLean, Stiepermann, Hernandez, Idah

Cantwell out of the U21s too now... I hope this is our management team seeing sense and basically pulling everyone out of internationals wherever we can get away with it. Given the situation we're in, we just can't afford any risks and club has to come before country IMHO.

Djourou if he qualifies as homegrown must surely be worth looking at at this point? We literally just need someone with a fully intact and functioning muscular and skeletal system who's ideally played in defence before as short term cover. Tommie Hoban who was previously with Watford is on that list too, has top flight experience and could be worth at least inviting to train with the team; if Hanley is now out long term then we desperately need someone as a backup option and I really can't see what we lose by at least considering a free transfer addition.

We still own the land between the pitch and the hotel itself I think, don't we? Assuming we could take down the screen for a couple of seasons (Never needed it before a few years ago, I'm sure we'll cope again) Could we not put up some kind of temporary seating in that corner infill space right in front of the hotel? Admittedly it would have to be at an extremely steep rake so people were almost sitting on top of one another but could potentially be feasible for a season or two to take some of the ST holders relocated from the South Stand? Another thought, How long would it actually take to replace the South Stand? Hypothetically could we not design something that could be prefabricated offsite and brought in in sections essentially already built and just needing to be bolted together? This kind of approach is regularly used in China and elsewhere to construct buildings fast... If we went down that route and asked the FA for special dispensation for the last few games of one season to be away from home and no Home games until after the September international break the following season, that could give us 4-5 months to get it completed - Potentially do this 2 seasons in a row, replacing the existing structure in the first season and adding a second tier the following summer?

I really hope he doesn't play this weekend, we've already seen Zimmerman and Fahrmann rushed back when they weren't fully recovered and now out for a much longer term. If that happens a third time serious questions are going to have to be asked surely. Lewis needs a rest this weekend, give Heise a chance to prove himself and then Lewis gets an extra 5 days to recover before NI games, if he's not 95%+ fit by Wednesday withdraw him from the international squad. Got to put the club's needs first, unfortunately.

Clearly, we've gained an advantage through our focus on fitness and training, and long may that continue... I do think though that it must be having at least some impact on the likelihood of us getting injuries - a risk worth taking but does suggest we need more options and a slightly larger squad if we stay up next season. High-intensity training / few injury worries / Small squad - I suspect you can have any two and be successful but not all three...

Time for one or two of the U23 players to step up. That's the approach DF took last season and it worked; nothing at all to lose by following it again. Realistically this match is already lost in terms of a result, I don't think even the most optimistic fan expects anything other than a heavy defeat - but the next 4-5 are games where we need to be in a position to compete. To do that we CANNOT risk any further injuries to important players in defence - so Aarons, Godfrey and Lewis, for me, need to sit this dead rubber match out. Byram and Heise can clearly come in but that leaves two holes in the center - Amadou might have to fill one of those spaces but I'd much rather see Akin Famewo or Ciaran Jones given a chance to step up than risking Lewis out of position as some are suggesting. Just dont see the purpose of gambling with Lewis - an experienced player out of position is not better than an inexperienced youngster who knows the role. The club 's ethos as I understand is the players are being taught the same way of playing throughout the age groups so they're ready to step up a level when needed. Fahrmann Byram Famewo Amadou Heise Tettey McLean Vrancic Cantwell Pukki Drmic Bench : Krul; Ciaran Jones, Buendia, Stiepermann, Srbeny, Idah, Whoever else has looked decent for the U23s... Milovanovic plays defensive midfield I think? maybe him?

Krul Aarons Godfrey Hanley/Famewo Lewis Tettey Amadou Vrancic Cantwell Pukki Drmic Probably just about what I'd go with. Realistically I don't think anyone expects anything other than a pretty comprehensive defeat from this match, and rightly so. There are plenty of games to come this season where we'll compete and win points, but this isn't one of them. Given where we are with defensive issues, I don't think it's worth risking Zimmermann, who's still likely not to be 100% fit, in what is essentially a dead rubber game. Possibly the same could be said for Hanley to be honest, depending how badly he's hurt. I'd stick with the current formation but give Famewo from the youth team a chance. We need a warm body in that space, we can't risk further injury to our key personnel, and there's really nothing to lose by giving a youngster a chance - as we well know. Could even be that he has an amazing game, makes a few good tackles against world class opposition even in defeat and steps up as the solution to all our woes. I'd stick with Lewis, Aarons and Godfrey to be honest, yes Aarons and Lewis haven't hit the heights of last season yet but Byram and Heise aren't any kind of upgrade, from what little we've seen. They need to be told to stay back and defend though - Getting up to support the attack and being caught out will be fatal in this particular game against the pace and skill of Sterling. We also probably need stronger protection in front of the back line. Amadou and Tettey are our toughest options, they've got to come in for me - Trybull, Leitner and Vrancic are all much better technically with the ball but we likely won't have much of it against City; Their pace and off-the-ball positioning and skill means we have GOT to adapt our usual short passing game. Not looking for hoofball, but we can't play the way we usually do against a team like this, we've got to be smarter and play fewer and more incisive passes. Two more no-nonsense players willing to act as enforcers, put in the hard tackles and get the ball quickly and efficiently to more creative players could be the way to go. I'd probably put Vrancic in front of them, playing deeper than Stiepermann generally does. He's not always 100% there in the game but he's probably the one player we have who can be truly unpredictable and pull something - be it a turn, a long pass, a shot - out of thin air where there's no obvious move to be made. Doesn't always come off but throwing a little unpredictable chaos into the mix can only be a good thing in this case - Man City are likely going to be assuming a walkover to some extent, Mario is one of the best we have at taking advantage of any complacency they show and creating something out of it. Pukki up front is a given; it's a toss-up between going for Drmic alongside him or dropped slightly deeper and Cantwell more central than usual or leaving Drmic out and having both Cantwell and Buendia in their usual roles pushing in from the sides. Laporte being out and City's strength at RB/LB makes me edge slightly more towards Drmic playing, concentrating firepower more in the center as I suspect Todd and Emi will be kept under control pretty handily; although I do think Zinchenko is a bit suspect so if he's playing either of our wide lads might have the pace and trickery to give him some headaches. Bench : Fahrmann is obvious Hanley or Famewo, whoever doesn't start - unless Hanley is entirely ruled out in which case Byram Leitner and Trybull nothing against them but we have better options for this particular match IMHO; Stiepermann for me hasn't been great the last two games and needs a game on the bench; Buendia to maybe bring on if we were to switch formation later in the game and use the width more. Idah to gain matchday experience and who knows, last 10 minutes if the game is done, nothing to lose by throwing him on with no expectations.

The pool of CBs also looks stronger because every single one of the lads we have in that position now are far better than any of those three! Martin was a good RB but absolutely dreadful in the middle, Bennett unfortunately waited for his move to Wolves to show his real quality and Bassong's best days were well behind him. I'd maybe take Bennett over Hanley today but other than that there's no comparison - we're a lot better now than we were last time round!

Agree with this - We needed someone who could come on and provide a bit of creative spark and instead we got Srbeny. Nothing against the guy whatsoever on a personal level, he seems to be a great lad who gives 100% but it was pretty clear today that he's nowhere near good enough for this level. Roberts at least has the ability to pull off an unexpected move which could have unsettled the likes of Chelsea's defence - Dennis unfortunately didn't do much of anything when he came on. Stiepermann himself didn't have a great game either, lots of misplaced passes - I'm really hoping somebody puts in a great performance in the cup and is able to start challenging him for the starting place as it will push him on to do better

I'd take 2021-22 season future Maddison... Technically cheating a bit but he's a former player and that'll likely be when he's in his prime! Already one of the most naturally gifted midfielders ever to wear the shirt, has stepped up a further level at Leicester beyond the fantastic performances he gave for us, and plenty more to come.

We know Farke and his staff are keen on fitness and that's been one of the keys to our success; but we do appear to get more injuries than most other clubs - The reports seem to suggest both McLean and Idah suffered similar back injuries in training, and honestly, it's not all that uncommon for someone to trip on the stairs - just doesn't usually lead to a torn meniscus or ACL injury; one has to wonder whether there's something about the current training regime that's making players more susceptible to injury somehow? I wonder whether there could be something to gain from having someone with a medical background from outside the club come in as a consultant and take a look at the training situation with fresh eyes and see if there are some tweaks that can be made here and there to reduce injury risk?

February 22nd 1994, 2-2 against Blackburn on a freezing Tuesday night. They had to switch to an orange ball after about 10 minutes cos there was so much snow about the ref couldn't see it properly. Chris Sutton scored.

The question for me is, if you introduce the Sin Bin then where do you apply it as a punishment? Is it a replacement for Yellow Cards? Is it for specific offences? Will we see fewer red cards? What constitutes an offence serious enough to be binned, but not serious enough to be sent off? Does a mistimed but not necessarily malicious tackle automatically get you a 10-minute time out? Or are we going to say that deliberately bad tackles now only merit the sin bin, not a red card for deliberate foul play? What if a 'Keeper gets sin-binned? Stick an outfielder in goal for 10 minutes? Sub off a second outfielder for your backup 'keeper for 10 minutes only - Then bring them back on when the original GK has served his time?! Or does the backup 'keeper then end up playing outfield for the rest of the match?! I can see plenty of merit to the idea but it needs to be looked at VERY carefully if it's a serious proposal, so trialling different formats of the rules in the amateur or lower league game is definitely the way to go!

The opposition trying to score against you ruined the game? 🤔

I'd imagine if we are indeed looking seriously at a move for Bowen then one of the first questions DF will ask him would be something along the lines of "You would be competing mainly with Onel Hernandez for a starting spot; if he gets into the team and we go on a 10-game streak of good form that keeps you on the bench through no fault of your own, would you be OK with that?" - If that team-before-player ethic is not something he could deal with, as the likes of Klose, Hanley and Rhodes proved admirably last season, then I can't see him being signed. Assuming he passes the character test, the fact that Bowen can fill in as a striker if needed makes him a very attractive proposition - We really need three good options up there, Pukki and Drmic are fine but Srbeny clearly wasn't signed with the Premier League in mind and isn't on that level. Bowen as a third option further forward if needed would fill that gap nicely with Idah hopefully getting some chances to come off the bench in the first half of the season and maybe a loan in January. Also I actually think a season in the Championship would be the best thing for Cantwell, at his stage of development he needs regular games in a way the more experienced players don't, so a signing that gives us options in that position and potentially allows him to go out and get the experience he needs would be good news in my book.

I think Brighton will do better than people expect; I like what Potter does and I suspect their players are better than they showed last season. Burnley worry me a bit, they haven't really recruited anyone major for the past couple of years and didnt look comfortable back end of last season. Palace and Newcastle could both b in trouble as a few people have suggested; and though they wont be in the relegation fight I think Chelsea will be out of the top 6 or 7 this season - No new signings, lost their best player in Hazard, a weird mix of overpaid and underperforming players and talented youngsters who've been farmed out repeatedly and probably have little club togetherness or cohesion, and an unproven manager who's there on name and desperation not on merit; I think they could be 8th or 9th. Wouldnt be surprised to see Leicester back in the top 6 again, they've done a solid job rebuilding their squad to replace the title winners with talented younger players.

I wouldn't even give them the courtesy of a reply if they've really put in a bid that low. Needs to be £35m+ before Webber even picks up the phone IMHO.

Switch up the pale blue for light green and dark blue for yellow and give it green and white shorts/socks, and the middle one wouldnt look too bad.

A little worried if we're spending that kind of money on a Motherwell player... I guess it depends on how the deal is structured - 3.5m up front sounds an awful lot for a young player untested at genuinely high level; but if that's the total value of the deal including achievement bonus payments, add-on clauses etc then it could be realistic. My worry is with the low standard of opposition he's faced so far - Aside from Celtic and to some extent now Rangers, SPL clubs are league 2 standard at best. If anyone suggested we spend 3.5m of our limited budget on a League 2 player, there would be outrage on here. McClean has made the step up really well but we've also signed the likes of Conor McGrandles, Tony Andreu or Julien Brellier before, supposedly players who had done wonders north of the border but turned out to be as much use as a sack of spuds against decent opposition...

L1Pswich to lose 7-1 on the opening day. Lambert comes full circle 🙂 For us, I'm guessing something not particularly inspiring to start the season... Everton away maybe?

Can't see Rhodes coming back due to a combination of him being overpriced and questions about his pedigree at the highest level; Srbeny clearly isn't going to be Premier League quality and I'm certain will go out on loan or move on this summer; we'll definitely bring in one more player to provide competition for Pukki and I believe Patrick Roberts can play up top if we were pushed by injuries so I suspect that may be it in terms of incoming forwards - It would definitely be good to have a young striker on the bench who could potentially come on if we were either well ahead or (hopefully not often) impossibly far behind in a match and get some experience, at least in the first half of the season. He'll be 19 by the time the winter transfer window shuts and at that age if he's not made his senior debut yet then surely he's going to be asking questions about whether he wants to stay, especially if he comes out of this U21 tournament tipped for big things. I'd keep him around personally and then look to loan him out for the second half of the season if he's not getting any game minutes.

Very happy with this one assuming it goes through... Really good player, seems to fit the 'young and talented but not quite fulfilled his potential thus far' mould that Farke is proving so adept at getting the most out of, presumably he's been scouted and found to fit in with the squad ethos and mentality; and with him coming to the end of his contract next season the potential is there for a permanent deal (Presumably he'd only be made permanent if we are still in the Premier League next season, and if that's the case then we'll have significantly more money available to us in a second season, so compensation payments wouldn't be an issue). Brilliant signing to start off the summer with, let's get it over the line!

Surprised to see Abrahams who seemed to be a regular starter and goalscorer for the youth team getting released, also Bilal Kamal was supposedly the next big gem in our academy a couple of years back, shame he doesn't appear to have made it work. Hope they all find success somewhere else (and maybe if they turn out to be good after all we can sign them back again in a couple of years 😛 )