Billy Talbot

There's no problem at all with keeping SvdB as a CB though is there? We have VvD, Quansah, Ibou, Gomez, Bajectic? It's thin. I also hope he gets a chance to show the lads that do go out on loan repeatedly that there is a way back in. He's not Nat Phillips. Or maybe he is. Nat was worth every penny.

The UK U15 1500m record is under 4 minutes. I reckon pro footballers should be running quite a bit further than that in 6 mins. So somewhere around 2km-2.5km.

And he gets too many cards.

Tasty https://www.facebook.com/people/Tijjani-Fish-Wambai-Muhammad/100082256184150/?_rdr

When I tried to register, I sat in the queue, first for over an hour. Then I just got a blank page. I did it again later that night. No queue, just a message saying I was ineligible. I am a member. I was logged in. I just tried again. Enrolment for the league games ballot is suspended whilst the auto cup registration is processed. It's just not worth the bother considering how unlikely it is for me to get a ticket. And I think I've found a ticket for the game I am intending to go to anyway (Brentford). The whole thing is bananas.

Yeah I think so. I sat there and clicked on every page I could. Most pages had no text. Some just said I wasn’t eligible.

I tried to register for anything and everything last night. I was not eligible for anything. I couldn’t even enter the ballot never mind be unsuccessful in it.

Yeah, I think Robbo is fine. He is getting to that sort of though where if he's not managed and over-played if he's not 100% fit he will more than likely suffer. His contract runs to 2026 at which point he will be 32. I know Joe can take up some of this slack. But Ait Nouri would be great option to play 20 or so games at LB and 20 more or so at LW. If we could do that, find a new clubs for Tsimi and Diaz that would bolster LB and give us some extra wiggle room for another forward.

Yeah, he's played well against Salah more than once. I wonder if he might be Diaz's replacement. Not positionally, but in the squad. He could play up there and we have Gapko and Darwin from the left too.

Seems to be doing the rounds.

Ait Nouri in and tsimikas out would be decent if we can do it for modest enough fees.

Yup. Sat there for over an hour in the queue. Now I've just got a screen saying "Register Interest" with no form to fill in...

Get him to sign a new contact then kick him up the a***.

I wanted us to be put out of our misery when we were being Hodgeballed. Wanting us to win was pretty hard back then as it felt it was prolonging the agony.

Ha. I wonder how quickly he'll get used to not only his media being media, but how he reacts to his media being media and the media of that being media ad infinitum. Nobody can or could be truly prepared for that. It's all good Arne if you're reading. Or do do later

Yeah, I think you're right. His instruction is to be the free man in midfield and always be available for the outball. Which he is. But then when he receives it there's nowhere to go other than back to the man that's just given it him or back to one of the defenders. His 60 yard pinging balls from that position rely on him receiving the ball from a player forward of him, so he's looking forwards into open play AND a wide player in space. He's not getting either of them never mind both. He's mostly receiving a side-ways lay off from Rice and only 5 players in front of him all of whom are marked, some of them by 2 players. It's Foden's job to come and give him a short pass option so they can create angles between themselves and instigate the forwards movement away from their markers. Instead Foden is just wandering aimlessly, hoping to score a fortuitous goal, happy to wait, foraging from scraps and a few knock downs, probably knowing it's not him that will get dropped.

I thought Foden was the chief of the crap midfielder showings but really, the deficiencies of the midfield were caused by the defence playing too deep and the attackers coming too short and not creating space with their movement. Saka was the best of them but was mostly double-teamed. Kane didn't do what he did in the first game and occupy defenders, he came short and was picked up by their low block midfield. Their low block midfield which btw was sat on in the England half! Foden's job in the system is to take and recycle the ball, not to continually attempt to win the game single handed. Watkins made a difference when he came on just by running and stretching the play. Was a shame from an England POV that Trent wasn't still on the pitch to use him.

Crazy. Here's the new goalie coach. He's an actual academic Doctor. https://www.fifatrainingcentre.com/en/community/research-brief/train/otte---how-modern-goalkeepers-train.php

Where does it say that? According to https://cascotweb.warwick.ac.uk/#/classification/soc2020 "sports coach" which includes job description "coach, football" gets 94 points. You only need 70.

The work permit thing is really weird. There are plenty of non-UK coaches working in the PL. There's no (AFAIK) any rules about anything other min. salary and/or being paid the "going rate". I've just looked at the requirements and you don't need any formal qualifications to be employed as a sports coach as a non-national in the UK. Really, really odd.

Yeah, Foden was dog**** but I thought Kane was okay. He kept their defenders honest and playing deep and nearly scored.

Yeah. Likely they’ll be little pressure on them to win each game and still progress. also if they get into a position where they have to win it’ll likely be against someone crap.

I reckon (hope) he’ll stumble on. They have enough to beat most of the league and will cruise the EL in the new format.

Yeah, I remember we talked to C Ronaldo but ruled him out because he wanted far too much money. Then Man U duly obliged. Was the same sort of time we signed Le Tallec, Sinema and Traore. They would have all wanted more money if we had forked out, so I get it. Wasn't the right time. Plus C Ronaldo is a ****.

I like his style. i was bored with football anyway.