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There’s quite a few players out there who obviously don’t much care for the job. They’re only in it for the big money. Just like there’ll be posters on here who aren’t thrilled at the thought of turning in at 8-00am tomorrow. I’ve knocked around with pro rugby league players, some still playing, some retired. You’d be surprised at how many never set foot in a rugby league ground after they’ve retired. It was a really hard job, and that was all it was.

When fit, he has been a regular in their U21s at the age of 17 Even if they did have cold feet, it wouldn't matter one jot, he signed a contract with them and compensation is payable, they are merely hoping that by stalling for as long as possible, Rovers will get desperate and accept a lower amount/sell on fee etc

Mm, interesting. Maybe Newcastle are getting cold feet ?

Assuming we keep the same formation, we need and simply will not get: A proper Hyam replacement, probably a second centre back Right wing back cover A central midfielder 1 or more likely 2 strikers

He nearly scored what would have been a great goal yesterday. If the pass from Gudjohnsen had have been anything like half decent he would have been in a one on one. Gudjohnsen is like lots of strikers, they only lend you the ball.

Im still unclear WHY you think those clubs would specifically benefit from someone who "understands" the club. As opposed to someone with a better recent CV. You keep repeating the same lines without saying why thats more important. Every club is really important to the local area and to the fans who show up week in week out. Surely their best bet is to choose the person best suited in terms of managerial ability and their CV. O'Neill hasnt managed at Celtic for 20 years, at all for 6 years and recent jobs he had were unsuccessful in management, with suggestions that he hasnt moved with the times. And Ferguson who you suggested for Rangers has mainly managed in the lower leagues aside from not a particularly productive interim spell at Rangers last season.

💙💙💙

That will be a worry if he has to play. He is nowhere near good enough and there is no use to him. I suggested yesterday as a somewhat desperate measure, just to provide cover now we have changed formation. To maybe sign Bamford on a short term contract just to give us some cover now we play 2 up instead of 1. Alternatively, we would maybe rejig it to play 1 up front if either Ohashi or Gudjohnsen couldnt play or needed a break, with 2 inbehind.

I can't help but feel watching Duru play that role when we've gotten used to Alebiosu will be a shock to the system.

We will have to play him quite a bit in the next few months just due to the volume of games. We need to figure out how to fit him into this system. With the two up front and a number 10 in behind I reckon we could get some use out of him.

I still think Brittain across the whole of last season was excellent. Hes as good as youll get at this level. Technically very good, more refined that Alebiosu, was obviously a big threat in attack, had really improved defensively too. I wouldnt expect any replacement at a fraction of the price to instantly be at that level. I dont think Alebiosu has gone beyond the level that Brittain consistently showed last season. But I feel like hes as good as you could reasonably expect such a replacement to be and he still has room to grow. A really good addition.

Brittain also had an incredible first touch at this level. Better than a lot of Premier League players. But he couldnt beat players on the outside through sheer pace and power like Alebiouso and (to a lesser extent) De Neve and that is the most powerful thing as a wing back as it turns their entire defence. Also means they can recover to help out the defence in a way Brittain didnt have the pace for. I would definitely choose Alebiouso over Brittain now. I still have seen a full back who can manage him, whereas a decent amount of teams could shut Brittain down.

Gueye should not play more.

The problem is him accepting your viewpoint ! Do you actually read what you type?

The squad definitely was built for a 4231 rather than a back 3 so some issues in terms of the squad build relate to a squad built for a different formation, and some are just poor recruitment. I dont see that back 3/4 keeping clean sheets like last seasons back 4 did, purely on quality. But yes, Carter is beyond just injury prone. Our issues of cover in this position are mainly because we sold Hyam and simply didnt replace him. If we had kept him then we would have a bit of cover and more balance and quality there. We also signed 2 right backs, one is an excellent wing back, one is needed in the middle. We need a right wing back and at least one if not two centre backs. In midfield, the issues relate to who we signed as we would be playing 2 midfielders either way. Tavares has been very poor, Baradji is a waste of time. TGH is a certain downgrade on Travis, I think hes a useful player to have, would be a good squad player. But the issue in this position is whats beyond the main 2. Up front, we expected to play one up front, now we play 2 we have no cover. Thats definitely just a result of building a squad for one formation and then changing. We do have players in Ribeiro and Pickering who dont fit into the current formation which youd expect, if you build a squad for one formation then change to another, you will have the odd player that falls through the cracks. So in regards to issue with depth. Defence is down to selling a key player and pocketing the money. Midfield is down to poor recruitment. Up front down to the formation change.

Fans want the players to share their level of passion for the club, and that's understandable - especially when you have the bond of celebrating goals and victories together. It makes that connection seem stronger than it really is. Some players do genuinely become attached to a club and make decisions more for the clubs benefit than theirs (Barry Bannan at Wednesday is a good example of this very recently), but the majority of the squad sees it as a job that will likely have a span of a few years at most before they move elsewhere. It's understandable from the perspective of the manager and players that they remain somewhat disconnected from the fans - knowing how quickly the crowd can turn on the collective and individuals when results begin to go awry. I imagine you have to detach emotionally to get through those periods without becoming genuinely angry or resentful.

Watch this space ... 😉

England have been set up to fail.

Generally I think fans give players a bit too much credit re how much they ‘care’. Yes, they are pros and yes they want to do the best the can for the team, but they know it’s a short career and a ruthless industry. The example I always remember was some podcast when an ex-pro was asked if the squad would be fuming if a key player or manager left mid season, he said not in the slightest, in anything they’d be congratulating him. It’s a transient career with folk constantly coming and going and they just get on with it.

Maybe they'll get it out in time for the Christmas rush?

Yep. There are plenty of occasions where putting someone who 'knows the club' hasn't worked. Hoddle at Spurs comes to mind. Henning Berg at another 🥲. I get what Chaddy is saying about Rangers and Celtic in particular, but I'd debate that the only manager to win the league with Rangers in the last 10 years was someone who had no prior connection to the club. His main coaches were Gary McAllister and Michael Beale to my knowledge, neither of whom had any connections with Rangers either. Then you've also got the scenario that they brought in Van Bronckhorst who was a former player, and it failed. Yes they had Barry Ferguson for a bit last season, and yes he seemed to steady things a bit, but it's impossible to say whether it'd have been a success or not in the long term. O'Neill in at Celtic temporary definitely feels like one of those cases of 'we didn't anticipate this happening so we've had to scramble around a bit'. Ultimately it generally does feel like putting a club legend or someone who 'knows the club' is always to paper over the cracks of deeper issues within the club.

I think the closest we came to some of the players 'not playing for the manager' was probably under JDT, as he certainly made enemies of influencial players in the dressing room who didn't share his level of ambition. That only really happened towards the very end of his tenure here, though, and was likely influenced by other factors - for example the squad knowing JDT had tried to quit, implying he didn't believe that team could be successful under his management (although I imagine it was more the principal of the owners reneging on their promise to back him, but still). That's one of many reasons why you ideally let a manager go if he wants to go. How can you expect the team to respond to their boss long-term if he has tried to leave?

I have ideas if you want to start doin them....

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