joey_big_nose

Yeah seems to have complete dropped off now....

How have you got it to work?

I think we must have switched to a back 4 as otherwise I can't see the sense in dropping Pratt.

I think it's 433...? Very attacking lineup Pears Alebiousu Miller McLoughlin Riberio Morishita Taveres Cantwell Ohashi Gudjohnson De Neve In terms of what we have available I am okay with it... except Taveres. Why would we get the biggest defensive liability we have and plop him in front of the defence effectively on his own? Ismael must have seen something from him to decide to give it a go.

If he doesn't sign another contract in the EFL where he can easily get 15k a week, and instead chooses to earn a quarter of that in Norway hats off to him. But im fully expecting him to sign a pre contract with Derby, Watford, QPR, Middleborough in feb. The family thing I am sure is right but no one walks away from a million quid extra on a two year contract. We really are absolute specialists in giving our best players away for free. Must be the best the division has ever seen?

Well tbh its what you expect at a world cup to have to play at least 3 top teams. England have been very fortunate in recent tournament draws. Great opportunity to improve our appalling record at major tournaments against the top 10 or so sides. Think if you go back 30 years we've managed to beat those sides 5 times (Spain & Netherlands in 96, Germany 2000, Germany in 2021, Netherlands in 2024) In that time we have managed to lose to the top sides 10 times (Germany x2, Argentina, Brazil, Italyx2, Spain, Portugal x3)

At some point surely there will be a movement to leave FIFA. Its ludicrously corrupt.

I am a bit confused who is actually available on this one? I would really consider going four at the back as I think without Hedges on the left 352 to doesn't really work. And that's going to get even more difficult when Alebiousu goes away.... And we can give one of the strikers a bit of rest. A thought that has occured to me is if we should go 433? Might suit us a bit better than 4231. Pears Alebiousu Miller McCloughlin Riberio TGH Tronstad Cantwell Morishita Ohashi De Neve Subs : Michalski, Pratt, Pickering, Baradji, Henricksson, Tavers, Gudjohnsen, Gueye, Tyjon?

Tavares seems to me to want to be the sort of player Nzonzi was. Technically good, deeper midfielder, who picks the ball off the defence and picks passes. But as others have said that really relies on being very aware of where players are around you, have really good ball control on the turn to find space, find the right pass and off the ball be physically competitive, and close down the danger. On all those he isn't anywhere near it. What I find absolutely unacceptable about him (as does Ismael obviously in leaving him out of squads) is he doesn't seem to even try and do the basics well (i.e. cover ground, be aware, get a tackle in). I have seen a tiny improvement from him in the last couple of games.... but the issue is even when he tries a bit he is so far behind play. It would be a really remarkable thing if he can get up to speed.

Yeah he was covering a lot of ground today, like the look of him.

First time we have actually managed to build some pressure up after going behind in a long long time. We're playing something like 4132, very attacking. Against a better side than Oxford Id really worry in midfield but they're not really competitive.

So confused why that wasn't a red... @arbitrowhere art thou?

If I was Wharton I'd look abroad. The top clubs in England are chaotic at the moment and have huge squads. It's hard to be that sure you will get consistent games. Man Utd - really poor team, and have ruined and are ruining so many good young players you would have to be mad to go Man City - very stifling tactical setup, massive squad, what happens when Rodri is fit? Like Utd have track record of taking on young players and marginalising them Chelsea - truly massive squad, vast turnover, got a lot of centre mids. Liverpool - maybe best bet - but do they have any money after spending so huge in the summer? Arsenal - Could work but not sure they are looking to spend at the moment? Munich, Real, Barca all good shouts I would say.

Surely there is going to be a big fine or something, its ludicrous we can't keep the pitch playable.

In South Manchester its pretty dry...

Really missing Hedges energy.. theres no way Riberio can get beyond his man.

I agree but at some point one of Ohashi or Gudjonsen are going to break down so we need to plan ahead. Also no more CBs. Sheffield Wednesday are one of our easier games so might be the time for a change. Also bringing on Ohashi to close our games rather than start them could help a lot with our robustness.

With Hedges out I wonder if its better to back to 4231 and give one of our strikers a rest? Pears Alebiouso. Miller. McLoughlin. Riberio TGH. Forshaw Mori. Cantwell. De Neve Gudjonsen

The further deduction must have everyone thinking about next year in League One. Totally devastating with 60% of the season still to play. But I guess those with nothing to lose can be the most dangerous

So Preston in a similar loss making situation... Just the Hemmings family covering it like Venkys did (pre overdraft) for us. I did a bit of research just now and while on a smaller scale Preston are very similar to us in model with owners supplying cash to make them viable. Basically in the Championship it seems pretty universally you need an owner to put £10M+ a year to keep the club solvent (unless you have player sales or parachute payments), theres not a single club in the Championship in recent years (maybe except Brentford 10 years back) who have managed to get by over a 5 year period without massive cash support. Really want to get rid of Venkys but how do we find owners who will write off tens of millions? Is there any club we could look to as an example on how to cut the dependency on (potentially crazy) owners? It looks pretty bleak. Personally Id take relegation to have a go without Venkys, but its very troubling to see losing £10M per season is the norm in the Championship, and i wonder how we can get stability in that environment.

Agreed, but good to look at it in hard numbers. Preston are a very good alternative case to look at.

In a way thats quite encouraging that we can boot out Venkys and still be competitive. Do you have Preston's cost side stats (wages, admin etc).

Any right wing backs or strikers who look any good?

Or I suppose we could try and change the whole system at 60 mins when we need to bring one of the strikers and Hedges off. Pears Miller. McCloughlin. Pratt. Riberio Tronstad. TGH Alebiouso. Axel. De Neve Ohashi Dont hate it as I think wed be able to keep the press on. But changing the system a big call, especially if we are on top as typically we have been recently. Ludicrous to have to change everything because we only have two serviceable strikers.... That said if any one of Alebiouso, Hedges, Gudjonsen or Ohashi get injured we are going to need to use 4231 so we need to prepare for it.