roboto

1 hour ago, SSD said:

Can't believe he has dropped Tomori from the squad for tonight's game.

This isn't a Derby bias by the way, he plays against the best Italian players every week and knows the league well, an important first team player at centre half for AC Milan. Oh well, lets pick Harry Maguire instead who is 4th choice centre back at Man Utd. It genuinely feels like Southgate is going to pick his favourites for the next tournament, not bother thinking of the future and leave at the end of the Euros with all these senior players who aren't kicking a ball regularly.

It's a horrendous choice in my opinion (not that Southgate cares what I think). I also mentioned up thread that Tomori has been part of one of the most solid Serie A defences the last few seasons. This year the only match they've lost is when he was suspended (for a second yellow in the previous match that was dubious). His team got to the semi-finals of the Champions League last year, thanks to some solid defending.

Harry Maguire can only dream of having the impact the last few seasons that Tomori has had.

37 minutes ago, angieram said:

I might pop over to this if it's not raining too hard. Wouldn't want it to be all Mansfield supporters! 

 

An academy competition but Mansfield using an image of a 30 year old first team defender on their promo?

12 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

That'll be because his games aren't in places on a direct train line from London.....

Easyjet from Gatwick for under £50. Cheaper than the trains!

No doubt Tomori will spend the the two matches sat on the bench without getting a look in... again.

What does Southgate need to see from him to give him his chance at starting? AC have lost one match all season, to Inter, and Tomori was suspended for that game. In the 8 games he's played for Milan this season they have conceded 3 goals, and in the match he was suspended they scored 5. That's how important he is to their team. Why can't Southgate see it?

2 hours ago, Ian Buxton's Bat said:

I actually found this reassuring in that we will have a board of competent people and not Screaming Lord Sutch / Boaty McBoatface style 'democracy'.

Boo! Board out! If we can't vote for them, can we have Count Binface instead?

58 minutes ago, sage said:

He is a game changer. He makes the rest of the defence better. Nelson has improved immensely. We are also now far more likely to play with a back 4 which isn't great news for Wilson and Ward. 

I think Wilson and Ward can play higher up if needed. Certainly takes the pressure off relying on NML pace for too long in a game.

Also, I believe Nyambe can play RCB in a back 3 if Warne goes back to that at some point.

He was always known as a bit of a tart.

I think the only reason he was considering a third tier Turkish team was to get a deal on his teeth to match his successful hair transplant.

A couple of options from me.

Firstly 3 at the back:

Wildsmith

Nyambe     Nelson     Cashin

Ward          Fornah      Bird          Forsyth

John-Jules                   Sibley      

Waghorn

Then a back four:

Wildsmith

Ward    Nelson    Cashin    Forsyth

Hourihane    Fornah     Bird       

John-Jules        Sibley     

Waghorn

Fornah has offered some mobility in defence, so could cover for Ward when he's attacked up the pitch. I really want to see TJJ and Sibley link up. I think they'd suit each other a lot. Waghorn for his strength and his work off the ball as well as his finishing at this level.

5 hours ago, YorkshireRam said:

That's genuinely horrendous, 2 of their own players marking each other and the ball still goes backwards into their own net...how? 😂

To be fair to Bielik, he is standing in the right place to clear it unopposed. Then his team mate hurls himself towards the ball in the direction of the goal for no apparent reason.

3 minutes ago, one_chop said:

How do you even pronounce his name ?. Silent N ?

Nyambe

9 minutes ago, Jayram said:

No, it’s an opinion but let’s compare notes in 12 months when we’re still in this division with Warne still playing square pegs in round holes and his team averaging 2 shots on goal in 180 minutes of hoofball as has been the case in the last 2 games. 
 

100% conversion rate for those shots on target though. Even against Peterborough we scored 4 out of our 5 shots on target.

Every cloud...😂

If the employer can't fulfil their contractual obligation of paying playing staff, then the staff affected should be able to leave their contract and find another team who can pay them (even outside of the transfer window if required).

I feel this would be a deterrent for owners who might lose all their valuable assets and allows players to find employment elsewhere.

2 hours ago, admira said:

Then two glorious late goals and it was back to the pub to celebrate!

2 hours ago, Shuff264 said:

Graeme Shinnie

Sorry. This is the Graham Poll, not the Graeme Poll.

40 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

But if we were interested we'd have been doing research/scouting already? Let's hope so. Or maybe there's a decision that at this level it's not worth the effort to look abroad?

I personally hope we're leaving no stone unturned in finding players that will benefit the future of the club. Our foreign imports recently haven't been the greatest, but we have had some gems over the years. Hopefully, now the Jozwiak thing is settled, and the EFL is satisfied we're working well to our business plan, then that will allow us to operate more freely within the market going forward.

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

Wasn't that paid off in July? 

Yes, there was a story about it being paid after a court settlement, but I'm sure there was something I read about there still being issues with registering players from outside of England after it all. It could help with explaining our summer targets and players we seemingly missed out on.

Also, even if there isn't an issue registering, would you do business with a club who didn't want to pay all of the agreed fee for a player and tried to get out of it?

Not blaming any of the current regime as I believe the Jozwiak transfer in and out was a Mel/Admin mess.

EDIT: Found the post I was referring to in an old Jozwiak thread. FIFA wouldn't allow us to register players earlier in the summer, so we have probably been restricted to EFL signings who don't require further paperwork from international authorities to transfer them.

On 02/08/2023 at 21:39, Ghost of Clough said:

The administrators tried to pass Lech off as unsecured creditors, resulting in only paying 25% of what was owed. Lech claimed they were football creditors and should be paid in full. FIFA agreed with Lech and ordered us to pay in full or face another 2 year embargo. We reached a settlement agreement woth Lech somewhere in the middle.

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

I would have hoped that our new 'recruitment setup' was going to do exactly that sort of thing. It seems to me one of the few ways to widen our net, as I can't see Warne have personal contacts outside of England? I wonder if there will be a clash of 'cultures' happening in recruitment soon?

Wasn't there some sort of issue with registering international players due to the Poznan/Jozwiak payment saga? I think it got mentioned briefly somewhere that UEFA wouldn't allow us to register players, or something like that, but not sure how true it was.

Might explain why we haven't signed any players from outside of the English league system. Even the links to players in Ireland that were within our financial capabilities didn't seem to come to fruition.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Palace and Hull City also have 3 in their squads (although Plange is out on loan)

Bristol City have Knight, Roberts, Weimann and Andy King who are all ex-Rams

Time to look for those wing back/fullback free agents?

The Brighton link has been around for long enough and they have some decent money from their summer dealings. If they were serious about signing him then they could’ve got to an agreement much quicker than the last hours of deadline day.

£600k initial fee for an outstanding talent though...

Hopefully one of the clauses is a percentage of any sell on. If he establishes himself as a premier league player in the next couple of seasons, then he could be worth a lot of money. I imagine he will get opportunities in the Europa games this season, and with his performance last night as an indicator, he doesn't look out of place at all.

Was he the one who was upset that the admin sold him? I seem to recall a story about one of the youth players not wanting to leave.

If he signs then we need to make this his song 😅