YorkshireRam

As if, just had a look and when Reece James (the defender) left Wigan to go to Sunderland last summer, they signed another Reece James on loan from Chelsea... no wonder I was getting confused 😂 Great player though and would definitely bolster our midfield options

I genuinley feel sorry for him at this point, if Phil Neville and Danny Murphy have managed to forge careers as a pundits, it makes you wonder just how boring (and/or incompetent) Burns is when the highest level of employment he can reach is the Nottingham Post... 😂

Now that's a funny thought, It'd be Alexander-Arnold though wouldn't it? And he'd probably cope 😂

He wouldn't be getting in the team ahead of Kongolo I'd imagine, no matter how poor they've been this season. Raises a very interesting point though, is having a fullback who offers an offensive threat but is defensively suspect preferable to a competent defender who doesn't offer much going forward? Malone should be a brilliant defender, fairly tall and pacey but his positional sense lets him down so many times. Think he'd cost any team a lot of goals in the Prem; imagine Malone trying to mark Salah...

We got very different ideas of his reputation then because when I asked my Huddersfield pals how good he was defensively, their subsequent laughter hardly filled me with confidence... It only seems to be the Fulham fans that hold him in high regard and that was when their whole team was succesful, everyone else I spoke to or heard claimed, from the off, that he was woeful defensively, which wasn't far wrong. That being said, simply for the block to stop HRK from scoring at West Brom and the winner v Wigan, he's overperformed for me, simply because I really wasn't expecting much

Roos Bogle Keogh Tomori Cole Huddlestone Holmes Mount Waghorn Wilson Marriott

Nah we weren't, not even close. Brighton's pressing play has completely nullified us and we don't seem to have an answer currently. They've stifled us so far and we have been very very poor. The spine of the team has been exposed for its lack of pace by Locadia, Bissouma etc and they've taken full advantage. We're not gonna score at all unless something changes...

Why play Nugent and Bryson, neither have the legs anymore for the fast, attacking play Lampard clearly wants? Huddlestone is class but needs 2 mobile midfielders in front of him, not a slow Bryson and Wilson who plays mostly as an attacker anyway. A 70% fit Marriott would also offer more than Nugent can; not seen anything remotely resembling form all season and doesn't have the legs to chase as effectively anymore. Can't see this result changing while this current XI stays on the pitch

Yeah, it's not like he's slashed the average squad age by promoting youth, brought in some great potential on cheap deals, used the loan market brilliantly and created the foundations for a much more exciting footballing style, all without the same financial backing most previous managers have had... This post is almost the definition of reactionary. A mediocre performance likely hindered by us missing a fair few of our game-changing players isn't going to define our season. I think Frank's got us in an excellent position to challenge for promotion if we can find consistency, but also given us stability so that should we fall short, we're in a fantastic position to try again next season. Compare to Forest or Villa, who have thrown enough money at promotion this season that they'll likely be in a very precarious position should they fail; we're in a better league position having spent a fraction of what they have with a manager currently boasting a grand total of 7 months experience... you must have been feeling very pessimistic to spin that into any sort of negative?

There has to be a means to an end though. Bryson still covers a large amount of ground but I'd argue it's less useful than it was previously. Bennett is tireless with his pressing and willingness to bomb forward in an attempt to create chances for the team, that's more what I meant I guess

Based on twitter, Leeds fans seem to think he's dreadful, while ''decent'' semed to be the consensus from Ipswich supporters. Having to cancel and re-arrange a loan on deadline day makes me think this won't happen, seems a lot of work for a player that's only potentially cover here when he's Ipswich's starting RB?

Not being facetious, but apart from scoring, I'm genuinley struggling to name these ''good things'' he does... No assists in 1890 minutes of league football for a winger is pretty atrocious (Bennett's got 3 in 659 for reference), this kinda confirms that he's either squandering all his chances by shooting or he's not getting in enough dangerous positions, neither is fantastic for the team. I don't dislike him, despite how frustrating he can be, he simply needs to work harder. If he ran with the endeavour of Bennett, he could be one of our most influential players on his day. The game against Southampton demonstrates perfectly that he can play, wonderful assist and sublime goal, however those performances seem to be 1 in 10 now, another being West Brom away. Fans don't tend to mind individual dips in form, as long as it's replaced by visible effort to help the side and turn things round. I feel like Tom does the opposite and lets it get him down, so fans get on his back and thus repeats a vicious circle where neither the player nor the fans are happy which is a bit pointless. Russell was arguably more wasteful than Lawrence and yet cos he covered lots of ground, fans respected his effort and loved him; no reason Lawrence can't be exactly the same in time.

As far as I can remember, Bennett, pretty much on his own, crafted the chances that won the games at Reading and Hull through sheer endeavour. As in, because of him, we're at least 4 points better off. Bennett's 3 assists this season to Lawrence's 0 shows that unless Lawrence scores, he often isn't too effective whereas Bennett may not score as regularly but has created more goals for the team I think he's done well in bit-part roles and always offers energy and running. He seems like a nice alternative to a Lawrence type player, never lets his head drop and will run and try and create things until the last whistle. He's not a world beater yet but it'd be interesting to see how far he can progress with more consistent gametime.

Hot take: I think Mount's been pretty underwhelming for the most part. Clearly a very talented player and at 20 (as of today) has a huge future ahead of him; I just don't think he's impacted games as greatly as I was expecting him to. I'd have thought he'd be on 5 goals with 5 assists or so by this point, being the attacking, creative midfielder. Out of Mount and Wilson, I honestly expected Mount to be the team's standout, let alone between the 2 of them but instead Wilson is the one who seems to look a class above. At Vitesse, Mount seemed to be absolutely dominant, running the show for them practically (Ajax's manager called him the best midfielder in the league...), yet he hasn't been anywhere near as prolific for us. I'm not saying he's been bad by any stretch but I'd like to see more from him in the remainder of the season really.

He's not a poor defender, he's just growing that side of his game. He used to be a winger so it's understandable his ball control and dribbling are superior to most full backs but at 18, he's not going to be the perfect player. As others have said, when Wilson hardly offers any cover, stopping crosses suddenly becomes the hardest task in his position, that doesn't make him ''poor'' and I actually think his defensive capabilities have come a long way in the last 10 games against tough opposition where we've needed to grind out certain results. He's kept Wisdom out of the side all season, a ''poor defender'' categorically couldn't do that...