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Put simply: why do the stats not reflect that?

Feel free to agree to disagree but stats don’t lie and Saito is not a standout player in this league. He's not better than Sakamoto or EMC that’s my subjective opinion which is supported by objective markers. I also don’t happen to rate Sakamoto that highly and would like us to upgrade on that...

In fairness, we were an absolute state when we looked at him. This could be a shrewd signing for a rotation option, got championship experience and his returns for Swansea last season was pretty strong.

I think he only took on MVE once. Don’t get me wrong, MVE struggled a bit in both games with his twisting and turning on the ball, but it didn’t lead to much. Over 46 games the stats don’t lie and if we wanted to sign a winger with 2 goals and as many assists in 30+ games, people wouldn’t be...

He’d scored 1 goals up to last night and only 2 assists. Whatever you mean by ‘creating panic’ and ‘creating space’, it hasn’t lead to much goal contributions. He’s awkward to defend against but is ultimately quite predictable in both games we played against QPR this season.

The winning system is the tactical approach to the game, not the formation. Lampard has touched on 5-3-2 being a temporary measure and the players have adapted well and a few wider points about that specific formations pros and cons. Against QPR, similarly, was a successful night because we...

How many chances did he actually create though? He did lots of twists and turns but always wanted to get back onto his right foot and for all his effort, his dribbles didn’t lead to much.

Personally, I didn’t rate Saito too highly. In both games, he did make MVE look a bit silly with his twists and turns but in terms of output, he’s not really delivered much, 2 goals and 2-3 assists. Statistically, very similar to Sakamoto and both players excel most in the defensive aspects of...

There is always the risk that he is a one season wonder. Last season may have been his only full season as a manager. I wouldn’t have been happy had we signed him and would’ve needed a massive dose of copium to look for positives. Thankfully, we avoided that.

Why would he come back? It doesn’t make too much sense and can’t see how we could afford him! It would be really cool if he came back and fired us to the Prem.

Why would he come back? It doesn’t make too much sense and can’t see how we could afford him! It would be really cool if he came back and fired us to the Prem.

Some good observations here and the way we attack suggests to me that Haji and EMC will be used as an inside forwards with Rudoni having free rein to operate on either flanks for the overloads or arriving late in the box as he has done a few times this season. Grimes and Sheaf keeping things...

Which is a given when you lose your top two goal scorers. What team wouldn’t suffer? Yet, we’ve somehow put in our best run. Haji Wright has missed the last 17 league games and is still our top scorer… In reality, it probably wasn’t even fair to judge Lampard until Haji came back and we had a...

Absolutely. The foundation of that team was a solid defence that kept clean sheets with a sprinkle of brilliance in Hamer and Vik. We definitely rode our luck and may not have even made the playoffs in 22/23 had it not been for Wilson’s goal at Blackburn away.

Frankly, I don’t think those managers would be averaging better than 1.8 points without our 3 best players. Robins, RVN and Bloomfield have won less games than Lampard combined. RVN is averaging 0.85 points a game and a 23% win rate is worse than Lampard at Everton, for reference and if we’re...

Decent job? We’re averaging 1.8 points a game without our top goal scorer, then the top scorer in his tenure and last season’s POTS and captain. These are mitigating factors for any manager and had it happened under Robins, I’d probably be arguing he shouldn’t be sacked for our form without...

It’s a bit of a cop out answer. The other runners and riders for the job have struggled in their current/new posts. Eustace, Bloomfield and RVN were preferred by quite a lot of posters, particularly @shmmeee who said ‘anyone but Lampard’. He wasn’t alone in having that opinion either. The only...

No, we’ve gone from being closer to the relegation zone than the playoffs and we’re now 3 points off. Shaved 7-8 points in the space of a month. Seriously, why don’t you just write a post and keep it in your drafts for when form drops like Grendel did regularly under Robins. Clownish takes...

Under Lampard, the games we haven’t been the better team on xG was Cardiff (A), Norwich and Leeds. It’s not just Dovin coming in that’s turned things around. That’s just plainly stupid take. In many games in the 22/23 we were just “ok” the football wasn’t particularly free flowing that season...

He should never have gone back, it was a poisoned chalice. Taking the job as an interim was terrible for his authority, Lampard touched on that on his podcast on Diary of a CEO. Why were the players going get behind a manager who was only going to be there for 12 games? Especially the players on...