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You're jumping to a conclusion, it's been 2 games and we set up differently between the Hull and Luton games. Discounting the League Cup, if most of our games pan out as it did v Hull, I'm pretty optimistic. It was a disappointing result but we controlled the game well and it's something to...

Has everyone else strengthened? Are Sheff U in a better place? If we keep things in perspective, this team got the 3rd most points in the league post-Xmas, so the squad is in a good place. Now, 1-2 signings would boost us (obviously) but we can afford to be patient in finding the players that...

Correct on both counts. Specifically, Rudoni is the key to the 4-2-3-1 system and playing him LW reduced his impact on the game and the midfield didn’t function as well with Torp as an AM. Hence, you swap out your winger (Sakamoto) for a striker and play your key AM in 3 man midfield. The...

It’s just not that desperate a situation. The bigger risk is selling Rudoni and not replacing him adequately. If that leads to results tailing off and another year in the ‘5 year plan’ passes by without getting closer to the Prem… There’s a real possibility that we’re forced into a full rebuild...

Rudoni would play RW presumably… One of the reason we switched to 5-3-2 last season was because Rudoni was shifted out to LW after EMC got injured v Millwall. Rudoni has ended up on the RW quite a lot after we’ve made subs which is why people see a logic to having a midfield of...

It assumes the value was actually there for Simms and Sheaf in the summer of 2024. There were tenuous links but as far as we know, nothing materialised. Just as Brighton and Newcastle were tenuously linked to Bassette… there was never an opportunity to cash in.

My gut feeling is that Lampard prefers EMC to Sakamoto.

Yep, formations are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the attacking side of the game. The reason 4-4-2 is making a comeback is because it is a structured defensive shape but in attack can be position-less. FourFourTwo YouTube channel did a good breakdown video on how Carsley used 4-4-2 to...

In practice, this recreates the shape when we had when we played 5-3-2. Torp and Rudoni operated high and wide, the latter in particular had a free role to operate wherever. Then Allen was asked to cover a lot of defensive ground. I’m not 100% sure Torp, Eccles or Shesf could do that as well as...

That’s what I’d have in mind. Brau will probably supplant JDS. One thing Andrews did well yesterday was to get inside the box which lead to a decent chance. That’s what I’d imagine Rudoni on the RW would look like. I’d probably like to see Sakamoto at LW if Rudoni is playing wide because his...

This is probably the best next step for him. With Eccles to come back, he’s going to be 5th choice and game time will be difficult to come by. He’s showed promise and he certainly should hold his head high. Had some solid touches but others were slightly naive… would you back him to play LW if...

Obviously it’s ‘speculation’ because Lampard isn’t going to air the dirty laundry in public. Considering people said Simms was done here because he didn’t play v Sunderland or Hull… it’s much more serious for Bassette that he’s being left out of the squad in preseason. This opinion is quite...

Do you think Bassette is happy being 5th choice? Obviously not. He will want a move away. Common sense is saying that if he’s not being selected in preseason nor a rotated LC game when there’s no injuries or suspensions (Wright was out for Betis and he was still not selected at all), it paints...

You’re not wrong. Equally, when a player is frozen out this badly, it makes you think what has he done to have gone from 1st choice to 5th choice in 8 months. My impression is that Bassette believes he’s better than he actually is at this moment and probably believes he should be playing. I...

Lampard will be v happy with his striking options. Not many teams will have better depth than Wright, BTA and Simms. All of them have a track record of scoring in the Championship. People will moan, but last season was an outlier for Simms and BTA. They get this season to turn it around before...

At this point, I don’t think there’s a way back for Bassette. Whatever he’s done, it seems to have really rubbed Lampard and his coaching staff up the wrong way. Bassette started most of Lampard’s first 11 or so games and now he’s not even getting on the bench for a League Cup tie where all the...

Where has Lampard said he wants a striker? The reference I’ve seen is that he mentioned pre-Luton / post-Hull that we have no left wingers. I’d be v disappointed if we sold Rudoni this late in the day. Unless we’ve got £20-30m in transfer outgoings lined up (assuming MVE sold too), I’m not sold...

Whilst that’s true, how many games did we need to go to 4th in the depth chart? Luton away was a biggy and there may have been 2-3 games when we played 5-3-2. Thomas in particular deserves credit for being fit and available, he hasn’t missed a league game through injury since he’s joined...

We’re after Charlie Hughes (or were) so something is in the pipeline. Considering Thomas, Kitching and Lati have all been reliable injury-wise, I’m a bit more relaxed with getting to Jan on 3 CBs. This is because if we’re signing a CB, they need to be a Day 1 starter imo - no point in signing...

I think the individual stats aren’t as favourable for Kitching. Last year a lot of people justified Lati and Binks starting ahead of Kitching because statistically they were comparable. The problem was that whenever you paired Lati & Binks together, we kept less clean sheets and conceded close...