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4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 are more or less the same formation. Rudoni and the starting striker sit in a 4-4-2 shape out of possession. Rudoni and Wright had free roles v Hull and Luton, the play style being different of course but there isn’t much difference.

I reckon we'll see 4-4-2 for this one unless Rapha is being trusted with a starting berth in the league. Unless I've missed it, there's no update on EMC so at this point I'd presume he's not going to take part.

Our squad is one of the most expensive in the league, even with the money Blues and others have chucked about. 4 of those teams are parachute payment teams and Norwich who had built up a squad who attracted massive fees from their parachute payments/Prem days.

I don't buy the Blues nor Wrexham hype yet. The idea we'll sell Rudoni to Southampton is not credible imo. They probably do want him but is it a move Rudoni will be desperate for? Probably not. If Rudoni improves on last season's performance, a better Prem team will come in for him than...

We got more points than Sheff U after Xmas last season and including Lampard's tenure we were close to Sheff U, only 3-6 points behind. There is room to improve the squad but it's not as drastic as you say here. Both last season and 23/24 was mired by v slow starts.

Good. If a team isn't meeting our valuation for a player then we shouldn't sell. If a team is only willing to pay £6m for MVE or £15m for Rudoni, I'd genuinely rather take the punt on going up this year and keep them. Reminds me when Celtic wanted to pay us £375k for Westwood and (at the time)...

Liam Walsh was red carded against us earlier this season and was generally a bit of a shithouse... That's probably why he was booed. The clapping for ex-players is tinpot.

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...