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Reply | Julien Stéphan Interview
at 18:26 7 Oct 2026
Fair point. Maybe Kone’s earned enough brownie points from last season when he was carrying the front line for a number of games. Also he called out Kolli last season for not putting the effort in in training so maybe he’s tougher on him. But I don’t think Kone is getting any more slack either from now on and quite right too! |
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Reply | International Break
at 11:26 7 Oct 2026
He doesn’t really need to work with Smyth as he’s already integrated into the squad. Also because he’s not played he’s not going to be exposed to injuries. Plus because they played at home it’s not really much of a challenging journey back from Northern Ireland. And finally he has had a pre season whereas we’re still trying to get Kamara up to full match fitness.
Cirkin on the other hand won’t play anyway as he’s been suspended so probably worth getting him match fit by playing matches for Latvia. |
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Reply | Stephan interview with Dave Mc
at 11:20 7 Oct 2026
It’s not just the goal scoring though. As he says in the interview with Clive and Conor Julien believes in defending from the front. He actually says the strikers are his first defenders. Connected to your point about fitness as you have to have the stamina to both defend and attack throughout 90 minutes.
He has to be able to show that he takes defence as seriously as attacking. And passing to colleagues in better positions as much as taking that one in a hundred shot.
It sounds like he’s listening and working in training though, so putting himself in contention. |
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Reply | Julien Stéphan Interview
at 11:15 7 Oct 2026
He does it a lot, a lot, a lot….
I’m a big Francophile though. Years of sighing over Alain Delon and thinking how sophisticated sitting in French cafes seemed back in the day compared to our Wimpys caffs!
Think he likes Clive and Conor though and appreciates them not asking daft questions. |
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Reply | International Break
at 11:09 7 Oct 2026
Good point. Perhaps we wanted him back, rested and involved with training in time for the Derby match. As you say he’s risking getting injured plus there’s hardly any time to train with the first team after the WHam game as we’re playing mid week. |
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Reply | Julien Stéphan Interview
at 11:01 7 Oct 2026
Excellent interview. Enough frankness from Stephan that you learn a bit about him and his philosophy without throwing people under the bus. I like him and I can see why players might respect him.
He’s actually quite funny at times too. |
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Reply | International Break
at 08:08 6 Oct 2026
I’m guessing because he can still be involved in training and learning patterns of play even if he can’t play. Plus we’d rather be responsible for building up his stamina in house than rely on Latvia to do it. Finally he’s been playing quite a few minutes within a short period of time and that risks further injuries for someone who’s just coming back from long term injuries. |
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Reply | The international breakdown – Analysis
at 23:37 5 Oct 2026
Thanks Andrew. I love a stat, especially when it’s put so elegantly into context as in this piece.
I remember early last season someone talking about how we were performing better than our underlying stats and how that was potentially worrying. So following that logic we should be pleased by our underlying stats exceeding our actual performance. Obviously as we discussed at the time this takes a while to unwind and may take all season.
I want to see us continuing to improve over time as that’s how you get to where you want to be if you do this season after season, so if we could be in the top ten that would be progress provided we haven’t massively overspent which is yet to be seen. I can still see at least eight teams that on paper should be better than us and I’d like to see a proper analysis of why that isn’t the case before I accept the premise that we should be top eight. If you look at the following teams: Swansea, West Ham, Middlesbrough, Wolves, WBA, Bristol City, Birmingham, Southampton, Millwall, Wrexham, Burnley. Which of those teams on paper (not current performance) should we be so much better than and why? I still think we can get ahead of them but it would be outperforming our level in my opinion. |
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Reply | Rayan Kolli scores for development squad
at 13:50 30 Sep 2026
Exactly. So we got rid of him at the right time for the right money. If we’d sold him and he’d been brilliant for Charlton don’t you think people would have said that we made a massive mistake selling him. That’s why it’s a no win.
If luck is the only thing that counts then we’re unlucky when things go wrong too, right? Or are they only lucky when things go well but not unlucky when things go badly, so lose-lose. |
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Reply | Czech republic v England ....thread...if interested.
at 12:34 30 Sep 2026
Bit harsh citing Spain who haven’t lost a match going back to November 2024 (could be longer I just can’t be bothered to go back further). England certainly matched them in parts of the recent match but defensively fell short, practically handing them two of their three goals.
In the World Cup we were pretty good against Mexico, Norway and France and only really poor in the second half against Argentina.
We are overly reliant on Bellingham and Gordon to provide the creativity and Kane up front but I think this team is not as boring as many previous England teams especially earlier on in tournaments. |
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Reply | Rayan Kolli scores for development squad
at 12:20 30 Sep 2026
That’s a bit heads I win tails you lose Wombat.
We can’t claim it’s the club’s fault when things go wrong but it’s just luck when things go right. |
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Reply | Rayan Kolli scores for development squad
at 07:28 30 Sep 2026
I don’t think the number of games Kakay played for us is evidence of a wonderful development system but more because Todd Kane was the disastrous alternative for much of it and I wonder what we paid him in wages as an ex Chelscum alumni. They clearly did brilliantly well with Eze and Chair but I’m not sure about Manning as he got so fed up he ended up leaving on a free. It’s hard to tell with Adamson as it’s very early days but one thing I would say is that he’s improved considerably since he’s been with us and didn’t look out of place in the first team.
Not sure about Dieng either as didnt he have one of the worst stats in the Championship last season? Lumley did a job for us but was very shaky in the end and had to go. Kelman was managed pretty well as we got some money for him and I think he was pretty limited.
I agree with the other poster that we’ve got better at releasing players that aren’t going to make it. Yes Harry Murphy was tidy but he’s not made it since and is now working in the City.
As for Kolli I hope the situation resolves itself but I don’t think it’s all down to the club for all the reasons that have been laid out numerous times before. |
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Reply | Devs v Swansea
at 21:50 28 Sep 2026
Two lovely goals from Kolli. From the two matches I’ve seen recently, Bolton and Swansea, we’re much less physically imposing, maybe because we’re younger? But we grew into the match and it’s good experience for the younger players. |
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Reply | A love letter, to Esquerdinha – Column
at 13:14 28 Sep 2026
Brilliant. I think there’s still a few spellings of his name we’ve had on this Board that weren’t covered in your piece but hilarious! |
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Reply | Shaun Wright-Philips
at 19:51 27 Sep 2026
I can never forgive him for not helping Darnell Furlong out and hanging him out to dry as a young Fb playing against Yannick Frigging Bolasie. He barely tracked back at all. Lazy self important arse. |
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Reply | Join the dark side: we have biscuits – Column
at 20:18 23 Sep 2026
One of my pub quiz team said when we were working out the various letters which have never been the starting letter for a club in the Prem. She said surely not Q. Now I’ve been banging on about QPR for at least the last thirty years. But somehow outside the collective radar of well known clubs.
My sons who have friends who support the bigger clubs are quite proud to be supporters of not one of the obvious teams.
Loved the article Dorse. |
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Reply | Points accrued
at 12:59 22 Sep 2026
Yes. I remember a couple of seasons ago asking that question how do you deal with teams that get behind the ball as we’ve consistently found it hard to play against. Middlesbrough seemed to float balls across the top and find gaps between the lines but you need really accurate passing for that.
Will be interesting to see what Stephan does when he’s got more time to prepare. Could be interesting if we can get Kone fit and Kolli back in the fold. |
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Reply | Points accrued
at 12:16 22 Sep 2026
And I get that. My point was you can choose any matches or metrics to support your case at such an early stage of the season. So I could say we’ve won more matches than Wrexham, Birmingham and former Premiership demotion Championship Champions Burnley, who haven’t won any games yet. And the same as Norwich and Millwall. Who’ve all probably got much more expensively assembled sides.
So yes it’s disappointing to not beat Bolton at home but it’s not a disaster. Nor is winning a couple of matches at this stage of the season mean we’re likely to be promoted either. Given that Hull didn’t start to consistently pull ahead into the playoffs until early December that seems like a more realistic cut off point. We don’t know how we’re going to do against the mid table and top six sides quite yet as we haven’t played enough of them. Nor have we played enough games with a week gap as so many of them have come in a two week window.
So while I really enjoy winning and am disappointed with drawing or losing I don’t think either mean anything quite yet in the context of a 46 match season. |
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Reply | Points accrued
at 11:11 22 Sep 2026
I was a bit encouraged by a couple of the balls in from Adamson. They really deserved someone getting on the end of them.
It may be wishful thinking but I do think we could click soon and give someone a tonking. But I hear what you’re saying about luck. |
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