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January transfer rumours
at 20:56 2 Jan 2026

Can we have LB, you know, since we don't really have one, and we have some Eze money?

I mean, is that too much to ask?

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Taylor Richards gone…thank god.
at 18:04 2 Jan 2026

He's got only a 6-month contract, so let's see if he smashes it to get a new one to sit on, or if he wastes that one too.

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Kone
at 18:01 2 Jan 2026

Kone played well against Norwich. He won a lot of headers that Burrell failed to pick up. His link play was decent too.

The problem is this ....

Teams have worked us out in that we play down the wings, so what they do now is pack the wings when we are defending. This means Kone and Burrell do not get the service they need, and the gaps are in the middle, which we cannot exploit with Varane and Madsen, who play too deep. This is because, as we know, Madsen will get passed by if he plays higher up the pitch, as he cannot get up and down in time, and Varane is on his own then.

What needs to happen is Varane and Madsen need to own that middle more, which will draw players away from the wings and allow our wingers to get into the game.

Three times its happened now and we have lost 2 of those games. JS needs to sort that out quick.

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January transfer rumours
at 21:16 30 Dec 2025

Don't forget the exiles such as Žan Celar and Hevertton Santos.

Celar has no goals or assists, and Santos has one assist, but unlike Celar, he has been playing regularly, so we may be able to shift him. I suspect we would only get £500K for him though. Celar will run out his contract like Richards.

There is no way Sterling is coming here; that's hilarious. Someone will loan him like Fulham or Forest, who will pay like a mere 10% of his wages, and Chelsea will be grateful for that. They will try to force him to accept less on the loan, but now that he knows he's never going to the WC, the scum have no leverage. He's gonna milk them all the way. Justice!

If Edwards is coming then its curtains for Cook and probably JCS (which is a reality anyway for him). Also, means if we cannot convince Dunne to stay again, then we have some backup. Long term, Edwards is the buy.
Morrison is fine for a backup CB and hes cheap.

What we need right now is of course a new LB. That mythical creature that every other club has found and more than once, that we have none of. No way its RND as hes too expensive, coule be someone like Lowe from Sheff Wed. Then a Keeper.

I fear we only get a new Keeper, Edwards and another winger rather than a LB. As these lot love a good winger. Crackers this. A year on from last Jan when we knew Paal was off and we still did not get a proper LB in. And we knew Larkeche was out for a year before the transfer window closed. Really there is no excuse except we had no money which we do have so, there is no excuse.

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Chair
at 15:08 23 Dec 2025

Just as we have discovered Mbguene's best position is RB, with Bennie, I believe it to be Striker. As his passing, runs and finishes always seem super efficient.

But he does not seem to have a great pace or be able to dribble past players like Smyth or Chair. So, he's not a winger.

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Our Pitch
at 12:45 23 Dec 2025

You borderline is way above what it used to be like and they still played on it. It will cut up worse in Jan.

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Chair
at 12:43 23 Dec 2025

I was worried he would lose his mojo after his injury, but nope, hes still got it.

If anything, he holds onto the ball less now, as the other wingers have shown you need to release it early.

The LW/LM spot is his. Saito has to compete, as do Smyth, Demble, and Poku.

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January transfer rumours
at 22:21 15 Dec 2025

Akindileni looked better than Smith to me. I think Akindileni is worth a go. Played up in Aberdeen so I assume he can handle the cold weather and nasty pitches made of rubber.

We need a LB, Field is out, Esq is so raw even the oppo know they can roast him alive. RND can do the job but even JS says hes not gonna last 3 games in a row or he may get injured again.

Also, hes not ours and his wages are way too high to buy and why would we when we know hes fragile.

We need to buy a LB with the Eze monies and get Keeper who can catch crosses after that.

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Kone
at 01:52 10 Dec 2025

How many of the other 5 were free kicks?

Deadball specialist. Next time, rip the ball from Dembele's hands.

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Saito slide
at 01:45 10 Dec 2025

Great cross after taking on the player, what wingers should do and he did it.

He also did a lot of tracking back against the Brum wingers and fullbacks. This is why Brum looked very poor indeed. Tactically needed tonight and did his job as Smyth did. Also why Demeble was dropped as we know he does not track back properly and that was needed tonight.

As Chair is out again, we shall need him.

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nardi
at 01:43 10 Dec 2025

Great save, keeper does not get caught out with a freak corner.
Most unlike QPR that.

Great shot-stopper but erratic with crosses, will probably still be replaced by Dieng at the end of Jan after AFCOM. If he starts catching it, then we have a keeper on our hands again.

Our only week link it seems.

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Are you Madsen?
at 01:41 10 Dec 2025

He's playing in a different position now, as the manager has admitted. He plays a number 6 instead of an 8. As an 8 you need to get up and down the pitch a lot, Madsen cannot do that. As a 6, he hangs back and only ventures forward on some breakaways or when we have full possession.

As a 6 he is great and in the mold of Wilkins, passing it around with short simple 5-10 yeards passes that split the oppo. He also is able to hold onto the ball when you give it to him, which is rare in the Champ.

What this does mean though is that Varane weho is also a 6, has to run around a lot more and so do our forwards. As we have no real 8. Also, there is the question of if we did have an 8, would Madsen be exposed as really he needs the backup of someone like Varane?

This means we have fewer possession than other teams. but these other teams have not exposed this (although Brum did try tonight), so, therefore, so far we have gotten away with it.

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QPR give West Brom both Burrells – Report
at 23:35 8 Dec 2025

Game should have ended 4-3 to QPR.
Too many mistakes in defence by both sides. Lucky WBA seem to be a former shadow of their resolute blood and thunder teams we have faced over the years.

To me it looks like they are missing Furlong at RB as well. They look insipid. If they dont rebuild next season I can see them slipping away into the Reading void. If this is what they gonna be like in trhe future, lets keep em around so we can always have another team worse than us.

So far, we have done great during these really testing fixtures for Nov and Dec. Just one more win should see us away from a relegation battle and into the New Year, whereby we can do the unthinkable and do a great escape above 16th!

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Left back v Brum
at 18:41 7 Dec 2025

They will risk RND for that game and a few more, and hope they can sneak into Jan to fix it then. Stupid, we are in this situation. This should have been fixed ages ago.

JCS can be rested with Cook coming in for him. Also, if RND breaks down, JCS can play the odd game there, and I bet they are looking at Morrison to play there, too.

Esq plays there, then it's simple, he has to be told never to go forward, as it's forward runs that catch him out.

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RND
at 09:36 4 Dec 2025

RB, we have Dunne and Mbengue, who now look like this is their best position, especially when they play together.

LB, we have Larkeche, who is away more than JCS, and Esq, who is in a defensive position, a liability, which is not his fault, as he's young and still learning.

RND is never fit, as his record shows, so we had Field fill in now and again. Field himself can only do it if the oppo winger hes up against is not speedster, otherwise he gets caughht out. Not really his fault as Field is trying hard and is really a DMC. Now, with Field out and RND not available for half the matches, we have a massive problem.

JCS can fill in there, but hes like RND. So, maybe we can rotate them.

Really this all goes back to Jan last year when we learned Paal would not renew and we did not want to give him a bumper contract he was after and Watford moved away from him due to loss of form just before then.

So, we have had two transfer windows to sort this out and have not done it. We took a risk on the LB position with two youngsters and got caught out. RND was the quick fix, but hes really fit enough. Skillwise RND is way better than the Bidwell type he gets associated with and hes faster (but not a speedster just faster than Bids). Hes a very useful and good Champ standard LB ... when hes ever fit. His wages are way too high which is why SU needed some rest bite from them. And thats an ex-prem side.

We should not sign him perm, another loan next year coud be an option if its only % of his wages not the full amount. But right now in Jan we need a LB, because we needed one last Jan and we needed one this Aug and we need one now. This needs to be sorted ASAP before anything else. We sorted out the forwards and wingers problem on the Champ cheap, that was amazing and well done. Now finally get the LB sorted, this should be the easy cheaper one to sort out. BTW Dale cannot play Champ LB, hes an AMC.

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Dembele v Smythe
at 16:33 27 Nov 2025

They didn't do it as much last night.

But the tactic is when we have the ball on the right Dembele moves infield at the number 10 position. MB moves up the right flank to play wingback and Dunne moves in behind to cover if they lose the ball.

Dembele here is very effective and its his real position running at defenders from the middle (not the wing). He really stretched Hull, but not so much against Blackburn

What I did notice is that he's running back a little more and even got some defensive tackles in. That helped out massively in the second half. But after 60 mins hes blowing. So, needs to work on his fitness as well.

Smyth looked great against very tired Blackburn legs, we should have got him on earlier. Smyth is a solid pro and I bet JS starts him next game.

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Sam Field
at 16:29 27 Nov 2025

Solid pro. Defensively very useful at LB, make no mistake, he was there as Blackburn likes to lump it upfield and dominate in the air. They failed, as our back line was full of towing defenders and MB, who is a jack-in-the-box.

Going forward he did play it back too often to the extent when he did want a 1-2 return from say Chair he was passed up on it a few times as he had set the seen of "I am not gonna attack". Not asking for much jus ta little more on playing balls forward and not always back all the time.

If he can do that, then he could be even better. But solid at the back, great sub in for RND.

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Marti Cifuentes
at 16:18 27 Nov 2025

If he had stayed he would have had Kone, Burrell and Mbegune to work with. Not to mention Vale and Saito. A mistake for him and that JS has come in and done some decent work so, that makes it look worse for him, despite the better players coming in.

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Another JCS thread
at 16:14 27 Nov 2025

This game was a classic Champ affair of running around like headless chickens. JCS would defo have got injured playing in that game, no, he needs to be rested. Same with Poku. Get 'em fit as a butcher's dog, then get 'em fit some more.

Then play them in 20m, 30m, 45m and then 60m, 70m and so on. This is what we did with Chair. Doing 60m for JCS was a considerable risk, and we did not entirely get away with it.

Just as worring is that Vale is injured and we have seen how long he can be out for.

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Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 00:09 25 Nov 2025

Burrell was flying all over the world, as many of them were, but they still managed to put three past Dull and had 26 shots on goal.

Get on with it, I say.

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