no mukka his time will be limited but he is soooo important for us because he has experience and loves the club
I saw nothing from Monk last season to suggest he has the making of a top manager but he has 1 years more experience now and has the dosh and the backing so only time will tell
We need to get the perspective of last night's game correct. It was a hastily arranged match. The opposition were top quality, albeit in pre-season mode themselves. Normally, as you progress through your pre-season, you tend to increase the quality of the opposition as you go along. If they had been the last team we played out there, there might have been a different outcome. So it's not all bad. The quality of the opposition simply magnified bigstyle the work we have to do. But this should not be a surprise to us - that's what we're out there for! As for Silvestri, I'm wondering if the rumours surrounding Green being in demand may have some substance to them. As Doc says though, it may just be giving him a game, for shop window purposes (that went well! ), or whatever. Not long to go until all is revealed .... Cooper? Difficult for me to be wholly objective as it's well known I'm a fan. I don't think anyone was particularly outstanding, nor would I expect them to be at this stage. Cooper to me was no worse than the others. I had forgotten how good he was at 60/70yd diagonal bombs, & there were a number of excellent examples to view. Who should we get rid of? Hmm. Don't yo think it's a bit early for that? A different manager may play a player differently, bring out the best in him, rebuild his confidence, etc. etc., so it's a bit early to be making decisions like that. I look at Antonsson & wonder if he will end up top of the list, but the manager, whilst acknowledging his misses, continues to play him. That must be an encouragement for the players, that the manager is overlooking awful play so early in the preparations, so he can properly assess. Which actually makes me wonder if it was his decision to axe Erwin, Diagouraga & Murphy. By all accounts, Erwin eclipsed Antonsson on all fronts, so either someone else made the decision, or TC is making hasty decisions. All the evidence points towards TC not making hasty decisions, IMO. So ....
hello all ... look, that Bursaspor team was at least three weeks ahead of us in terms of prep, they have a Europa Lge campaign they are getting ready for ... they were clearly fitter, and extremely quick on the break ... they are also a lot better than the majority of Championship teams ... Bridcutt and Phillips were made to look like statues a few times, but we know they are slow ... let's see where we are when Oxford come to town, that will give us a much clearer signal as to what the starting eleven looks like Boro (Monk) are starting to look fcuking desperate ... seriously, £14m for a striker who has suffered a very bad injury in the past and scored a huge FOURTEEN goals last season is just madness ... Wood must be worth at least £25m looking at the silly money being thrown about ... this is Boro's leadership strategy at it's finest, waving the chequebook around like Ridsdale on speed ... they are gambling massively to get promotion this season, but not exactly signing genuine "fcuk me that's quality" players ... Gibson has already publicly stated that his goal is to go up as champions this season, and all this money being sent is going to ramp up the pressure on Monk massively ... this is good for Leeds, as it means a promotion rival feeling the heat to win every match, and if they have a false start the whole campaign can very easily implode just like Villa last season ... going to be fun watching Monk stagger and crawl until he gets the boot the difficulty with selling the players we don't need is actually finding someone willing to pay a fee for them ... it may be that come deadline day we see a few contracts being cancelled and players paid off to get out of Dodge ... going to be very interesting to see which defenders we end up signing, but can't see us getting a deal in place for Bartley as his fee will be too high if he is made available ... a loan is a non-starter as Bartley is in his last season of his contract, unless it's a loan with a guaranteed fee at the end of the season as it was with Pontus ... think Swansea will want a fat fee right now if they were to sell Bartley, and with other clubs with Prem dollars to burn after him, it will be a seven figure fee and beyond our reach just a bit on Grayson and one of the reasons I never felt he could take Leeds forward ... Sunderland have lost their goal machine Defoe, and Grayson goes and signs James Vaughan for £900,000 from Bury ... I mean, seriously!! ... this is where Grayson far too often fell flat for me, and Billy Paynter was a classic example being signed after he scored a couple against us for Swindon ... Grayson has also pushed the boat out to get McGeady from Everton, and yes the lad was at PNE on loan last season, but LgeOne is his level now ... Grayson sometimes let's his liking and loyalty for certain players get in the way of his decision making ... Sunderland, like Boro, were pitiful last season and they don't have a squad capable of winning the Championship, so these signings are a bit baffling
hey Jocko ... Cooper hit one 45-yard diagonal from the left-back position all the way onto Roofe's foot, it was a thing of beauty ... Cooper can definitely play on the ball, we need to see him given an extended run in a decent team before discarding him Erwin is NOT a Championship level striker ... he is too slow and I doubt he will survive the rigours of a full season at this level ... Lge One is about his best level, even then I can't see him getting 20 plus a season there ... I liked the look of the lad when he arrived, but he didn't kick on and that is probably down to the fact that he is already at his full potential and can't improve ... he would have been wasted at Leeds for another season, so I'm pleased he's been given the opportunity to find another club at a lower level and he can at least play
Phil Hay has tweeted that he can't see Bartley coming back to leeds. I personally think there's too many odds against us to bring Bartley back......
Dave, Erwin, Murphy & Bellusci all gone, but more bound to follow. Plenty are saying Silvestri has the keepers shirt as he played 90 last night. Sorry but either Greene or Felix are the gloves of this squad, Silvestri was given a full game as a thank you and suspect he's on his bike back to Italy. Be interesting to see who gets the armband too as Cooper was vice last term even though we know Bartley was best suited, but fancy Bridcutt wont make the grade & Pontus could be it although can see him falling out with half the lads if they fk up. On the Sunderland front Max Gradel has rejected a move to Graysons team as he wants to stay in B/Mouth? Also Elphick isnt coming to Leeds as looks Birmingham has got him. Dont forget Harry had a lot to do with B/Mouth and thats where Elphick came from season before last. He also had a big fall out with Bruce and we can opnly assume because Terry takes his place and captaincy. On the subject of Bruce, Alex hasnt a club but is training with Mansfield Town, anyone think a pay as you play center half role for him?
Do Turkish teams that finish 15th of 18 (39 points behind the winners) qualify for the Europa League?
