Phil hay reporting this morning that Clarke has had his final training session with Leeds and returns to London next week with Eddie to follow. Surely a must that we find two replacements to strengthen at this vital time. Certainly don’t need any more bench warmers. Would also hope it happens in next week and not on last day of January
That's the thing Eire we need someone who's good to go now, not the end of February. That is going to cost us money either by paying a large loan fee or loan to buy at the end of the season. Really like the thought of Che Adams but just don't see us splashing the cash to get him. Would love to know why Eddie hasn't worked out either, can just see him arriving at Bristol and scoring for fun. Didn't his loan fee cost us in the region of £2 million? Are Qsi about to throw us a financial lifeline to get us up dunno, but feels like things must be happening behind the scenes, because surely we've known about Eddie returning for a while now.
Clarke was wasting a spot on the substitute bench, it seemed a great idea at the time to loan him back but I feel we cashed in at the right time for him. His head wasn’t with us, we certainly won’t miss him. I’d love us to sign a better striker than Bamford, someone Bielsa would throw straight into the starting 11 but it isn’t going to happen (well I can’t see it). If a goal scoring version of Bamford is out there he will be going to the PL and his cost would be more than any championship team could afford. If Eddy is leaving then I hope we’re being refunded the money we paid for his signature. The problem with the Eddy and Izzy type signings for us is probably their attitude and Bielsa. They are great players but they know that and they’re not willing to put the work in that Bielsa demands. We see Bielsa as a fantastic coach and he is, but the players who join from top PL teams probably have several world class coaches they have already worked with so when they join us they expect an immediate place. I just hope that a few of our rivals struggle to hold on to their best players, Eddy leaving for another Championship club would be a major blow as he’ll certainly be match fit and ready.
You just know all our nearest rivals will strengthen Ristac, we will stick with what we have and casilla will get banned until the end of the season. It's written in the stars.
Crystal Palace and Sheffield United both want Ollie Watkins and they’ve been quoted £25m. I was watching Sky the other day and when they went to the Brentford game the bloke watching said Watkins is the best player in the Championship he will be playing in the PL after January. If Brentford lose him they’ll struggle and the fans will become restless, we know first hand what it does to a team selling such talent in January. Sheffield Wednesday are being hit by the EFL, that will be bothering them behind the scenes. Rhodes is being talked about by Celtic, Morgan Fox is out of contract in the summer, they will need to get the wage bill down I can’t see them being stronger. Preston have a few players attracting attention, their boss has said we don’t need to sell but will need to in the summer if we fail promotion so I can’t see them throwing masses at it. West Brom I admit, I can’t see them getting weaker only stronger, probably Fulham too. But.... I haven’t seen anyone outplay us, others need to improve to get near us. For many teams signing a £5-10m player won’t dent our advantage. I’d like us to strengthen, I just can’t see who Bielsa is going to drop for an affordable replacement.
Not so much him dropping players for new ones it's having new ones good enough to step up whe inevitable Injuries, bans happen. Still think Bristol will be up there come the end of the season, don't know why just a feeling.
It’s not a case of who he’s going to drop though, it’s the inevitable injuries and suspensions in second half of season. There’s the pablo factor and also possibility some players may need resting at some points along the way. We have fans convinced that the eleven starting today can keep going for another 23 games without dips in form. That’s unrealistic and why squad must be strengthened. We attract double the crowds and outsell most of the others by probably ten times in terms of merchandising. Also investors waiting in the wing apparently. Of course we can afford to strengthen, in fact we can’t afford not to
We are doomed I tell you squad is getting thinner. This bunch will not get us over the line. Class is needed or we can kiss goodbye to Autos.
Calm down dears... Absolutely nothing to worry about, in fact I would say it's a plus for Clarke to be on his way. There is no way Bielsa would have sent him back so it needed the player and Spurs to make that call, now it's happened we can replace him with someone who can actually make a contribution. If Nketiah leaves, that shows a lack of character on his part so we're better of without...compare him to Jack Harrison last season, someone who couldn't break into the team but knuckled down, worked extremely hard and then took his opportunity when it was presented. It's all about attitude and if it's the wrong attitude then show the player the door...especially one on loan who'll never be a permanent Leeds player and is already showing his lack of class. It's disruptive and a distraction to the squad and these rumours of Eddie leaving in January have been reported for months, he could easily have nipped them all in the bud by declaring he was at Leeds for the season, come what may. He chose not to do that and is putting self before side...close the door on the way out and f**k off.
Neketiah has done very little when his chances did come and Clarke nothing, so I don’t think losing them will weaken us unduly. We don’t need to replace them with superstars to have the same contribution waiting on the bench, if Orta can improve on it happy days - but he will buy potential not proven articles whether we like it or not, so there is likely to be a lot of moaning about whoever it is when the time comes.
We've had too many on loan over the years who obviously think they are too good for us. All of them have shown a lack of grace and humility as well as a lack of respect to one of footballs greatest clubs. Cannot see why supporters seem to get so worked up about these selfish prima donnas.
Mate's a baggies fan, said Ollie Watkins is the best player he's seen in the Championship so far this season. Hope they sell him.
While we definitely need a much better striker than Bamford, and a better LW than Harrison (unless he learns he's not an individual player fast), and Ayling is going downhill fast, and Phillips keeps getting caught out in midfield, even if we managed to replace'em, that ain't the biggest problem, it's Bielsa's arrogant stubbornness. Bielsa is a good coach, there's no doubting that, but reality says he's never won anything. Getting over final hurdles and winning seems to be Bielsa's brickwall which he doesn't seem to know how to get over, or around. Bielsa has a fear, a fear that creates his own stubbornness, it's his stubbornness that creates his own downfall, taking those around him with him. His stubbornness has got him fired from clubs in past. We called Higginbotham, Christian and other former coaches one trick ponies, so is Bielsa, because he doesn't know how to do anything else except the way he himself does things, which he's been doing at every club he's coached. Most teams in championship are now playing similar football to Bielsa ball, this is called "playing you at your own game" they've also learned to pack their defences, so we find it harder to walk the ball into net, ie, while other coaches are working out ways to stop us, or beat us, Bielsa hasn't changed his stance; last season it cost us promotion. Many will say "but we're sitting in second spot in Championship" well, now the second half of season is ahead of us, just like it was last season when we were on top, and we've faltered the last couple of games. If Bielsa doesn't take us up this season he'll be off, it's easier to walk away, than face his fear.
That's not quite correct. Bielsa changed to 3 at the back against QPR to accommodate playing Tyler Roberts...that change in system resulted in going on a 7 game winning streak. Hardly the actions of a one trick pony. I'll accept that he has total belief in his methods and perhaps that's sometimes to his detriment but credit where it is due please.
