Rosie after the Stoke game - “Aaron Connolly has come in, we got him up to match sharpness, then he gets an innocuous ball into his toe and he’s out for a month,”
Yeah not sure how much I'd take Rosenior at his word over injuries given his track record, but fair enough if that's the quote. Bit of a strange one. Again though I dunno if you can call an impact injury like a broken bone something to keep an eye on in the same manner a dodgy hamstring would.
That’s other players more settled into the system, we don’t want him playing risky forward balls, take the safe option.
It's all opinions, but I think Elder is a good enough defender to be a back up LB (as good as Coyle), but not good enough on the ball for the new style of playing. That's why (IMO) Greaves has been the first choice in that position, because he's better on the ball and often tucks in as an extra midfielder (in the Man City) style. With Greaves and Christie we can play the asymmetrical shape where the LB moves inside and the RB gets very wide and very forward. That said I would have thought they would want an upgrade for LB so that someone can do all of that and be more of a threat for beating players and crossing. Acun needs to invest in a science lab where Greaves, Elder and Fleming can be merged into one player who ticks all the necessary boxes.
I’m not sure Christie is any better defensively than Coyle , he has been out of position or up the field in some games. Maybe he had a license to do it. I think Christie is so good halfway line onwards yet not a winger nearly an ‘inside right’ sorry I’m old! Personally I’d take two solid strong defensive full backs over wing backs any time . Manesh against Blackburn was stood 25 yds in field so many times for our press from Traore etc so the out ball was always his side . It left Coyle badly exposed in the first half . Improve Manesh positioning and maybe it’ll all be fine ?
Agreed, the game is played at his pace(which is a high one) but when he’s on the ball the opposition are just chasing shadows. If he’s fit all season, which Rosie seems to be doing his best to ensure, we’ll be in the top half no doubt
Agreed re defensive quality, the difference is, Christie is our highest scoring wide player. He’s our biggest threat from wide areas, if you combined the 2 of them you’d have the best full back in the league. Coyle’s cross and tackling with Christie’s athleticism, dribbling and end product. I think a great 2 options for Rosie.
There have been rumours that he's moved out of his Apartment in Bev and is staying in a hotel ahead of leaving in the summer
Its not like its a recurring injury or potential to rebreak Big toe can be hard to heal but theres no risk like hamstring or knees
There's nothing to play for so I have no problem with us taking no risks on Connolly. He proved last year at Boro that he's robust enough for this level. If anything the injury might be a blessing as it'll make it a hell of a lot easier for us to keep him.
Not sure what the view on it is on here, but surely another loan but for the season? Can’t be making a permanent deal off of 5 games where only one of them was really good.
Simons got a permanent deal for less.. could depend on the price but would make sense for another loan in terms of FFP
Yeah we actually suggested last week on the pod we should see if we can get a 12 month loan with an option to make it permanent in January. In fairness it wasn't just one good game, he was also brilliant against Sheff Utd.
Sorry if I'm missing it posted elsewhere, but do you have a link to your podcast, I'm traveling a bit this week so will have a listen
That was on last week's ep but this week's was just last night, posted in the 'podcast' thread but it's: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ylzvkkUaJksZbe9m0iOtS?si=7bdbef5dd065437c That's the spotify link, probably easier to listen if you're travelling, or else there's a version on Youtube if you would prefer to see an ugly mug and my guest for the week!
