We have the option on Johnny Cardoso for the summer, as well as having Archie already here That does beg a question though: presuming Cardoso arrives, does he become our DM while Archie moves into the Sarr role, or is it going to be more of a rotational thing?
id imagine it’ll be rotational if we sign him, for all the reasons we’ve previously discussed and the shear number of injuries that this style of football has created.
I’m not even sure Johnson would be that much of a surprise departure. I think there’ll be a few first team exits in the summer on top of the ones we all expect to depart. Johnson - too anonymous in games. Richarlison - utter tripe, “works hard” is not a standout attribute, it’s a prerequisite. Bissouma - ability’s there but consistency isn’t, will only have 12 months left too. There’s then Romero who I think we all expect to want out for a move to Madrid. Kulu’s future could be tied to how our season ends.
Johnson's role is basically that of Clint Dempsey or Nacer Chadli: somebody to ghost in to the far post from out wide to poke the ball in, which he does while also having the additional benefit of having pace to burn tiring defenders - but like Dempsey and Chadli, he seems less effective as a starter Richarlison is probably going to be sent to the Oil Fields by Air Mail this summer if he doesn't take the hint Bissouma just doesn't offer what we need for either of the roles he would be best suited for: he sleepwalks when we're defending so he isn't cut out to be a No6, but he doesn't press effectively enough to play in the Sarr role, and that's why he's surplus to requirements once we start getting the squad back into play. That being said, it's odd we've never tried him in a more Dembele-like role where he bullies his way up the pitch, as he can certainly do that and there's games where Maddison is getting bullied off the pitch where it would have been a smart thing to try
Someone I know in Milton Keynes was Kevin Danso's school teacher. He came back to visit the school a few months ago and still called her Miss. She said he was a lovely young man.
I don't know, a CB saying "Miss" to visiting centre forwards might be the psychological warfare we've been missing out on
Sales SUMMER 2024 Jude Soonsup-bell to Cordoba Yago Santiago to Elche Nile John to Feirense Loans SUMMER 2024 George Abbott to Notts County Carey Bloedorn to Aveley (though may have been recalled, he featured for our U21s last week) Elliott Krasniqi to Bishops Stortford (since November) Charlie Warren to Barton Rovers WINTER 2025 Yang Min-hyeok to QPR Luca Gunter to Wealdstone Loan returns Dane Scarlett recalled from Oxford Academy signings SUMMER 2024 George Feeney from Glentoran WINTER 2025 Dan Batty from The Sheikh Mansour Team Luca Furnell-Gill from Liverpool Reiss-Alexander Russell-Denny from Chelsea
Pity the kid in the Chelsea U18s who doesn't have a name because RARD stole his along with their lunch money
I’ve thought this in the past, but then I realised that Bissouma doesn’t have the unique ability that Dembele had, where the ball would stick to his feet and no one would be able to dispossess him. Dembele was one of the most under rated gifted footballers I’ve ever seen in 35+ years of watching football. How he didn’t play for one of the biggest clubs in the world for most of his career beggars belief.
No offence - and I have long been an advocate that there is a decent footballer in there somewhere - but for me Bissouma is not fit to lace Dembeles boots. His first touch is often poor and he consistently fails to deliver the close control and ability to maintain possession that Moussa demonstrated consistently. Yes I know that we play him in a different role, but there are key attributes that he just doesn't seem to have.
