Where will we finish? 2025/26

Agree totally about Giles.

He’s a player transformed.

His attacking prowess is of great benefit to the team but, for me, I’ve been more impressed by his defending as I simply didn’t think he had it in him.

 

I'm concerned about the attention Sergej may or may not be attracting. Wouldn't be City without something to worry about though!

 

To be fair , it’s easy to forget we are under some quite serious financial restrictions with how well it’s going

 

Think Hughes definitely goes in the summer (if we’re not a Premier League club). There’s no point selling him in January as we won’t be able to replace him.

 

Giles now is the player that Boro had three years ago, I’m so glad we’ve found a manager to bring it out of him.

 

Maybe that was the plan, loan him to Boro in his "**** state" so they wouldn't want him back ever again. Then unleash the beast.

 

I think if some big money comes in from the likes of Spurs or Palace, we're not gonna say no. I'm talking north of £20m of course, none of this £12m with "add ons" bullshit we've received in previous years.

I wouldn't sell him for £40m if we're still in the playoffs come January 31st and the warnings from 2019 should be fresh in the memory with regards to what happens if you sell your two best players while up near the top end of the table.

We should reject it, there's no sense in accepting it, the only two possibilities are if he wants to go or if Acun decides we need the money. Or a new yacht.

 

Offer for Pandur...?

 

I think that ship has well and truly sailed.

If we got the mooted £4m offered in the summer I'd be inclined to take it and try and find a loan keeper for the remainder of the season.

 

And so it goes on! Stop it. There is only one possibility, and that is if he wants to go (with the caveat that the money would also have to be right = much more than the £10 mill already turned down).

 

We can't buy replacements til the summer and with Semi off to the African Nations I can't imagine we'd leave ourselves with just Egan and Famewo.

 

We've done unbelievably well to get to the International break higher in the table than we were before the injuries kicked in and Sergei has to take massive credit for that. I do think though that we've sometimes ridden our luck. I'm not mad on the current trend for stats for stats sake, but we're currently 23rd in the Championship for XG differentials, meaning our opponents get far more clear cut chances per game than we do - that's a real compliment to us in that it shows we're more clinical than most, however how sustainable is that over a season? Pompey are the lowest scorers in the entire football league yet they scored twice against us. Yes we've got McBurnie, Millar and Belloumi to return but I'd suggest we really need to address the issue at the back (and I don't think that's just the responsibility of the defence) if we're serious about a playoff place.

 

The goals were one lucky deflection and one mistake in midfield that was ruthlessly punished. Outside of the last few minutes when we sat deep, I thought Portsmouth didn't offer much at all