Its here but it’s late as I was flying home on Friday and from 25* into snow and 3*. The hottest talking points this weekend is really all about Saturdays game, the team news, the tactics, the points we hope to win etc. lets be frank here though if we turn BHA over we shouldn’t go down, also a point will be a good point, but if we fail and they rattle a couple past us as they do to most teams we are deep in it. Hearing a lot of this stuff: sources say Victor Orta is first man out of the door when 49ers take over. Yes I can believe that as his insistence that Marsch will come good and not to sack him pre World Cup was obviously the wrong call. It made the board and Radz look incompetent. It was too late to get the head coach we needed. On top of some of the great work hes done in plenty of transfers, there are a few notable boobies which include Big Kev. On top of that yet again it’s the call to bring in Marsch as the natural successor to Bielsa? Very strange because Marsch did everything possible to wipe away Bielsa type football, so a wasted 2 years there Vic and the main cause of your sacking when it comes. The jets sent to bring Gakpo here and the one in France where the player nobody had heard of refused to get on, oh and the same ruined window where you spent too long on Belgium failure CDK….. yeah I know you were lucky with an unknown Italian kid for £4m who from being not ready yet is our best player this season. Also hearing lots of moans about Georginio Rutter not worth £35m. It makes no difference that Javi Garcia thinks he’s a bit special but only using him as a lone striker because he has to and thinks he will do great in a 2 up front, a 10 a 7 an 11. Lets see who turns out today. My own view is that when it clicks with this kid he will be a worldy. Fun fun fun with the Yid Army who have had enough of Conte and want Pot h back. Conte knows the fans hate him and looks like he will be off shortly. PSG fans have had enough of the Campos regime along with coach Galtier and want Potch back too. Going to be fun in June The MoTD stuff isn’t really for this post as it’s all about politics. I have very strong views but not for here
One I missed but mentioned on another thread earlier last week was Iraola not having a good time since he got mixed up with Leeds. From 4th in La Liga and on target for Champions League or at worst Europa League. His club are now in 7th and seem to be in freefall so I bet his clubs mouthy owner now wishes he had accepted the multi million release clause to let him come to Leeds
And lucky escape for us? On paper he was the one who I least wanted out of the supposed three main targets
Sinisterra and Rodrigo both back to full training, could feature today, if not both expected to be ready for Wolves
Hopefully Sinisterra is the player to give us that creativity and Rodrigo continues to stick the ball in the net.
As the weekend thread is about Orla I feel obliged to comment at the risk of suffering the wrath of our resident twins. Two points, how can Brentford and Fulham be so far ahead of us given their vastly smaller attendances, commercial sales, lack of a worldwide fan base. They seem to be able to scout and buy quality better than we do. Wonder who’s doing that job for them, certainly no Victor Orta. From his appalling comments recently that he’s the reason we’re in pl after 17 years or so he believes. What an insult to the team effort that got us there. After last two seasons, it’s hard to believe he’s still in a job. Even to the farce of assistant coach employed a week before Marsch was sacked is still at club. Javi admitted in his presser he didn’t know what his role at the club is but club should be able to shed some light on it. The attempts at replacing Marsch were embarrassing. Anyway enough said on him. I’ve had a feeling all week Rutter will score at least one today and I’m going to have a little bet on it and I rarely gamble. Either way, a positive result is a must as we’re home. As usual, looking forward to it as on sky here
Not many worrying about Paddy an more, think hes let the club down for 2 seasons due to injuries non stop and being unfit
Eire your question about Fulham and Brentford is all down to top coaches. This is where Orta fell down for me telling us Marsch was Bielsa’s ideal replacement… Fulham had Parker and he was basically gash but went for an upgrade and just imagine where Everton would be if they had stuck with Silva. Franks is a shyte but he was chasing Bielsa for 3 seasons and finally managed to win promotion and has improved his players every season and improved the squad slowly….. we improved the squad but went backwards due to coaching when it should have been a coach who could manage in the prem not a RedBull cavalry charger with no idea how to defend
Good news is I might have overdone it and might have to rest my brain for a few hours. It overheats easily these days. Spent week finalising our new website and coupled with usual rush of work for paddy’s day, I’m knackered
I'll weigh in on Bamford I suppose after keeping quiet about him for the last 18 months. His first season was injury ravaged. When he did play he wasn't exactly prolific given the chances he had. In the promotion season I still feel we got up despite having to play him up front and not because of his hold up play and workrate. I was very vocal on him being one of the worst professional footballers I've ever seen, much like my criticism of Firpo since he arrived. To be fair to Bamford, his first season in the PL was about as good as it gets from him and that is the reason that I've kept so quiet on him since as he managed to shut me up. The last season and a half he has resorted to type imo. It's been no shock at all. Sorry if that was a Jammyesque "I told you so" post but there we go.
Often wondered with paddy, whether he was better without the crowds or whether it was coincidence his form peaked during lockdown
Frank is a good coach and has had continuity at Brentford, they played attractive football in the champ but weren’t ruthless enough and it took them a while to come up. Since then he’s adapted to a defend and break strategy and done it well. They do recruit well, no doubt. Fulham a bit different. They played decent football but shipped too many and got relegated. No surprise they came straight back up. And they’ve carried on that winning mentality. Their league position really flatters them though in my view. I’d see how well they avoid second season syndrome before deciding whether they’re a standard bearer or another Sheffield United (Or Leeds )
Guess who has the lowest number of wins in the prem, yes Leeds with 5. Even Bournemouth, Everton etc have 6 and this is at half time Saturday. Our passing is shyt and we are an easy touch, we just roll it to the opposition. Roca crappy, Wober gave it away 3 times, Ayling May as well not be on the pitch, Harrison gash except once to Bamford who has also been gash but he took it with his right and a deflected goal. We have been outclassed so far and De Zerbi has our card marked and knows how to silence our fans.
