Dan

The Rodgers youngsters thing is a bit of a myth I think. He's got the persona that makes you think he's good at bringing them through and while he's not been terrible for it I think there are far better out there. That Watford cup game last season was largely forced by necessity and yet we thumped them, I really thought you would see a bit more from them, but none of them get near the side even last night. The fact we're being taken to penalties, and can't score against a Stockport side on 4 defeats from 5 in League Two is absolutely damning - and that isn't that weak a Leicester side either. There are plenty in that side who will play this season. In-fact virtually all of them will feature I reckon 10 or more times in the league. I can't say how well a lot of these youngsters will turn out but opportunity is massive. What's really bad is how not a single one gets a minute against Stockport and we still end up resorting to our key players because we can't break them down. For some context, in his first season, we thrashed Luton and Burton away in similar ties, both comfortably better sides than Stockport. It's a world away from what we're seeing now. They're absolutely loaded with fear. If he's filling the first team with fear then god knows what happens when a kid plays. I really don't want to see this go on any longer. Every bit of it is horrible. It's depressing to watch. I've never known it be this sour this early in a season. It really didn't have to be like this either.

Interesting shout but really not keen on him in general. Convinced that's another that would go sour. I do believe in a managers shelf life but I don't believe it's necessarily always going to go sour like it has done here. Will Potter at Brighton ever go that way? It's not the worst idea though. Replace Allardyce in my last post with Koeman and the exact same applies. Our performances are so bad they're ominous and I still think for all the squads flaws there is no way it should be fighting relegation, yet that's exactly what we're heading towards. We will be bottom with 1 point after 6 games in my opinion.

Honestly I'm not as bowled over by him as most people are. That isn't to say I don't rate him but I don't actually think he's all that dissimilar to Rodgers in that his teams are usually good for a period, fall short more often than they don't, and it all burns out somewhat. I never thought him leaving Spurs was the wrong decision. I also don't really think we're in a position to support such an appointment. He will see himself as being in line for a bigger job than Leicester and Leicester could only really attract him if we were how we were when Rodgers came in - which was a side pretty stacked with young talent and money to spend. An obvious ascent incoming. We do need a bit of an overhaul now and this job is tough, he's got a lot to lose by coming here I think. The whole thing is a non-starter. If he came I'd not say no but I don't think he's quite the miracle everyone thinks he is, albeit I don't think we're getting better either. What we need for me is somebody with fresh impetus. Rodgers had that kind of lift on us when he came in and he was the right man at the time, but he's demonstrated himself to be really bad at repeating the process and improving our team. He's been the biggest contributor for me for their absolutely shattered confidence with his general negativity, his talking down of the players/club, these collapses don't happen to him by accident. I find it quite incredible that you can take what he inherited and have it looking this bleak in three years. I really think we're nearer to a Dyche like appointment than people think. Rodgers won't turn this around. Absolutely not a prayer. I don't think he's even bothered about doing so. We've hit a point with him, like we did Puel, where simply removing him will add something. I'm absolutely not saying this is what I want to happen but I'm about 90% sure if you did a run of our games from now until the World Cup, we'd get more points with someone like Allardyce than Rodgers. Rodgers and the club are tainted now. We just need him out. I think even a caretaker would've bettered what's been served up so far. Four totally abject showings out of four.

Fucking no chance Pochettino comes here anyway. I won't believe it.

Way too early to say that. They've started well but you can't say they're out of it better until they've beaten the drop quite considerably - though the signs are good. If we lost Maddison at this point we'd be in huge bother. We're becoming almost a one man team with him at the minute.

Second departure. Hamza Choudhury joins Watford on loan. Would prefer permanent but it's one down. Wonder what % of his wages they're paying.

It's just beyond boring now. I don't think we've been free of serious injury at any point for over two and a half years.

It was never serious. It always hinged on us selling players and we really don't hold the cards. I'm relatively patient in windows compared to many but this is the quietest I've ever seen. It's mental.

Our head of recruitment left this summer for Atalanta (though he wasn't at all rated anyway really and I think the club's lack of fight to keep him is quite telling). His replacement is Martyn Glover at Southampton, however he's still there and they're not letting him come until the end of the window. The rebuild talk from us was a deflection tactic as I suspected. I don't expect us to make more than 3 permanent signings this summer. There's barely even a link. Colwill from Chelsea is the first serious one and guess who else are in for him, Southampton

This is getting increasingly grating seeing Southampton buy decent youngsters, largely fuelled by a head of recruitment who is meant to be here. I can't believe we've accepted him staying there all summer.

Totally missed this. To be totally honest with you I didn't rate him at all and don't think he'll be good enough. Good luck to him mind.

Dewsbury-Hall signs new contract to 2027. Think he was the best thing to come out of last season. Tailed off a little towards the end but I don't think playing him in literally every game helped. Same as what's happened to Tielemans. I can see him being our Ward-Prowse.

We don't even look close to a signing at the minute. So much for this so called rebuild. Think we're being hindered by a number of things but it's hard to see what's happened so far as anything other than a bit crap. Martyn Glover still hasn't arrived. The interest in Tielemans doesn't seem to be all that high (maybe most within the game agree with Josh BRFC) and a lot of our business I think hinges on the sale of him, and possibly Soyuncu. It's not that nothing's happened, it's that nothing even sounds remotely close.

On the flip side it's an odd time for Justin to come in too. Probably on the back of his weakest run of form for us. But I did think he'd always make a good option. He'd have been nailed on before his injury. He can play basically anywhere in defence. I'm baffled that Coady still gets in I have to say. Gallagher's lucky to retain a place as his form has dipped. Phillips off the back of an injury hit season. Yeah Maddison's really been a bit fucked over for me. I feel for him. He deserved it this time.

It screams five at the back but the back is entirely based to the right. You don't need that many right backs. I've over time just shrugged my shoulders about players being overlooked but Maddison's face just doesn't fit with Southgate. I think he's massively unlucky. I say this as a fairly heavy critic of Maddison's form early season but he fully deserved our POTS. I thought he'd get in this time. That's killed any chance of the World Cup for him as well. I just hope he doesn't think he needs to leave us. While I do think the big 6 bias isn't the sole reason for ommitting him (given the likes of Phillips, Coady, Guehi are in) but I don't think he'd have gotten away with it if Maddison had his record for say Chelsea. It's a tough one for me. There's absolutely no chance he should be there on his club form but I do appreciate that you want to build a bit of a core, of which Maguire has been a part of. That said I think part of our restrictive attacking game is because we build around protecting our really mediocre centre halves. Having watched Chris Smalling against us for Roma I'm convinced there's no way he could be worse than Maguire has been. Particularly given how England set up. I don't think Maguire's overly reliable. I can still see him costing us even if he hasn't yet.

While Vardy has retired he only did so because he was never properly valued. Which I think he was well within his rights.

Maddison's very unlucky. That's virtually a guarantee he's got no chance of the World Cup either. He deserved to be in this time. Face doesn't fit though. Southgate prefers workhorses over creators. Like most England managers.

Fantastic news. He's an absolutely brilliant defender.

Ricardo Pereira signs new deal to 2026. That's one less problem to fix. If we can get him back to his best (signs that it's coming too) that's good news for us. I really think he was up there with the very best in this league pre-injury.

I thought you were a lot better than us over the 90 (as is usually the case when we play a back 5) and deserved the win, but to get it in that manner. I expected you to equalise but when you think you've seen the meltdowns of all meltdowns I didn't think it was possible to lose from there. I do believe he's got some talents, there's no doubt he's got something, he can bring a lot from a team. But the flaws always seem to bubble up at the end. It's going similarly to Liverpool now.

I thought he was going to be fine and we'd get enough wins to keep any serious heat off him, but it's getting embarrassing now and I think there's a chance he does go. It's a very costy exercise for us to sack him and that's the main reason he's safe. For all the excuses I hear, injuries, fatigue etc... well I don't see terrible players in the sides we're naming. The capitulations are a result of a lack of the basics. There is no way the defenders yesterday should be performing that badly yet it's the same virtually every game these days. That game against you was a real turning point I think now. I can't see us winning any of our next three in the league.

I'm massively concerned by how we've performed this season and it's so much worse than the last two seasons but I'll be amazed if we're dragged into it. Got to address what's been served up this season though. It's been miles off our best. We're 10th and we probably ought to be lower.

He was brilliant really. He was one of those part of the furniture types, I don't think anybody could've really had any kind of gripe with him. Became known for tracking planes of potential signings which he got laughed at for initially but everyone started loving it I've seen him before, not many times, but I think he's somebody that truly deserves some kind of tribute in my opinion, huge huge fan of the club. I actually read that tweet at the time as well, was not expecting it to happen so soon after. I hope it was peaceful. Would be a fitting one to win this weekend. RIP Liam.

Sorry, I know it's your Dad, but he's got far bigger issues than what covid could ever cause him. Some people have totally lost their minds here. Absolute insanity and I think he'll likely look back and laugh about it one day. For his own sake you've got to try and convince him this is wrong. The government and media have a lot to answer for - and we've had it relatively good over here. Absolutely depressing what it's done to some. I'll never be able to fathom it.

He's done a fantastic job at Derby. Know a few fans of theirs and Forest and we were all geared up for a year of absolute hilarity as their team of youngsters, teammates old enough to be their dads and general misfits got pinged all over the league by sides like Huddersfield and Preston. They've lost by more than a goal once, would be in the top half without their point deductions, have a plus goal difference, have only lost 7 of their 26. The fact they have a genuine chance of survival is astonishing. Unsure if he's the answer for you, don't think it's loads to judge him off, the problem is the ultimate backs to the wall job isn't a justification for taking a job at a Premier League club that has European aspirations (surely?) even if you do look miles from it. Then again that totally contradicts what I said about Dyche, although I think Dyche has earned a better job more than Rooney.