OhForAGreavsie

Good luck to the lad. I hope he finds a good move for himself.

Exactly. We sold tickets on the basis that a full strength side would play so nothing else would have been acceptable.

Wasn't there a story last week that Madrid had done a deal for Jovic?

As people will already know if they've read a sample of my posts, there is a pedantic streak in me so I have to point out that it's not possible to finish second on 112 points. 112 guarantees top spot. The highest total a team can get and still, theoretically, finish second is 111. Even then it would have to be on goal difference. Sorry. Can't help myself.

It's seriously inconvenient, but it's not pointless and I hope it won't be useless. The cause the game is being played for is an important one.

£922 for a flight is steep.

Yep, Liverpool did good business with Dom. I doubt they paid us more than £6.5m for him and then they picked up something in the region of £19m when they sold him to Bournemouth. Very good business indeed.

The best solution I think, is to play as many kids as possible and have them give everything they've got. We would almost certainly lose but we'd see a fighting display for sure. A loss would cost some income in missed prize money but there is no guarantee that we'd finish third even if we play the full strength team. Set against that is the upside of not over playing the first team ahead of the US trip, and of giving some young players a taste of the first team. Worth the money I think.

And that turned out to be a pretty good performance didn't it.

From a newspaper article linked in the BBC Sport website, I understand that neither Reece, nor any other returned loanee, can play in this match. Hopefully they'll all feature heavily in Massachusetts next week. Meanwhile, because I would not want to risk anyone who will travel to Baku, even those who won't feature in the 18 unless there's an injury, I'd dig even further down into our playing resources to come up with the XI for Sunday: - Cumming Lamptey, Guehi, Cahill*, Castillo McCormick, Drinkwater, McEachran, Uwakwe Taylor-Crossdale, Brown I would risk Gaz if he wanted one last game. Even with him, that side will be beaten but the lads would enjoy the experience. Granted, failing to finish third may cost us a few million quid but I hope the club would be happy to put that aside for the good of the squad.

How can your team reach a European final and yet you leave the ground unhappy and worried? On the one hand we have to be thankful for the remarkable resilience of this club. Clearly there are big problems on and off the pitch. Problems which dominate the discussions in this forum, yet here we are sitting in third place in the Premier League and heading for our second major final of the season. It really is remarkable but somehow manages not to feel like it. Instead it feels like we're in a long, dark tunnel with no glimmer of light anywhere. Our best player seems certain to leave, a transfer ban threatens our short term future and, even if it is overturned as I believe it will be, our reputation is such that the best players don't want to come here. This last point is controversial because many of you disagree with me every time I make it, but I'm convinced it's so. I don't care about the game on Sunday, especially now I've learned that the returning loanees can't feature. Win or lose however, we could really, really do with a good performance in Baku. If that happens, and if it comes on the back of some encouraging appearances by a few youngsters in Massachusetts, then I might turn my head to the wonderful summer of cricket we have ahead of us in a better mood than the one I'm experiencing right now.

I agree with your point but Reece would not actually need to be named in the 25 man squad. Instead, he would qualify as an under 21 player. In fact, given that he is on the official U21 list submitted by CFCM, and that Wigan's season has now ended so his loan is over, I've been wondering if he is eligible for Leicester. If we get the right result tomorrow night then, other than Danny and Gaz, I don't want to see any first squad players anywhere near the pitch on Sunday. Room for Reece if rules permit, if Maurizio feels the same way I do about protecting the squad and if he has the imagination to include returning loanees. Lining up in a 3-4-3, I would play:- Cumming James, Kalas, Cahill Sterling, Drinkwater, McEachran, Dasilva Lamptey, Brown, Taylor-Crossdale It'll never happen of course but I'm serious, that's the team I'd play. Stuff the result.

https://twitter.com/LaticsOfficial/status/1125384927824969728?s=20

It was really meant as a tribute for his contribution to their Championship survival battle. It was also announced before the game that he would be subbed off a few minutes from the end so that he could receive an ovation from the DW. According to one post on Latics Speyk it was the loudest ovation ever accorded at Wigan. I can't judge of course but maybe the superatives with which Wigan fans are describing Reece and his accomplishments shouldn't really be taken absolutely literally. Maybe it's fans' way of saying that he's not just a really good footballer, but also a really likeable bloke who managed to get the fans 100% on his side.

His departure was expected but still gutting. It would be less frustrating if we knew why he and the club had fallen out but we will probably never be told. Good luck Marcin.

I agree. I didn't mean to make it appear that Reece is slow, just that he's not a speedster.

Pace is not one of Reece's better attributes. He has pretty much everything else but not that. If you want pace at right back then Tariq Lamptey is your man. Tariq is technically excellent and absolutely lightening. Promlem is he's tiny. So tiny, he makes Jay Dasilva look tall. Whereas Jay is muscular however, Tariq is a feather. Between natural growth, the protein diet he's no doubt following, and the gym work they must be putting him through, Tariq will beef up but his basic frame is what it is. For that reason, I fear Chelsea managers might hesitate to use him at full back. Maybe wing back would suit him better. Whatever happens, the kid can fly and he can dance past people. I feel sure he'll get a gig somewhere on the pitch, at some level of the professional game. In the linked video, watch out for my favourite Chelsea goal of 2017/2018. Tariq intercepts well inside his own half, plays a ball up to the centre forward, puts on the burners to collect a return pass inside their area and bangs it in from just outside the six yard box. As the commentator says, "Wonderful goal."

From Latics Speyk Saturday at 2:05 AM #10 Reece, even at just 19 years old, is fully deserving of the armband. He's a very very special talent, the like of which only gets seen a handful of times in a generation. We'll never see him back at Latics. That's just life, and as much as I'm gutted about it, it's just reality. Hate to say it, but Reece James is better than Wigan Athletic, and I say that advisedly after 20 plus years supporting the club. Frankly, it's been a privilege and an honour to see him play for us this season. He's not just a future England player, but a future England captain, without a shadow of a doubt. His talent is beyond question, but his attitude, his mentality, his temperament... Second to none. Reece James is a football icon in the making, and I honestly feel honoured to have had the privilege of seeing him play this season. Posted by The_Pom

That's interesting.thanks. I would have guessed that it would have been a separate registration which would fall foul of fifa's restriction. If he's a player who can sneak through the cracks of the ban, then that might make him a more desirable target than he might have been. In that situation, I would still like to have Tammy in the squad as an additional option. Tammy doesn't have everything but; pace, power, strength, endeavour and finishing will always be attributes that can make a contribution. I can't pretend that I'd want Tammy as our long term first choice striker, but there have been many times when a striker has come off the bench this term where I'd have preferred if it had been Tammy instead. He'd be the something different that a game sometimes needs.

I really hope the club won't allow this to become a problem. If the ban is overturned or postponed then we should be looking for better/younger alternatives to Kova and Gonzo. If the ban is upheld then discussions about signing these two are moot anyway.

No this can't happen now. The remaining top four place will go to either Arsenal or Spurs. If the one which misses out goes on to win a European trophy then they get in through the back door as England's 5th team in next season's CL. For us to miss out, it would have needed both north London clubs to finish outside of the top four, and then both of them win a European trophy. In addition United would have had to finish 3rd. That way, England's five spots would have been taken by the top three plus Arsenal and Spurs. That would have meant fourth placed Chelsea would have been relegated to Thursday nights. As it is, our CL place is guaranteed.

So striking was the fact that none of the top four candidates seemed capable of grasping the prize that I predicted last week's United game would finish two-all with four own goals, or, as I put it, -2 all. Well we outlasted the other three and maybe proved that we're the least bad of the four chasing teams. That's a deep condemnation of Arsenal, ManU and Spurs but I'm not going to waste time worrying about their problems; we've got enough of our own. For now we have to congratulate our squad and enjoy this good news which definitely counts as a mini success. Now let's go full tilt against Frankfurt and try to make it to Baku. If we get the right results on Thursday then we send the reserves to Leicester. And I do mean reserves. Apart from Gary and Danny no members of the first team squad should even feature in the match day squad.

Second half he did but I thought he was ordinary or worse in the first.

Dangerous, short term thinking. Everton's home ground was refurbished, or perhaps better to say renovated, for them. They baulked at the price and decided to move out. The athletics stadium in Fulham was turned into a (then) modern football stadium for Fulham to use. They baulked at the price and decided not to move in. That left the owners of Anfield and Stamford Bridge with empty stadiums. In each case they decided to solve their problem by forming a new football team of their own to use the facilities. How did that work out for Everton and Fulham? Stadiums matter. They are important. We already have the second smallest Premier League stadium in London. (Watford's not in London.) When Palace complete their rebuild we will also have the worst, and least fit for purpose. It's a problem that we have to solve. It we don't we'll regret it.

Firstly, I would take any of our current squad members over Kennedy. Secondly, although I understand that your criteria excludes them, there are at least two development squad players I'd deploy on the wing ahead of Kennedy. Thirdly from the loan army, I'd turn to two sets of players ahead of Kennedy. The first group includes wingers and attacking players who can play wide. The second group consists of fullbacks whose attacking attributes I prefer to Kennedy's. Putting that into a single list, l would go with any of; Baker, Dasilva, Kylian Hazard, Mount, Musonda, Palmer, Piazon, and Sterling. To be clear, I'm saying I would expect a better contribution from any of those players in a wide attacking role than I would from Kennedy. For good measure, I would also give a squad place to Victor Moses in preference to Kennedy. The Brazilian just isn't a player I like.