Pizy

Anyone in our fanbase who was worrying already about Delap is crazy. He has been performing well and as today shows he WILL score if given good chances. He’s going to be huge for us this season. Really, REALLY hope we stop the silly Garnacho deal and just get Simons + a top CB. Then we’re truly ready for the season.

Malo Gusto caught napping once again. We look straight up poor defensively. We 100% need a CB.

Look good and sharp in attack but actually looked concerningly vulnerable at the back and in transition even against 10 men. One simple pass out wide and they were at us creating dangerous attacks quite regularly. I continue to think it’s a direct result of Enzo playing so high up that he’s basically a second striker and Cucu inverting into midfield. It leaves us kind of exposed when the ball is lost.

Working stream please anyone?

Nkunku going back there for Simons would be picture perfect for every party involved.

This is most definitely going to be our starting XI for Palace next week I would think. And yeah, it’s annoying to still not see Lavia in the squad once again but we at least now have 2 super solid options in Santos and Essugo to fill in whenever he’s absent.

Yeah, it is a bit concerning that we haven’t heard of any real concrete links with Nkunku. We’ve heard from Romano several times that “many clubs” are interested but nothing seems remotely close at this point with the season a week away. And as for Jackson, he still doesn’t appear to be any club’s priority/first choice at this point even after loads of strikers have moved. He still feels like a fallback option for the likes of Newcastle if they miss out on others.

I know he’s surely getting a massive bump in salary but damn, having to go from living in Milan to Newcastle has to be quite the culture shock. Really shows the power of the PL these days though that Newcastle can go and take a player from Milan who Fabrizio repeatedly said their manager wanted to keep. Leaving an iconic, legendary European club for a second tier English one shows how diminished Serie A is.

I’m just saying, I’m not seeing any links or talk about us being interested. All I’m seeing all over Twitter is that he fancies Man United and they’re desperate enough to pay his monster wages.

Why are you guys even talking about Donnarumma? Seems like he’s Man United bound.

I see CFCPys tweeted a clip of what Maresca actually said about a new CB yesterday. Apparently he did NOT actually say we need to go out and get a new one. It was misreported by everyone last night. He was asked “do you need to bolster your defense after the Colwill injury” and he said yes most likely not knowing what the word bolster means. He probably just meant that we need to find a solution to the problem. Not necessarily through the market, though.

Maybe if he hadn’t just signed a new contract last year. Forest would probably demand £100m for him at this point in the window. No chance. True, which is why there no chance they’d sell him. And I doubt an Italian best of a CB will want to leave an Italian club who are UCL contenders.

He’s actually decent if you give him time on the ball in the final third. He just has no tekkers as the kids would say. He’s not going to skin defenders on the wing with some amazing skills like you want in a winger.

Yep. Really don’t see what he really adds to this squad. We’re going to. E playing a shit load of low blocks and packed defenses. Garnacho excels when he can break at pace in a counter attacking side. He’s a shit dribbler and doesn’t offer the technical ability that Gittens, Neto and Estevão do. Sadly, I think the move is already so advanced that we won’t pull out. We’ve been chasing him for 6 months now and he has totally burned his bridges at United. Which is why I’m sweating about Xavi. Feels like that’s the target that is more lLike ly to be sacrificed for a CB than Garnacho.

Same as long as they’re athletic and super calm on the ball. We need a cool head that can step in and instantly hit the ground running.

After Maresca’s comments I think Guehi is nailed on. Low fee, PL ready, Chelsea connection. Can’t imagine we’re going to go and pay £80m or something to go and get one of the usual names our supporters fantasize about like the lad from Inter.

Very good structure and extremely tidy/confident on the ball from back to front. All the debutants looked solid and I afraid. I think Maresca has truly stamped his idea on the squad now after what we’ve seen at the CWC and now. A couple more signings and we’re ready. Xavi would absolutely COOK in the setup we saw today.

Couple other observations. 1) Delap again looks like an absolute menace and a pain in the ass for CB’s and keepers trying to play out. Unlucky not to score at least once that half. 2) I really don’t like the look of Cucu inverted from a defensive POV despite how dangerous he looks going forward. 3) I also don’t like the look of Trev on the left side. I know he likely won’t be there when the real stuff starts but he looks shaky when pressed over there. 4) Acheampong is getting better and better. Will be a serious player for us this season with the Levi injury.

Estevão doesn’t appear like he’ll need ANY settling in period. This kid is at 100% confidence from preseason match 1.

Just noticed Lavia isn’t even in the squad? Don’t tell me….

Nkunku I agree but Jackson plays a premium position that clubs will always need.

Seems Newcastle are interested in 16 different strikers. But none of the ones I’m seeing are as good as Jackson is. Wonder if they scoffed at our asking price.

Usually it’s probably agents who tell their clients to sit out to firstly put pressure on the club to work out a transfer and secondly so that their client doesn’t get Colwill’d or James Maddison’d. This deal could of course still happen but it’s looking more and more likely that it’ll drag on maybe for the rest of the window. We need Nkunku and Jackson sold first clearly.

Yeah, he played like a week and a half ago and then like Sesko asked to be left out presumably because he wanted to push through the move. If he is now rejoining the team it must mean nothing is close.

Think we probably do need him sold. Although now the Xavi deal is seeming less likely. Negotiating with them for 3 weeks, no bid, and now he’s rejoining the team where he could risk injury. Players probably don’t do that if a move is close.