No doubting Palace have some real quality and experience but it looks like a very unbalanced squad. If they can motivate Zaha and/or get a striker scoring more frequently they should be ok. A couple of injuries or suspensions would hurt them much more than us, especially when you consider this...
I don’t want to get carried away but he actually looked vastly superior in some areas. Incredible composure and his first touch gave him so many options on the ball. Seemed to read the game and snuff out developing threats in a way you’d expect from a far more experienced player. Plenty more...
Exactly this. Locadia is staying up the pitch and Duffy is slow to come across and assist in wide areas. Look's the weak spot currently but plenty of positives. Burn and Solly look very comfortable.
Seeing how the club like to use the media, I would guess that the precise wording is simply another way of confirming any current offers are no longer negotiable.
I bet the haggling will be over doing this as a transfer rather than activating the release clause. The release clause has to be paid by the player himself (although Albion would transfer this money as part of a contract) and this is subject to a big tax hit. Leganes will want something in...
Now reported to have bid 20m for him. He's got the physical attributes of Murray but is blessed with pace. Best way to explain is a young Zamora / Murray mix.
I would imagine the flurry of outbound loans mean Potter has now got to grips with squad and therefore should know the gaps and types of player required. Cutting it fine.
Scrappy game, Crawley steaming in and the ref letting things slide. Good to see Potter switch to 3 at the back which almost instantly saw us take control. Some very precise passing from Baluta and Haydon Roberts looks good enough for a league 1 or 2 loan move already.
I’ve seen a fair bit of Alzate and he has every attribute to make it at the highest level. It’s the speed of thought and composure on the ball that standout but he can tackle and press as well.
2nd half was a big drop off in terms of overall quality and composure on the ball. Kayal in particular was very erratic and sloppy. Good to see Ali J, Locadia and Andone playing as if they have a point to prove. Alzate was comfortably our best player and Solly looked great carrying the ball...
I don’t think we would go for a direct replacement. The thinking should be does getting 15m for Knocky help us bring in the right quality in higher priority areas. Like right back, box to box midfielder and a Murray alternative. Get that right and I suspect it would have a greater impact than AK...
AK’s been fantastic but hardly reliable and vital for us over the last 2 seasons. 15 million and 40k per week off the wage bill sounds tempting given that he’s a volatile player. That’s a 10% boost to our revenue and a chance to reinvest in accelerating Potters evolution. Interestingly, we’d...