Recruitment is what marks those "well run" clubs out and this summer we got the recruitment spot on. It felt like the recruitment guy (the one we sacked in year one) was in control and there was no last minute maverick silliness. We are reaping the reward. Just need to stop spitting on the refs now and we could look like an okay club.
Turns out there was an impromptu meeting of the unofficial wreake valley supporters club in my local after the game tonight. All four expected attendees. Not a leicester fan in sight, despite me inviting a few out of courtesy.
I fucking love beating leicester. Especially tonight, where it felt like we just bullied them because we knew we were bigger, stronger, better and less cunty.
There have been duds like Turner and Dennis, but by and large our recruitment since we got promoted has not been bad at all. I think what has us where we are at the moment is retaining the best year 1 and 2 signings (Murillo, Aina, MGW, Wood, CHO, Elanga) cutting losses on the shite, cashing in where we needed to (Johnson) and adding a few more genuine bargains on top (Milenkovic, Anderson) early on in the window.
Oh and obviously Ryan Yates who continues to demonstrate why everyone who has ever said he was not good enough (every year for about 6 years now) is probably silly.
2 games running that there has been no lengthy / contentious VAR stoppage, just the standard post goal mid celebration check plus the laughable in-play quickly dismissed check for a 'penalty' when Steptoe fell over.
Unless I've forgotten something. Which is possible.
53 appearances, 14 goals, between 2013 and 2015. Is there a statute of limitations in regards to 'old club'? Talkback favourite Harry Kane made 13 appearances (2 goals) for Fester in 2013. Surely he would've scored there for Spuds and celebrated since?
Incidentally, Googling Wood tonight was a surprise in terms of how many English teams he has appeared for. 12 in total. Obviously Forest, Newcastle and Fester are 3. Who fancies a stab at the other 9 whilst pretending they haven't looked it up?
Definitely pulled his leg up and simulated a foul. That should have been a yellow card for simulation. But all refs are shit.
Got 12 pages in before I lost the will to live. What I found most amusing was they almost unilaterally agreed that Cooper got it tactically wrong, without any real mention of what he did, or what he should have done (or could have done with the players at his disposal). Just some mindless wittering on about inverted full-back formation like that was a thing.
Leicester have a much worse squad than us, and it's nowhere near as deep. The best ones they could put out are either on old age pensions, are sufficiently inexperienced that they haven't a clue, or are inherently faes crap. That's a tricky problem for a coach to solve.
What a dickhead. Carra, not you. That was the sort of CB play Carra should've been praising - arm across the CF, bit of jostling, stop Vardy using his pace because he has f all physical presence - certainly versus Milo - and no foul. Even Stuart Atwell would've turned his nose up. And yes, despite the tiniest shirt tug Vardy did a Luis Suarez special, hitched his legs up, fell forward and tried to make it look like he had been tasered.
There have been times where Yates hasn't looked good enough. Was that his application / development? The team surrounding him? The manager? (how many managers has he played under now?) I'd suggest that he had a clearer role but a less integral role under Cooper. I'd suggest that he has a different clearer role and a more integral role under Nuno (possibly because of injuries). I remember Donny used to be quite scathing about players and various posters would try and suggest that a) they could improve or b) look better in a different system / under a different manager. Clough used to say that McGovern was the 1st name on his teamsheet despite fans and pundits not understanding what he did. Clough's response was always that he let the others play. If Yates becomes Nuno's McGovern then we really are doing well.