I completely disagreed with him on that, although he did admit he had some animosity towards Cole from his time at Fleetwood. Coles pressing and work rate is invaluable to us, especially this season. Hes come on leaps and bounds in that respect and its nights and day the difference when he does and doesn't play
I think some folk make their minds up too quick and slag players off when not justified. But on the other hand some fans also put some players on a pedestal who have not justified such an accolade ether.
Spot on. Some people think pressing is just running around like a headless chicken chasing the ball. I remember the Bolton at home play off game every time they tried to play it out from the back Cole cut the passes out forcing there defenders to go long in which mads and Co dealt with it everytime. And still I had a bloke at back of me shouting go get ball Cole
I think us having no better option is a completely separate discussion. In our team set up Devante works well and certainly can’t be accused of lacking effort but I did in the main agree with him about impacting games. When some players aren’t contributing goals they will make other telling contributions Devante seems to become peripheral. on Saturday he was largely anonymous but certainly lack of effort can’t be thrown at him as was the case in the past.
I find it interesting how , a lot of our players are outstanding when we're on a roll ,but absolutely dire when we're losing. I have always thought ,that for the money we invested in him ( Kane) we was not getting value. However this season he as really stepped up to the plate and as been instrumental in our current form. Sadly he walks away for free at the end of the season just like Cole. However Cole came on a free. So that million invested in Kane was an expensive gamble.
I suppose compared to our other million plus signings he’s been reasonable value - not great, just reasonable especially the latter part of this season where he has really upped his game. Others? Georgi Hristov, Mike Sheron, Iain Hume, Luke Thomas - nowhere near a good return on our investment. Ashley Ward though - brilliant for us and made us a hefty profit. There have been a few not far short of a million of course - again a mixed bag. Darren B, Jan Aage, Higgy, Bruce - outstanding performers. Then you see the likes of Eric Tinkler and Ales Krizan who were pretty much money wasted. We can't always get it right but when we do what a privilege it is to see players really turning it on for us. I wonder if we’ll ever see million pound signings again?
Not if the club is run as a buiseness which sadly is the case now. It is all about staying sustainable.
Unfortunately that is how every club in football is run now mate. I do believe under these owners we are now better though in a financial sense. The money we got for kitching and Andersen are proof of that imo, both would have been sold cheaper and earlier. This time we stood our ground and got actual value for our players. Long may it continue