Teale's 'tache

Terry has always been one to test himself against the best, I'm sure he'll want to test his defence against the best next season.

He's been very humble in his approach to coaching and management and I think he realises there's still a lot to learn from Smith and O'Kelly, I would like to think he'll be around next season, he's on to a good thing here and it's too soon for him to take the Chelsea job which I'd imagine is his end goal.

Fair play to him, he's been a real professional.

7 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

The more I think about it the more you realise how big that play off final was. There's still far too much deadwood at this club, next season would have been painful if we had also likely lost Abraham, Grelaish and possibly even Mcginn. No chance of promotion whatsoever.

It would certainly of been tough, Norwich managed it after losing their best players but that is certainly the exception and not the rule. The problem would of been our wage budget more than anything, it's hard to build a team to wage structure when hamstrung by players on big money who you aren't going to play.

We may of had to play Hogan had we not gone up, maybe even McCormack... there's a chilling thought...

4 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Don't forget lansbury on 70k now.....

I mean at least there's a chance he might play if he doesn't fall apart, but whoever negotiated the wages for these players needs a serious paddling...

5 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

His last few appearances his effort definitely fell away. He knows he's not good enough and doesn't seems to be able to work through it.

His wages will be £50k+ now, probably £60k+.

We're going to have to swallow our pride here and try to get £2m off someone and pay 70% of his wages for the first two years.

Grim.

I'm so happy that Richards contract is up and those dark transfer days are behind us, and then I remember we still have Hogan and McCormack, it's like that Drake meme in reverse...  

2 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

Funnily enough I was reading a Brentford message board yesterday to see what their thoughts were on the play off final.

They were fairly complimentary towards Dean but definitely a somewhat deluded bunch. Were convinced they play better football than both us and Derby, also their midfield and strikers were better than ours and also they were convinced that with the prem money we would be taking some more of their players.

We have been linked with a few of their players, but that may just be because of the Dean Smith connection, they have some decent players but I don't know if they are up to the quality required where we are going. They do play some nice stuff too, but if they are as good as they seem to think they'd be the ones getting promoted 

Hogan scored buckets of goals for them which is why I thought they might be interested in taking him on, especially if they were to lose Maupay. 

His wages are the big stumbling block, otherwise I could see us using him as a makeweight in a deal with somebody like Brentford for a player we are interested in.

Most likely it will be a loan though with us subsidising some of his wages. It's a shame it didn't work out, but not every transfer does, I don't think it's through lack of effort or desire, just circumstance and a loss of form.

8 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

No that's the impression I am under and boy is that a bargain I. Today's market. 

Speaking of no loans only loan if take is axel. We know what he can do here and he fits in so well. United won't sell him just yet but if we can get him and see how good he would be at thisevel on loan then suits all parties I think. 

I don't want any other loans

I think loans are fine as long as there's an option to buy at the end of the loan, look at Jiminez and Johnny at Wolves last season.

We need to plug a lot of gaps in the squad, loans can be useful way of doing this without spending a fortune in one summer and getting caught with FFP issues down the line. Also, if a loan doesn't work out it hasn't cost us a fee and 4 years worth of wages, see McCormack...

I'm not saying all loans, but a few to supplement other signings could work well

3 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Morelos, the same guy who gets sent off 10 times a season?  No thanks, talent isnt everything that is needed to be a prem player.

Very true, also my concern with Philips from Leeds, looks like he'd be a walking red card in the Premier League.

There are a lot of considerations in every transfer, we need to be smart, assess what we actually need in terms of age, position, character, discipline, talent and ambition.

We also need to consider how someone fits in to the group, like the Tammy v Mitrovic debate, we already know Tammy fits in the group well, Mitrovic is known to be trouble but he's proven himself in the Premier League, these factors need to be weighed up before making a decision on either one.

We need to sign Mings so bad, I'm not sure I can make peace with the world if we don't.

Was a vital part of the game for him to be thrown in at, he coped pretty well with it I thought, one shaky moment when he tried to step up and got caught in no mans land but he bust a gut to get back and put their player under pressure. Couple of big clearances as well.

I don't know if he's good enough for the Premier League just yet, seems a distance behind Tuanzebe and Mings, but he's shown a willingness to improve and a hunger to play, I think if the fee is as low as some are saying we should take chance on him and see how much more he can improve.

Love this guy! Solid, consistent and really seems a team player, we will need guys like him where we going!

27 minutes ago, Visiting Ram said:

It’s worth mentioning that neither keeper had much to do and ours didn’t do the basics which cost the game - chances weren’t created by either team but were mainly handed over - all irrelevant now good luck next season 

I agree, we got in to some good areas but didn't force your keeper into any real saves, Grealish had a couple of opportunities to do so but he wasn't quite at it. Cagey games like yesterday rarely throw up lots of chances. I think you just expect the last 10 minutes when a team is really going for it that your keeper is going to have to do something special to keep them out, but it just never quite materialised.

As mentioned at the end of my post we made the least mistakes which was the main difference between the two teams. I think the fact you were missing a few players probably didn't help with this, but also changing up your formation/tactics seemed to cause a little confusion which probably didn't help either.

I really hope you guys re-group and have a good run at it again next season, you try to play football the right way and your fans are a credit to your club. I hope Lampard sticks with you and keeps improving as well, I think he'll be kicking himself but he seems the type that learns from mistakes/experiences and comes out the side stronger.

Best of luck!

10 hours ago, Jareth said:

A player who's developed at the same rate as the team - he'll need to get better for the prem but don't see why he can't. 

This. He's deserves the chance to follow up on an excellent end to the season, Kalanic may be our #1 in the future, but Jed is in possession of the shirt for me, and I can see him improving more and more as his confidence grows.

Wanted to get Grealish levels of drunk when that final whistle blew and but for wife/children/work I would of done! Loving it in work today though, Wolves fans in my office are getting a little worried now!

The game itself wasn't much of a spectacle, the pressure really got to both teams in the first half, it was very scrappy, then from nowhere really we played a lovely bit of football back to front which brought the goal, fortunate it came of his back and went in, but the play up to that was excellent.

Derby started too negative and seemed to be playing a system a little alien to them, they couldn't seem to get enough men up the pitch and when they finally started to press our defence we cut right through them. At half time I expected Lampard to right his errors and change things up, he didn't and that seemed to help us grow in to the game more in second half, the second goal was coming but the circumstances made it seem out of the blue, it was very welcome and gave us some breathing room.

As soon as Lampard hooked Huddlestone and changed the system they instantly looked more dangerous but still didn't really bring a save from Steer, I liked how we played at this stage, we didn't drop in and try to man the barricades, we still had a go at them, kept breaking when they came forward, kept men up the pitch, it made it so much harder for them to commit as many men forward as they wanted. For the goal we got a bit stretched and Mings looked like he had saved the day, if he hadn't of injured himself in the process we may not of conceded at all. The goal did force us to sit deeper inevitability, but we still tried to break when their final ball broke down. 

The last 20 minutes or so were nervous, but again I don't think Steer had anything difficult to do, just collect a few crosses and land on a few loose balls.

Smith went with what got us there and the player had full trust in that, I think Lampard over thought things, maybe because of the results earlier in the season and he was too passive. 

In the end we made the least mistakes, showed the most intent and were braver in the way we set up. We deserved it!

UTV!

I want my colon back...

I'm stressed about how stressed I'm going to be later, it's so stressful being this stressed.

This weekend is lasting forever!

I just hope we keep our heads, don't panic if we go behind, and play the way we know we can. I trust the staff to get the preparations right, the players will need to turn up, handle the pressure and execute the game plan.

It's won't be easy, Derby are in good form and have their tails up after the Leeds result, they will enjoy being the underdogs and being written off, it's easy motivation for them. 

I believe we are good enough and brave enough. We can do this!

6 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

You are a great designer mate... but those wasp uniforms are bloody horrible!

The first shirt reminds me of this one..

 

The second shirt, at a quick first glance, could be mistaken for a Leeds shirt!

 

The yellow designs have had a very mixed reaction, and I thought the black/green would be the most divisive!

Just goes to show how important market research can be, and how good a job they did with the strip this season

13 minutes ago, sne said:

Looks too much like AIK in Sweden, will have to cheer for our opponents if we play in that.

It's interesting to hear all the feedback on these, should send this thread off to Kappa for free market research!

I expected mixed reviews to the green and black but I've been surprised how many don't like a yellow kit.

16 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

@Teale's 'tache you reckon you can do the yellow and black one in reverse colours? Have the body black and sleeves gold see how that would look? 

Here you go, with a couple more variations...

13 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

@Teale's 'tache you reckon you can do the yellow and black one in reverse colours? Have the body black and sleeves gold see how that would look? 

Yeah that shouldn't be a problem, I'll put a design together next time I'm at my computer

3 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Wolves had a coherent strategy, Fulham didn't.

Clubs who have immediate success with European transfers often get several players in from the same country. Arsenal and Newcastle had a lot of joy taking players from France. Wolves with a Portuguese manager, couple of established Portuguese players from their promotion season, were well placed to welcome some new Portuguese players or players who had played in Portugal.

At the other extreme, you have clubs like Burnley who sign virtually all of their players from English lower leagues, and have good success with that.

So it's more about consistency than anything I think. If you just randomly throw money at a load of highly rated players from wherever, it usually ends in tears.

Given the makeup of our current dressing room, I'd look at English lower leagues, Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland, Scandinavia for good value players who can fit in quickly.

I agree that having a good strategy is important, but it also depends on how far along in that strategy you are, Wolves only signed 5 or 6 new(meaning not on loan the previous season) when they came up, some of them were loans and not all of them went straight in to the first team. They could get away with this because they had a solid base and managed to get the players they'd loaned the previous season on permanent deals, so they kept continuity and added in positions they needed the most.

If you look at Liverpool they can afford to not really play some of their signings for several months while they get used to the system/culture because they have such a solid base.

If we go up and don't get the loan players on permanent deals then we'll need to replace them, and then improve the others areas, which would mean trying to integrate too many new players in to the first team.

I don't think European players has to be specifically the direction we go in, I think a mix of both European and British is better, but we need to ensure new players will fit the system and the group they are going to be working in and not just signing somebody because they are a 'big name' or play for a 'big club'.

4 minutes ago, avfcwills10 said:

I think the main reason that I would like to go up is because I'm desperate to see how ambitious our owners are. 

For example will we be looking to go all out for young European talents like Joao Felix?? Teams like Wolves and West Ham have shown that it's possible to sign top players from foreign leagues. I think because of the money now, the days of only the top 4/5 singing top players are gone.

What are peoples expectations of what the summer could hold if we are success full on Monday?

I think although the temptation to splash the cash would be there, what we will need should we go up is some continuity. Dean Smith has done an outstanding job getting the way he want's to play across to the players in the middle of a season, but that kind of thing isn't going to fly in the Premiership, we'd need to be at it from the start. We can't afford a quite few months while half a team gets used to the system.

Many people on this thread have pointed out that the first thing we need to do is lock down the loan signings that have done so well for us, I agree completely, I don't even mind paying a little over the odds to get them so we can keep the core group, and then we'd need to strengthen in a few areas with new players (i.e left back and right wing).

We'd need to be wary of doing a Fulham, signing top players from Europe is not as easy as the likes of Wolves make it look...