joey_big_nose

Yeah he was covering a lot of ground today, like the look of him.

First time we have actually managed to build some pressure up after going behind in a long long time. We're playing something like 4132, very attacking. Against a better side than Oxford Id really worry in midfield but they're not really competitive.

So confused why that wasn't a red... @arbitrowhere art thou?

If I was Wharton I'd look abroad. The top clubs in England are chaotic at the moment and have huge squads. It's hard to be that sure you will get consistent games. Man Utd - really poor team, and have ruined and are ruining so many good young players you would have to be mad to go Man City - very stifling tactical setup, massive squad, what happens when Rodri is fit? Like Utd have track record of taking on young players and marginalising them Chelsea - truly massive squad, vast turnover, got a lot of centre mids. Liverpool - maybe best bet - but do they have any money after spending so huge in the summer? Arsenal - Could work but not sure they are looking to spend at the moment? Munich, Real, Barca all good shouts I would say.

Surely there is going to be a big fine or something, its ludicrous we can't keep the pitch playable.

In South Manchester its pretty dry...

Really missing Hedges energy.. theres no way Riberio can get beyond his man.

I agree but at some point one of Ohashi or Gudjonsen are going to break down so we need to plan ahead. Also no more CBs. Sheffield Wednesday are one of our easier games so might be the time for a change. Also bringing on Ohashi to close our games rather than start them could help a lot with our robustness.

With Hedges out I wonder if its better to back to 4231 and give one of our strikers a rest? Pears Alebiouso. Miller. McLoughlin. Riberio TGH. Forshaw Mori. Cantwell. De Neve Gudjonsen

The further deduction must have everyone thinking about next year in League One. Totally devastating with 60% of the season still to play. But I guess those with nothing to lose can be the most dangerous

So Preston in a similar loss making situation... Just the Hemmings family covering it like Venkys did (pre overdraft) for us. I did a bit of research just now and while on a smaller scale Preston are very similar to us in model with owners supplying cash to make them viable. Basically in the Championship it seems pretty universally you need an owner to put £10M+ a year to keep the club solvent (unless you have player sales or parachute payments), theres not a single club in the Championship in recent years (maybe except Brentford 10 years back) who have managed to get by over a 5 year period without massive cash support. Really want to get rid of Venkys but how do we find owners who will write off tens of millions? Is there any club we could look to as an example on how to cut the dependency on (potentially crazy) owners? It looks pretty bleak. Personally Id take relegation to have a go without Venkys, but its very troubling to see losing £10M per season is the norm in the Championship, and i wonder how we can get stability in that environment.

Agreed, but good to look at it in hard numbers. Preston are a very good alternative case to look at.

In a way thats quite encouraging that we can boot out Venkys and still be competitive. Do you have Preston's cost side stats (wages, admin etc).

Any right wing backs or strikers who look any good?