on January 11, 2026, 2:18 pm, in reply to "Has to be someone who is willing to play the young players to develop them"
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But not just for the sake of playing them.
It’s clear Aznou could have played more this season so far (mainly at left midfield or at left back when chasing a goal) but long term an extra month or two before his first appearance.
I thought it was interesting to contrast how Moyes talked about Aznou yesterday, which was much more “arm around the shoulder”, than he has acted with Dibling, which seems a lot more “kick up the backside”.
The new manager might need to continue that for another season or two before we really start to have success. It might impact on who wants to do the job. Previous Message
Someone mentioned Fabregas as a potential manager next season, which is a good shout as he also has experience of the EPL.
Other potential Candidates.
Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth): From the Basque region, he brings high-pressing, direct football, earning plaudits in England and Spain.
Míchel (Girona): Led Girona to historic success with an energetic, attacking approach, establishing them as a top La Liga side.
Garcia Pimienta (Las Palmas): A Barcelona academy product, he implements an attractive, possession-based game, impressing in La Liga.
Other Key Figures:
Luis de la Fuente (Spain National Team): Successful with Spain's youth teams (U21 Euros, Olympic Silver) and now leading the senior side, showcasing versatility.
Jagoba Arrasate (Osasuna): An understated but highly effective coach known for building a strong, high-pressing DNA at Osasuna over several years. Previous Message
But as I said below, this is not the most important question going forward.
Rather that latter is actually the most important question: how do we move forward? Not in January but next season? Can we see progress next season with current setup? Is it the sort of progress this club should see? By that I mean the identity of the team. We absolutely need to see some semblance of identity or we will again be in trouble soon enough.
People seem to put too much emphasis on Brighton's data but everyone has data these days. It's how you use it. And what they usually do is sign a coach that fits their identity, which in turn helps integrating both new and existing players in the squad.
This is exactly opposite to what we have done. We keep changing manager profile and signing players not fit for them. Just like ManU have done, signing Amorim was a particular case in point: their squad was nowhere correctly built for him and even me as clueless as I am wondered if he was a good fit (very rigid tactically + wrong players - how was that supposed to work?).
We had this identity thing planning from the club a few years back but apparently it was tossed aside because the situation was so dire. This would be the time to dig up those plans because they did sound good. Or make new ones. But at least have a vision what the team should look like. Because without it we will keep signing players and managers who are not a good fit and nothing will actually improve. Yes, there will be a bit more money available but Spurs for instance will still have way more.
Point being: yes, it was probably good club bought that data company. But data is not going to solve our issues without a framework.
So that is IMO the big issue. Absolutely I do think Moyes should continue til summer but then these things should be considered. Additional problem that could arise is that everyone knows next season would be Moyes's last. So at the bare minimum some sort of succession plan needs to be made, unless "let's get whoever is willing to come" is considered a good plan. Previous Message
11 points up vs this time in 2025. City and Villa next up (+8), then Arsenal (+6).
It’s frustrating at times, I agree. Moyes is not without his faults, I agree. But the progress is indisputable. There’s no guarantee at all that the next flavour of the month doesn’t turn into one of the many pumpkins we’ve endured over the last decade+.
Again, I’m not preaching giving the man a permanent pass. But I think we can allow for a bad patch when he has (literally) half the squad unavailable and has only had one transfer window to try and improve things.
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