Rival Watch

[Hound]

I’d definitely take Laurent or Baker over Hendrick without a second thought.

Don’t quite agree with that, Laurent is a headless chicken with very little discipline and was part of an appalling midfield that was cut open time and time again last season. He started very well here but he was a passenger last season, one of those who looked busy without doing anything

Overall the midfield could still be doing a lot better but there’s much more of a structure, balance and discipline to it this season and I do think Hendrick does a lot of work that gets unnoticed. He does spend too many games on the periphery however and on occasions has made an unacceptable amount of passes for a central midfielder but he’s doing fine overall

Said in the summer that Laurent, Rinomhota and Swift wouldn’t be missed too much and its looking likes it’s standing true. One is struggling to break into a pretty awful Cardiff team, another one a pretty poor Stoke team and the other has had a pretty poor time at West Brom, although it sounds like he’s improving since the change in manager

Agree on Rino - quite openly said I thought he was bang average here and it’s gone exactly as I expected there

Swift is a quality player but not want you want when you are fighting for your life at the bottom of tbe table. We’re a better team without him though he individually is a better player than anyone we have imo

Laurent was a decent player though. He only really had a poor spell when Pauno lost the plot last year and tbf the team was absolutely shocking at times. He still had it in him to be a match winner and I suspect Ince would have been a far better manager for him than Pauno

Hendrick for me does a job. I don’t agree he does a lot of unseen stuff tbh, I can see pretty clearly what he offers and it’s about adequate. Doesn’t offer a lot going forward and is just about ok defensively. Gives the ball away far too much. He’s been a better last few games though, though I think that’s largely because Loum is a completely different player since the WC

[Vision]

I’d definitely take Laurent or Baker over Hendrick without a second thought.

Don’t quite agree with that, Laurent is a headless chicken with very little discipline and was part of an appalling midfield that was cut open time and time again last season. He started very well here but he was a passenger last season, one of those who looked busy without doing anything

Overall the midfield could still be doing a lot better but there’s much more of a structure, balance and discipline to it this season and I do think Hendrick does a lot of work that gets unnoticed. He does spend too many games on the periphery however and on occasions has made an unacceptable amount of passes for a central midfielder but he’s doing fine overall

Said in the summer that Laurent, Rinomhota and Swift wouldn’t be missed too much and its looking likes it’s standing true. One is struggling to break into a pretty awful Cardiff team, another one a pretty poor Stoke team and the other has had a pretty poor time at West Brom, although it sounds like he’s improving since the change in manager

Agree on Rino - quite openly said I thought he was bang average here and it’s gone exactly as I expected there

Swift is a quality player but not want you want when you are fighting for your life at the bottom of tbe table. We’re a better team without him though he individually is a better player than anyone we have imo

Laurent was a decent player though. He only really had a poor spell when Pauno lost the plot last year and tbf the team was absolutely shocking at times. He still had it in him to be a match winner and I suspect Ince would have been a far better manager for him than Pauno

Hendrick for me does a job. I don’t agree he does a lot of unseen stuff tbh, I can see pretty clearly what he offers and it’s about adequate. Doesn’t offer a lot going forward and is just about ok defensively. Gives the ball away far too much. He’s been a better last few games though, though I think that’s largely because Loum is a completely different player since the WC

Worth pointing put that Rino and Laurent played over 40 games as the midfield axis in a team that finished 7th. Rino's injuries coupled with Laurent changing position (Centre half at times for Pauno and attacking midfielder at times for Ince) was the real issue I think and underlines how they were actually pretty effective as a pair in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Swift's goals and overall contribution when we'd lost Olise to palace and Joao/Meite to injury early last season went a long to way to giving us a cushion against relegation last season too.

All 3 had their flaws but overall I believe the positives outweighed the negatives when played in their favoured positions.

[paultheroyal]

Cardiff will be wanting to pick up some wins quickly with their last 8 league games being...

Swansea
Blackpool
Sunderland
Sheffield United
Watford
Stoke
Huddersfield
Burnley

In fact looking at the last games for the teams in the bottom half it is quite an equal spread of teams / positions.

Last day of the season Wigan play Rotherham - could be tasty.

Rosenior has done a decent job in steadying the ship at Hull.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’d definitely take Laurent or Baker over Hendrick without a second thought.

Don’t quite agree with that, Laurent is a headless chicken with very little discipline and was part of an appalling midfield that was cut open time and time again last season. He started very well here but he was a passenger last season, one of those who looked busy without doing anything

Overall the midfield could still be doing a lot better but there’s much more of a structure, balance and discipline to it this season and I do think Hendrick does a lot of work that gets unnoticed. He does spend too many games on the periphery however and on occasions has made an unacceptable amount of passes for a central midfielder but he’s doing fine overall

Said in the summer that Laurent, Rinomhota and Swift wouldn’t be missed too much and its looking likes it’s standing true. One is struggling to break into a pretty awful Cardiff team, another one a pretty poor Stoke team and the other has had a pretty poor time at West Brom, although it sounds like he’s improving since the change in manager

Agree on Rino - quite openly said I thought he was bang average here and it’s gone exactly as I expected there

Swift is a quality player but not want you want when you are fighting for your life at the bottom of tbe table. We’re a better team without him though he individually is a better player than anyone we have imo

Laurent was a decent player though. He only really had a poor spell when Pauno lost the plot last year and tbf the team was absolutely shocking at times. He still had it in him to be a match winner and I suspect Ince would have been a far better manager for him than Pauno

Hendrick for me does a job. I don’t agree he does a lot of unseen stuff tbh, I can see pretty clearly what he offers and it’s about adequate. Doesn’t offer a lot going forward and is just about ok defensively. Gives the ball away far too much. He’s been a better last few games though, though I think that’s largely because Loum is a completely different player since the WC

Hendrick and Rino for me on a par, but they perform different roles. Rino is an industrious combative midfielder, while Hendrick is keep possession ticking over guy.

Disciplined Laurent is better than either, ill-disciplined Laurent worse than either. Agree Ince would get the best out of him with the much more disciplined and combative approach.

Swift just shouldn't be near Hendrick's position, and whilst he's a technically better player than Ince, he's also much more of a passenger on an off day and Ince makes the Team better than Swift.

Rino is more reliable than Loum though for sure, even if he doesn't reach his occasional heights. Certainly rarely had his lows.

All in all they're all solid Championship players, but mostly you're going to want better to compete at the top.

[3points]

Would like to have Rino still as an option, especially to bring on when battling to defend a lead. Had hoped Tetek could be that player but his injury record is killing his career

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I don't think Laurent or Rino are worth what they are reportedly being paid at other clubs. Reports somewhere were suggesting that both Rino and Laurent were earning around £15k+ a week at their respective clubs, which I don't think either player is worth. £8-12k would be about right for both of them really. Even if our situation was different, I wouldn't want to keep either on those wages.

Swift I think probably does earn a contract of £25-30k a week at the top of the division based on his quality, however keeping him fit and getting that consistency is the issue.

[Snowflake Royal]

I don't think Laurent or Rino are worth what they are reportedly being paid at other clubs. Reports somewhere were suggesting that both Rino and Laurent were earning around £15k+ a week at their respective clubs, which I don't think either player is worth. £8-12k would be about right for both of them really. Even if our situation was different, I wouldn't want to keep either on those wages.

Swift I think probably does earn a contract of £25-30k a week at the top of the division based on his quality, however keeping him fit and getting that consistency is the issue.

£15k seems pretty standard for a matchday squad Championship player given the insanely inflated wages and wage budgets.

[Sutekh]

Cardiff will be wanting to pick up some wins quickly with their last 8 league games being...

Swansea
Blackpool
Sunderland
Sheffield United
Watford
Stoke
Huddersfield
Burnley

In fact looking at the last games for the teams in the bottom half it is quite an equal spread of teams / positions.

Last day of the season Wigan play Rotherham - could be tasty.

Rosenior has done a decent job in steadying the ship at Hull.

Reading have a bit of a say in who drops too, hopefully though not because they’re in the relegation mire, the final home game is v Wigan and the final away game is at Huddersfield.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I don't think Laurent or Rino are worth what they are reportedly being paid at other clubs. Reports somewhere were suggesting that both Rino and Laurent were earning around £15k+ a week at their respective clubs, which I don't think either player is worth. £8-12k would be about right for both of them really. Even if our situation was different, I wouldn't want to keep either on those wages.

Swift I think probably does earn a contract of £25-30k a week at the top of the division based on his quality, however keeping him fit and getting that consistency is the issue.

£15k seems pretty standard for a matchday squad Championship player given the insanely inflated wages and wage budgets.

With the FFP rules set to change as of this calendar year (although I still think this needs to be officially signed off by FA/EFL), then I wouldn't be paying £15k a week for anyone to be sitting on our bench and even in the current climate, I wouldn't be doing either. With wages decreasing incrementally across Championship clubs, as this is becoming a theme now ahead of the proposed changes, £15k seems steep for decent Championship players.

Considering the likes of Joao or Meite are pretty good Championship players and could play higher than us and they are earning about £15k a week, I wouldn't be paying Laurent or Rino that amount personally speaking.

[Snowflake Royal]

I don't think Laurent or Rino are worth what they are reportedly being paid at other clubs. Reports somewhere were suggesting that both Rino and Laurent were earning around £15k+ a week at their respective clubs, which I don't think either player is worth. £8-12k would be about right for both of them really. Even if our situation was different, I wouldn't want to keep either on those wages.

Swift I think probably does earn a contract of £25-30k a week at the top of the division based on his quality, however keeping him fit and getting that consistency is the issue.

£15k seems pretty standard for a matchday squad Championship player given the insanely inflated wages and wage budgets.

With the FFP rules set to change as of this calendar year (although I still think this needs to be officially signed off by FA/EFL), then I wouldn't be paying £15k a week for anyone to be sitting on our bench and even in the current climate, I wouldn't be doing either. With wages decreasing incrementally across Championship clubs, as this is becoming a theme now ahead of the proposed changes, £15k seems steep for decent Championship players.

Considering the likes of Joao or Meite are pretty good Championship players and could play higher than us and they are earning about £15k a week, I wouldn't be paying Laurent or Rino that amount personally speaking.

Given when they signed I'd be surprised if they're that low.

And we've been paying players for years to sit on our bench in our unders or on the treatment table for more than £20k

[YorkshireRoyal99]

£15k seems pretty standard for a matchday squad Championship player given the insanely inflated wages and wage budgets.

With the FFP rules set to change as of this calendar year (although I still think this needs to be officially signed off by FA/EFL), then I wouldn't be paying £15k a week for anyone to be sitting on our bench and even in the current climate, I wouldn't be doing either. With wages decreasing incrementally across Championship clubs, as this is becoming a theme now ahead of the proposed changes, £15k seems steep for decent Championship players.

Considering the likes of Joao or Meite are pretty good Championship players and could play higher than us and they are earning about £15k a week, I wouldn't be paying Laurent or Rino that amount personally speaking.

Given when they signed I'd be surprised if they're that low.

And we've been paying players for years to sit on our bench in our unders or on the treatment table for more than £20k

It's only reported figures, I doubt they will be much higher than £15k a week in all honesty, £20k at a push.

Yes, that's part of the reason why we ended up like we did. Most other clubs at this level don't have players earning £15k+ sat on their bench unless they have parachute payments as most can't afford that level of wage for players to be not playing.

I think the average Championship wage will be decreasing, I'd probably take out clubs with parachute payments on that but, even then, I'd imagine their wage bills reduce season on season (unless they get promoted of course). I'd imagine clubs will have been wanting to reduce their wage bills from Covid onwards really.

[Mr Angry]

Ex Huddersfield boss, David Wagner, about to be appointed Norwich Manager.

He worked with Norwich's Sporting Director at Huddersfield, which may be a contributory factor........

[Stranded]

Ex Huddersfield boss, David Wagner, about to be appointed Norwich Manager.

He worked with Norwich's Sporting Director at Huddersfield, which may be a contributory factor........

His last 2 jobs since leaving Huddersfield have been relative or complete failures. He was fired during his first season at Schalke after a winless run of 18 games - then failed to retain the Swiss title at Young Boys finishing some 15points off the pace.

Not the most inspiring appointment but clearly a hope that reuniting him with the same Sporting Director as at Huddersfield will see them garner some success.

[Mr Angry]

Success for Norwich means only one thing; promotion at the end of the Season - anything else will be failure.

[Hound]

With the FFP rules set to change as of this calendar year (although I still think this needs to be officially signed off by FA/EFL), then I wouldn't be paying £15k a week for anyone to be sitting on our bench and even in the current climate, I wouldn't be doing either. With wages decreasing incrementally across Championship clubs, as this is becoming a theme now ahead of the proposed changes, £15k seems steep for decent Championship players.

Considering the likes of Joao or Meite are pretty good Championship players and could play higher than us and they are earning about £15k a week, I wouldn't be paying Laurent or Rino that amount personally speaking.

Given when they signed I'd be surprised if they're that low.

And we've been paying players for years to sit on our bench in our unders or on the treatment table for more than £20k

It's only reported figures, I doubt they will be much higher than £15k a week in all honesty, £20k at a push.

Yes, that's part of the reason why we ended up like we did. Most other clubs at this level don't have players earning £15k+ sat on their bench unless they have parachute payments as most can't afford that level of wage for players to be not playing.

I think the average Championship wage will be decreasing, I'd probably take out clubs with parachute payments on that but, even then, I'd imagine their wage bills reduce season on season (unless they get promoted of course). I'd imagine clubs will have been wanting to reduce their wage bills from Covid onwards really.

Weren’t we paying Chris Gunter something like 20k a week? Not good at all

[Hound]

Ex Huddersfield boss, David Wagner, about to be appointed Norwich Manager.

He worked with Norwich's Sporting Director at Huddersfield, which may be a contributory factor........

His last 2 jobs since leaving Huddersfield have been relative or complete failures. He was fired during his first season at Schalke after a winless run of 18 games - then failed to retain the Swiss title at Young Boys finishing some 15points off the pace.

Not the most inspiring appointment but clearly a hope that reuniting him with the same Sporting Director as at Huddersfield will see them garner some success.

Yeah can’t see that working out

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Given when they signed I'd be surprised if they're that low.

And we've been paying players for years to sit on our bench in our unders or on the treatment table for more than £20k

It's only reported figures, I doubt they will be much higher than £15k a week in all honesty, £20k at a push.

Yes, that's part of the reason why we ended up like we did. Most other clubs at this level don't have players earning £15k+ sat on their bench unless they have parachute payments as most can't afford that level of wage for players to be not playing.

I think the average Championship wage will be decreasing, I'd probably take out clubs with parachute payments on that but, even then, I'd imagine their wage bills reduce season on season (unless they get promoted of course). I'd imagine clubs will have been wanting to reduce their wage bills from Covid onwards really.

Weren’t we paying Chris Gunter something like 20k a week? Not good at all

Yeah and I don't think he was the only fringe/underperforming player to be earning similar amounts, think McCleary was another one who was earning similar wages where he clearly wasn't good enough for the wage he was earning. Just highlights how big our wage bill was and how much of a problem it has been up until very recently.

[URZZZZ]

I’d definitely take Laurent or Baker over Hendrick without a second thought.

Don’t quite agree with that, Laurent is a headless chicken with very little discipline and was part of an appalling midfield that was cut open time and time again last season. He started very well here but he was a passenger last season, one of those who looked busy without doing anything

Overall the midfield could still be doing a lot better but there’s much more of a structure, balance and discipline to it this season and I do think Hendrick does a lot of work that gets unnoticed. He does spend too many games on the periphery however and on occasions has made an unacceptable amount of passes for a central midfielder but he’s doing fine overall

Said in the summer that Laurent, Rinomhota and Swift wouldn’t be missed too much and its looking likes it’s standing true. One is struggling to break into a pretty awful Cardiff team, another one a pretty poor Stoke team and the other has had a pretty poor time at West Brom, although it sounds like he’s improving since the change in manager

Agree on Rino - quite openly said I thought he was bang average here and it’s gone exactly as I expected there

Swift is a quality player but not want you want when you are fighting for your life at the bottom of tbe table. We’re a better team without him though he individually is a better player than anyone we have imo

Laurent was a decent player though. He only really had a poor spell when Pauno lost the plot last year and tbf the team was absolutely shocking at times. He still had it in him to be a match winner and I suspect Ince would have been a far better manager for him than Pauno

Hendrick for me does a job. I don’t agree he does a lot of unseen stuff tbh, I can see pretty clearly what he offers and it’s about adequate. Doesn’t offer a lot going forward and is just about ok defensively. Gives the ball away far too much. He’s been a better last few games though, though I think that’s largely because Loum is a completely different player since the WC

I did quite like Rino but the problem with a player like him is that he never really improved and the longer you stay at one club during an overall disappointing spell for the club - the more your weaknesses come to fruition - similar to Gunter really. Added to his injury problems last year - wasn’t too disappointed to see him go

I think it was telling Ince played Laurent at CAM towards the end of last season (even doing that to accommodate TDB as one of the holding midfielders). I don’t know what changed in his game from one season to the next but wouldn’t categorise last season as a poor spell personally, thought the midfield was disappointing all season up until about March time and he was pretty much an ever present in that

[Hound]

Don’t quite agree with that, Laurent is a headless chicken with very little discipline and was part of an appalling midfield that was cut open time and time again last season. He started very well here but he was a passenger last season, one of those who looked busy without doing anything

Overall the midfield could still be doing a lot better but there’s much more of a structure, balance and discipline to it this season and I do think Hendrick does a lot of work that gets unnoticed. He does spend too many games on the periphery however and on occasions has made an unacceptable amount of passes for a central midfielder but he’s doing fine overall

Said in the summer that Laurent, Rinomhota and Swift wouldn’t be missed too much and its looking likes it’s standing true. One is struggling to break into a pretty awful Cardiff team, another one a pretty poor Stoke team and the other has had a pretty poor time at West Brom, although it sounds like he’s improving since the change in manager

Agree on Rino - quite openly said I thought he was bang average here and it’s gone exactly as I expected there

Swift is a quality player but not want you want when you are fighting for your life at the bottom of tbe table. We’re a better team without him though he individually is a better player than anyone we have imo

Laurent was a decent player though. He only really had a poor spell when Pauno lost the plot last year and tbf the team was absolutely shocking at times. He still had it in him to be a match winner and I suspect Ince would have been a far better manager for him than Pauno

Hendrick for me does a job. I don’t agree he does a lot of unseen stuff tbh, I can see pretty clearly what he offers and it’s about adequate. Doesn’t offer a lot going forward and is just about ok defensively. Gives the ball away far too much. He’s been a better last few games though, though I think that’s largely because Loum is a completely different player since the WC

I did quite like Rino but the problem with a player like him is that he never really improved and the longer you stay at one club during an overall disappointing spell for the club - the more your weaknesses come to fruition - similar to Gunter really. Added to his injury problems last year - wasn’t too disappointed to see him go

I think it was telling Ince played Laurent at CAM towards the end of last season (even doing that to accommodate TDB as one of the holding midfielders). I don’t know what changed in his game from one season to the next but wouldn’t categorise last season as a poor spell personally, thought the midfield was disappointing all season up until about March time and he was pretty much an ever present in that

Yes Rino did start well but got stale over the years or maybe we got bored of him to an extent

Laurent didn’t hit the heights of 20/21 but he still played the full 90 mins in all but two games he was available for. Did a decent job as CB during the autumn as well

The only time I thought he really performed below standard was the Blackpool 2-3 horror show through to when he got injured. We did put out some horrendous line ups in that time as well

And interestingly his stats for the 2 years are very similar

[From Despair To Where?]

It's only reported figures, I doubt they will be much higher than £15k a week in all honesty, £20k at a push.

Yes, that's part of the reason why we ended up like we did. Most other clubs at this level don't have players earning £15k+ sat on their bench unless they have parachute payments as most can't afford that level of wage for players to be not playing.

I think the average Championship wage will be decreasing, I'd probably take out clubs with parachute payments on that but, even then, I'd imagine their wage bills reduce season on season (unless they get promoted of course). I'd imagine clubs will have been wanting to reduce their wage bills from Covid onwards really.

Weren’t we paying Chris Gunter something like 20k a week? Not good at all

Yeah and I don't think he was the only fringe/underperforming player to be earning similar amounts, think McCleary was another one who was earning similar wages where he clearly wasn't good enough for the wage he was earning. Just highlights how big our wage bill was and how much of a problem it has been up until very recently.

Gunter and McCeary were both signed in the Premiership, which might explain their higher wages.

We definitely had a few on £20k+ last season (Moore, Swift, Rafael) but most reports suggest Joao, Puscas, Meite and Ejaria are all on circa £15-16k a week.