Championship Playoffs

[Fauxstralian]

Better than the Champions League Semi finals First Leg Today 12.00 Norwich v Leeds Today 2.15 WBA v Southampton Semi finals Second Leg Thurs 16th 8pm Leeds v Norwich Fri 17th 8pm Southampton v WBA Final Sunday 26th 5pm @ Wembley

[Any Old Iron]

"As much as I hate ‘dirty Leeds’ and their scarf twirling twat fans, I would be happy to see Southampton lose this. Their snide fans used to do that ‘hoooooff!’ shout when we were under Allardyce, and for that alone they deserve to stay down."

[Side of Ham]

That would normally be the case Manuel with any footballer but he’s not just any player he’s a West Ham mad player signed up to West Ham…..that will make him think hard about his next move at the very least…

[Mike Oxsaw]

"Are Leeds a ""Premiership club"" just because they were in the (old) First Division when you got into football?"

[Massive Attack]

"Not overly fussed who wins, just as long as our boy Downes has a good game and comes back injury-free ready for pre-season."

[El Scorchio]

Come on the Saints. Game at 3pm rather than the 5pm stated in the first post?

[Fauxstralian]

For whatever people think of Dirty Leeds they are a Premier league club & add more than no marks like Sheffield Utd & Burnley Plus I want to see us beat those scarf twirling cunts home & away

[pdcwhu]

Gilmore...... typical manc hates Leeds

[happygilmore]

I know a few long suffering Leeds fans and I'm happy for them to remain the same. They fucked up with in the EPL when they appointed Ted Lasso

[Manuel]

"Side - Fwiw, because all we are doing here is talking about one squad player, but if he wants to stay, they want him, and they offer a fair price then he's staying where he is. That's normally how it pretty much works."

[Fifth Column]

"Really want dirty Leeds to come up. I love a trip to Elland Road, proper football ground."

[Side of Ham]

We do know he’s West Ham and if any of us had a sniff of another opportunity to play for us under a new coach that likes to have the ball we’d at least give it a preseason no? Southampton are not going away from wanting him and I’m sure they would respect him wanting to give it another go with us seeing as they think he’s a great player. If it’s not that then for me Loppy’s said do what’s best for your career Flynn son…. That is a fair assessment?

[Manuel]

"Give it a rest, you know fuck all."

[Fauxstralian]

The guy that turned up to sign with his Grandads West Ham scarf & said once we were interested he didn’t care if Real Madrid were keen on him? Our coach will assess everyone on our books but if he doesn’t rate him then Southampton is his option if they come up If they don’t I think we can start an auction with Championship clubs as he has been outstanding at that level with them and Swansea

[Manuel]

"I suspect not, he doesn't have to say that. He loves it there, plays every week and him and the manager value each other. He wants to stay, but believe what you want."

[Fauxstralian]

Not seen the direct quote from Downes but suspect he was being polite. Wasn’t going to say I can’t wait to get out If they win today can imagine they will want to buy him. First he needs to come back for Loppy to make an assessment If he doesn’t need him I’d want £25m or they can fuck off. Maybe Rishi Sunak can stump it up

[Manuel]

"Hope Leeds do it, Soton are a pointless irritant. As for Downes, he wants to stay where he is, even though Moyes has now left, so he can fuck off."

[Massive Attack]

Looks like they only lost in 5 matches he's played in all competitions during a long season and 3 of those loses came in the 1st 6 matches bedding in to a new Club. He's Premier League quality and still only 25 back in January.

[Massive Attack]

Looks like they only lost in 5 matches he's played in all competitions during a long season and 3 of those loses came in the 1st 6 matches bedding in to a new Club. He's Premier League quality and still only 25 back in January.

[smartypants]

"I was talking to a Southampton season ticket holder last week, he said they are a different team without him apparently they haven’t lost a game when he’s played."

[Manuel]

"I watched WBA vs Soton last week and Downes was very impressive. In the few games he played for us he was a backwards, sideways merchant, but here he was driving forward with the ball very confidently, reminded me of Rice, yes it's a level below but he was unrecognisable from what I had seen before. I hope he comes back, but gut says he will stay at Soton."

[North Bank]

Sir Alf good assessment and watching their game against WBA it showed how Downes is comfortable in possession and moves the ball quickly often first time and did a very Declanesque advanced run with the ball setting up their third goal A great option for Alvarez and deserves a chance now the dark cloud is lifted

[Sir Alf]

Downes excels in a possession based team. His passing and interceptions are at the top of the Championship stats over the season. He’s never going to be one that catches the eye going past players or scoring goals as he is strictly a defensive midfielder. But all the best teams have these type of workers in their team and usually appreciated by the other players and manager/coach than fans. Would be great back up to Alvarez and likely to get a lot of playing time from Lopetegui if he still employs the same tactics. We are looking at the best players in tye Championship for other positions so makes sense to give him another season within a system that may well suit him a lot better than low block Moyesball?

[onsideman]

"Very true, Pagey. Not sure what I was thinking"

[Pagey]

"There’s no point in arguing with someone who claims that Downes ‘is hardly the white Patrick Vieira’, despite nobody saying anything of the sort."

[onsideman]

"It's not really surprising that Nutsack hasn't worked out that someone better will likely cost more in fees and wages than we'd be saving with Downes. Bless. Then again, like the object of his man-crush, he too doesn't understand what it takes to build a squad"