Quite honestly, the manager or board cannot cry or complain if Josh hands in a transfer request. Every single game we witness a defensive disasterclass from 4 centre backs that are apparently ahead of him in the pecking order. It's a disgrace that he doesn't get a good run of games.

5 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Quite honestly, the manager or board cannot cry or complain if Josh hands in a transfer request. Every single game we witness a defensive disasterclass from 4 centre backs that are apparently ahead of him in the pecking order. It's a disgrace that he doesn't get a good run of games.

I getting distinct Guehi/Livramento/Hall vibes ...

11 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Will definitely be gone in the summer as Sarr will most likely get minutes ahead of him at RCB, and he is already behind Fofana, Chalobah, Tosin as things stand.

1 minute ago, markpitts said:

Will definitely be gone in the summer as Sarr will most likely get minutes ahead of him at RCB, and he is already behind Fofana, Chalobah, Tosin as things stand.

'Apparently' it was an £80M offer. Whether it is legitimate or just a media briefing from BlueCo, both make the directors look so stupid.

If they've rejected it makes you question why the directors aren't pushing him to be starting every game and making him one of the faces of the club. If true they should be bombing off Badiashile/Disasi/Fofana etc.

If this is simply a media briefing to get some good grace it makes their pursuit of Jezza Jacket all January completely pointless, especially for the money that was touted. I'd bet if Rennes had agreed a deal we'd have shipped Josh out in a heartbeat.

On 30/01/2026 at 17:48, Richard P said:

Said it every interview every player is world class.

Put him on a lie detector and see if the machine blows up when asked about Badishille!

Is he still saying that after that first half against West Ham? If he is, he's completely delusional!!

Josh is a great player. He has all the technical attributes that a modern CB is supposed to have.

Josh will soon be on the treatment table soon with them trying to get the splinters out of his arse. Disgusting the amount of game time others are getting over him

Really want to see more of him. He has pace to burn, which covers so much in the PL. But beyond that, he is technically very good, strong and appears to read the game. Not sure what else you'd want, but no reason why he can't go to the top of the game.

7 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Really want to see more of him. He has pace to burn, which covers so much in the PL. But beyond that, he is technically very good, strong and appears to read the game. Not sure what else you'd want, but no reason why he can't go to the top of the game.

I'd like him to be a bit crisper and more accurate in his passing and general distribution. That can only come from game time and developing relationships. I get the manager's wish to have a solid centre back pairing but how Gusto plays ahead of Josh defies all logic for me. I fail to see what Gusto offers going forward that Josh isn't already geared up for and defensively Josh is literally head and shoulders above the weak, ineffective Gusto.

Yes he may well end up a world class CB but there is still the perfect opportunity for Acheampong to cement his place in the side now.

Edited February 8Feb 8 by WhiteWall

Gusto and Neto must be the thickest footballers we've had in a good while.

Josh is still only 19 and he is a very gifted player, able to play RB and LB as well as his preferred position as CB. With our current injuries in the DM area maybe he could play there? He certainly has the close control and the speed to be useful in that position.

24 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Josh is still only 19 and he is a very gifted player, able to play RB and LB as well as his preferred position as CB. With our current injuries in the DM area maybe he could play there? He certainly has the close control and the speed to be useful in that position.

People said the same thing about Chalobah given his time at Lorient.

You can't just take someone and put them in midfield in the most fast paced league in the world. They can get away with it in a league where players actually have loads of time on the ball, but in the Premier League you always need to know what you are going to do before you receive the ball.

Close control and speed don't really mean anything if the player doesn't have the awareness or positional understanding of where to be and where to transition the ball next.

16 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

People said the same thing about Chalobah given his time at Lorient.

You can't just take someone and put them in midfield in the most fast paced league in the world. They can get away with it in a league where players actually have loads of time on the ball, but in the Premier League you always need to know what you are going to do before you receive the ball.

Close control and speed don't really mean anything if the player doesn't have the awareness or positional understanding of where to be and where to transition the ball next.

True. Absolutely true. But his ability to play anywhere along the backline makes him a more viable candidate. I am not saying that he should play there, but with our current injuries in CM/DM he might be an option? Josh seems more Like Reece James than Chalobah. Josh is a very intelligent and intuitive player. Or we play 3 CBs? We are on the verge of a DM crisis if Santos is out.

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gusto and Neto must be the thickest footballers we've had in a good while.

I've just been reading the Mudryk thread ...

7 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gusto and Neto must be the thickest footballers we've had in a good while.

I would imagine that the club probably employs someone to dress Delap and make sure he has his boots on the correct feet. Trust me before the game begins that's not Delap leading the mascot onto the pitch.

thank god we didn’t get Jezza Jacket

14 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

thank god we didn’t get Jezza Jacket

He's just so composed on the ball. That 360 spin he did looks great when it comes off, but I don't think I want to see that sort of thing from our defenders. Even if it comes off 9 times out of 10, that one time could lead to a counter, taking out both him and in this case Caicedo in the process.

He should be playing more, because it's game experience like this which is essential to his development.

21 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

True. Absolutely true. But his ability to play anywhere along the backline makes him a more viable candidate. I am not saying that he should play there, but with our current injuries in CM/DM he might be an option? Josh seems more Like Reece James than Chalobah. Josh is a very intelligent and intuitive player. Or we play 3 CBs? We are on the verge of a DM crisis if Santos is out.

I'm fully in the camp of turning Achaempong into an Ivanovic esq RB.

He has the skill set to go down as one of the best ever.

Less talking. More selecting him in the team.

5 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Less talking. More selecting him in the team.

Benched for Gusto lmao

2 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

He has the skill set to go down as one of the best ever.

Clearly his preferred position for Josh to learn from is on the bench....

Edited February 9Feb 9 by axman2526

A shame but Josh didn't do himself any favours last night. Similar to being a keeper, you make one mistake and it can be the deciding factor in the whole game. He went on a fantastic run and was generally safe last night, but had a brain fart and didn't clear the ball when he should have.

He's young, this is an important lesson. Hopefully he takes it on and improves off the back of it.

I think we should keep him at RB for a bit until he gets a bit more experienced. CB is a thankless task as one mistake can kill you.