Chez

it will be very interesting to see who Still selects. When you spend a shed load on someone like Azaz, the pressure will be on to pick him, but with lots of options, tough decisions have to be made to find a winning format.

Armstrong looked good to me. It's a shame Fellows also looks good on that right side, but it would be very harsh to not start him in the next game. Glad Quarshie looked solid. He needs to come in too.

The Archer chance should be buried. Really bad miss IMO. How Scienza doesn't score, I will never know.

it's too tight. Make that assessment and hit it long. Simple. Really poor decision-making. Why is McCarthy trying to play Russball now?

In the games I've watched I have seen plenty of movement and runs, but that knack of going where the cross will be isn't there, not at the moment anyway. Whether that will click into place I'm not sure. At the moment he seems to be the opposite of a magnet. To his defence, some of the crossing is woeful and he is not picked out. However there have been some crosses into decent areas and he's been no where to be found. I don't see a big powerful athlete that we had hoped for. He moves well, but where is the power and physical presence. I have yet to see him win a header. I haven't really seen any hold up play yet. When a long ball goes forward it never seems to be anywhere near him and we don't really ping it to him to play off. Not sure that's entirely his fault. The one-on-one chance he got was the type you expect a decent striker to finish. There isn't really any excuses. He has enough time to set himself, but not much time to overthink it. It wasn't all that close. A really poor finish. He hasnt exactly had a lot of shooting chances, so it would be folly to write him off based on that one.

Kieffer Moore gave Edwards a torrid time in the opening game of the season. Wood hasn't exactly impressed either. We seem to have plenty of options, but not sure how good any of them are.

The second goal was just as much of a train wreck that revealed itself almost in slow motion in front of my eyes. Lose the ball, little hussle to win it back, McBurnie pulls to the back post, easily wins the header against THB to an unmarked runner (Roerslevs lack of effort to be there is shameful) who couldn't miss. Fucking horrible. The third makes me grind my teeth in anger. Zero fucking desire from any player to win the ball at all. Id be absolutely slaughtering them in the changing room after the game. I'd have that goal on loop on the coach home (fuck flying back) and then all week in the changing room. Disgraceful. If you are not willing (desperate) to win a header as a defender, midfielder whatever you can just fuck off... Still is getting slaughtered, but some of the players have completely fucked him yesterday. They don't seem to want it.

Tough game to bring them in, but maybe Liverpool play their kids?

His subs have been fine imo. From what I have seen so far he wants to freshen things up in the final third and he doesn't want to mess about, so brings several on at the same time. Some subs then play well, some don't.

Totally with you. I saw a little progress yesterday undermined by some horrific defending. That said, Hull were pretty poor though, so I may be giving him too much credit. I'm hoping it's like the Sunderland away game in 2023, which was a terrible performance. He recognises that THB is lightweight, gets Quarshie back in the side and we go from strength to strength....I'm dreaming now aren't I?

The Derby showed that we needed a more physical target man and a focal point of attack. Playing Archer in that role doesn't work and never will. The choice is then Downes or Stewart. Stills only job is to pick the side. It was his choice and no one else's.

I'm with you totally. Edwards looked no better in preseason. You have to win headers as a centre back, at every level, which is why Arsenal, City and Liverpool are like land of the giants. Big physically powerful guys. It's literally the first thing on the centre back check list. I thought that's why we bought Quarshie.

Doesn't Macca look, well, a little bit too old and slow? I've stuck up for him in the past, but is he genuinely a better option at this moment?

I think we are trying to do that and there were some occasions when we achieved it to good effect, like the Downes chance for example, but not enough. When we do get between the lines we are going to need to be a lot more ruthless. Overall I thought our general play was pretty good. We smothered them and dominated. In the final third there was a lack of quality and guile and I don't know how that will be solved. Fellows looks decent, but he needs a target and Downes hasn't got in the right positions in the box. At the other end we were let down by some pathetic defending of an arial ball. THB can pass but McBernie has him on toast. Sorry, but if you can't do the basics, win headers, you can't play centre back.

I'm sure I am overlooking the obvious, but when's the last time we scored immediately after an opposing corner? I guess if you dominate possession you have less breaks, but we need to sort that out...along with defending free kicks. We are fucking terrible at it. This continued high line bollocks for set pieces has us running towards our own goal and we simply do not win any headers. We don't even try to win the headers half the time. It's embarrassing. We get away with it time after time, but we shouldn't be relying on luck.