SWLondon Saint

Don't know why there are so many people panicking about the squad right now when it's been obvious for ages it's a pile of 💩 that will be difficult to sort out quickly. Of course Spors as the new guy is going to come in and say he'll sort it - that's just par for the course. I don't think he or Still when he joined would ever have thought 'Oh, we'll be able to shift all these and get in new, better players in a month flat.' like everyone on here seems to expect.

If you wanted 1 thing to improve our defending, not having Cap'n Jack in there would be #1, he actually seems to worsen defensive communication and make everyone uncertain instead of improving it.

I've been a big critic of Bazunu in the past, but we did still get promoted with him last time, he actually made a couple of great stops in the previous friendly, and I don't think we're going to get a prem level replacement in at this point so why not just see if he has actually improved at this point? Not playing suicide ball and with proper defensive structure ahead of him might help a lot already.

Yep, though when your 2 best players miss you probably don't want to have your next taker be a youngster who couldn't seem to make proper contact with the ball the whole of ET...

How come Bonmati and Caldentey still looked fresh and able to make bursts through the middle in ET while our MF were out on their feet?

Definitely should have left Russo on, but also the midfield is knackered and can't seem to get up the pitch at all.

Players look out on their feet while Spain brought on 2 quick and fresh forwards. Need changes or we'll lose this in ET.

Huge let off there, they were 5 on 4 after Bronze gave it away in MF, lucky the pass was heavy and their forward just blasted it instead of trying to pass.

Agreed, she's a proper centre forward, shows for the ball, great first touch, runs the channels 👍🏼 Could probably have done a better job for us last season than what we had up front!

That one that we simply had to score when they gave it away inside their box but instead of squaring it the player blasted it at the keeper at the near post?

To be honest, most of our best chances have come from just booting it long. They aren't as good as their men, they've looked very vulnerable against high press trapping the ball around the box. Kick for the corner! 🏉

Like watching us last season, ball should've been cleared about 4-5 times, then everyone just ball watching as the cross came in.

Attacking players of the kind who can open up defences, whether strikers or midfielders, are the most in demand players in football. Any of them who are any good will be hoping that once the big business like Gyokeres and Isak are finally done, they'll be able to get a move to a smaller Champs League or Europa League club, failing that a top tier league in Europe. And almost certainly, they'll wait as long as possible to see where the dice fall. This is exactly what happened last year with the kid from Celtic, who eventually went to Brighton so we ended up going for Fernandes. Except we'll be one step even *later* in that chain as we're not in the PL any more. Common sense says if we are after anyone decent, they will have other interest, and we only get them if / when the bigger fish say no. So patience, grasshoppers... 🦗

Can only hope when he's talking about whittling the squad down that some of those who played today were being given a last chance 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Not on today's showing. AA, BBD, Fraser all looked totally toothless. Archer offered nothing as the focal point either. We looked a lot better when Robinson came on and Downs had no service but scored a good goal with what felt like his only touch!

Watched random bits when I could, agree with most of what @Brumsaint said above. Add ons: - Charles looked really solid, broke the play up well, comfortable in possession. Could have a big season. - Robinson was our best player across that front '3' both left and right side. Great first touch, can turn, not afraid to take people on. - Everyone looked to cross pretty much as soon as we could, which is good, but isn't going to work with Archer / Fraser / AA trying to head it in. - Stephens - I didn't see the pen, but I saw the first goal, which was shocking. On one of the replays, you can actually see one of our players in the foreground waving their arms in frustration. He niggles players, but always looks like he's the one most likely to get sent off. Just.... why? Why is he still here?

Think it's obvious the '10' spot or middle of the 3 behind the striker is the big miss right now. Obviously Fernandes can play there but in terms of getting someone in, I bet there's a 'chain' as in people will be waiting to see if they can get a move to a team in Europe, then the prem or a top league, then whoever's left will fall down to us. Bit like the Celtic lad last year who went to Brighton and we ended up with MF.

Only watched 10 mins or so but he looks like he could be the business, he was quick and strong beating a striker to a dangerous flick on.

They actually have the video streaming on their site if anyone's looking for it. Trying to remember my GCSE Spanish from 30+ years ago 😂

I don't understand why so many people on here are surprised it's hard for us to get rid of players? These are players who just had one of the worst seasons in PL history and you think there's going to be a high demand for their services? Or for taking them on loan and paying their wages - which even after a relegation reduction, are likely to be extremely high compared to most other leagues around Europe anyway. Like it or not, we're stuck with them.

Have to say, the commentators are bloody annoying when they go on about how brilliant Bonmati is when the fact is that is a stone cold goalkeeping disaster.

He's getting on a bit so maybe he doesn't have the pace to play wide anymore and Still is just seeing if he can get anything at all useful out of him?

I said the same, it 100% looks like he's putting 'weak zones' or weak groups onto the pitch to see who else can still do a job, maybe even still make something happen and influence the game when other players are having a bad game or not available. Not even our revolving carousel of managers last season would have put AA-Fraser-BBD on behind a front man.

Looking at the team sheets, if the 2nd half central mid was Smallbone, Sesay, Aribo ahead that's going to put a huge amount of pressure on our team as it's simply not good enough in terms of ball winning or retention. While first half the 3 behind the striker look the weakest possible combo. Maybe it's an active attempt to put out weak combos to see how the rest of the team performs under pressure?

Haven't seen highlights yet, but if Archer was playing ahead of: AA - Fraser - BBD That pretty much looks like the problem right there.