sydney_saint

There is a real possibility we will go into the International break with the most goals conceded in the Championship. We finished last season with the second most conceded goals in the Prem. Of course it's not all his fault, but there are defenders in front of him that can be decent with a decent keeper behind him. Of course not every goal is his fault. I feel now analysing every goal is now redundant, as every stat over the long run (and also the eye test), he has heavily underperformed.

The issue with a project manager like Martin is that there is no real track record of success for us to hold on to. If you look at Spurs with Ange, yes he hasn't managed at that level before, but he's got a track record of implementing a style of play and delivering success. Martin doesn't have that, so it's hard to know whether we are just going to end up a team that passes the ball around and go nowhere with it, or end up with a fluid sucessful style. At the moment the signs are a tad worrying

Oooof Earnshaw is about as good at punditry as Baz is at saving shots

I know McCarthy is terrible, I really do. But I would still take Bazunu off at halftime. We are about 40 games into his career here and he has shown no progress. His distribution is vastly overrated, and he has literally made more errors than 'good' saves. What are we waiting for?

Drop. Him. Now

It's nuts that no one came in for KWP. He's so far above this level. I actually think Stuart Armstrong has been alright this half. The rest. Not so much

Hehehe great shithousing from Armstrong

Still don't get Adam Armstrong. For goals and assists, he's off to a flyer, but his performances have generally been poor. Keeps passing it either behind the players or to no one at all, and his movement is pretty mediocre.

Oh that's terible Edozie, got to be at least hitting the target when you have that much space

Agree with this with AA. You could look at his stats and see 3 goals and an assist from 3 games and think he's hit the ground running, but I thought he was pretty useless in the first two games. One goal off his back and two pens. Better last game but he wasn't playing down the middle. I don't know whether the Championship has changed since we were last in it and whether you just need goals all over the team rather than a heavy goalscorer. But traditionally the way up has been to find your 20+ goalscorer even if they aren't prem quality, like Rasiak, chopra or Pukki (and those that were good enough for prem, like Lambert and Mitrovic) I don't trust AA to be that player, though I feel che might. If che goes, we absolutely need someone else there.

If Che goes we absolutely need a new striker. I know the stats will say 3 goals in his first 2 games. But I thought Armstrong was pretty poor in those matches. Better on the weekend playing deeper, but I really fear him as the focal point for the attack all season. Che has looked so much better and shows around the level we need.

Course you can. I've watched a tonne of games with mates and we praise when it is due, and criticise errors. Like we do every football match. It's when someone pops up the sole purpose of criticising it, you are gonna get called up with it. So stop being a baby.

I think he contributes to the shambles in front of him. There is a reason why Prem and most Championship sides play experienced keepers, and that is because they have a unique view of the pitch where they can help organise and spot issues. Which can be done better the more experienced they are. Teams aren't playing 35 year old keepers because of their shot stopping abilities. Plenty of good 21 year olds can do that. They play them for everything else they bring which is harder for fans to spot. All of Bednarek, KWP and Stephens have at one point or another looked better without Bazunu between the sticks. Salisu as well before he left. Since Bazunu signed he has made very few saves, and the defence looks less organised.

Baz got away with that. Just appalling

Yep way too early to turn. But part of the problem is the same problem with Jones which is you appoint someone with little track record, they simply get less time to show what they can do. At least Jones had achieved some stuff in football. Martin doesn't give us much to cling onto, so he is going to have show us relatively quickly why is the guy. If they hire someone that gets us excited, the fans will give them more time.

I think his positioning was off for the first goal. You don't see solid keepers essentially get lobbed off a cross like that.

I don't understand this either. Keepers don't go up massively in value. You can pick up a solid reliable one for about 8-10 million which is less than what we paid for Baz. We would need Baz value to go up to around 40m to compensate for all the mistakes he has made. If you are a 40m keeper, you are one of the best in the world. That's a huge gamble that we think he will be one of the best in the world. I get persevering with the likes of Edozie. A young player can go on a run, score 7-8 goals in similar amount of matches, and then you can charge huge money for them. But with keepers, there are very few worth big big money.

Last season we went against what other clubs do and played a very junior keeper. It backfired and he was one of the worst keepers in the league. This season, we have decided to gamble promotion on the same keeper again. Like come on. What is so special about this kid that we are willing to throw the short term future of the club out the window for him? It's not his fault he's not good enough. But there's barely been a moment since he joined that he has looked the part. I know the stats say 2 goals in 2 league games. But not convinced by armstrong. Just doesn't have much presence up there. Midfield looks okay in possession, but just getting totally cut open when Norwich push forward

Pretty damn harsh the handball. Still. Winning!

Just got a few messages about IPTV. I can get one referral link (after 6pm, they don't do them between 11-6). Maybe we can create a bit of a chain. If I give one person a referral link, and then once they are signed up, they can ask for a referral link who can give it to another forum member, and just go through that process

Good lord. Not sure if Bazunu should have been that close to the front post, but pretty much a free header is disgraceful

IPTV working well for me. Possibly worth others getting it for the season if there are going to be other streaming issues

What a match! Absolutely buzzing after that! Fantastic atmosphere, and two teams pushing each other. I know some will say there were no goals, but was still a very entertaining game. Some really good penalties in there as well. Fowlers pen was stunning

I've largely stayed away over the Summer so not sure what's going on with a few of our players. Is Che pushing for a move? Seems like a no brainer that he would be a clear starter this season and I much prefer him over Adam Armstrong but is he likely to actually stay? Same with Sulemana, what's going on there? As would have him ahead of Edozie.

....everything okay mate?