Turkish

In reality who does have this sort of player anymore? The days of Souness, Ball, Case, even Keane and Viera seem to be gone. Who is Man Utds 'midfield general'? Is Steven Gerrard this for Liverpool? I dont think so. What about Arsenal, VIlla, Man City, Spurs, Barcelona, Read Madrid? no, not a 'midfield general' amoungst them. The only one you could say is like that is Essien at Chelsea.

This, 3 players to complete the squad, not needed but wanted, ideally. Like i have already said, how many L1 clubs could dream of having a player like Mills as third choice left back/midfielder? Or having the choice of Lambert, Barnard & Connolly for strikers, Richardson or Butterfield at right back and Harding and Dickson for left back.

yes i went as i have done for the last 25 odd years, you can see my comments on the game on the 'for those that were at the game' thread. I dont look at games through red and white tinted glasses either, but what i am not overly critical and negative when it's quite clear that the team we have is match for anyone in L1. We matched Reading until the subs were made, so might even say we were the better side, i wouldn't got that far but there was not a lot of difference, this without 4 players who would be automatic starts. No one thinks promotion is a "gimme" but all this panicing is as ridiculous as your 'we are an ordinary league one side'. Was our form after christmas that of an 'ordinary league one side'? Everyone agrees we need three players to complete the squad but even without we are good enough to make the top 6 at least. It seems everyone in football agrees with this, both Lee Clark and Danny Wilson saying this weekend we are them to beat in this divison and whoever finishes above us goes ups. Although obviously they dont know as much as you, afterall we dont have anyone like Alan Ball in our team do we.

Well we had exactly the same cover last season and it didn't seem to be a problem then (minus Lloyd James of course but no one rated him and eveyrone slagged him off anyway). Butterfield, Puncheon and Lallana can also play in the cente of midfield. The whole Wotton this ridiculous. No he isn't the greatest player in the world and i do agree we need to sign a new CM but he does a job, he is 100% commited and a battler, he is a consistant 6 out 10, relable you know exactly what he gives you. He is not as bad as everyone makes out, people just jump on the bangwagon about him. I am sure the people who slag him off are the ones that also slagged off Paul Telfer and dont get that you need this type of player in the squad. All people seem to concentrate on is what we haven't got, not what we do have.

Some expect us to win every game 10-0, that is the problem.

The problem for a lot though is they are deluded. We are a L1 club, most league One clubs would love to have a good young player like Mills as second or third choice left midfielder. I agree that we ideally we could do with some cover for RM, CM and CF but i dont expect us to go out and buy players just for the sake, who might not be the best we can get just so they are here for the first game of the season. Lambert wasn't last season and he didn't do to badly did he.

exactly, would have been enough to win the league last season. Yet looking at some peoples comments, dropping the odd point here and there is a disaster. We can drop 1/3 of available points over the season and that should still be enough to win the league or at the very least automatic promotion. No team anywhere, will win every game.

Oh please!!! Did you go yesterday?

Norwich won the league last season by 9 points last season having 'dropped' 42 points over the course of the season, the could have 'dropped' 50 points and still gone up as champions. If after 12 games we have dropped 12 points, for example P12 W7 D3 L2, is this a good or bad start? I am sure every draw or defeat will be lamblasted as its clear some expect us to win every game.

I disagree, i think he adds to the enjoyment. Life is all about opinions, AS might be the Victor Meldrew of TSF but not everyone laughs at Benny Hill, if you get my drift??

Count me in for that too, seriously!!!

No, but given the panic that is going on given 3 of our 4 first choice midfielders were missing today our 'weak' midfield acquited itself well against a team likely to finish in the top half of the league above. Saying they are 'not good enough' after a decent performance is IMO slagging them off.

Nick has not been banned from SMS, saw him in the Kingsland today.

They were only examples i used, look at Darren Carter, a player who has played premier league and suddenly available, what is to say that Newcastle sign a player which means Kevin nolan joins Norwich which means Wes hoolihan is available? Again just an example but it can happen. I agree with not panic buyng and our squad at the moment is good enough to get through august with a significant points tally. We do need to add for the whole season though,be that loans or permenant deals.

Er no, we beat Leeds 1-0 at SMS, lost up there 0-1. Beat Bristol Rovers 5-1, lost at home 2-3.

From what i saw today that XI would beat most L1 sides at SMS. IMO of course.

We only have until the end of August so not that long! What would you all say if for example Chris Lines, then Stock, Danns or Howard became available a week later and we didn't go for them because we had signed Lines?

?????? He has been a sub for most of preseason and only started once i beleive. Hardly 'consistantly producing the goods at a higher level' you might be able to make that comment in January but not after a couple of sub appearances in preseason. I would have Puncheon over Antonio every day of the week, technically he is a far better player, he may be great one day and not so good the next but has the abilty to create something from nothing or score a great goal which IMO Antonio does not have yet. I like Antonio and hoped we could keep him, but Puncheon is a better player at the moment.

The starting XI today probably will be the start XI next week, if the missing 4 are still not fit. They all did very well.

No one disagrees with this, but AS & CEC keep banging on about all the players we have let go, when the only two that matter are Antonio and Waigo, who were both bit part players last season. I firmly believe a squad of 20-24 good players is far better than 35 average ones, but some on here seem to think qunatity is all that matters and that we should sign someone, anyone, as long as we make a signing. I totall agree with AP's comments last week, we dont want to make a signing only for a better player to become available. We are fortunate to be in the position where we can have our pick of some of the best players in the lower leagues and maybe even CCC, so why would we rush into it?

A couple of times for the team or Mllls? So unconvinced he gave him a start in the JPT final? AP seems to be convinced by him preseason, hence why he he has start most games.

And if they do well like Oxlainde Chamberlain,Reeves, Martin and Raccine have should they then be dropped or should they be kept faith in? Like they were today? We didn't win today no, but you weren't there, for the first hour we were as good as if not better than Reading, without 4 OF OUR BEST PLAYERS. it was only when both teams started making a raft of subs and we brought kids on that Reading scored 2 goals, so the first XI which could potentially start next week was as good as a side which will likely finish top half of the CCC. If you cannot see the pschological boost that gives to the team i dont know what else to say to you.

So what do you base your opinons on? how many times have you seen the team first hand to form this quite passionate view you have that what we have is not enough for automatic promotion? Your comment earlier of 'Mills mmmm' when mentioning fit wide players is based on what? How many times have you seen him play?

Because like VW said, it gives them experience if they are called into the squad. They have to start somewhere and some when, or the likes of Bale, Walcott, even Rooney, etc would still warming the bench or in the reserves. So when do you think is the right time to give our promising young players a chance?

but they didn't and we beat them all, two of which by scoring 5 goals.