saintant

I think defensively we will be ok (although goalkeeper remains a potential issue) and the real heavy lifting for the recruitment guys needs to be on midfield and attack. We are crying out for a dominant, powerful, ball carrying, creative midfield player to orchestrate play. Then we probably need a pair of quick wide players who can beat a man and deliver crosses plus they should weigh in with a few goals - not confident in what we have in this department although JR has potential. For the main striker role we are relying on Stewart who may or may not keep fit and do a job and the raw new recruit Downs so that's a gamble. Will Still has to be given the tools to do the job and, if he is, I think we are in for an exciting season. However, there are so many decisions to be made on who goes and who stays so lots to ponder for Still, Spors and the recruitment team. Time we got the big decisions right and started the rebuild. Not sure we'll be good enough for automatic promotion but Will is ambitious and I'm certain that will be his dream. For now patience is needed and I'm as bad as anyone on that score so desperate for news on outgoings and incomings.

That's fair enough and understandable. He did look more like a goalkeeper today though but maybe I'm clutching at very thin straws.

I'm far from his biggest fan but Bazunu made some big saves in today's friendly. Maybe the new goalkeeping coach has improved him. Obviously it's only 45 minutes of one game and we need to see how he performs in rest of pre season.

Good to know.

Agree with you. FFP is a complete joke full of loop holes which the rich clubs are able to use to their advantage. It's driving a bigger wedge between the Championship teams and those in the Premier League. As we have witnessed it is certainly making it ever harder for the 3 promoted teams to get any sort of foothold. FFP is ruining football.

Just watched the highlights and not many positives although accept friendlies this early are more about fitness and assessing individuals. Bazunu did himself a lot of favours with some very decent saves so that is a bonus. Other than that nobody stood out but I'm sure Will Still and the coaches will have learned plenty.

Are you ok? If someone else had posted that you might well have been one of the first to have a pop. Having said that I agree with much of what you say.

Still plenty of time. Will Still and the management team will be assessing what they are seeing in preseason. No point in making panic buys at this stage. Also need to know the plans of Fernandes, Dibling, Ramsdale and THB. Decisions need to be made on who we keep out of the likes of Smallbone, Aribo, Manning, Armstrong, Archer, Bereton-Diaz, Edozie, Taylor and Fraser. There is a lot to be decided and, for once, the right choices need to be made. This is a crucial reset and rebuild after last season's debacle.

No Captain Jack?

Not convinced he is good enough for what we need. Time to move him on.

Kelly is far better than Hemp on recent showings.

The way we seem to be playing he won't have to mention his name that often 🙂

Bazunu needs to show he can make top drawer saves on a regular basis. He seems to have done so today and maybe the change of goalkeeping coach is benefitting him. It's too early to make a firm judgement but his saves today give some encouragement.

Is there any point to this clip? Asking for a friend.

Hemp was hopeless last night. Lost the ball practically every time she took on an opponent, misplaced headers and passes all game. She looked marginally better when dropping deeper at the end of the game but generally she was very poor and Kelly certainly showed her what she should have been doing when she came on.

Ridiculous. She can't even get in the women's X1 although I think she should be one of the first picks when compared to some of the dross.

Don't forget we are blessed with the versatility of Captain Jack.

Yeah, noticed the barnet 🙂

Hopefully this doesn't apply to Will Smallbone.

£18m 🙂

If he hasn't learned this after all his years in the game we can safely assume he never will.

Under Martin it was like shooting fish in a barrel for our opponents so Ramsdale faced a barrage of shots - by the law of averages, he was bound to make some mistakes. Imagine putting Bazunu in his position facing such an onslaught - it would have been utter carnage.

Sign him up.

If this is indeed the case then it is up to Will Still to get Dibling playing in the way many think he is capable of - I still hold doubts about his potential but we'll see. At the same time Dibling will need to work his arse off to prove himself. If those two things happen then we'll have a player the big clubs will want and get decent money for him. The problem will be his agent because he may try to manipulate a transfer now at a low fee which will not help us and will mess with Dibling's head.

Both 🙂