Chewy

7. In the circumstances some excellent work. Shifted a load of players with a losing mentality and improved some areas of the team while saving a fortune (central defence an obvious example). Issues, however, are the lack of experience and leadership (I count not even 20 players over 21, quick count so might be wrong). And the lack of goals. CF is hardest position to fill in football but it’s 2.5 years since we knew Ings was off and we still haven’t addressed for sure. Maybe Stewart is it, maybe not. Should be less of an issue at this level as Che and ArmA have already started scoring again but I’m not convinced. Made more concerning by losing Tella who scored over 20 in this league last season. Most disappointing loss IMHO though I can’t begrudge him the move. Overall then, pretty good. But inexperience and a lack of goals and leadership caused our relegation last year (when combined with dreadful coaching/management). The exact same issues in the squad concern me this season, though early indications on the coaching/management are very encouraging. If this very young squad can get it right and we can find enough goals we could have a very successful season and an exciting future. If not, we haven’t risked all our money so that’s good news too but it will be inexperience and lack of fire power that will have cost us. I’m hopeful, but ever so slightly nervous.

I think it’s been a good window so far, but a big day ahead so lots can happen. My big fear is that it goes wrong in the same way each of the previous 4 windows went wrong - we don’t sign a striker who is good enough. Even more concerning if we lose Adams, of course. Aside from that, keen to see which of the not good enough ability or attitude we shift: McCarthy, ABK, Aribo, Djenepo, Sulemana, Onuachu, Mara. Maybe Jan. Over Land and Sea will hopefully be busy this evening!!

So can I. Neither are a good idea, though

To be fair since he left I’ve only seen goals scored by JWP at free kicks. There might have been, like, 3 by Broja in his “purple patch” (another often suggested here despite a) being months away from returning and b) being on zillions a week for 5 years). I can forgive my fellow fans’ lack of creative thinking about goal scorers having spent 3 years in a goal-scoring vacuum with them.

I’m guessing Djed Spence on loan is the KWP back up plan. I’d also add Sulemana to the list of people I did and still do expect to leave

Ok performance, good result even if we made hard work of it. Good stuff - Charles, for his age especially. MOTM ArmA (never thought I’d say it, I’ve now done so twice in 8 days). Goal for Edozie, and first half especially he carried a threat. Bazunu (!!!). Fraser’s impact. Downes’ immediate composure and control of possession. Bad stuff - Edozie defensively. Zero effort, there’s more to professional football than being the best dribbler in the playground. Manning defensively. Not helped by having Edozie in front of him. Alcaraz - I honestly think he’s been poor all 4 games, but he is still very young and has bags of talent. Jack’s injury. Mara as a footballer anywhere. ok stuff - Jan (strangely seemed better with a physical rather than mental challenge today). KWP (seemed reluctant to feed SAA). SAA - not so good today but he’s 17. Great as a sub. Stu - creative but doesn’t track. Tactics - Our defensive weak spot is down each flank behind our attacking and inverted full backs - the holes are huge. Not helped as our wingers can’t/won’t defend at all and we have two number 10s who can’t/won’t either. Midfield balance is still wrong. Can’t wait for fitness to allow us to play two of Downes, Charles and Smallbone and just one “10” (and on current form that would be Stu or even ArmA, not Alcaraz). Against Norwich we lacked physicality but had possession with Smallbone. Today we had physicality with Charles but less control of possession (until Downes came on). And bizarrely with QPR playing so defensively at the start we needed possession over physicality. But either way, we simply had one body too many high up the pitch every time we lost the ball. And as none of them track back (except when ArmA has been a 10) we’re exposed and vulnerable every single break. It will cost us if we don’t address this, but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of not having the right people available to pick so far. Manager looks capable of making effective and timely subs which is a refreshing change. And lastly, of course, ArmA as a cf in this formation isn’t right. Even the dreadful Mara was somehow better as a focal point. As hard as ArmA worked, we carried no central goal threat. We’ve needed a cf for over 2 years, still do, and actually with Che looking like he’s off we’re actually in a worse position than last season - I didn’t think that was remotely possible. We got relegated for many reasons but the lack of a striker was top of the list IMHO. For the love of god, please can we sign one. Overall then - reasonably happy and points total as good as could be hoped. Very nervous about cf over the remainder of the transfer window. Lots more positives than negatives, but being a cf down would be a very large negative

Ballard played the full 90 this evening so doubt he’ll be involved. Might indicate good news ref Che. Then again might mean a surprise recall for Tall Paul 🤷🏻‍♂️😂

That first sentence is everything that is wrong with modern football. 😉

I imagine just one, if both leave we’ll be after another (Harwood-Bellis or Vyner maybe?) I think our links seem to make sense in the context of lining-up replacements. Spence for KWP, Piroe for Adams, that Albanian guy and/or Stewart for Sulemana and/or Tella. I get the feeling there is a plan of how to react on our side, just no idea on how the outgoings will pan out.

Maybe he’s off the Merseyside too? After his performance against Plymouth maybe Liverpool have lined him up instead of Lavia, Caicedo and about 80 other people to play in midfield? He does indeed hang out a bit with Che, they certainly play golf together. Before the season he was near the top of my ‘please go’ list (McCarthy, Aribo, Mara, Djenepo in case you’re wondering about the others) but he has started well. Probably more impressive v Plymouth despite not scoring. I’d happily keep him around but if he went, even at the same time as Che, I wouldn’t be worried. Long term he doesn’t have a future here IMHO … because long term I hope our future is premier league and he’s just not up to that standard. Perfectly good attitude, just not good enough. The complete opposite of Mara.

Dibling too, or at least that’s where he’ll end up (plays wide a bit at the moment). The AM, whether wide or central is probably our last priority. Assuming Downes is in, with Charles we’re now fine for 6. We need cb, cm (another 8), cf and arguably gk. And then to cover any leavers - at least those who we want to keep, I.e. Adams, Tella, Sulemana, KWP, Smallbone and ABK. Bringing in another city youngster in a position we need, such as Harwood-Bellis is fine by me. Bringing one in to block the path of Dibling and Doyle etc is a waste IMHO.

Clean sheet? I’m optimistic about a solid, comfortable win but I wouldn’t go quite that far 😂

At a very different level, but Chelsea remind me somewhat of us last season. No leaders, no striker, spent a fortune on the wrong players and sloppy defensive errors. MoPo has a job on his hands. If Sterling retains this form it’ll help but they’re not challenging for the champions league this season playing like this. West Ham meanwhile remain dull and ugly. Early days but mid-table again I’d imagine

Pretty much everything I wanted to say. Couple of additions - Would like to have seen Doyle instead of Mara, and thought Bednarek was notably poor. As was Manning. Stephens had a good day. Charles was obviously very good too but how he managed being on a yellow for so long in that position and with his inexperience was especially impressive. Ultimately in the circumstances I’m delighted with the points.

No Doyle so I assume he’ll be on the bench tomorrow

Or Everton are skint?

At the rate players are being booked this season, whichever ones aren’t suspended 😉 In all seriousness I’d suggest it’ll be Downes, Smallbone and one of Charlie or Stu (probably Charlie). You can then go tighter or more attacking with Charles or Stu depending on circumstances. In a 46 game season there will be suspensions and injuries so they’ll all get used enough I’m sure. With Aribo, Doyle and possibly even Finnigan and Dibling I think there’s plenty of options for cover so doubt we’ll add anyone unless someone leaves. As ever, I’ll probably be completely wrong 😂

Flynn Downes (and or playing Shea Charles) would presumably leave our defence less exposed, but Downes isn’t tall so won’t help with set plays. I do wonder if Martin is re-assessing the defensive situation in the light of the last week or so. Edwards and Holgate are indeed short for cbs and the Vyner link came from nowhere so maybe we’re looking at other options? Harwood Bellis is also a bit taller but other than being a Man City youngster who Wilcox would know, I’m not aware of any genuine links. He’s also a Stockport lad and was at Burnley last year so might prefer staying in the North West - there’s enough clubs up there for sure. This will obviously be a busy week with JWP, Lavia and Downes finalised so hopefully we get some idea as the week progresses but there’s still question marks over Tella, Sulemana, Adams, ABK, Smallbone, KWP plus (some guess work, some blind optimism) efforts to move on Perraud, Onuachu, Lyanco, McCarthy and Mara … possibly Bree, so we’re going to be in a state of flux right until the end of the Window. I’m comfortable with midfield (unless Smallbone leaves), full back (unless KWP goes) and wide players and assume we’d replace those two if they left. We do need a striker though, and definitely need presence in the heart of defence so I would love to see our Salisu, Tino, JWP and Lavia cash invested here. I might also want a GK but the club are sticking with Baz so not going to add to that discussion.

Thank you for your efforts, your goals and your attitude towards the club and fans. Best of luck. Done. Right, which defender can we spend this money on?

Well that wasn’t dull. The bad stuff Not sure I watched the same match as everyone else but why the love in for Charlie today? Thought he offered little first half, and his pathetic attempt at tracking back was made to look even more crass when ArmA sped past him at twice the speed (literally - I’m not joking) to make a saving tackle. He looked threatening late on but was greedy with one of his shots where a pass would have been better. I like Charlie and he is still young but this was not one of his better days. Defence was awful, obviously. Stephens palmed his man off to Manning leaving Mannings man free to cross for their first goal, which was a free header. Another free header from a corner, conceded because Edozie didn’t track the simplest of runs down the flank. A calamity of a 4th (wrong end but understand it was Manning) and a stroll through the entire centre of our midfield and defence for their second. Dreadful. We also got away with three other complete gifts at the back, one each for Jan, Jack and Shea Charles (who was otherwise solid in his debut). Baz was actually blameless for any of the goals, but pitiful for their disallowed effort. His inexperience isn’t helping our defence get organized, his defense being so shite isn’t helping him. Plus ca change. Defensive shape also a major issue - we basically played with 2 10s (inside forwards if you will) and 2 wingers. In itself brave - but when you do you probably need a destructive number 6, not a play maker. I actually loved the way Smallbone played and knitted stuff together but he can’t be at 6 with 2 10s, especially when neither can or will track back. The good stuff Stu - best I’ve seen him in ages; he’s poor at the defensive elements but is a class above at this level, in this form. ArmA - not a fan and he’s not the right 9 for this system (IMHO) but given his torrid run of form I’ll give him massive credit for both pens. He worked very hard too once shunted out to the wing. Che looked a handful, Edozie bright and occasional product; Tella was a bit quieter but still is an obvious threat. SAA also looked great - I give him half an assist for the KWP penalty by scaring the shit out of them and creating the space. He’d barely been on 5 mins and they were petrified. Overall We have a losing mentality, shit players and shit tactics to recover from and it’s going to take time so I’m going to stay patient. Some of our play was genuinely great to watch. We carry a threat, and even better we carry threats all over now, with a couple of options from the bench too. We will also play many sides worse than Norwich this season. And we rallied from behind 3 times. Definitely things to be positive about. But … defend like that all season and we won’t be going up. Good job too cos if we played like that in the premier league we’d be adding many more 9-0s. The center backs are not good enough. I’d hoped they would be at this level but clearly not. Or at least not if they are expected to play it out and have zero protection. The midfield balance needs to be better. Last Friday we had more of a 6/8/10 combination and it was more solid. I think Smallbone will be fine as an 8, think we need one of Stu or Charlie, not both (unless chasing a game) and need a proper 6. We need one of our cbs and gk to have real presence and status - none of them have it and it’s killed us for years. I think the club are sticking with Baz whether we like it or not, so just pray that conceding 7 goals in the last 2 games focuses the mind on where to start spending our money - and fast. If we’re not getting a new gk we need a new cb or 2 pretty damn quickly. An exciting game, lots of positives and lots to look forward to I think, but a reminder of how much needed turning around and that it’ll take more than 5 weeks to do so.

But Burnley do have Redmond on the bench 😉

I’m no longer worried - much easier if you just give up entirely. Bit like how I gave up on last season after the Wolves game. Surrender early, it’s less painful that way.

But they’ve done their business early so will have a settled team and steal a March on us. Put your house on them to be promoted and us to be relegated. It’s what SR want anyway. Or something like that. BTW - is Dman in the CoT??? 🤣🤣🤣 The man talks utter rubbish! That is not a circle anyone needs in their life!

As ye sow, so shall ye reap. Almost every day, often multiple times a day. For about 4 months. And not once did you “bore off”.

Never did like that skate anyway 😂 Of course it’s disappointing but he was gone the moment we were relegated. Best to get it done while we still have time to get a replacement sorted. Hope he breaks Bechams record and then suffers back-to-back relegations. The real silver lining imho (and I know some will disagree) is that we now have to change captain. As good a player and role model as he was, he was never the leader we needed. I hope we replace with a proper leader.