hypochondriac

You'd think if City have some sort of unofficial linkup with us, it would be in their interest to sell us some decent players to increase our chances of getting back up and giving their players some chances against the best opposition. Deals like Lavia are a bit like a posh loan if they tighten up their buy back deals.

No idea what he's like but Tino was great and it was reported we best some top clubs to his signing and it's been reported that Dortmund were in for this guy so it's a good sign.

He could genuinely be decent this year if he stays alongside a new face. I'd prefer him to Salisu or Bednarek (and I assume ABK is off.)

Yes and then there's been other pre season games where we have spaffed all over a team and dicked them and you have everyone jizzing themselves (I mean look at the ott reaction to Aribo last year) and then it has no bearing on how we've performed over a season. The reality that preseason performance often have very little bearing on how a season goes, what you want to see is signs that the players are learning the system, showing bravery and putting some touches and movement together and I think we got the beginnings of that. Let's not forget that most of these players won't be playing alongside the players they were playing with today so it's less about a team performance at this stage and more about how individuals that we think are going to be here are coping.

Who had first 90 minutes of preseason in the pants pissing sweepstakes?

Looks pretty well liked to me

Bree didn't look great to me. Agree with the rest.

Eh? They liked him and he looked like one of our better players. Bizarre comment.

Sounds very much like we need some new attacking players. Would make sense why we've been linked with some wingers. I'd personally sell Che Adams and bring in someone new.

Now that's over who do we think might thrive with these tactics? Bazunu perhaps? Smallbone, Tino, Meghoma. Any of the other youngsters look up for it? I, certainly think we improved in the second half.

Good to hear. Seems like Smallbone has done quite well with it to. I hope people like Alcaraz could adapt to it as well. Sounds like Bree might struggle but maybe not too bad if he's just backup anyway?

Seems like this is a really educational experience for the coaches and team for who can play this style. Maybe we will see players leave simply because they can't do it.

Lavia also looking decent. As you would expect.

Great. That is exactly the type of thing we will be encountering this season. Learning how to counter it will be very important. It seems like this could be a really useful preseason fixture.

I'm assuming at the moment we are just getting used to this new style of play. Who would you say has adapted the best so far?

Brilliant idea to get one of our toughest pre season games in first. Really gives us an idea of what is required against an opposition that will be better than virtually every team we face this year. If we can play this possession based stuff with even a small measure of success against these guys then it should stand us in good stead for the rest of preseason.

That seems like a good deal to me if that's what was offered. I'd be surprised if West ham went for that though.

Is that what has been offered?

If other clubs won't pay though surely we will just have to get some out the door? We can't keep them all and refresh the squad and bring in alternatives. Additionally, have you heard anything about jwp?

To be fair to them, it's on the Google calendar that the club set up because it's just reminded me, so I don't think they're hiding it.

Yep that's dire. You'd have to say that financially we are in the best shape of anyone in the championship, particularly if we sell ABK, Lavia, Tella etc.

If that's true then we really shouldn't be selling the likes of tella or jwp for anything other than top dollar.

The only chance he has of staying is if we cash in on Tino. With Bree performing so well last year in the Championship we simply aren't going to be able to keep three right backs. The reality is we failed last year and many of the players values will be hit as a consequence. I expect a lot of clubs will just wait it out so we better hope we have offloaded enough in the next couple of weeks or we are going to have to accept knockdown prices for some (not a great sign that Liverpool are now saying they have to sell before they can buy with Lavia.)

Thanks for the post. That's a shame but not unexpected. I expect it will be to West ham and we get Downes. Do you know why he wants to go? I'm surprised the club have featured him so heavily in preseason so far (he's been front and centre for most of it.)

You weren't so sure last week.