benali-shorts

RM has it in his contract that he has to be the tallest here, hair gelled slightly up.

To clarify - was the first team player also stating that Martin is completely useless?

There can no better evidence for a system not working. It's totally nonsensical that they have this deluded conviction that this style of football will ever be effective at our level.

They probably won't improve drastically under a new manager. The squad is dysfunctional and inadequate for this level. But similarly, RM is proving himself inadequate too. His player signings are poor; he hasn't developed the coaching set-up in any way since promotion; and he has proved to be tactically inept at key stages. I'm not sure why there is any point persevering with a coach who is so fiercely wedded to a style of football totally unsuited to the quality of players he has (or would have in any medium/long term basis ) at his disposal. I really don't see anything from him which suggests he is either the short or medium term answer.

I can hardly wait

Ralph was a harder act and a higher bar to follow, and hopefully our next manager will be less shit than Jones and Selles. Any potential replacement shouldn't be judged by their inadequacy.

A damagingly limited footballer, and a total moron.

Who are the realistic options? Potter - waiting for bigger/better option? West Ham / Wolves more attractive for him. Moyes - squad totally unsuited to his methods (although quite what they are suited for is anyone's guess) Cooper - has Championship experience and is obtainable. O'Neill - will need a break, awkward Skate connection Martin - rinse and repeat, to some sort of fantastical end game of becoming the best possession-based team to have graced mid-table Championship levels. Are there any others? If that's the list (plus keeping RM), I'd go for Cooper. Or Rohl if SR think they can persuade him we're a better option that Sheff Weds, but (and I can't believe I'm saying this), I imagine he'd think taking Wednesday to the top 6 would be better for his CV than getting this lot to 11 points.

In the Middle Ages, he'd have been laughing at himself about all those fools who hadn't yet realised that leeches solved all medical ills.

Why oh why do they think he is demonstrating anything to suggest he's the medium or long term answer? He's totally out of his depth in identifying players, building a coaching team or displaying pragmatism. His only saving grace is that he hasn't had a breakdown in the face of the humiliation his team is currently suffering and is willing to face the cameras week after week. How many goals playing out from the back do we need to concede before he realises we're not capable of playing that way?

Plus ca change....

Is that Greg Wallace between Dragan and Rasmus?

I'd have Steve Cooper over Martin. Or Steve Martin. Or Steve Coogan.

Jay Robinson must be close to first team?

Probably fine for the Championship. Odd not to have seen him through the middle. Looks totally bereft of Premier League quality.

Completely agree with the shape, but feel Fernandes should be given more attacking licence. All the more amazing we’ve gone into the season with only one CM, plus a 20 year old loanee.

That would be sensible, which in itself would be a refreshing change of transfer strategy by SR.

I suppose it depends how much we spend / waste in January. If it’s £50m like last time, we’d have to recoup that too.

One of the key differences would be the lack of saleable assets in summer 25. Last time, we sold c£150m players on relegation. This time, Fernandes, Ramsdale, TH-B and Dibling (value dependent on contract, talk of which appears to have gone worryingly quiet and the same for Sam A-A) would be sellable for >£15m, there's not much value (or quality) outside of them. We'd have a weaker squad, and difficult to know how much surplus cash we might have to strengthen. There would also be the challenge of renewing contracts - both in terms of finances, but also the medium term issue of knowing quite a few aren't Prem quality even if they did renew.

The "Besitz macht frei" welcoming arch might set the alarm bells ringing

He seems an odd signing in so much as he's neither a hold up forward; nor a ball carrier; nor has the pace to counter. I've no idea what attributes our esteemed recruitment team saw in him to fit him into our structure. Odd that he hasn't played through the middle at any stage, not that he's shown any particular signs of potentially being effective in that role. Maybe his new haircut and the earnest backing of Delilah from the Northam Wall will invigorate him to new heights. The Cornet / Lesley use of our Prem loans is another bizarre piece of recruitment strategy. But maybe if the Wall start a rendition of "Just one Cornetto", Maxwell will start banging them in too.

He's cut his locks off but I sadly suspect his new disguise will be exposed as soon as he tries to trap a ball. But let's forlornly hope for some sort of reverse-Samson transformation (Samson famously effective in his youth as a left-sided forward for Zorah FC).

Amazing. Who was signing off these players, and on what basis? Cornet, Fraser, BBD just stopping Sam A-A getting minutes, utterly ridiculous.

I didn’t think I’d see a worse left winger than Fraser or BB-D this season, but credit to Cornet, he’s done them both.

Jesus, I thought someone was posting that he was back training.