disconnect

Thank the lord Mr "we should be grateful to just be here" is being shown the door. That mentality has gotten us to where we are now, and hopefully this is just a minor blip and the Sports Republic team can build a winning mentality and bring us back up next season!

I think with Edozie you can see he's a very skillful footballer, and in a lot of his appearances has waltzed through defences only to be let down by either a poor final ball or a poor miss from the strikers. Having him on the pitch gets defenders on edge, and to me, it's not that much of a coincidence that since he hasnt been playing, we havent (seemingly) been getting as many freekicks around the edge of the box for a certain someone to fire in...! Mara definitely has potential, but just randomly being thrown on every 3rd game for 10 mins at the end or starting once every 5 games he's never going to get much rhythm. He's still very young and I dont think looked out of his depth at any point.

Hopefully the model still works that the 4 in bold above are in the first team next season - we've seen enough to know that Livramento (if fit), Edozie and probably Mara are more than good enough to become star players in the Championship. Larios had a few run outs where he looked lightweight but could see potential in his skill. I'm sure some of the next group will be in the squad most weeks next season, and wouldnt be surprised to see Ballard and Doyle in the squad for the next match or two. That said, last game of the season Walcott almost certainly starts as a farewell?

Is the point more that if they hadnt vastly overspent, they may not have beaten us? We lost 2-1 in gameweek 9, still had Ralph as manager and had we won that, potentially we would not have sacked Ralph and been in the state we are now! Their 2 goalscorers that day were McNeil and Coady, 2 signings from this season, when within the rules they probably shouldnt be signing them. One of the goals assisted by their 30 mil signing Onana, who they almost certainly shouldnt have been able to afford!

We should build the team around Sulemana, Edozie and Alcaraz (and possibly Mara and/or Tella)

Yep, got to be playing Mara, Edozie, Sulemana now. Why even bother with Armstrong - playing the likes of him, Moi etc has sent us down.

Edozie and Sulemana both were good, direct and looked like they would make things happen when they came on (as they do most times they play). It's almost as if Selles doesnt want us to win / score. Now we're relegated and he's pissed off the fans by playing this crap football and pissed off the better players by constantly overlooking them. Fun times.

Ballard, Payne and Doyle are totally unproven in senior football - we’re not going into League one or two! We might expect them in and around the squad but expecting those 5 to be our saviours (especially considering Tino has been injured all season) is a big ask. We’d be better off including those like Mara, Edozie and maybe Larios who have shown promise but need a season of regular football at maybe a slightly lower level to develop into the players we know / hope they can be.

Great news for them. Amo-Ameyaw looks a talent and I guess we know players like Dibling, Doyle, Ballard & Diamond Edwards when fit will be around the first team squad next season and hopefully see a few making the breakthrough. Interesting that all of the goalscorers are actually from the under 18 squad.

Well, at least Armstrong is due a goal... Not sure why Sulemana is suddenly dropped when he's been one of the only ones who looks like he could make something out of nothing (and Djenepo not even making the bench now). Mara also dropped off the bench? Feel like this is one of those lineups that looks awful but hopefully isnt...!

Remember the rumours of Arsenal wanting to sign Elyounoussi? Might be his night to shine...!

That first team would easily win I reckon. Funny that the second one has 4 regular internationals who havent really shown anything in their time with us!

Appeared in all bar 2 of our first 25 odd games, starting 10 of the first 12 or 13 matches. The past 3 matches are the only time all season hasnt been in the match day squad, so think it's pretty fair to say he's been given a good few tries!!

Truly embarrassing! There was some hope it was recalled to sell or loan to someone else, but recalled to be a (calamitous) starter is woeful. Haven't seen the last few matches but he isn't the answer. Surely Grimsby is up there! 1. Worst Player of the Season - Adam Armstrong? 2. Worst Manager - Jones 3. Worst Team Performance of the Season - Grimsby 4. Most Embarrassing Moment - recalling bednerak / Nathan Jones' press conferences 5. Biggest Player Disappointment - Orsic (who?!) or Aribo 6. Who is responsible for this shit show - Ankersen / Mr 'be grateful to be here' Semmens

Someone else mentioned the winning mentality. The nails have been hammered into the coffin the past few years with Semmens and others constantly spouting the 'we're lucky to be here' rubbish, instilling the 'at least we turned up' mentality rather than the 'this isnt good enough and we should be beating Bournemouth, Forest, Palace, Fulham etc' attitude we should have. So I hope he goes! Of players, Lavia and KWP are almost certain and sounds like Salisu too. A promoted team will probably come in for someone like Adams, and hope he can convert 1 in 10 chances. Some of the new guys wont want to play in the Championship. Hope we havent really annoyed Edozie who will be a good player for us next year whatever division we're in.

I thought that was Orsic?

Thought I'd share my opinions on the new players too, just for fun. It is a forum after all... Good Signings Lavia - £11m - Class act ABK - £10m - Very good at the start of the season, been unlucky with a few injuries Edozie - £7m - Very technically gifted, little end product presently. Think this season will toughen him up and over next few years will be a star (hopefully for us) Bad Signings Aribo - £6m - Early promise rapidly disappeared, seems well down the pecking order now. Probably score a hattrick vs Grimsby and not play again this season. Larios - £6m - Has some obvious talent, but very small and been injured more than fit. Hopefully move to a good signing next season?! Orsic - £5m - Was quite excited when we signed him, but was on a different wavelength vs Blackpool and not seen since(?) Too Early To Tell / Unsure Bazunu - £12.3m - Has made some great saves, and let in some soft goals. Looks at least a season too early for him to be a prem number 1 DCC - £7m - Looked decent a few times, has pretty good pedigree. Would've gone down as a good signing if simply having him meant getting rid of Bedders, but somehow the accident waiting to happen got recalled!! Alcaraz - £12m - Not sure why he isn't playing. A little bit raw, but looks like he can make a difference. Mara - £13.5m - Fee seems high for a player who obviously needs a bit more time to progress. However, I am a bit of a fan and think he's much more naturally gifted and has a much higher ceiling than players like Adams and Long (who I guess he was brought in to replace)? Bree - £750k - Too early to tell, but obviously a good championship option...! Onuachu - £16m - Keeping my fingers crossed he starts banging them in. Not really playing to his strengths currently... Sulemana - £22m - Too early to tell - needs to be played in his proper position. Has massive potential though. So overall, signing 13 players permanently, and only 3 of them are currently classed as good signings, ain't great. Of the others, there's 6 or 7 who could be really good players for us, but havent come in and started every match and shined (see Lavia) which we probably needed at least 2 more of them to do.

Good to see Caleta-Car all smiles (especially photo 32 with Stu)! Also noticed Larios is back in full(?) training, which is good - need as many fit as possible for the run-in!

About time a manager publicly called out footballers awful music taste! Gets my vote for that alone!

Confirmed! Shame it didn’t work out and he’s effectively got us relegated but hopefully we can at least start playing our best players and not have to watch Bedders again!!

Orsic, ABK and DCC all missing is weird, especially with Maitland-Niles starting and Walcott and A Armstrong on the bench. Only one defender on the bench seems crazy. That said, good to see the new guys starting with Alcaraz and Lavia. Not convinced at all with the defence…

They also mentioned that the academy was fundamental and the lifeblood of our club, but the fact of the matter was that the group who should be getting in the first team squad now - 19/20/21/22 year olds were not good enough. I can totally see that - you only have to look at how some of our best 19/20 year olds (Olaigbe, Watts, Chauke, Vokins) are doing out on loan at (/given away to!) lower league teams to see that if they're not starring in teams 2/3 divisions below, of course they're nowhere near ready to be playing for us. They actually sounded pretty enthusiastic about the group below that (Ballard, Doyle, Dibling etc), as we all are hopeful for, but don't want to throw them in too early. Next season, I expect to see some of these players on the bench a bit more.

I've seen people mention this, where does this happen? Absolute joke if he's throwing an 18/19 year old under the bus when he's been one of the best players every time he's played.

So we want to play 'defend for your lives' style last ditch style defence rather than proper 'it doesnt need to be a panic' defence? 😬

After all the decent signings we've made, how is Armstrong still getting in the team?! I also have a horrible feeling that Janny B is a favourite of the manager along with Lyanco, and instead of two of DCC / ABK / Salisu, we'll be seeing Janny B with Lyanco with at least 2 of our best CBs on the bench.