bugenhagen

There is no need to argue about this... Our first choice goalkeeper should be better than Bazunu or McCarthy, one of them should at most be our backup GK, and the other should be third (or if we got rid of one, Long is probably OK as number 3). The only pointless thing here is the responses from MLG...

Agree that he won't retire, but we can not have him on our books next season in any capacity. He would never be seen as a "bonus player" if fit, the club would once again plan on him staying fit, he takes up a place, and we again miss out on a real option.

Not to worry, we have shoehorn!

Be kind 😉 What really happened was that Archer went up top, pushed Armstrong to the right, and Azaz stepped deeper into midfield. It is more attacking players in certian roles, but we did not really change the genereal shape. What often happened was that Azaz was more on the left, pushing higher than Downes on the right, and THB often pushed up into the same space as Downes was in.

Woolfenden and Labitabidabida? 😉

I agree with the point you are trying to make about our defenders, but starting out with "It makes absolutely no difference who is in goal" is a little over the top. A better keeper, more commanding of his area, would help our fragile defence. It won't fix it, but it would be a big help, and it could potentially clean up a couple of the mistakes they make.

This is very true, but with our squad, goalkeepers and defenders particularly, it might be an easier task to get the forward line scoring as he has done. We will never be hard to beat with this team, but if we often go 3-0 up, a lot of the teams in this division won't have it in them to get back in the game. Can we get better defensivly, absolutely! But I think in the short term, Tonda had the right idea about how to get points on the board. The interesting thing is to see how he now develops the team and his tactics.

It made me think of the interview with Strachan the other week, about the point that he got us in such good shape, where his respons was something like: "The players weren't that fit, but we made them believe they were". The power of suggestion...

Yeah, but that doesn't sound like us, now does it?

It's one of the things SR is decent at, but there is no way they can make that happen? Right? This will only end in a new contract.

You mean "when must it be renewed by"? 2027

Yeah, I agree with this - did not mean to imply he would ever be as good as/have the development of Bale

I'm not so sure that is correct. Anyways, it would at least change how we defend...

THB, Edwards, Stephens, one from U21, anyone. It's not like every football club in the world who has been unlucky with injuries to their main two specialist right backs all have had to switch over to five at the back when it happened.

Hey, he could eventually do a Bale. It did look like he made the wrong move for a while... I do like to see players who come through the ranks here be a success when they move on, even if they move up or down, but give the lad some time. We got our money.

I do not agree with this thought that because we have no right back, we have to play 5 at the back. When did this suddenly become law? Something Still said once to defend not changing? If anything, playing with wing backs demands even more of your fullbacks, both attacking and defensive, and they need to be better at knowing what space and position to take up in different areas of play. It also demands more of our trio in defence, in terms of positioning, but luckily that's not an issue... If we were playing 4 at the back before the injuries at right back, we wouldn't switch to playing 5 at the back because of injury (or because Manning is poor defensively). Doesn't really matter, as there is nothing to suggest that Tonda will change, even if he had the two danes fit.

Tonda has shown nothing to suggest he is any better than Still in this situation. Its the same players and pretty much the same tactics when we are chasing the game. He has done well to get our forwards playing in a quicker and much better way than Still, but the rest is pretty similar, espescially when we are missing our chances. If the honeymood period is over and we stop scoring at every chance, this game might be what the future looks like.

Not one that can fix Stephens and our gang...

Comedy defending. Sure glad we have 3 CB's to deal with situations like this

How does this team under Tonda respond when we miss a lot of chances, and go 1-0 down. Just like we did under Still, or is there something more to us now?

But it was a brilliant save by Bazunu 😉

Spors more than happy to sit down and have a chat... When the wind has turned, the rain has stopped, the sun is out and we are winning!

Robinson came on for Fellows in one of the games... Leicester I think? He is probably even weaker than Fraser defensivly, but he might be the closest to Fellows going forward, if we want to have a player who can run with the ball and beat a man in that position. Probably no chance, but I would rather watch that.

Jo Tessem. Never really made the team much better or worse. Average to the level he was playing at.

Even without his skills and direct running, he brings so much to the side in terms of smartness, positional awareness and work rate. He both supports Armstrong as a second striker, and in the next move he is back at the left touchline helping Manning. Impressive for a maverick type player.