joey_big_nose

I am going to this one... gone from considering us having no chance to quite hopeful after the last game. I think Ipswich will want to play on the front foot which will suit us as we would like to counter. I am pretty happy with all our players at the moment except Tavares who seems a liability at present in terms of the way he loses the ball and misses tackles in key areas. I anticipate teams in their preparation will start to really target him as he seems to want more time than he really has, and struggles to compete physically. He could grow out of it as he acclimatises to the Championship, but with Gudjonsson staking a claim creating a lot of competition up top I think it's a great opportunity to try Cantwell out deeper. Team for me : Toth Alebiousu Carter Wharton Riberio Cantwell Tronstad Ohashi Mori Hedges Gudjonsen Subs : Pears, Miller, McLoughlin, Pickering, Tavares, Kargbo, Gueye, Tyjon, TGH

I am hoping Hearts can finally do it. 1985 the last time a team that wasn't Celtic or Ranger won it. The old firm have won 85% of all league titles in 135 years. Why anyone watches it I have no idea.... But my cousins are from Edinburgh and big Hearts supporters so got my fingers crossed for them!

Its early days but been impressed with all the signings except De Neve, Henricksson and Tavares. Plus obviously Baraji is injured. De Neve and Henricksson are a bit strange as its hard really to see where they fit in as there are so many players ahead of them. I guess once the game frequency picks up theyll get a game. Mori, McCloughlin, Alebiouso, Miller all look the part. Only seen a tiny amount of Gudjonsen and TGH but signs are promising. If we did manage to keep the squad quality similar to last season it would be incredible recruitment work considering we have no loans and no short term experienced players.

Ohashi for me is very like Hedges. Maybe nothing special on the ball, but absolutely first class off it. Those sorts of players get very underrated. A big part of why we looked so comfortable all game imo is the vast amount of pressing work those two get through. Ohashi also linked up really well with Mori and Cantwell. They are both undropable at the moment for me, though obviously Gudjonsen needs to come in somewhere. Id still put Cantwell deeper and drop Tavares, put Mori at number 10, Hedges left, Ohashi right and Gudjonsen up top.

Carter has always been real quality when fit, could conceivably play in the Premier League. Just a question of how long he can stay off the treatment table. The big unknown is how decent is Miller as a CB. My best guess is given Wharton and Carter's injury records Miller is going to get at least 10 games this season at CB.

I don't know, as a similar languid style and likes to play one touch. Very reminiscent to Nzonzi for me stylistically. Just unfortunately he keeps losing the ball and missing tackles. That said, as others have mentioned, it does seem to be a pace of the game thing. Could improve over time. But I wouldn't have started him today, and wouldn't start him next week.

Hmm, neither Travis nor Tronstad are sitting players, both get forward. And conversely from the looks of it Tavares seems more of a deeper player. So not really sure what you're saying here?

WTF - is that from Elliot Jackson? I like what he does a lot personally (unlike many on here) - like the podcast etc - but surely crack is involved somewhere in that assessment? Anyone got Tavares down as having a good game?

Have to say we looked really good. Only player id swap in from September 2024 was Travis. Obviously we are riding our luck on Carter and Wharton staying fit. But like the look of the team. I hope Tavares can get up to speed and improve as he was a total passenger. Not good either on or off the ball. But ive seen players (e.g. Tronstad) who look a completely different player after a few months. Toth, Tronstad, Wharton, Carter were all so solid today. Foundation for the rest of the team. Thought all the attacking players did well, Cantwell is consistently better this year. Gudjonsen looks very very promising.

Hmmm Tronstads been great... How has he come off and Tavares is on???

My definite feeling is apart from Travis we have adequately replaced/backfilled the players we have lost. Need half a dozen more games to really know, but feeling quite positive.

Pretty amazing that 3 players came off and not one of them was Tavares...

Well we have Gudjonsen... Not sure after a great performance like today I would change 3 players and the system. Hmm....

I think you hit "post" at the exact second of Ohashis brilliant play through...

I guess Gudjonsen will get a chance around 60 mins.

Id take Buckley over him every week. Tavares has done one lovely pass, but apart from that loses the ball regularly. I have to say apart from Tavares all of our other signings have looked decent.

Definitely could see a Bullseye kit being an absolute classic still remembered in 50 years. If the club doesnt make one BRFCS should! Could use one of those concept kit manufacturers.

Totally agree - I am sure this will happen soonish, sure its part of the plan of the whole Natons League concept (which I really like btw, best thing for international football in decades). Teams improve by playing other teams within a level they can realistically compete with, not getting smashed 5-0 every week. San Marino, Andorra etc would get a lot more out of playing each other than Spain or England. If they do actually put a good team together climbing up the nations league is a really good incentive.

I just really hate wrong footed full backs. Can be great defensively, but the only one who ive seen who looked offensively good was Spinazzola for Italy, but he was incredibly unique.

I dont think Belligham playing alongside Rice works. You need a player who will dictate play there, not be bombing on. Anderson or Wharton type. We're in the same old problem of having too many similar players for the number 10 position. Tuchel will need to pick between Morgan, Bellingham, Palmer and leave two on the bench, and make sure we have a proper central midfielder alongside Rice. They're totally different positions with different skills. What id like us to avoid is playing number 10s on the wing or deeper in midfield, just to fit them in.

Love the seesaw we all go through from being no hopers to it being there for the taking in 4 days. Think we'll need to see how the games evolve over the next 9 months to really say one way or the other.

Always interesting in these circumstances where big names like Saka and Bellingham have been out - do they come straight back in when fit or do Morgan Rodgers and Maduke keep their place? Tells you a lot about the manager. I think every manager we have had in the last 30 years would go back to the big names. I reckon Tuchel might be different. Good in Anderson and Wharton we have two technical central midfielders coming through. Havent had one since Carrick (apart from the odd appearance by the likes of Harry Winks who was nowhere good enough) and its really shown. The big gap england has imo compared to other top nations is we just never have that clever dominating hub player like Kroos, Xavi, Pirlo etc. Not saying either will be as good, but at least we have some options in that area rather than playing two physical players like we were with Henderson, Connor Gallagher and Phillips. Rice is such a good foil for a technical player too, covers all the ground and gets forward. Bellingham is a bit of an issue for me - hes the quintessential big name, but doesn't seem to work at all with Kane, and has had few good games for England. Would we have played so well with him in? Personally I doubt it.

Well Gudjonen exciting - first real positive of the season. I think that goal will propel him straight into the starting lineup. Id revise my team to Toth Alebiouso. Carter. Wharton. Riberio Tronstad. Cantwell Ohashi. Morishita. Hedges Gudjonsen If Carter is fit, Cantwell can play deeper, and Gudjonsen and Morishita follow through on their promise then it might actually be a decent team. Lots of ifs! But at least something to stimulate a bit of hope.

If Ange is a success there I will be amazed. His style of play makes Lemmings look risk adverse. Fine if you're celtic and have all the best players. But if you're playing teams at a similar or higher standard to yourself you get taken apart.

I have started thinking maybe rather than the "big six" fucking off to a European Super League, what may well happen first is less well resourced clubs leaving the Football League to form a league more based on the German model with required fan ownership and close spending controls. I think a lot of fans would trade off the quality of players their club can afford to feel like the club is actually "theirs".