joey_big_nose

Team id like to see ----------------------------Leut Nyambe-----Lenihan-----Williams----Bell -------------------Travis------Davenport ---------Chapman------Dack------Rothwell --------------------------Brereton Subs : Raya, Magloire, Bennett, Evans, Conway, Butterworth, Graham Last chance to see the young players before we get into recruitment over the summer.

Also I think he's too similar a striker to what else they have. They need someone they can play a more direct game with when required (like last night). Lewandowski, Diego Costaz that sort of player, but obviously a bit younger.

You could invert the question and ask "who would most supporters want to start most games next season" and I only come up with 4 names - Lenihan, Travis, Rothwell, Dack. Outside of those 4 it's a really mixed bag. Grahams getting on - if he can keep it up great, but I don't think we can rely on it. Bell, Nyambe, Chapman, Armstrong, Raya all could be good Championship players but are learning atm and have mistakes in them. Williams and Brereton have had poor seasons up until the last 4 games or so. Think its risky to depend on them too. Outside of that it's really a case of the players not being good enough. I would say we need to compliment those core 4 players with around another 4 solid and high quality players who look destined for promotion. The others in the squad can fit around that core eight. We'd be better off getting 4 really good players rather than 6 or 8 modest upgrades. I don't think we have the capability to complete more than 4 quality signings. So if I picked 4 roles it would be CF, CB, LB, RB. Means we would have to persist with Raya and Leut, and hope Davenport or another youth player comes through in CM. AM and winger I think we are sufficiently covered as you can play learning players in those roles. Priority has to be defence as it's been really poor.

For 70 mins Liverpool were arguably the better team, just couldn't finish. Really good display to be honest. Got slaughtered in the last 20 though. Very lucky they got out only three goals down. Barca missed a couple of sitters. It all fell apart after Barca got a second quite fortuitous goal. I think Liverpool need one top striker to finish off the squad. May as well start scouting now as they're as good as out and they won't win the league.

This is very depressing. He looks totally finished. Think we might end up loaning him to league one and subsidising his wages

Wow really??

I don't know. With Rhodes I think the argument that we played worse with him in the team had a lot of truth to it as his allround game was so poor. Dack on the other hand has virtually everything. Scores, passes, dribbles, creates, decent in the air, strong on the ball, got a bit of pace. He just has inconsistent games . We need to find a way to make him more consistent.

Only bit of that I disagree with is that Rothwell will end up a winger. I do get what you're saying about his one footedness, but I see him eventually as a floating number 10 who drifts wider than Dack does, and scores less goals. I'm really amazed anyone can have a go at Dack. He's had poor games sure but he regularly scores goals, makes assists and on his day is sensational.

Dacks our most talented player by miles. In a way it's a good thing he is inconsistent - it shows there is potential there to get more from him onto of the considerable amount he has contributed this season. He's the only one in the squad who I would put money on playing in the Premier League in his career. Maybe Lenihan and Rothwell on the outside. We need to keep him and bring him onto the next level, not trade him in. Selling him would be crackers.

Shows what the championship is like. Few would have said Norwich were likely to walk the league this time last year. But equally you can think you're going to have a decent season and get dragged into a relegation battle. It's what makes it so compelling. Key is to get decent quality in all positions and build a strong team spirit and rhythm. Issue is all 22 teams will be feeling the same way. It's shown time and again anyone can get up with the right wind in their sails.

We got well beaten, should have been 4-1 on the balance of play and chances, but don't think it really tells us anything we didn't know except for Chapman having a decent cameo. Hope we see more of him. Travis, Lenihan, Rothwell, Dack are all key for next year. Williams has shown some good improvement. Everyone else we need to look at to see if we can bring in better.

We'll it's horses for courses. Some strikers can make a career outsode of the box. Le Tissier, Henry etc . But they're a rare breed. If youre going to score a lot while spending most of your time outside the penalty area you need to be something special.

I think our atrocious run in Feb and March may have scared clubs off. Think we should be able to keep them till Jan at least, but we will see.

If Lenihans out I'm hoping he starts tomorrow.

Without Lenihan we will get murdered I think. We're so poor at the back without him. If he doesn't make it I honestly would put Magloire in. It's a big call for Mowbray though to tell Mulgrew - the club captain - he isn't playing due to a kid with 2 games under his belt.

To be fair he does have 3 attacking midfielders behind him, two of them excellent for this level - Dack and Rothwell. The issue is in 4231 the key role for the CF is to get in the box, win the ball in the air, hold the ball up, bring the AMs into the game and finish. Maybe we'll have to adjust the formation to accommodate his desire to mostly play outside the box dribbling with his face to goal. But the price of that is potentially diminishing Dack and Rothwells attacking role if we go to a 442 or another system and put Graham up top alongside him. Anyway looking forward to seeing what he can do tomorrow against a very decent outfit in Norwich. I guess we may play the same team. I suspect Norwich will play a high line and get tight in midfield knowing that Brereton will drop deep. It will be interesting to see how Rovers and Brereton cope with that.

I'd agree Nuttall has more about him. Physical, lots of pace, very direct. There's more raw material to him. Still not great but gives defences more to think about than Brereton.

I know where you're coming from, but it's very rare that a player who looked so off what is required became top player. I suppose two who could be cited are strikers - Kalinic and King. Totally written off by most fans but went on to have superb seasons for other clubs. We have to hope Brereton is similar. It's just when you look at a player like Rothwell or Travis for example you can see immediately they have the required quality. And when you compare Brereton to that it seems a very big gap he has to grow through.

That's what I am alluding to really, he seems much closer to a Rothwell, Dack or Armstrong style of player than a Graham. But that doesn't really help as he is manifestly much poorer than any of those three in an attacking midfield role. Indeed Butterworth and Chapman are better bets. He's a striker whose actually not a striker but a poor attacking midfielder. Mentle. I just don't get it. Only way I can see him having a career with us is if he raidically changes his style and unearths a whole new dimension to his game. Doesn't happen often, but there you go. Sincerely looking forward to being proved wrong and will eat humble pie with glee.

The only result of expressing opinions so obviously contradicted by data is the undermining of credibility.

Simply not true - Travis is our first choice midfielder as demonstrated by playing every game except 3 since January, and even in those games he came on as sub. He also almost invariably plays the full ninety while Evans or whoever comes off. Mowbray has made mistakes but let's not bend the plain facts. Similarly Rothwell has now played 5 in a row. More than the likes of Conway have done. So while maybe not as quick to play them as desired he does stick with them

Really pleased he scored but I'm still very confused about him as a striker. Hates heading the ball, and prefers to hang around outside the box than get in it. He needs to put on some muscle and put serious training time with his back to goal and in the air. His current style isn't going to be effective for this team. He looks like he really needs to play alongside a target man in a 442 or if in 4231 then on the right. Looking forward to see how he develops.

Way it's listed on the official lineup suggests BB is playing number nine. Hope BB actually gets in the box. Whenever he plays he seems to think he Thierry Henry or something and hang about on the wing or in midfield. If he does play his normal way we'll have no one up too and it'll only be a matter of time till he gets hooked and we see Butterworth.

Well, we have Davenport and Buckley in reserves, plus may sign Rodwell. But I agree if we could sign Reed or someone of similar quality I would not say no.

I would say youre being a bit harsh on Mowbray. Rothwell and Travis are starting every game and look set to until the end of the season, and will surely start next season. He might have come round to it later than we hoped, but he is there now I think.