Hope you are right, I think I prefer any outcome except this dragging on further.

Why do you say that?

Id say the way for us to have the required quality in midfield is to change our system to be more of a 433 with three in the middle. Fitting Tronstad, Buckley and JRC together would help us a lot. Means dropping number 10 from 4231 but I'd do that... At the moment we're quite top heavy pushing four up front. Change to 433 pulls a man back but should give us more dominance in the middle. New GK Brittain. Carter. Hyam. Pickering JRC. Tronstad. Buckley Dolan. Gueye. Hedges. We definitely need to keep Travis for rotation and we need another technical play maker who can rotate with Buckley. Be good if they were left footed as well for balance. That said I think Eustace is happy to not control the ball centrally and push more players up to press instead so I think he will stick with a 4231 with water carriers as DMs.

If Oxford come to be organised and defend deep (not sure if they play this way - just guessing from what others have said) having Geuye could be a real asset. Actually having someone to get on a cross is so important in those games. Also Ohashi is less physically imposing but also heads the ball really well. If we are going to have a lot of the ball I wonder if bringing Buckley in makes sense? New gk (please!) Brittain Carter Hyam Pickering JRC Buckley Tronstad Hedges Geuye Ohashi

Well we do it as much as anybody else, and have done it for as long as football has existed too... Not sure we can blame Palace or indeed Ipswich at the moment for making the best offer for a player to a club whose owners & administrators have decided they need the money.

Wouldn't normally be that excited by a cheap market punt like this. But after signing two seemingly top notch players from nowhere in Geuye and Ohashi I am very intrigued if we can make it a hat trick?

Have we ever made two signings who have made as immediate an impact as Ohashi and Geuye? They both seem absolutely top drawer.

It's very sad to lose Szmodics, but to be honest it's hard to imagine how the new forwards coming in (Ohasi and Geye) could have started much better. Ohashi in particular looks to have a lot of the same attributes as Szmodics, while Geye offers us something we have not had in a very long time. Still a lot to be optimistic about. Particularly if the Szmodics money is spent on a goal keeper and more attacking options.

Does feel like Szmodics could stay... don;t think any Premier League teams apart from Ipswich have been linked? I would have expected more by now if it was going to happen.

Does feel like subs are going to play a big part this season... Good options on the bench both in terms of changing the attacking trio and defenders to let us move to a back 3. Very curious to see if Szmodics appears ... Considering we played him in the cup from the start when there was absolutely no need to I think he will play. Wonder if Eustace has been told just use him like a normal player until a buying club gets serious?

I wouldn't just say attitude... think he has looked tactically a bit lost. Moved around the pitch a lot (false nine, number 10, right back etc), doesn't have a clear role. I think he's the sort of player who needs a clear role as the main ball player in the center of the park.

I don't know... when he's on it he can be really good even against top teams like Newcastle in the cup last season. I think Buckley is one who if a few things clicked could go up significantly in his performance. I am hopeful we will have a consistent player come end of the season.

I dont know.... I can see why Premier League teams will look at him and wonder if he will really cut in at the top level. Not particularly quick, strong or skillful... That there are not many teams in for him tells it's own story.

I like them both separately but playing together I think they lack the ability to find good forward passes and dominate the midfield. Id say play JRC deeper in a three with both of them.

If Szmodics plays any part I really will believe theres a chance he will stay. Sure he wont though. I think we wont rotate the squad much as we are settling into a new system and have a lot of new signings so will want to use the game as opportunity to mesh the first team further together. Reckon we might see a couple of changes but that's it.

Colchester (where Szmodics grew up) is only a 30 minute drive from Ipswich. Ipswich is by far the closest major club to Colchester, so while he's a West Ham fan I am sure there are attractions to be close to family etc.

So impressed with the new signings. Been a long time since new lads through the door have looked so up to it on day one. Probably would have go go back to that Wolves game in 2002ish? First 30 mins and last 30 mins we dominated but lost our way in the middle of the game. Thought it would have helped for JRC to drop deeper and get in a three with Travis and Tronstad to win the ball back. Feels like better sides could steam roller us in the middle of the park. Some great slick passages of play. Nice one touch, layoffs. Scored some cracking goals. But when we came under modest pressure we looked quite brittle. Seems like it will be a fun season...

Yeah... I was a bit concerned when Broughton was dropped as while his signings were very hit and miss he at least seemed to have an idea about the future... But tbf Park and Gestede seem to have found some real quality. Think I remember Glenn saying on here Waggott saying Broughton was bobbins and the scouts could do just as good a job. And looks like he was right.

Wasnt there someone on here who kept calling him Carthorse?

Hes getting on so probably not quick but wonder if Weiman will come on for his delivery? Is he a bit of a crosser?

Yeah but sometimes its obvious someone will make a big impact on the division. Hes in that category for me. Hes won every duel, held it up nicely, shown pace and dominance, found a player with every pass. Could be wrong, but looks a real good un.

Gueye looks to me like he is going to have a very very good season. I haven't seen a player who convinces so much with all the attributes to succeed at centre forward since Gestede. Great find by whoever it was (was it Gestede himself?)

We have had this incredible knack the last few years of selling our prolific strikers and pulling a new one out of our arse. This years candidate to take over from Szmodics could be any of Hedges, Dolan, Sigurdsson, Ohashi or Gueye. Could see any of them randomly turning into goal machines like Brereton or Szmodics. I mean it seems very unlikely, but then so did BBD or Szmods scoring like they did, so against all the probabilities I am expecting one of them to lead the championship goals table come Christmas...

Tin hat on but I think we actually have about the same amount of first team players before loans than last year? I assume we will still end up with the same amount of loans but then tend to come later in August. Ignoring loans we have lost Gallagher, Adam Wharton, Scott Wharton (injury). I guess you could say Leo & Telelovic but neither were championship players Gained Mak, Ohashi, Baath, Fadz, Wieman. Could say Travis too... I mean squad is still pretty poor, but I wouldn't say it is thinner in numbers than last year which is what is being bandied about. Quality wise Id have hopes that the signings will at least mitigate the losses of Gallagher and Scott Wharton (no idea about this until we see half a dozen games).

In that number 10 role we have Ohashi, Dolan, Wieman, Markanday, Buckley all who have played there. No shortage of numbers... I would think Ohashi will get it and Dolan will play left side.