joey_big_nose

I'd say playing 4231 like this would be ideal for England - Pickford Walker Stones Guehi ???? Rice Wharton Saka Bellingham Palmer Kane We have a lot of good players, but we need to settle on a first choice XI and bench and really really work on getting them to play as a unit - play the same players give or take every game. Our issue will be if piss around chopping and changing every game over the next two years and rock up at the world cup still without a clear idea of what our best team is and not knowing how to play together. To lead is to decide...

Benson gets a lot of stick but from an outsiders perspective he must look pretty good given Steele, Raya and Kaminski have all gone on to the premier league... Wonder how manu other gk championship coaches would have as good a cv.....

One thing that is a bit weird about Toth is he has (so I have read) great stats and 76 starts in the Hungarian top league, but he hasn't got any starts for the national team despite first getting called up in 2021. Would have thought he would by now? Didn't go to Euros either.... Bit of an odd one.

Yeah but he's away on international duty I think?

As much as Pears suffers with mistakes we saw how calamitous it can be to bring in a keeper out of their depth and then destroy their confidence..... Leo was unbelievably poor One big thing Toth does have in his favour though is under Eustace he will be a lot better protected than Leo was. But we have to make sure he is acclimatised. Its very hard for a keeper to recover when they have a bad start. I wouldnt be rushing it.

Not starts, but minutes from the bench.

Well he might not be ready but I think if we rate him we have to play him. Can't let Tyjon leave like Phillips and Finneran. I think as a club we are going to have to change our philosophy to play the best prospects we have very young so we can keep them. The bench being 9 spots helps a lot... using two of the spots for the best academy talent does not seem unreasonable.

Love him going forward but defensively he looks a bit of a worry to me... Hopefully will improve as he beds in.

He's the best proper centre forward we have had since Graham, and he could end up being a lot better than Graham. His knockdown for Wieman was superb. Every game he's come in and dominated the opposition centrebacks. Love the way he can own the centrebacks in the air centrally and then switch it up and beat them for pace in the channels. And he can pick the right passes in the number 10 spot when he drops off. He's beaten full backs with a bit of skill too... Having that many strings to a bow is so rare. We need to get him fit enough to play 70-80 mins. He's such a huge asset. Only thing missing for me is finishing but that's something that can be worked on. We should enjoy him this season as he will be attracting some big money bids in 12 months.

Bit of a strange move to drop Weiman?? One of Hedges or Dolan will miss out with Wieman keeping his slot on the right. Also have a feeling if JRC can get himself properly fit over the next two weeks he might get a crack at right back.

Fabulous result... Burnley were so much better than us first half and after the first went in i thought we might get smashed.... But one wonder goal later and we matched them, even after the sending off. Much as I love JDT we would have lost that game 3-1. We were so organised after going a man down and always looking to hold our own. Thought Gueye until his sending off had a great game, he is destined to play in the prem - not only does he win so much on the air he lays off and passes the ball welll, and Ohashi has an unbelievable way of winning the ball when looking second best. Great debut from Beck, and thought the defence generally did well. We were however totally outclassed in midfield which is a bit of a worry . Anyway great result and Eustace is looking like the sort of manager who turns losses into draws which is one of the best signs you can have.

Attacking wise based on the squad I would say we really should be looking for 8th to 12th, maybe better than that if Cantwell and Duberry turnout to be as good as hoped. But defensively we look very fragile. We are so dependent on two things really in my opinion - 1) Is Toth a good Championship keeper 2) Can Carter and Hyam stay fit and Hyam recover his form from the season before last Those two things feel quite tenuous...

Feels possible to me - think Gueye, Ohashi and Cantwell will all get that number. Dolan, Hedges, Sigurdsson, Wiemann all have a shot at it. The signs are we will exceed the goals from last season. My concerns are much more on the goals conceded side.

Think we look well covered now in every position except centre back. We're short in numbers there and injury prone.... Would feel better if we had one more loan young pacy cb.

Keeper is a real massive punt. Hes got great stats but playing in a poor league. It's really strange that after getting so burnt by Leo that we have gone a similar route again. With Eustace being after Ruddy and other experienced keepers all window I really wonder if he wanted this one. Very odd to me. Hope it works out.

Could we get Hill? Hes not going to play for Bournemouth... Would be ideal pacy cover at the back (though not left footed which is a shame).

Is this serious???

Yeah - that's something that's faded from the game but Luton were brilliant at bringing it back. No defence is ready to handle two proper physical strikers. I am a bit surprised no one else has copied it. If we could find another Big Mak and play them both up front it would be a very good move.

In today's football Gascoigne would be a number 10 all day long. No one would play him deeper than that. He'd also probably be made to play wide sometimes as an "inverted winger" as is the fashion so they could shoe him in with a couple of other attacking mids.

Hmmm i'd say Bohinen and Dunn are number 10s too. 8 is a box to box player... Maybe Dunn early days was going box to box but most of his career he was purely an attacking player. My examples would be 6 (deep midfielder) ; Tugay, Wharton, Batty 8 (box to box) : Travis, Rothwell, Sherwood 10 (attacking midfielder / second striker) : Dack, Dunn, Cairney

Problem with that (and we did try it) is he can't head or compete for the ball in the air which is an absolute requirement if you are in a back three.

In terms of his raw capabilities he's very good for this level - great feet, decent delivery, reasonable pace, good engine, not bad in the air for a full back... But seems to get caught out of position a lot, and gets beaten in one to ones when he is isolated or running back. Pickering is much more limited in his abilities (slower, technically less good etc) but he does seem a lot more reliable to close down the attack. I think if we got the stats up on where we concede crosses from it would be much more down our right side.

If JRC was fit I'd be okay with it. But he isnt and he could be like that for months as far as we know. Seems some sort of chronic issue that's slowing him down.

I always though Nyambe was great defensively. Probably the best one on one defensive full back we had since the prem days. Very poor going forward though and really weak under a high ball. Id still have him though on the bench to shore us up defensively. When we drop deep we struggle to stop opposition wingers getting to the byline or into the box.

Watching the Blackpool game and how slow Fadz and Baath were I am really concerned if Carter gets injured... Hes the only cb with decent pace. If he goes then we will be dropping very deep. One long term injury there could completely screw us. Last year having Hill and then Chrisene helped us a lot. Id say we really need one loan there with pace, ideally a left footed cb.