I dont want Pears ever eating anything he hasn't eaten today.

Unreal save from Pears.

Not sure how anyone can be critical of Gallagher after that performance. Had 3 attempts that drew good to great saves from the keeper, none of them gimmies. Clever movement from him for all 3 too, which is something he's been routinely criticised for in the past. Scores at least a brace on many other days. He's come back from his injury much sharper from what I can see.

If we're all one big family, does that mean I get on the Rao's inheritance list?

I feel like thats them most weeks. For someone at least.

Chisene's touch in the lead up to the first goal was quietly sublime.

Great. Now I'm hungry.

Would we prefer: Disillusioned manager lobbing handgrenades at the owners/management who gets us relegated? Or New manager, tows the party line, buys into our current situation and keeps us up?

People know all the mainstream social media platforms are infested with bots right?

Not quite the disastrous window it was looking like 24 hours ago. Hardly a slam dunk though. Pros: McGuire is a very interesting signing. Young, scoring a bagful stylishly in a comparable league, and looking destined for international football. We have the inside track to obtaining him permanently if it goes well and lose relatively little if it doesn't. Has the potential to be a very special player here given his age and profile, albeit a lot of water to go under the bridge first. I think our front line is significantly stronger with him taking the place of Ennis and I'm hopeful that he and Szmodics will be a huge problem of opposition defenders, for potentially a long time. Were a much tougher team with McFadzean and Fleck. Both hard nosed, experienced guys who won't accept bullshit, either from team mates or opposition players. Their bodies holding up is obviously a risk, but even if their main contribution is a training/mentoring one I think there's value in the context of a young squad with a tendency to get bullied and wilt in games. Squad character is a real thing. Defensively we've strengthened, with many more options and decent depth in the position. Imo this was our #1 priority for the window and while not perfect, I think recruitment has done a decent job given the constraints. Whether it coalesces into a more organised defensive unit is another question of course. Cons: Creatively we're now super reliant on JRC and Buckley stepping up/remaining fit. I think JRC in particular has the potential to be one of the best midfielders in the comp, but staying on the pitch for long enough to fill that potential is another matter. An early injury to Tronstad and we have a relegation level midfield. All round organisational shitshow. Chaos with the McGuire deal, timing of the Wharton deal made spending difficult, hamstrung management and no capacity or willingness for the owners to spend. Hard to know from the outside where to apportion blame (though I have my suspicions) but clearly we are treading water organisationally which suggests a downward trajectory. If we maintain competitiveness over the next year or two I think GB and JDT deserve extremely high praise. Loads of young loans. Meh. Hard to get excited about them or see them impacting us meaningfully. GK was never going to be a priority this window, but it remains a problem position. A Pears upward trajectory isn't out of the question, but there's a lot riding on this particular maybe. I'd give the window a 5.5/10.

Just on Travis, if I had money I'd be putting on him being out to loan for being a destabilising influence on the squad. Not defending it, but I dont think it was morivated much by on field considerations.

Eh. Nixon's calling it a farce. Not sure what other word you would use tbh.

I think we all need a laugh. And a drink.

Its a complete shitshow. Chickens with their heads cut off level stuff (pun intended).

Wtf is going on!?

Get em Chaddy!

For a neutral.

A lot of talk about his age, but he has over 1200 minutes in the championship this season. How has he actually played on the pitch? There should be plenty of tape/opinions from Cov fans.

Can people stop referring to him as a "starlet"? Makes him sound like he's 12 with a bad haircut singing about how he's got a crush on his best friend.

Adam Wharthog.

Keeper is such a mental game. It's impossible to know whether a promising youngster will grow or shrink when the blowtorch of a big league is applied to them. Theres never going to be significant data points to support that, so you just have to prepare as best you can, ideally treating young prospects with care. But no matter what there will be a risk factor when a young keeper is really tested. If I had to guess, I'd say the the scouting team saw promise in Leo, likely evidenced in the data somewhere and the idea was to have him spend this season acclimatising in the 21s, cup games and in general amongst the squad. Unfortunately, Pears injury meant he was thrown in the deep end and didn't handle the pressure. You can see he has something about him, his reflexes and shot stopping is there, he's just crumbled in his decision making and especially in commanding his box. Hopefully this experience hasn't broken him. In any remotely sane world, $800k odd shouldn't really be a big risk either. Theres a whiff of Stockholm syndrome in people claiming he's our big money/marquee signing tbh.

We're pretty shite too?

Whatever the result, I just hope we show a bit of fight.

Bad as Leo's been, you couldn't say he was at fault for all 4 goals last week. You could make that argument of Hyam.

I mean, if he got on the pitch, read the game, won some headers and stopped scoring for the opposition we could well be.