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.

A few thoughts after watching the extended highlights: Leo obviously has to go asap. I think there's the glimmer of a player in there, but a keeper with confidence as shot as his must be atm is no good to anyone, least of all himself. I wouldn't loan him to a L1/L2 club either. Even if a club wanted him, you're still dunking him in cauldron full of loud, passionate fans and very real competition. Let him get his rhythm back with the youth team. Much lower pressure environment, with and against kids of a similar age. I'm not sure Pears does a whole bunch better. The defensive line, as a unit, is completely shot. Yes, Leo being shaky contributes to that, but I'd argue the poor protection he gets is a factor in his poor performances. The defense/goalkeeper confidence relationship is a 2 way phenomenon. Either way, Pears has a huge job coming back into this mess, if he was prime Buffon thatd be one thing, but he's a guy who's had his own issues with shaky play/poor confidence and has now had an extended lay-off. Hope and pray for all concerned his first half of play goes very very well. We need a tough, experienced defender in the setup asap. Someone to shake things up and put some fight back into that area of the pitch. A guy who throws every pound of flesh at a long throw in and gives an absolute shredding to anyone who didn't do the same, captain or otherwise. Every other post in the transfer thread mentions a striker, I dont think is even remotely close to as big an issue as the defense. Related to the above, there appears to be a general lack of fight and hunger on the pitch. I think this is a much bigger issue than our tactics, which are largely unchanged from those that saw us in the playoff frame last year. That does not absolve JDT. Hes an erudite, well spoken, charming man with a decorated history on the field, but does he have the ability to get a group of men out of the depths and into the fight? On today's evidence it doesn't look like it. Garrett has to feature more prominently. What an incredible strike that was. Likes getting stuck in too. We have a gem there for mine.

No Szmodics is a blow but I reckon this line up will surprise today. 2-1 Rovers. A Wharton and Leonard scoring and a good game from Leo.

Not saying he's good enough, but Leo wasn't at fault for any of the goals for mine. Second was maybe saveable but a ball hit that well is always going to be tough. Would have been a world class stop. In no world can he be blamed for the first and third.

Just watched the highlights on Norwichs channel. You miss a lot of a keepers performance with just highlights, but of the 3 moments I saw I though Leo did fine in all of them. One good save from a header from 6 yards out. The goal was unlucky, you're always going to struggle to hold a shot like that and it just happened to fall to the wrong player. The shot he "spilled" was very tough, with an opposition player blocking his sight and potentially deflecting it. He's made some howlers but none of those incidents fall into that category for me. Goals were great bits of work. Dolan, Sammie and Moran with some sublime interplay for all 3. Great to see. Thought the red card was fair, particularly in real time. Not sure Wharton gets any ball there, even with a slowed down replay and there's no question he cleans the player up. We'd be livid if that went against us.

Man, who'd be a keeper i ask you?

Brittain's work in the first goal was almost good as the second. He's turning into a real weapon.

That's genius!!!

I've tried that kind of arrangement here in Australia. Never works. Bluetooth or not I end up yelling, waking her up, sleeping somewhere else. I just cut out the foreplay and move straight to the couch now.

Just having a chuckle mate. I will say though, as the recipient of many, many drunk texts yours has all the hallmarks.

Nice to get that f/a straightened out a bit.

We have to do it once don't we?

Brace for Siggy!

Gotta be in position too. Can't be moaning about about lack of goalscoring nous in your strikers and not crediting tap ins.

Are you ready for "Premiership forward, George Hirst?"

Yessss! Is this the day it finally clicks?

Fuck yeah Dolan. Never doubted the kid.

How was Leopold?

One swallow doesn't make a pornstar, but the goal he scores @ 5minutes in this video is a worldie in any division.