He wants first team football - when everyone's fit he'd be 5th choice. Can't see that one coming off.

If the service improves they'll score more goals. Getting the starting RWer right is crucial.

He played an EFL Trophy game for them last season.

Which is why I have to chuckle at Palace falling foul of the rules in Europe. I wish nothing good on that club.

To be fair the CBs might die laughing if you run Cantwell out there at CF, so it could be effective.

I'd like a third CF, but getting those two service is more important (unless you're going to drop a fantastic, do it all, CF in my lap).

I'm talking about rotation more than Travis and Tronstad being out at the same time. We ran them into the ground last year - and the system last year was far less intense than Ismael's approach to the game. Montgomery and Forshaw might be good to bring off the bench for 15-20 mins every match, but I wouldn't want to start them. We're hoping Tavares is good - and even if he is I think it's clear we need one more.

Do we know whether the 'pay as you play' deal is for the player or the club? I'd suggest it's for the player if he's still "super keen" to join as obviously he wouldn't give af if his old club was being short changed when he gets injured (so his opinion wouldn't be mentioned in the article - it'd be "the club are still super keen on the transfer". Also do we know what the injury is? Evidently not something that stops him playing, but perhaps something that COULD go wrong down the line?

Buckley got 4 minutes against Elche (and still managed to get booked). They clearly don't rate him. Would you be happy with starting Forshaw and Montgomery midweek against Stoke?

I'm curious what the plan is for when Brittain leaves. Duru? Loan? Permanent to compete with the new lad?

Yes. They can't have watched this team in pre-season and have thought everything is hunky-dory at RW. I can see them convincing themselves that Kargbo and DeNeve are enough at LW, but at RW we have a big black hole. A DM who can play out there in a pinch isn't going to cut it.

Then we'd be short in CM and RW.

It looks like he's played there before, but he's primarily a DM. We desperately need a specialist RW. It's the glaring hole in the starting XI.

'fuckouttahere with your transfer talk. This thread is for petty pissing matches about assumptions.

The ability to run, for a start. 😉

RW is much more important than a CF or an AMC. Ohashi and Gueye struggled with service last year - they've certainly not going to get that from Hedges.

Toth is worth 10 goals a season over Pears - it's a huge upgrade (and I'm not even suggesting he's a special GK).

And yet their GK made the two best saves of the night (from Russo and Hemp). It was simply a clash of styles - the Spanish possession style makes it seem they're in control of the game, but they didn't really carve out many chances. Nor could they handle our pace and directness - their CBs resorted to blatantly obstructing Agyemang (which the ref completely ignored) whenever we tried to counter attack. Quite frankly it's an awful brand of football - made worse by their playacting when you try to challenge them. Completely breaks up the flow of the game, especially when the ref buys every single one.

I bet they've been asked to by the hierarchy and the Social Media Manager has just gone "yeah, no, it's not worth the grief".

Asked and answered - Ohashi and Gueye have a season of Championship football under their belts now.

We're weaker at CB except for the fact that Batth is a year older (who knows when his legs will go) and Eustace's system protected him. He wasn't asked to do many sprints. Ismael's system clearly asks more physically from his players (hence why we're loading up on athletes) - so whilst I still think Batth is a loss, there's no guarantee he'd have thrived in a system that asks its CBs to sprint and cover ground.

We'll see how they get on, but I wouldn't be surprised if DeNeve turns out to be quite a shrewd signing. He's by no means a silky player, but he gets up and down and has pace - something we've lacked for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if he chips in with his fair share of goals and assists.

They weren't attacking options when they were here.

I think we overestimate how strong the Championship is. Besides the parachute payment sides it's mostly filled with the best cloggers in the land. If you're organised and determined you can survive in this league.

The JDT version of JRC is a miss - alas we haven't seen that player for a few years. He also couldn't play CM - they tried to play him there a few times and he was poor.