bluebruce

It's literally the first time I've asked you that. If it is hard for you to understand that I'm not other people, that is on you. If you're stubborn enough to insist a League Two player is better than a La Liga regular and come in for a bit of flak, that's also on you.

So, tbc, you're insisting that tier 4 Markanday is better than La Liga Dolan?

Agreed, I'd rather spend that money on hiring reasonable serving staff for the concourse who aren't all kids and can serve at a decent pace.

I bet he's earning more than Toth is.

It's a very fair point, although I'd say he was seen in the summer window as a squad player and with potential to push on. Squad player in a Championship side so soon after his non league loan still suggests to prospective clubs that we may have some absolutely overqualified players for League Two and National League available. I know National League is also non league, but these days those are pretty much pro teams and the level is decent for academy players so in many cases I'd be happy for young players to go there. It's these tier 7 loans we are so keen on that I really think of as borderline worthless in most cases But you're absolutely right that it could cement that these players could be ready for higher levels than they're getting. Especially with Montgomery seemingly kicking on more now.

He will get more robust over time and with men's football too. Starting to have hopes for him. If he gets more robust, with that tenacity he could end up being a Szmodics type maybe?

I dunno, Montgomery moving rapidly from non league to our first team didn't seem to have any effect. I think we just aren't good at finding loans and have a bit of a bias against our youth players due to not being a Prem side. I feel confident if we went up then the same players would be finding loans in League One and Two more frequently, and if we stayed up a couple years, the Championship. I get that we may be cautious, though I'm of the opinion we should generally be testing them at the highest level we can find them semi regular football (another issue, not getting game time for them where we do send them...we need to take a leaf out of Prem sides books and slip in some sort of penalty for not playing them, even though it's a system I dislike). Flip side is Olson may be struggling at that level but he may also just not be good enough. Some teams won't play a youth player over their established players they're paying more money for, or their own youth. If there is a penalty then they will only do that if the player truly isn't good enough, then we learn something about them.

Liking the look of Powell as well as the stats. Looks fast, tenacious. Could be one to press on to the first team squad later this season (hopefully not in that way we like where they just sit the bench a lot and don't get the regular minutes at youth level anymore, slows their development IMO)

I think Pratt is considered agricultural in his style, and Litherland more cultured. The latter being more popular in the modern game. But I think there is still a place for the old fashioned no nonsense CB, personally.

They were discussing Litherland and I think you're talking about Pratt?

He was on the bench before wasn't he? And before all the injuries a loan would have made sense. What gets me is we couldn't find interest at higher than Chorley's level, yet he can play 90 in a local Championship derby and not let anybody down. I really think we are awful at finding the right loans.

Who is this Wolsoncroft? Why do we have 20 million youth goalkeepers at u21 level?

We don't do extensions.

Don't Wednesday have money problems too though? Or has that been resolved?

I'm not sure why they're describing Rhodes' arrival as heralding a new approach. It's the same approach they had last season (when it didn't appear to work).

Link won't work for me

Do you not think that those players may have been awful partly because there wasn't really anything on the line? 3 points only matters when they can affect positions, as we have seen at the end of many league seasons.

Exactly why it would have been really stupid to put that clause in. Not a lot of players get to make 5 competitive appearances for England for a club like Palace before they get snapped up by bigger fish.

Did he 'struggle' though or are you just aware he's capable of more? I didn't get to see the game, but the ratings I saw gave him a 7 (Bellingham was a 3 for reference) and apparently the stats say he made the most chances.

Well that was an overreaction and didn't make any sense.

Pretty sure it would be Phil Jones.

How did he play?

Bang on. He doesn't fail. I think part of this is he doesn't feel pressure on a football pitch, not like normal people. He's permanently calm. His interviews have highlighted this in the way he talks about the game. He's a very special boy.

Isn't Sergeant only 16 or 17?

We really are joke negotiators. I've never heard of a caps clause requiring the player to start before.