That's not the reason it's been done though, so it's hardly 'wise' in any event.

Both for the same reason, injury.

Ok?

I wonder if you'd say that to his face.

We get 5 subs these days don't we? If you can't fix the attack with 4 of them, you're not fixing it. Also, scoring 2 goals won't change the game either if we ship another 1 or 2, so I can't buy the logic it would be a wasted sub. However, it would totally shred his confidence, which could be a problem if we come to rely on him again later.

At this stage, and obviously without having seen all his performance data, how he looks and holds up in training etc, I'd have been inclined to bring him off the bench at about the 60 minute mark today, which with current extra time would have given him close to 40 minutes, against tiring legs. Then give him a full 90 minutes in the next U21 game, and look to start him in the first team after that. But obviously we'll see how it shakes out today. I suspect he isn't going to look ready though.

A lot of happiness that Siggy is starting, but it feels premature to me. He's had what, two youth games after missing a whole preseason, clocking in I think 30 and 75 minutes. Not heard any reports that he stood out. I doubt he's ready for this start in all fairness, and I just hope he doesn't get crucified if he doesn't play well. I suspect the plan will be to play him for about 60 minutes then take him off. Potentially at half time if he's struggling with his fitness.

I can't remember the last time we played two out and out strikers. At least not for more than the odd game. So I think we can just rule out him playing that role.

I thought you felt his best position would be as striker? He doesn't have the game reading or creative skills to slot into the 'number 10' role.

More like 'some of us' had a rod out for his back whether he was playing well or not.

Personally though, I don't think it's purely mentality. We've been a team best suited to the counter attack for years, as I keep saying. When you're losing, the opposition often tighten up a bit, sit back, and we can't counter attack like that. We struggle a lot more when we have to break a team down. Conversely, when we go ahead, we can afford to do the same and opponents know we can be dangerous on the counter, so they can be wary of over committing, and if they do, we can counter and extend our lead. I think there's some mentality issues too, partly from being a young squad, but I don't think the tactical element should be ignored.

Definitely a mentality that had its roots in the Mowbray era, not a JDT thing. But we didn't know it didn't matter against Millwall until it was over. If anything that was the biggest pressure game of the season.

Might have needed to be a later kickoff due to Hertha flying over? Could be something in the competition rules, dunno. If not, it's just dumb.

That's not true at all. There have definitely been times he was particularly good. When he first came through he looked like he was going to the top, and he's had patches of fine form. The problem is consistency. This season though he seems to have regressed when you'd expect improvement, and as much as I've defended him in the past, he needs to improve to be worthy of more than occasional cameos at present. I don't think the bulking up he seems to have done has helped. He's a bit stronger but he's a bit slower too. He was never particularly fast over long distances, but he did have a good burst of pace and change of direction. That's diminished a bit and hampered his ability to beat a man properly. Small margins make a big difference. His loss of form is down to more than just that though, he really hasn't been on it all season.

The problem I have with that is we weren't the underdogs. I believe the bookies had us as favourites.

You don't really need to ask that question, do you?

I dunno how some plastic bin liners could possibly cost thousands at this scale. If they did, you can't expect him to source plastic seats for a couple quid each. Obviously not a shrewd operator. The crazy thing is the easiest way to save money would have been to just not do it at all. It would have stayed totally under the radar. Instead he's spent money to score an own goal.

John Williams always said he knew we could charge whatever to the diehard core, but also knew that wasn't the right way to grow the fanbase. Waggott has no such understanding, or if he does then he simply doesn't care.

If only you had some sort of ability to edit it...

Came here to say this. 4 league goals and an assist in 6 games (501 minutes). Last season, 5 league goals and 2 assists in 34 games (2,178 minutes). Should be nailed on to beat last season's tally, and you'd hope we can get at least 10 league goals out of him this season now. If he can get Dack-like numbers, but adds pressing intensity and fitness reliability (fingers crossed) then it vindicates management's decision to let Dack go. Of course, if there's an injury we're hugely reliant on Moran.

I wish I couldn't remember them.

Depends on what you're putting it relative to. Relative to the league he now plays in, yes it's pretty poor.

I'm not convinced he'd have stood out as someone with a good grasp of the media by having been Academy Manager at Glimt. But I agree he does quite a good job with the media given the circumstances.

Agreed, important we start being able to at least utilise him off the bench soon. This squad will be too stretched otherwise. Also good to see Telalovic notch a hat trick. I know it's only Rochdale (probably their B team) but he's clearly not struggling adapting to his new environment, and scored more than our other youth team option for the first team, Leonard. I was a bit disappointed that Ennis didn't feature though, clearly gonna be a bit longer for him than Siggy.

Behind closed doors friendly with Rochdale, we won 9-2. Not strictly the U21s but plenty of young players. 3 goals from Telalovic, 2 from Leonard, 1 each from Markanday ('top corner screamer'), Garrett, Zack Stritch and Nsangou. 60 minutes for Telalovic and James Hill. 30 minutes for Sigurdsson, 45 minutes for JRC.