Seems like he should be talking to Poveda instead.

No. But we're not great.

Jesus christ, I remember comments about aspiring to be Brentford, but did he really say it would take 5 years to build to where they were at the time? That's shocking, but the worst part is that it was probably wildly optimistic under current club management.

Yeh there are nicer non-league stadiums than that now.

The real deal? Presumably not on the same kind of level they see Phillips as the real deal?

I don't mind Buckley and think he could still have a good future, but there would be plenty of names on the sheet before his.

Don't think its been mentioned here yet unless I was being dozy, but Phillips has agreed to a 3 year deal (most that can be done for now) for when he turns 17.

As I am struggling to understand the point you're trying to make. You've decided it's a non-story because you've also decided something is happening in the background which you know nothing about. Anybody can make up some crap happening in the background to try to explain away anything. As we have seen with these ludicrous covid conspiracy theories. Basically you're failing the burden of proof to declare this a non-story.

....or, they're using a combination of analytics and live scouts, both of which probably yield finds and support the results of each other.

So it's a definite non story because you've fabricated another way in which staff may or may not be getting around it? Right...

I don't agree that Johnson should come in when fit. I consider him a bit of a liability. He can be fantastic when he is on it, but it's not often enough. The only thing he really brings to the table over the others is muscle, and occasionally a belting shot - again, when he is on it. He's clumsy and slow and I would use him sparingly. Shouldn't have even been signed on again.

Congrats Joe, and good luck in the new role. I'm sure you'll do great!

I thought you might pedant your way out of it. But are we really criticising a couple of decent shots from 25 yards not resulting in goals?

Why did the keeper save one then?

Lee Williamson, Lowe and Akpan. And Murphy and Etuhu even though you've discarded them for arbitrary reasons. Lowe in particular was far, far worse than Smallwood. The worst player I've ever seen clock in a gobsmacking 173 appearances for us. Abysmal player. He could run a lot and that was literally it. Terrible at passing, tackling, shooting (except that one beauty), positioning, the lot. Brain dead and talentless. Oh and Murphy did reach 30ish, unfortunately. 33 to be exact. Andrews was comfortably a better player than Smallwood though, at this level.

Absolutely, all that ever matters is what happens on the day. Even recent form only gives a vague barometer. "Big club, Barnsley, how can we be expected to match a team who reached the playoffs?"

Hard disagree. They are miniscule compared to us. There are some similarities sure, but they have fuck-all credentials in English football history at the top tier, we have fucktons.

They do. I think he could cope in the Prem though, for the right team with the right expectations. I also think his weapon of charging near the byline and cutting it across can work up there, as well as his ability to carry the ball from deep (which he seems to do less this season for some reason), so he wouldn't be completely impotent attacking wise.

I don't know if Butterworth has 90 minutes in him yet. Like others have said, he wasn't looking fully fit at the end of his cameo. Not too surprising as he hasn't been getting u23 games or much time for our first team, but like I said before I also suspect from the way he was moving that he was feeling his back a bit. I'd start Khadra and bring Butterworth on at around 60 minutes as an impact sub, until he has more sustained running in him.

Hull manager moaning that their disallowed goal shouldn't have been. I wasn't convinced by any of the offside calls made against either side up until that point tbh, but I didn't get a replay or a clear angle. Did anybody get a good look at it?

With Butterworth, my concern isn't so much that he looked knackered, more the way he was carrying himself in that phase. From his posture it looked to me like his back might have been acting up a bit. Hope I'm wrong as despite not being on for even a full half, he was one of the most impactful players on the pitch. Regarding our league position, and the tidal wave of optimism some fans are on (not so much on here) because of our unexpected good start...absolutely we would have all taken that before the season. But notes of caution, that I probably don't need to tell most on this forum: We have been here before, and most of us know a good run is frequently followed by a death spiral under this manager. We have ridden our luck at times and I wouldn't say we deserve the points haul we have. That said, I don't care about that, but results, it's just unlikely to last all season and we probably need to improve performances. I don't mean in TM's tippy tappy terms of keeping more possession. Apart from WBA, who thoroughly outplayed us, the highest any of the teams we have played is placed, is 12th. The rest are 17th or lower. So they're almost exclusively teams who have had a bad start to the season (even if part of that is due to us). For me, the squad is still too thin, the manager too shit and our midfield too easily overrun. I still expect us to be more likely to finish bottom half than top half. The good start might give us enough of a comfort blanket to not get drawn seriously into a relegation scrap though hopefully, especially if we can keep grinding out results a bit longer.

Tbh we looked just as vulnerable as the last half hour against Luton. Just fortunately this time the opposition couldn't put it away.

I'm amazed to see Tony trusting having Dolan, Butterworth and Khadra all on the same pitch. Credit where it's due, his subs on Saturday were idiotic and disastrous, but these ones have transformed the game and been spot on. Question marks over whether they should have been starting, but an injection of pace is more effective later in the game than at the start. We need to stop letting Hull in though to avoid a repeat outcome.

I'm not sure we can call Clarkson and Buckley off for Khadra and Butterworth 'like for like'. Very different players. Agree good to see them knowing what they're doing though.

He saw them, bragged about them before the Luton game, then kept them sat on the bench so Gally could silly-bollocks around.