Pears is grinning, he looks confident and like he's enjoying himself.

8 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Koumetio seems to have found his legs, no longer absolutely abject.

Settled down a bit, definitely has that clumsy looking long-leggedness but that can be a bit deceptive. 

The new Liverpool defender looks a bit panicked when the ball gets near him. 

Credit where it's due, that was good from Markanday

1. That's close to the best I've seen us play all season

2. Fadz has made a big difference

3. Dolan and Buckley looking really good, Moran not as much but a couple of good passes. 

Gallagher is actually a natural and pretty decent support striker - we used to say he has to play through the middle, but I think the reality is he needs to play through the middle with a strike partner. Sam and Sammie is a very good front line.

If he gets one tela has the look of a player who can get more to be fair. Overthinking it at the moment, there have been a few in the last few games he's played where he could have just smashed one.

1 minute ago, davulsukur said:

O'Riordan on for his debut 

Chrisene at wing back O'Riordan cb?

What odds Telalovic and Ennis scored in the same game?

Rothwell just scored twice in two minutes for Southampton

1 minute ago, pick32 said:

No chance Hedges was injured, you don’t spend months out and walk into a starting 11 without being on a bench or u21 match

I guess we'll see if his hamstring explodes ten minutes in

Do Stoke have two Ennises? BBC have Ennis starting at centre back...

Edit - checked their squad list, no 14 is Niall, BBC have him down as left cb.... Here's hoping!

Edit the edit- BBC have changed their mind, he's now down as left fullback in a back four.

Sparky is unemployed, I guess. Cheap, fans favourite, might actually be interested with a bit of a point to prove. History of injecting a bit of fight into a team. Ticks a lot of boxes. 

Get yer scrapers out, let's go barrel hunting.

Surely we'd be better off playing one of the new centre backs and having jrc in midfield next to sondre

Same formation as Vs Wrexham? 

1 minute ago, BankEnd Rover said:

So Ennis has paid for McGuires loan fee. 

Less whatever we paid him to be too unfit to get on the pitch in six months...

Though to be fair at the time he signed I thought it was a relatively low risk move, either he did the job or we sell him for a small profit. In a year I will have fully forgotten he ever played for us.

If playing FM has taught me anything then loyalty bonuses are different from having a 10% of the next sale clause in a players contract, both of which do exist.

If Wharton has a 10% clause (which at 1.8m on a 18m sale seems to be what twitter rando is suggesting) then it raises some questions - not least does he get the 1.8m in one go now whilst we get the 18m in installments? If so what are the installments?

I suspect it's nonsense but it could be exactly the kind of haggling over the wording of the contract that holds up a deal.

Imagine if palace are paying 3m every six months for three years, and we somehow agreed to it without realising that we're obliged to hand 1.8m of the first installment straight to Adam...

I've often thought that Pickering would be better as either a wide centre back in a 3 or a central defensive mid - uses his strengths and means his lack of pace (his biggest weakness imo) a bit less important - so I'd be happy with a back three and wingbacks, but I think if it was three at the back we'd play Carter - Hyam - Wharton.

I'm also keen to see a Gallagher/Sammie strike partnership - classic big guy/small guy oldschool pairing, could work.

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

Why Ipswich?

What big fee have that paid out to suggest they would pay what is required for Szmodic?

 

I don't think its likely, but to play devils advocate...

Teams gamble big on promotion*, Ipswich are in the automatic spots - £x million to bring in the leagues top scorer looks like a bargain if they go up...

The terrifying thing for me given all the swirling rumours is how much might the club actually accept for him. I suspect a lot of clubs would be interested in picking him up at a bargain price - in a way we should hope that he's holding out for a prem side to come in for him in this window, that way we might keep hold of him until the summer.

*you know, teams that aren't us.

I have absolutely no proof to back it up, but if we'd known that Venkys were going to eviscerate the budget with a rusty machete in advance of the transfer window opening I'm sure that the Ennis and Telalovic money would have been spent on one player.

Taking a punt on cheap strikers is a good thing, low risk and potentially high reward - when you already have strikers, and you can afford to write off the expenditure if they don't pan out long term (see Joe Nuttal etc.), issue being that we don't have strikers and we can't afford to write off the money. Honestly think we'd be ok with both signings if we had a Danny Graham type in the squad - you'd be bringing them on after 60 or 70 mins, maybe they bag a goal here or there... Careers change on such things.

Also, in the face of all recent evidence, for whatever reason I still have a gut feeling that Wahlstedt will turn out OK. Probably wishful thinking.

1 minute ago, ItsRoverZ said:

We haven't got anyone to bring on really? Maybe telalovic and markandy?

Leonard and Hill are probably the most established first team players on the bench I'd think? But yes, four players at a stretch and then you're into the kids.

One thing JDT seems very consistent about is not playing players until they are absolutely fully fit and ready to go - I wonder whether the tail end of last season when Scott Wharton was arguably rushed back in and had a couple of absolute nightmare games may have played a part in it. Other managers would give players half an hour here or there to build match fitness, but Tomasson seems to avoid even that as much as possible - not sure if its a good or bad thing to be honest.

Sammie 'not a striker' Szmodics

6 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Travis at RB is a disaster waiting to happen, too much emphasis on bombing forward, no positional responsibility, knackered by the time he makes it back.

 

Not able to watch today - has Trav really gone to RB when Brittain is on the pitch?? I thought we'd gone Brittain - Hill - Carter -Pickering at the back and Trav in mid

13 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Hirst, Ennis  and Telalović.... the sum total of Gregg's efforts to find a striker

 

 

Those and the championships leading goal scorer