21 hours ago, dallydally said:

He's a liability. Why on earth did we sign him??

I honestly think Ennis was signed way before they found out that the budget was going to be slashed - if we had signed a first choice striker then Ennis spending six months in the reserves wouldn't be an issue. If we hadn't already signed Ennis once the money was cut then we might have pooled the Ennis and Telalovic money and signed one striker with it. Turning off the tap was bad but I think doing it with no warning long after the transfer window had already opened was the mallet that really rammed home the cactus enema.

On 14/11/2023 at 08:10, davulsukur said:

Too early to judge Telalovic, i agree.

Ennis is a strange one though, something's not right there. He's 24, has over 100 career appearances at first team level, admittedly at League one level, and has made 25+ appearances in the last 3 seasons. He had his fitness issues/injuries but is surely past those now. JDT opts to not play a striker and doesn't always bring Ennis on if we need a goal.

Not sure if it's caution with his previous injuries, not showing enough in training or just not good enough?

Honestly if we had a senior starting striker and we signed Ennis and Telalovic I think they'd be seen as very acceptable gambles even if they didn't work out long term - much as Nuttall was a few years ago. If we had a Danny Graham now they'd be under a lot less pressure to perform immediately. I still think Ennis was signed with the assumption that we'd also sign a first choice forward, he was through the door before the budget was slashed - it's possible that if we'd known we would need that wage to go towards a first team regular they might have pulled the plug on the deal and we'd now have one striker on the combined wage of Ennis and Telalovic starting every week. Sadly we'll never know.

Unfortunately in hindsight we both couldn't afford to sign a guaranteed striker and couldn't afford not to sign a guaranteed striker. Rock and a hard place.

Pull Tronstad into defence and get Trav on for one of the forwards? What's the play?

I was having a conversation with someone who had watched Leo play in Norway quite regularly and he was raving about him - 'best keeper in the division', 'how did you get him so cheap?', 'top, top keeper, will be a first choice international' etc.

Seemed quite surprised when I said he hadn't had a very good start, but it does give me hope he's worth persevering with.

Scott has looked better last couple of games he's had, I genuinely think a lot of the back 5 problems last year came from him being brought back from injury too soon. JRC on will help energise the midfield. 

Starting 11 a bit questionable but it'll be nice to be able to bring attacking players off the bench - I fancy the new lad for a 30 minute cameo against tired defenders.

Bellingham has been stitched up in this game to shoehorn in Henderson. 

Southgate has definitely entered the 'in the job too long' period of his tenure - odd selections, picking favourites, the players don't look like they understand their instructions. 

We'll still qualify but it's only going downhill from here.

Atcheson on, whoever he is

Get a goal lad

BBC has Markanday - Buckley -Moran right to left, but I suspect it's academic

On 04/08/2023 at 13:37, rigger said:

If we are playing two center-halves, I would say Gamble is nowhere near the first team, yet. If we play with three center-halves, he is still nowhere near.

Welp he's a starting first team right back now, sink or swim time.

BBC have it down at the usual formation with Pickering at RB and Wharton LB, here's hoping the opposition wingers are rubbish.

Edit - bbc have changed their mind and now have Pickering left and gamble right. 

Back five? I don't think there's a natural right back in that lineup - unless we've got Buckley and Pickering as wing backs?

Leo

Buckley Gamble Hyam Wharton Pickering

Tronstad Garrett

Markanday Gally Moran

Or does Gamble play right back? 

Tronstad is about the only defensive player we have left on the bench, barring an unlikely Gamble debut, surely he needs to get on

Get Tronstad on for Szmods (give him a breather), go for a Trav-Tron double pivot, Wharton in front of them, HOLD.

Edit - JDT brings on Scott and goes to a back five, honestly I prefer my idea but here's hoping it does the trick!

Edited edit - or not, JRC off, back four of Carter, Wharton, Hyam, Brittain, formation as you were.

4 minutes ago, Polky said:

No Buckley in the U21’s either 🤷🏻‍♂️

Injured or off then, I guess that if there is a buyer he plays in a position we actually have depth in, I'd rather he was kept as I do think there is player in there but successive managers have struggled to find a role for him. Dear lord if he does go we've got to get bodies in though - Gamble, Garrett and Bloxham making the bench shows how thin the squad is at the moment.

I think there is a positive in that this is probably the thinnest our attacking options will be all season - Effectively Sigurdsson, Ennis out, Gallagher and Moran unfit/unready to start and hopefully (surely?!) we will sign one more forward, all of whom probably are ahead of Dolan, Leonard and Hedges - and we're still looking alright.

We can absolutely get a 1:0 here, we aren't out of it by any means.

The new keeper out with illness... Is this a flu episode affecting the squad kind of deal?

1 minute ago, joey_big_nose said:

Not sure we can play 12 players?

Noticed that as I hit submit! It's been a long week...

I did think I was stretching a bit to include Tronstad. We'd win a few more games that way to be fair. 

I think that after the first three games our stand out line up would look something like (ie. the best lineup purely based on what we've seen so far this season)

GK

Brittain Carter Hyam Pickering

JRC A.Wharton

Hedges Szmodics Gilsenan

Ennis

Haven't seen the new keeper play yet, so Pears gets the nod on the first three games but I would like a look at Leo sooner rather than later. I'm assuming both Wharton and JRC also drop back to help cover when needed. Gilsenan gets the nod over Dolan and Markanday as he had a stand out performance in the cup, might get wrecked if actually played in the championship but that's always a risk. Bit Harsh on Leonard, assume he gets minutes off the bench.

Didn't end up close, I hope they're paying Kaminski well because he's going to take a hiding over the course of the season. I know we didn't exactly see the best of Bell, but a starting Premier league centre back?

I will be interested in who scores more this season - Sammy or Dack.

Advantage Sammy.

4 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I'll take the bet that he won't. If he gets half that I'll be incredibly surprised.

Gallagher has averaged about 8 goals a season whilst not playing as a first choice out and out central striker. If he was the main striker for a season, playing through the middle, he should get to 10 fairly comfortably, and 12 wouldn't be outlandish, but probably much more than that is unlikely.

I don't really want him to be our out and out starting centre forward for the whole season though.

1 hour ago, booth said:

Where the hell has Gilsenan come from, and can he do it against Championship teams?

La Masia, bizarrely. How he's ended up here I have no clue. As for whether he can do it in the championship I hope we get to find out soon!