Definitely a possibility, yeah.

ha fair. My bad. You are indeed correct. They just got even worse when the takeover was completed.

It's more 2 of the 4 being injured. I'd say it's quite likely that Carter and Wharton are injured at the same time. Leaving us just McLoughlin and Hyam to play every minute of every game and hoping they don't get suspended. Last season we at least had Sanderson to call upon if required when Wharton and Carter were both out injured for the long term.

Only playing 1 striker is a factor for sure. I'd still add one if we could. Carter is quite injury prone and when he gets injured, it's usually for months at a time. Wharton has been out for a long time and is highly unlikely to be ready to play week in week out. Will very likely pick up minor injuries along the way. I think the odds are that we'll end up with just Hyam and McLoughlin as our only fit centre backs for large portions of the season (without signing another) 5 probably is too many, if all 5 stay fit but chances of that happening are slim.

Yeah, I'm not sure you can have a DM who can play RW. Certainly feels like the positions (or at least what you want from players in those positions) couldn't be further apart. Yeah we desperately need a decent RW

It would be a huge risk not signing a centre back, so we must be looking for another. We only have Hedges for RW, which isn't nearly enough, so there's 2. Not sure if Baradji can play as a winger, I'm sure I read somewhere that he had played RW before.

A quick Google suggests that a stress fracture can be caused by repetitive actions. Can only assume that this might end up being a reoccurring injury that he picks up, even if he let's it heal completely. Perhaps some athletes are just prone to it more than others, I dunno. You would think though, that either modern sports science would be able to monitor it well enough or adjust his training to reduce the chances of it reoccurring. All speculation on my part but it still feels like we'd be able to make an informed decision as to whether it's worth the risk or not. The fact we are allegedly going back with a pay as you play deal suggests the risk is significant enough that it's not worth pursuing the deal.

I don't get this situation. He's either injured and therefore can't/shouldn't play or he's actually fit to play. Rumours were the medical flagged up a stress fracture in his foot? There must be treatment for this type of injury, even if it's just rest and therefore we can decide if he'd be worth signing or not.

I think we'll do ok pre-xmas and then the usual post xmas collapse. We'll be no where near the play offs this time around though, 15th - 20th with the club narrative that we are in a "transitional phase" pushed out constantly.

I agree, definitely a squad game. Could definitely make an argument that overall it's weaker, at best we'd stand still which is basically going backwards in this game.

That was our starting 11 for the opening game last season. Much of a muchness really between that and the one we are likely to field at the start of this season. Even if we go with the starting 11 of the last game it's still going to be similar: You swap Batth and Dolan out of that 11 for McLoughlin and De Neve and as it stands that's probably the starting 11 we field against WBA. I don't think the team is weaker as such but it definitely hasn't improved at all.

Isak also wanting to "explore other opportunities", despite winning a cup and qualifying for the Champions League. Can only assume he's got a move to Liverpool lined up, not sure why else he'd want to bail on them right now. Huge blow to them if he leaves. They became a proper entitled bunch of insufferable twats as soon as the takeover was completed.

Nixon also said that the players in question didn’t travel abroad with the rest of his team for their training camp. Pears went to Spain.

6pm UK time. I can't link the tweet right now but it's on there from this morning

I didn't know they had the same agent. Certainly explains the somewhat random move to La Liga. Although I don't think it will map out the same for Dolan, BBD did manage to bag a premier league move after just 6 months at Villarreal with a loan to Sheff Utd (unless he already has a loan to the dingles lined up in January)

Didn't realise Batty had pace, always good to have in any position. He's not getting much of a look in during the pre-season games though, is he injured?

I agree that we don't need 3 left backs, which kinda begs the question why we signed Batty up for another season. I think Beck would have done a great job playing further forward though. Also, Pickering is prone to a good injury lay off as well, so would have been great cover for that too.

Good move for him. So glad we've learned our lessons from the past, that £90k compo will go far.

Shame he's gone to Derby. Would have loved to have brought him back here.

No further update on Hyam's new contract that was "close" about 2 weeks ago. Strange that.

Biggest frustration is that we've basically developed him and then when he finally started to show the makings of a decent championship player, he's walked for free. Not his fault, all on the clubs hierarchy. That said, if he goes to The Dingles, as Espanyol are their sister club (and we know how much they love their sisters 🥴), he can get fucked.

Dolan signing for Espanyol, apparently Which means no compo for us.

Am I the only one who thinks Montgomery looks like a decent player?

Cheers. Made that mistake before I'm sure.