roversfan99

Exactly. If either does stay then I think they still have to prove their worth and it would likely be as squad players. Players like that wont take us anywhere if we have a slither of ambition.

I expect him to start v Swansea as he seems to be a favourite of Eustace. Even on Tuesday, Cantwell was stuck wide to build the team around him. Ideally he and Hedges will leave at the end of the season and we will make considerable upgrades across those attacking areas. That being said, we will only have Cantwell contracted into next season so I expect they will stay and again feature regularly with a small budget only allowing us to bring in more squad players.

I also have big concerns about him. Technically really poor and I wonder if he will even get up to 8/9 goals which even Gallagher got to in most seasons here. Just looks like a lump.

Eustace mentioned post match that the game plan basically was to rely on the subs to change the game. I found that a bit alarming, we shouldnt just be going to away games to teams like Plymouth without much intention to attack initially, and we played like a side trying to cling on and hope to be in the game towards the end. Our away form is very poor this season and I am not convinced that our fans spending good money following us across the country are likely to see too many wins without a change of tact.

Ohashi would probably come back in up top. Cozier Duberry would come in on the right wing, Cantwell for Dolan, JRC at RB, Beck at left back. Dunno who would play left wing, maybe give Sigurdsson a go. Probably Hyam and Carter CB, Tronstad and maybe Travis or if not then Baker. I want to see Toth in goal but Pears did well today in fairness. Regarding your service point, I think 2 things. Firstly, its not a case of a striker being solely reliant on service, obviously there is a big element of that but also you dont seem to consider that an attackers movement and anticipation mean that natural goalscorers almost create their own chances. Take Szmodics last season, we had a poor team that created little but he knew how to make clever runs, sniff out chances and ended up top scorer in a poor side. But obviously better service and more attacking gives them a better chance. You have regularly defended Dolan and Hedges but they have repeatedly shown that they arent very effective in the final third. I am certainly not convinced on Gueye though. He is technically very poor and clumsy and he clearly isnt a natural goalscorer. He had a good opening in the first 30 seconds that he wasted. He does have some potentially useful attributes but the more I see him the more concerned I am. He initially benefitted from the fact that our strikers were so poor last season that it felt like anyone was an improvement but that alone wont be enough to sustain high opinion of him.

Does anyone forsee big changes ahead of the next game? I think the front 4 should all be replaced, as well as new full backs. But I would predict maybe one or two changes.

Whilst people have perhaps overrated the squad and certainly the recruitment, he definitely has a lot of blame for these 2 no shows. Persisting with the same players, things like Carter over JRC at RB and the same underperformers in attack.

Absolutely terrible again today and we seem to be getting worse and worse. Eustace again got his selection totally wrong and after scoring an undeserved equaliser, the game management was non existent. It is a good job that our home form is perfect because our away form is shocking. Gueye again appears more and more of a donkey with each passing game. Hedges anonymous, Dolan is just not good enough and Weimann is too old to be flogged every game. The slow defence was ripped apart too often and Carter should never play at RB again. Pears in the main had routine saves to make but did well and was our best player, he had one typical spill but made up for it by improvising. The subs improved things but it seems like Eustace has his favourites and will keep sticking with them. Rankin Costello improved us at right back, Cozier Duberry again improved us and Ohashi improved us. Cantwell didnt seem to fancy it and Sigurdsson didnt do much. A great start has turned into a ok/decent one with Eustace making strange decisions and leaving us with a lot to figure out. Has the recruitment really been as good as everyone assumed?

Crap so far. Eustace has got his starting 11 wrong again and we seem to be getting worse. JRC should be at RB, Carter is being humiliated again there and our slow defence in general is having rings run around them. Our stodgy and ineffective attack has done little bar be caught offside.

I know he clearly doesnt. But my opinion doesnt align with that.

As I expected. Stodgy on paper with flair and the ability to take people on sat on the bench. Plus a centre back at right back and JRC on the bench. Hopefully we can grind out a win.

The line up could be anything it feels. Hes probably more likely to stodge it up with players like Hedges and JRC wide and Dolan central as he is pragmatic. But I hope to see the team built around Cantwell and also the directness of Cozier Duberry out wide. Hopefully we wont have Carter at RB either.

How can you possibly put all of your eggs in the basket of someone yet to even prove himself at Premier League level? Neither warrants a regular England spot.

Carter looked exactly like a centre back playing at right back. He had a torrid evening with Wright constantly getting past him. Cantwell out wide hinders him going forward and hes never going to be someone to graft and protect his full back. Get him in the middle and play around him.

Meslier's mistake was similar to Pears v Sheffield Wednesday in that it was a total freak goal. Dreadful mistakes but in isolation can just be written off. The issue with Pears has always been the quantity of mistakes. Had he not made so many throughout last season then anyone can make that mistake.

There just seems to be a total absence of English left backs of a reasonable standard. Either Hall or Davis would have to prove themselves at Premier League level before we can think of giving them a run in the England team.

The difficulty is, you are comparing Championship football with playing against kids.

I thought against Blackpool in his only senior game (bar a couple of minutes at turf moor) he wasnt really tested defensively, he showed real athleticism and pace but technically struggled and his final ball was lacking. Not doubting he has something about him but we have a player who is proven as a very effective Championship right back sat on the bench collecting dust.

I think many people have also suggested to drop Ohashi too for Gueye.

I dont know. My point was not a criticism of roverandout, just me commenting on how weak we are in that position. Hall struggles to get a regular game, Davis is not the best defensively and unproven at the top level. Wont make a difference against crap sides in pointless games. Impacted us in the summer and will going forward in big games.

He might be promising but he isnt a regular at Newcastle. And Davis has only just started playing at Premier League level and has huge defensive question marks.

The fact that those 2 are even in the reckoning shows how light we are in that position The whole squad is imbalanced as we know. Totaly devoid of any left backs. We have 3 of the very best attacking midfielders but all of them need to play central to get the best of them, just off the striker. 3 into 1 doesnt go.

I think the point is not specific to one manager. The Solanke call up is fairly immaterial anyway, he probably wont play with Kane and Watkins ahead of him. Im sure we will comfortably beat both poor sides in these glorified friendlies in a very long 2 weeks before we can get back to proper football. Why is Kyle Walker back in the squad, he will be 36 by the next World Cup.

We do but there is an imbalance to those options. Most want to play as a number 10 and there is an absence of pace. You seem to think that Dolan will score 10 goals playing there, not much suggestion or evidence of that. Cantwell like many of our options is better centrally, but has the most quality. Cant see the logic in sticking him wide where we wont provide the full back with much if any protection, when he is by far our best player at the taking the ball in tight spaces, and on the assumptiom that Dolan can score loads of goals there. Dolan isnt as good as Cantwell.

Portsmouth look like out of the 3 promoted teams, they are the ones who arent up to the standard of the Championship. Yet to win and their side doesnt look on paper like one with anywhere near enough quality, with the loss of Colby Bishop an added blow. Oxford and Derby have been competitive and whilst I wouldnt rule out either being dragged in to a real scrap, they look a level up from Pompey.