The one he fumbled minutes after the goal he conceded was worse, he spilt it unnecessarily but thankfully Norwich's misfiring attack couldnt capitalise. But like with the crosses it seems to not be a one off. You throw in the crosses in which it isnt an occasional issue and surely you would not like to be a defender in front of someone who appears a bag of nerves.

To have 3 centre backs unavailable simultaneously is obviously quite unlucky albeit not inconceivable, but the issue is made a lot worse by the fact that we dont even have any other players who can do a reasonable job there outside of the 4, nor any depth at full back. Had we got a second senior left back for example, even with only one centre back, ideally he could do a job at CB but even if not, we could at least still then keep him at LB, Brittain RB, and we would be left with one player in the back line out of position, not 3. It would show what Tomasson feels in terms of how far away Batty is if he doesnt play. There was an article a couple of weeks ago in the LT with Broughton quoted about how we never planned to sign a left back because of Batty with all of the usual "blocking pathways" spiel which to me seemed like a positive spin on a negative situation with the budget slashing. If Batty doesnt play, it shows that potentially Tomasson didnt agree with that.

We will never know exactly why Tomasson opted not to drop Pears last season. Did he simply rate Pears higher? Or prefer his supposed abaility on the ball over what Kaminski gave us? Im not convinced by either of those, Kaminski had been preferred before that and was about to start the season as number 1. Was it because he knew Kaminski was likely to leave? He still selected Morton and Brereton knowing they would leave so I doubt that. I personally think it was probably an ill judged decision but based on not wanting to drop Pears (which would potentially have been seen as harsh as at the time he hadnt done too badly, albeit he wasnt winning us points like Kaminski had done prior to injury) potentially causing problems in the dressing room, and also with Kaminski potentially being seen as rusty having missed a couple of months with injury, with it being quite late in the season. Luton cant be blamed either for messing us around, im sure we have also like any club put in lower initial bids for players to try and get prices down, its only normal. We got ourselves our supposed top target still, unfortunately he has struggled since he started playing.

An aging Henderson following a year in Saudi Arabia, Phillips who is bang average and wont have played football in a couple of years and Maguire who calamity seems to follow around. Get our name on the trophy. And the main issue, the man who keeps selecting them. (We do obviously have some excellent players too)

He did it at least on 2 major occasions today, once for the goal and once leading to another goal at the end. He also did it a couple of times on Wednesday. Twice a game is regularly. He had made 3 saves aside from totally routine ones that I can remember, the one from the header, the one v Cardiff and the one v Swansea. I think all 3 you would be disappointed to see any respectable keeper concede, id say they were all good saves. Hes made 3 major errors leading to goals and quite a few others that he has been lucky with. But Kaminski had a Premier League team actively wanting him and willing to bid 3m, and he would have been on higher wages with owners focusing more on clawing back money than any on field ambition. And he actively wanted to go. So its not a case of which we would prefer to see leave.

That was prior to his pre match interview when he said that hes out until after the international break.

He does, and we went from being in a play off position to a winless run leaving us outside. Why is it difficult to accept on a messageboard that I might have my own opinion rather than just saying "it doesnt matter, this is what happened." The problem is, you can say any player has strengths and weaknesses but when a weakness is such a weakness that it potentially undermines the rest of your performance, that is when it becomes a real issue. It isnt just not as good as other areas, its a regular more than once a game issue. It cost us a goal midweek, today crosses didnt lead to a goal but obviously more than once he dropped crosses that thankfully didnt lead to goals due to poor Norwich attacking and last ditch defending. I also havent seen that he is a "very good shot stopper." All keepers will obviously save shots, in his appearances he hasnt actually faced that many shots due to some excellent defending. To give him his credit, he made a really good save against Cardiff, he made a good one from a header today and he made a decent one early in the second half v Swansea. But he also regularly saves shots back into dangerous areas, we saw that more than once today including for a goal and again its not only from today. You also look at the goal v Millwall, that wasnt cross related, it was a tame header that he failed to save. So there is a mix of decent saves and handling errors either leading to goals or secondary chances. Im clearly not on my own in finding him to be a total bombscare at the moment. His weaknesses massively outweigh his strengths and I would hate to be playing in front of him. Hopefully he can improve massively very quickly because I appreciate the difficulties of moving countries etc but we cant afford for him to keep doing what he is doing because we have actually been quite lucky that his poor goalkeeping has only led to 3 goals conceded and that 2 were in games we won.

Well equally all of our opinions are irrelevant. He preferred him when Pears was in the team, presumably he felt that it wpuld upset the applecart. He made the wrong decision then. Pre season selections suggest Kaminski would have reverted to number 1. Unfortunately he was sold and we are left with 2 liabilities.

Kaminski had a move to the Premier League because he is a very good keeper at this level, contrary to those who seemed to prefer Pears. He would have pushed for that move regardless. We should never have started a season with Hilton as number 2. But with a small fraction of the proceeds for Kaminski, we seem to have spent it on a dud.

We say this sort of thing every time. We also have Southgate in the dug out, Maguire at CB and Phillips or Henderson in midfield.

Its going to be a real struggle just because of the fact that we have a calamity goalkeeper and only 1 fit centre back meaning that our defence will be totally imbalanced. A shame because they are nothing special. I wonder how we will adjust the front 4 without having the "luxury" of being able to put a full back in there, will Leonard, Markanday or Sigurdsson come in?

Im not sure there will be lots of interest. Hes not young and he isnt Premier League standard or a long term investment. He took painkillers after he scored his first so definitely.

Great win away from home, a third on the bounce and showed a mixture of dangerous counter attacking play then grit to keep them down to few chances. We started both halves brilliantly although had a bad second half to the first half where we became very sloppy and let a side totally bereft of confidence and backing create numerous chances that thankfully they wasted. Dolan and Szmodics were really good, although the latter is definitely playing in pain as he had some painkillers after his first. Moran was good on the ball but very lazy off it. Hill, Tronstad and Pickering also did really well, Adam Wharton was sloppy at times. Obviously the elephant in the room is the absolute clown we have in net. He scares the shit out of me and no doubt the rest of the team, its not just the occasional error, its repeated incompetence. He cannot deal with crosses and he also tips cross shots back into play. Incredibly Pears is miles safer than him. I do worry about Friday not only with him in net but with a lack of defenders too.

Again a really imbalanced team with a depressing lack of goal threat. A front 3 comprising of a right back on the wing, a number 10 on the wing and a winger up front. It shows again how much the budget cuts have hindered us when you have one striker we signed on the bench probably unlikely to come on with Leonard also on there and the other with the under 21s. We cant even rely on a scrappy 1 nil set piece goal approach as we dont cross the ball in! Norwich to be fair look really week too, no Sargent and Barnes and also injuries at centre back with a young lad making his debut.

Im thankful we have a deep, balanced squad to protect against injuries.

Wahlstedt Brittain Hill Wharton Pickering Tronstad Wharton Rankin Costello Szmodics Dolan Ennis

A first choice striker who is 6 years from his peak? If he is, he will be long gone before his peak anyway. But first choice is somewhat by default due to the fact that the manager doesnt feel (potentially with good reason) that either of the strikers signed in the summer warrant consideration to start games. Thats what you get for peanuts, a totally unfit player and a German 4th division player. This is why the play offs are a total pipe dream. Leonard has a bit about him, good movement but he is weak, not very quick and his finishing is not up to scratch. He runs through and you expect him to put it wide. Not his fault, we shouldnt be so reliant on him.

Dropping our only goal threat to accomdate Telalovic isnt a start of anything id like to see. You could use your argument to anything. If someone suggested Wahlstedt up top and Leonard in net, its a start too.

Dropping our top scorer to stick on a 4th German tier forward would certainly be an interesting move. I think the only similarities to the Owen and Heskey partnership and a potential Telalovic and Ennis/Dolan one would be that one is taller than the other.

Hes never a player playing off the front man, problem has been he played earlier in the season when Tomasson was playing far too gung ho leaving Wharton alone to protect the defence. He should sit deep and dictate, taking it off the defence, but alongside Tronstad or even Travis but under the more defensive tactics we have seen recently. I would go Tronstad next to Wharton and then Rankin Costello off the right, because he links well with Brittain and we dont otherwise have a right winger bar Markanday who isnt good enough.

Presumably at his own performance levels after 3 terrible ones before coming on to miss a sitter yesterday. Although ive no idea how you have ascertained that. Tomasson has seemed fed up since really seeing what these owners are like.

Every keeper makes mistakes, obviously. Its the quantity and how bad they are. Wahlstedt has made 2 absolute howlers (especially the Millwall one) in the last 3 games. Throw in a total inability to catch a ball and you would not like to be a defender in front of him. Kaminski made a couple of big mistakes when he was carrying an injury. Youll also find one or two others dotted around during his time here. But in general, he commanded his box, he made saves he wasnt entitled to and the defenders could feel comfortable with him behind them.

I doubt that its his thinking, more a case of being stuck with it. No point under these owners expecting to be able to improve the squad when we sell players.

Indeed, and also a clear foul on Sterling by Travis.

Even going through on goal, I had no confidence that he was going to score. His eventual effort was terrible, really weak and off target. He has missed a number of chances (he does find himself in good positions to be fair) and not only that, he keeps missing the target. It was shit, we shouldn't be reluctant to say that because of his age. Of course, the fact that he is our main striker whilst Gallagher is out is a sad indictment on the owners and the cuts they have inflicted causing such a shoddy, thin squad. Good point on the Sterling penalty, it was a definite one after a stupid challenge.