If you wanted a summary of our transfer window. We badly needed a striker this summer. 1 nil down to Swansea at home, 2 signings on the bench, none come on.

People are behind this team. Its impossible to put the owners to one side though as they have obviously inflicted all of the frustrations that have led to the limations of our small and young squad. They hardly gave him a shit tonne of money. The overall net spend over his tenure was minimal and like with Tomasson, it becomes all concentrated in one summer. We spent £4m without generating funds last summer, this summer basically the opposite happened. Point being, Venkys havent suddenly become this huge hindrance since Tomasson took over. They provide no manager with sustained support, and I dont even mean repeated transfer splurges. Just a consistent plan with a lack of interference and the ability to trade. Thus, regardless of who is in tbe dug out, while Venkys are here, they will have one hand tied behind their back and as well as struggling against teams with bigger resources, they are having to do it against a lack of support from the club itself. Mowbray wasnt this special illogical chosen one, its been the same shit since Venkys joined. In the last 2 seasons under 2 different managers, weve been managed really well for the first 2/3 of the season under 2 different managers, overachieving, then it caught up on us. Even if the first bit repeats itself this season, no backing in January, a young squad and a lack of experience will see it happen again.

Why do we have to be coaches to have an opinion on a player? Will Telalovic even come on tomorrow to make a difference? People are judging based not only on his appearances thus far but where he has come from, such a poor level at a decent age. A symptom of the budget cuts. The manager seems unwilling to use him even when we dont have a striker. Writing him off totally is obviously dangerous but equally I feel like youve earmarked him as a potential difference maker tomorrow over the likes of Sigurdsson and Leonard tomorrow more as a front against these "embarassing" people.

Who recently has made it out as a disaster? And either way, your point was that we should just trust the scouts. For me, that implies just blindly assuming that they will get it right. And that in turn shuts down being able to criticise or question those signings people dont agree with. Youve just missed out the signings made that have been crap. And then whilst some of this may be true, those in the middle need time/have scored in knock abouts against scratch teams or have shown signs. Either way, its not like a vast majority/all are undoubted successes to the point where we all withold our opinions and just simply trust them. I would consider the window to be a mixed bag so far, some that look good, some that are mixed and some that look short. Obviously massively hindered by uncompetitive budget issues. Last summer was a mixed bag too. I dont necessarily think the new structure and the increase of analysts etc have led to much improvement in transfers so far that we have seen.

The problem on platforms like that is that the very vocal and terrible minority can directly message him. I dont see any benefit to footballers being on twitter personally. But his performances down to the very basic level over a lengthy period of time were terrible.

The thing with Wahlstedt is that it isnt a case of doing what he wants because its comfortable. He clearly elects to punch basically everything and does more often that not get a clear punch out of the area, but even then the ball is in play and can and often is then put back into the box. Its a problem entirely avoidable by just catching in the first place and only punching if it is really unlikely that youd be able to catch it. He came for a cross on Saturday and totally missed it and it could have led to a goal. He chose to unnecessarily punch a tame Bradshaw header behind for a corner last night. Against QPR he once was forced into a save because he punched it and the ball came straight back in. It will cost us. Players do make mistakes, no one is expeccting perfection. But last nights was a double mistake, he initially hesitated and then the ball squirming past him was inconceivable.

Ive never got this debate closing "put trust" into recruitment argument, why can we not discuss and predict what we make of signings without blindly agreeing? But why would this summer enforce that anyway? It has not been atypically successful, certainly not yet. You look especially at the most likely to be data driven, the foreign unknowns. Telalovic must have been found by the data driven analysts and look how far away he seems.

Its crazy how much judgement on the transfer window seems to have changed since the window closed. The 2 that seemed to get the most excitement were Sigurdsson and Wahlstedt. Sigurdsson came with an interesting CV to directly replace our only goal threat from last season, and he scored a few goals, but his general performance level has not been particularly good and he has looked sluggish, maybe partly a symptom of not being fully fit. If he gets a decent goal haul that is the most important thing and he has shown signs of knowing how to score. Wahlstedt had the low low benchmark of Pears and has only conceded 2 but one was one of the worst mistakes youll ever see and he has been well protected, plus his inability to catch has caused some panic. Both have work to do to justify the excitement as they settle in. On the flip side, two who came through the door with little fanfare were Hill and Tronstad. Hill has suddenly emerged as not only a really useful player but his performances in an unfamiliar role have forced us to fit our other 2 talented right backs elsewhere. Tronstad had one underwhelming game and just became totally out of favour but has suddenly come back in and really added a nice balance to the midfield. Moran is a bit in the middle. Not the same expectation as one or two others, he has shown definite talent but with question marks over where and if he fits into our best 11. Getting a reliable striker was priority number 1 and yet we are still in a position whereby we could do with Gallagher coming back. Ennis is not fit enough to start matches and Telalovic looks a dud.

Who has demanded perfection? The goalkeeper made a shocking error and has seemingly caused concern beyond me with his refusal/inability to catch basic crosses. Surely its fair to air that. Thankfully, some excellent last ditch defending meant that afterwards he was barely troubled. You mention Dolan, but surely someone who at the time went 26 games without a goal and was generally performing poor is fair game?

Im not sure in any of the games he has stood out to be honest but in his earlier games he was getting into good positions and obviously got a few goals, which naturally guarantees a start. Without those goals, I dont see much to get excited about. He is quite slow and isnt a dribbler from what we have seen. He is quite bulky but not that strong, he ducked out of a couple of challenges last night. Im not sure whether he would suit being more central. I felt last night (off topic) that we didnt have an out ball in the second half with Szmodics and Dolan chasing around but the ball was going straight back. Ennis seemed an obvious shout much earlier so it says alot about the managers view on him and his fitness that he didnt come on, there is still a long standing vacancy down the middle. He has just come back from a long term injury and he carries a goal threat so there is something there. He has huge boots to fill because Brereton gave us goals and also pace and a willingness to run in behind.

It surely cant be accurate, that would potentially be 50% of profit. £2m would be generous for Venkys.

A worry in terms of being able to push on properly now has been mentioned but look how thin the squad is. I look at todays bench and also at the weekend, Atcheson was never coming on, same with Gamble at the weekend, Garrett has fallen out of favour with better options in that area, Telalovic seems to be just making up the numbers and Tomasson seems unwilling/unable to use Ennis for very long. Markanday is a reluctant choice too having not proven his quality at this level. Weve got a good core group of important players and there are certainly some good ones amongst them but nowhere near enough. Carter is a yellow away from a suspension, Hyam and Moran went off injured and thats assuming Sigurdsson is fine. Gallagher and Hedges dont seem close to a return either. I think a more experienced side would have managed the game much better than we did, we missed 2 key chances but otherwise struggled to keep the ball. Lots of tired bodies on show too that will repeatedly be needed due to the small squad. But what was on show was real grit and determination and although much of it was last ditch, some of the defending was very good, the 2 centre backs in the second half were outstanding. Weve got an important game on Saturday followed by an away game at Chelsea, the issue there is that they could hammer us if we make loads of changes and play the likes of Garrett, Telalovic etc in that game but equally we cant keep flogging some of the players that put so much in game after game.

It was as bad as any of Pears' this season. Indecisiveness then the inability to keep out a tame header.

A really stressful watch and we didnt manage the game that well allowing attack after attack but some real spirited defending and grit got us over the line. All about the result again and a third win on the bounce. Carter was excellent, now we arent playing stupidly gung ho football he has reverted back from a total liability earlier in the season to the player we saw last season. Scott Wharton was also really good in tough circumstances. After being sloppy at times in the first half, Tronstad grew into the game and was very good as a defensive shield and Rankin Costello was our biggest attacking threat, he shows quality and composure in the final third perhaps like no one else in the squad. Brittains goal was immense, still not convinced by him as a right winger but he is a good player for sure. Hill had a few lapses on the ball but helps to make us more solid and his assist for the winner was great. Pickering was solid too. Dolan and Szmodics had similar games, put their all in but didnt do enough in the final third. I have mentioned red flags about Wahlstedt, his constant refusal to catch brings unnecessary nerves and he did that a couple of times but that mistake was inexcusable. Sigurdsson was really poor, he looks very slow and lacking creativity, maybe he is just unfit but when he isnt scoring im not sure what he offers so far, early days. Moran had a game similar to I think Boro at home when he came on and seemed lost, and Ennis continues to look overweight. Wharton brought some composure.

Do you still have them in the top 10% of EFL owners?

Is it not? You've touched on the 2 total rookies. Markanday has flattered to deceive in the main, Garrett has never fully stepped up and Telalovic is clearly not up to it at this stage.

If Ajax came in for him, he would almost certainly go, of course he would. But why would they go for him, even allowing for recent woes? A manager managing a mid table Championship side with no emotional element either.

If Wharton plays (I wouldnt start him) it should be deeper because he is naturally someone who dictates a game from deep, not an attacking midfielder, and Tronstad might be a better defensive foil. Rankin Costello could play further forward because he naturally can run beyond.

Dont think Brittain wide right is something we should continue with, just a couple of changes to give us more of an attacking threat. Wahlstedt Hill Carter Hyam Pickering Tronstad Rankin Costello Moran Szmodics Sigurdsson Ennis

That is very true. Even last season there were loads of times when the ball went in behind the defence and there were mix ups and there was indecisiveness that may have only led to throw ins or corners but it didnt happen with Kaminski. Mind you, as much as having Wahlstedt in net is clearly an upgrade. I am not confident yet in him when it comes to commanding his box. He seems to not like catching the ball.

Robinson and Meite would be preferable to Dolan up front, 100%. Thats not necessarily a compliment to those 2, the vast majority of Championship strikers would. The question is whether any of our 4 strikers would be an upgrade on those 2 average Cardiff strikers mentioned. Ennis might, but there is a huge question mark until if and when he gets fit and whether he proves up to the task. Gallagher whilst nothing special is certainly competitive with those 2. Leonard is still very young and Telalovic seems well off it hence why Tomasson is so reluctant to use him. In terms of overall attacking players, it seems our biggest 2 goal threats will come from the left in Sigurdsson and from Szmodics, not up top. The question is whether they are sustainable regular goal threats.

It helps that he isnt playing, I sense that only an unfortunate injury would have led to him being dropped but Pears is not a good keeper. That being said, in general beyond the keeper, we arent conceding the number of chances we were during that losing run.

Your post was quoting someone as a response to my post, mentioning unrealistic expectations, toys out the pram etc, which I assumed as being aimed at me. It seems that was not the case, in which case, fair enough. I do not agree with the hard luck narrative around our losses, there were common patterns in my opinion based on an overly attacking, "naive" style of play. The recent pragmatic changes reflect well on Tomasson, boring 90 minutes leading to wins will do me every single time.

Perhaps but thats probably more of a slight on Dolan and a right back on the wing rather than their subs being particularly good. You seem to have taken my post as a negative rant and a slight on the manager. I never said he is generally naive, I felt the tactics this season until recently have been naive. At the start of his tenure, it felt like he was playing more pragmatically as he got used to the squad which had very few players signed under him, exactly as you said. In the last couple of months of last season in particular, we became noticeably more attacking in his style and results dropped off, those tactics have become even more full on and results have not gone our way. You put that down to hard luck, I think we wont many games conceding 3 and 4. Also, these days it seems like the "structure" so Broughton in particular has autonomy in terms of playing style. All the guff about player values etc. Tomasson was quite steadfast in how we was playing despite the losses and I didnt expect such a sudden change. You seem to have automatically taken a stance of "people being negative" regardless of what has actually been said. Can you point to me specific quotes which show toys being thrown, suggestions that the manager cant win or that expectations are stupidly high? It surely cant be that I referred to yesterdays match as dull. It was, very few chances, very little quality. But I also said that the result was very satisfying, that the result is all that matters and that the defenders all played well. Id take a boring 1 nil in every single game. I wouldnt take a 4-1 loss, a 3-0 loss, a 3-1 loss or a 4-3 loss alongside hard luck stories and praise from other managers.

What is this nonsense about ludicrous expectations and that the manager not being able to win? Or that it isnt good enough? Who is throwing their toys out and saying it isnt good enough? I said throughout the poor run that football is about results, I didn't put it down to hard luck and naive was a fair description, we were conceding 3's and 4's, we were wide open, left with a solitary young lad holding the fort with Travis, the full backs and the 4 attackers all up the field. Tomasson has somewhat surprised me in becoming willing to move away from his principles. I think the Pears injury obviously forced his hand, but that has helped us. Hill has come in at full back, Tronstad has come in, and we are playing far less gung ho. The game was boring yesterday, but as I said, football is about results, I was very satisfied to win as I always am and plenty of praise for the defenders yesterday. I am all for not just trying to "entertain" when it leads to regular losses and the ball never out of our net, and I don't think this post is warranted. Also, do Cardiff's subs start for us? Robinson cant get a game for them, Meite average, Tanner a young lad from non league and Colwill has never kicked on. Maybe much of a muchness aside from Sigurdsson and Szmodics to pick a front 4 but I am not overly envious of them.