What is a John Buckley?

Had no excitement for this game all week. Properly on a downer about the whole thing! But now I have a beer in my hand, I am feeling optimistic and looking forward to the game. I am sure I will feel frustration and dumbfounded at 5pm but for now - COYB. also, Pears has COVID? Can anyone shed any light on why everyone at the club keeps getting it? Surely they should be shielding and distancing when not at the training ground?

I'm not saying I don't agree that we will be better when the injured players come back. I am saying I don't agree with the narrative that we didn't have any shots because all of our players are out. Tony got it wrong last night, that's the long and short of it. I am under no illusions that when our full-strength team is out, we will be a far sight better. However, we have a SQUAD now that has good depth. Tony even mentions it all the time that our SQUAD is good enough to be up there. So which is it? we still need to be able to perform with the team we put out last night. Yeah, not as good as what it could be but still good enough in my opinion. Sick of the excuses.

I struggle to find sympathy with Mowbray and his injury excuses for the lack of shots in the second half last night. If you look at our team last night in the 2nd half it's not too far away from what we would have usually ended a game with last season. It's arguable that Armstrong and Travis are big misses but the rest is what we would have had to deal with last season when we were managing to be competitive. ie. 3-1 win against Bristol after Covid break. Last night: Pears (arguably just as bad as Walton) Nyambe (better than Bennett) Lenihan Williams JRC (better than Bell) Evans Holtby Rothwell Elliot (better than what we had last season) Gallagher Brereton Last season: Walton Bennett Lenihan Tosin JRC Travis Evans Downing Gallagher Holtby Brereton Basically, what I am saying is the injuries do not wash with me. On paper we still have a squad with the injuries that is better than what we had to deal with last year. I'd have last nights second-half team to beat the Bristol team.

If it stays like this, 0-0 isn’t a bad result with 9 men.

Yeah he saved the shot he flapped at, at the first time of asking.

Gallagher off for Rothwell. Brereton in the middle of Dolan and Elliot - that’s what I would do. Gallagher doing his best to not do anything as expected.

Can just about handle Gallagher starting if he’s up front. Elliot in CM will be a shout I think! Hoping Dolan shows his early season promise again!

Yeah, I really think we have missed Rothwell. Shame he got COVID when he did because he and Holtby have finally found their best positions for us and Rothwell really makes this new formation of ours work in my opinion. I really can't stand Gallagher, he just seems to offer absolutely nothing every time he plays. I obviously hope he proves me wrong when he is on the pitch but I have instant frustration every time I hear he s about to come on as a sub ?

You and me both! In my opinion, those two and Bell shouldn't even be in the matchday squad when we're all full strength.

I'd go for the following tonight: Stergiakos Nyambe Lenihan Williams JRC Rothwell Trybull Holtby Dolan Elliot Brereton Ayala needs to come in for Lenihan ASAP

Well for a start, he's started more games at a higher level than Pears. No doubt Championship is of a higher standard than Bulgaria L1 but the majority of Pears games have been at Gateshead. Take his Golden Boy nomination and caps at U21 level and you can already see that, that outweighs Pears' credentials? Weird to disagree with those facts I think. I was being facetious about him being one of his favourites - lighten up! Botton line is - It's evident to see that Pears isn't up to it. Leutweiler was crucified for a hell of a lot worse in his time here. Time to see if Stergiakos is up to it.

Still baffling to me that Pears starts in goal tonight. Only been here 5 minutes and he's one of Mowbrays favourites. I wonder what he would have to do tonight for him to get dropped for the next game, he's already done more than required. The Greek lad should be given a chance. Has better credentials for a start!

Sorry yeah, that wasn't very clear. It was what I would go with but knowing that there is no chance in hell he would drop Pears!

I think you missed the last sentence of my post. I would play the greek lad over Pears, Mowbray will not.

Well with all the injury woes I would go with the following: Pears Nyambe Lenihan Williams Douglas JRC Trybull Holtby Elliot Armstrong Brereton Subs: Stergiakis, Wharton, Dolan, Gallagher, Evans, Buckley, Chapman For a disclaimer, I would've probably dropped Lenihan for Ayala if he was fit. I would also throw Stergiakis in but Mowbray won't do that.

Have to do this at this point. He has a lot better credentials than Pears.

I still can't find the words for last night. Absolutely perplexed! Lenihan needs to be dropped for Ayala - his form has been questionable for quite some time now. He is supposed to be the leader but he's making some baffling decisions at the moment. Pears - awful debut. The commentator kept saying he had nothing to do which was really REALLY annoying. He let 4 goals in. He wasn't commanding. He didn't organise his defence. His positioning was often questionable. His distribution was sub-par - awful debut whichever way you look at it. Evans - Nothing player. Literally offers nothing and is a hindrance. Would have been better placing a traffic cone in the middle of the park. JRC - Love him but was really exposed at RB last night in the first half. Showed what can/ does happen when you leave an actual RB out of your team in Nyambe. First-half performance had a correlation with Bennet's performances there. Obviously a lot better in the second half but Reading kept their foot off the gas for the majority. Sam Gallagher - Very poor. First touch - awful. In possession - awful. Wasteful and very frustrating. He literally ruined/broke down every positive play we had once he came on. I know I said I couldn't find the words but I found some.

Holtby is having such a good game which is weird considering he could have a hatrick

Would anybody play Nyambe at CB instead of Lenihan?

Yeah, I agree. Looks like he can definitely pick a pass but he’s missing two things for me - strength and work rate. One he will get in League 1 or 2 (Barrow works- Dunny could teach him a lot) and the other he needs to genuinely think about. He just walks about and let’s the game pass him by most the time, that’s not good enough.

This should be the team for me too. Buckley gets nowhere near this team. Underwhelming player.

Course I knew that. Doesn’t mean it can’t bother me does it?

Anybody else resent paying £10 for this game after forking out £400 for a ST? ? Like 47er said though, anything less than a win today is unacceptable. If we want to be serious about top 6, we can’t lose games like today.

I don't really understand the major dislike for Williams. I don't think he's been bad when playing at CB when called upon. He was abysmal when he was playing at LB for periods but I struggle to think of when he's been awful at CB. Happy to be corrected but he seems to get crucified by some when Lenihan is far more suspect in my opinion.