desperado

All this talk of wingers on the right gets a bit muddled when you play inverted wingers! Especially now we’ve bought Lorrazabel who may be a RB, may be RWB, may play further forward for us as RM, but would be doing this as a right footer, something we rarely do with SS! So yes we need wingers. But (regardless of where they play) surely we’re looking now for left footed wingers? Aren’t Gale, Dong and Lorrazabel all right footed? As for the other needs in the squad, I agree, two more forwards, possibly another CB, maybe even another midfielder if SS isn’t fully trusting of Simons and Erhahon (seems to be very injury prone).

FWIW I think he’ll play further forward. If we didn’t have anyone in the first team squad at RB, I’d get it. But that would make it 3 - Stephenson, Lorrazabel and Christie competing for one position when we have no one (I’m not counting Warren and Randall) further forward to pick In front. I’m wondering whether it’s a bit of a strategy from SS. “I’m still short of two right forward players” He likes to have two for every position.

Maybe. Even SS has acknowledged we’re well short at the moment in forward positions. However we’re arguably stronger in midfield and defence - the hope being that those we’ve brought in can do a better job in the Championship than those we’ve let go. But I don’t think we need to pedal negative sound bites like this, especially when there’s 3 weeks to go before the season starts and we know they are busy behind the scenes trying to recruit, and we are well aware (or should be) that these signings we are waiting for were going to be further down the transfer window. You’ve been listening to too much Talk Sport 😂

Or the supporters trust.

We will… on Saturday 😂

More a hope than an expectation. But it would be nice if we are having conversations in a few months like, “it’s surprising how __________ didn’t really shine in L1, but looks great in this championship team” Look at Thomasson, plenty were happy to see him go and thought L1 was his ceiling (non league for some eh @Horwich 😂)

Basque journalist saying the Larrazabal deal is done

Stephenson’s crosses in, looked consistently good yesterday. If he’d have had ACD in front of him I think it would have looked very exciting. It wasn’t quite the same with Warren there. Just take the fact that it was Oldham out of the equation a moment, the forward position on the right was the biggest chasm of quality from the team I last saw to that team yesterday. Warren followed by Randall 🤣 IMO, that is the priority position. Hoping it may well be sorted with this Spanish fella.

He went both ways TBF. But no end product (as per). He was a bit off whether he was cutting in and firing high and wide or going on the outside with an average ball across. Probably being a bit harsh, as he was lively and looked dangerous, but I kept trying to picture him taking on Trippier in the same way and I just wasn’t seeing it 🤣

This is the kind of stuff I want to be reading about the prem relegated sides. Big money, big egos and high expectations causing problems. Akin to our Ngog, Sordell years.

I think there’s a bit of balance with all the 4 above posts. First of all, we definitely can’t be making any definitive judgements from last night on whether Ritchie, Inwood, Warren or Temple can step up or not. Should we just accept that we need to loan out all those youngsters? No But equally we need to also be mindful that loaning them out might be the best option for them and us. Only the management team will be in a position to know who they feel is capable of staying in the championship and competing for a place. The rest is a matter of opinion. My opinion for the record, which I hold the right to change at any point 😊, is that in our current state, I’d keep hold of one of Temple/Inwood, unless we recruit another CB. The wild card could be Toby to stay. But, if, as I expect, we recruit 4/5 more in those positions, then I think loaning them out will be the best option. And while I’d love to be proven wrong, Warren, IMO, is nowhere near Championship ready, he’s not even L1 ready. I love his attitude and endeavour, but the quality is lacking for me.

A nice summary of World Cup 2026 from Henry Winter. He’s been very good to follow during the tournament.

Got to agree (it’s been happening a lot these last few days 😂) It’s hard to look beyond the two points you make. 1/ That the starting 11 at Preston, is, at the moment, becoming clearer to see. 2/ That this side is going to struggle in the Championship. But (as you won’t be surprised to hear) I’m going to try and put a slightly more positive slant on it. I think SS is well aware of this. And by trying to re-shuffle the back line. (The part of the side he neglected last year) he’s maybe trying to make us more resolute defensively to cope with this. In contrast to last year, where we didn’t know what the side was going to be from week to week, a more settled side might connect, be more organised and consistent from week to week. Players may feel more part of the first 11, especially if we get off to a decent start (which is possible) Some players might, unexpectedly, thrive, both at this level and in this environment. It’s a fine line (but a very definite one) between not being good enough and struggling to survive in the Championship. I’ll use the latter definition which, even with the current squad, could still set its sights on 21st - which in my eyes would be a successful season. A few more quality additions, and, who knows, it may nudge our chances up even further. A lot of if/buts/maybes in that slightly more positive outlook. But I think if the fan base can accept it’s going to be that kind of season, then hopefully we won’t get continuous meltdowns on the back of bad results and bad spells which will, unfortunately and inevitably, happen.

Maybe, but him and Toal are up against it now for a starting position against Preston. They’ll then have to wait for their chance, once fit.

Good run out that. Few fans and faces around. Not often you get away with wearing a T-Shirt at Boundary Park 😂 Hard to judge performances in a friendly like that. Probably easier to try and see who the starters might be against Preston. I’d be surprised if these 7 didn’t start; Bonham, Stephenson, Davies, Forino, Sheehan, Rodrigues, Dalby. Although I didn’t think Forino and Dalby were fully at the races tonight. The other 5 looked good. Not sure whether he’ll go Famewo or Conway at LB. The other midfield spot is up for grabs, Watson did ok tonight. Nothing we didn’t know but the wide positions and forward line needs some additions. Gale looked dangerous (as he should do against L2 opposition) Toby did himself no harm, great contribution when he came on.

Right tickets purchased. Seems I may be a lone WWs representative so I’ll report back later 😊.

Maybe, I’m not sure. Both a matter of opinion and also how the groups play out. I recall plenty of games in previous tournaments where teams have nothing to play for against a top team or 3 v 4 in the last game where neither can qualify.

Let’s be honest you’ve no idea about this have you? How do you know that Davies and Fawemo would have accepted L1 football? Or any of the other players for that matter. Yes you can have an opinion and of course some of them may have been targeted either way. But I’ve heard countless times from FH and SS that we will be targeting Champ quality players/loans towards the end of the window, because that’s just the nature of the situation. The alternative would be rushing to sign the wrong players just to have them in place for the 8th August. Your utopian scenario of having everything sorted and in place now just isn’t realistic and you do seem to have the same gripe every summer transfer window 😊 Have a little patience.

There’s an element of truth in what both of you are saying IMO. It’s very hard to quantify the quality per se, of both teams and players playing in the SPL. You can have players who can potentially be champ/prem standard or not even be L2 standard. So then it comes down to quality scouting… and luck. Even then there’s the massive unknown aspect which no amount of scouting can eradicate; how do they transition, how do they settle, does their personalities/character fit, will their skills and attributes flourish at a higher level? No recruitment is ever bullet proof, we’ll win some and lose some. Let’s hope there’s more Dalby’s and Kenny’s on the horizon as opposed to the Taylor’s and Baccus’

I’m not sure about that. Very much off memory than fact, as I’m not sifting through, but there were some cracking group games (on average over 3 goals per game?) And some of those final games that we anticipated being damp squibs were not, as the extra 3rd places created a bit more excitement in terms of being able to qualify, and the minnows certainly brought this period alive. And this is from someone who very much was dubious about this World Cup; the location, the format, tickets, corruption etc. Didn’t you say you didn’t watch much of the group stages? Getting up in the morning, not knowing the score and watching those highlight packages on iPlayer was great and not often was I disappointed. For balance I do think it dragged on too long and I too concur with the opinion that the Americanisation of the game is very concerning. And the whole Infantino/Trump smooching was just embarrassing. But on the whole, combined with England going deep into the tournament, I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed World Cup 26. Bring on the home Euros in 2028!

Anyone going to Oldham tomorrow? I’m tempted…

I gave it 24 hours after the semi. After hearing the 100th person repeat the same message, while trying to sound more intellectual/passionate/controversial, I knew it had nothing else to offer.

Well.. speechless TBH it’s more entertaining than the game

Well that was a bit rubbish