eardun

Played well. I particularly enjoyed his crunching tackle in front of the South Stand. Please stay fit Nathan!

Brownhill captain

Good interview from Taylor on the City site. Seems a nice lad working as hard as possible to make it. I liked the look of him v Leeds, especially the fact that he is comfortable on the ball. He will make mistakes but then so did Kalas v Leeds for their first goal.

Better recruit this guy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Freeman

I’d go same players but move a couple around (Kalas in middle of the back three and Nagy just in front). Although I’d be tempted to play Weimann for Messengo while he gets up to speed and put him on the right of Brownhill. Bentley Moore Kalas Baker Pereira Nagy Rowe Brownhill Massengo Palmer Afobe

Assuming he picked up the injury v QPR rather than in training afterwards, Wright’s injury may partly explain why he struggled on Tuesday. In addition he probably felt obliged to step up to take a penalty (due to being skipper and more experienced than some of the others who weren’t volunteering) but if he was injured then he really shouldn’t have. He has often been criticised for his performances when, in fact, he was playing while injured.

We can all do that (May 21)! Shame he’s gone though.

I’d rest Nagy and save him for the league given he’s only just arrived in the country and played his first championship match. I’d like to see Szmodics, Walsh and Massengo.

I think the difference with Palmer this season v last is his fitness. LJ said at the end of last season that it needed to improve. He also said after the match yesterday that what he was most pleased about was that he played the full 90 minutes and was still performing at the top of his game at the end of the match. So I suspect that when some thought last season that Palmer was show-boating or not tracking runners, it was due to his lack of fitness. I must admit that I was one of those not fully convinced last season. If we now have a fully fit Palmer, playing an all round midfield game for 90mins, we will be much better in midfield. His pass for Rowe’s goal yesterday was sublime.

Agree. I also think that Nagy in front of the back 4 will improve us defensively.

Agree with all of this. And the loans out to lower division clubs are all part of the pathway - we did the same with Bryan and Reid. The fact that they are out on loan does not mean that we are blocking their pathway; it just means they are not ready for championship football with us (yet - for some of them; for others they won’t quite make it but we will bag a fee).

I agree with the comments above. I think LJ went for more experienced and rugged CBs due to all the new players introduced, especially the two defensive ones at RWB and LWB, and the opposition (eg Brum strikers). By all accounts on the forum Baker played better than Wright, so Baker and Moore competing for the LCB position is fine if they both stay fit. You could tell that LJ missed the passing from the CBs yesterday - he even said he’d like to bring in another ball playing CB if there are any free agents out there - so I reckon Moore will be in his plans and he is playing on Tuesday.

Bentley Pereira Kalas Moore Dasilva Nagy Brownhill Massengo Eliasson Weimann Afobe

I recall Rennie wearing 6.

Well LJ did say he’d asked the board to be ‘bold’ this transfer window. I would say the ins and outs are certainly bold. No guarantee of success, but just keeping the existing squad together would not have guaranteed success either. I’m looking forward to watching the new arrivals.