Davefevs

You asking me out on a date? ?

Story changed, “might be Friday, sorry”….???

No idea.

Confirmed, season long loan.

No.

You and me are aligned.

Full 90 on Robinstv for anyone that miss it.

Certainly not one who sits there waiting for the ball to come to him and doesn’t contribute to the rest of the system.

Yes, I haven’t heard re my Wickes space…although rumour was of significant price increase

Little rumour our away shirt is coming this evening?

Saw this and thought of you. @Albuquirky

I like SJ a lot. He gets it wrong sometimes, but generally talks as a businessman astonished at how the business of football is done.

Story is he doesn’t get on with Hoyle.

New PM?

He played the last 30 minutes as RCB3 and did fine. I suspect Nige would happily move him on if he could, but whilst he’s here, he’ll use him, especially with Kalas coming back to fitness. Assuming Zak’s head is in the right place, I’d keep him around for his versatility.

As we saw today the WBs can be a strength, but also a weakness…and exposed in some ways by playing a “2 and a 1” in midfield rather than a “flatter 3”. James and Williams can’t cover half the width of a pitch when the ball goes down one side, so either Weimann (or Sykes today) drop in, or we have to accept our side CBs have to shuffle over too. It’s not as simple as that either, as the front two have to work hard to stop them coming back and quickly “going back out the other wing”. But the flipside is the positives of it. No system is win:win! The other point I forgot to mention was that it was Naismith who played CB3 and Atkinson LCB3…it could’ve easily been the other way around. Something to watch over pre-season to see if they swap at any point.

In terms of today’s game it was quite nice to see pre-season start with a system / shape we recognise, albeit some differences, mainly the high starting positions of our wingbacks. It did lead to a bit of stodginess getting the ball into Cheltenham’s half in the opening half hour, but you could see signs of what we were trying to do. When we did move it a bit quicker (before Lloyd could drop in to make an extra man in midfield) or Klose or Atkinson strode into midfield, we looked a bit more like it. We ended the first half in a dominant position, with chances starting to flow. We also saw how Wilson is an obvious outlet for a flicked ball round the corner from low passes into Wells and Sykes. It was also encouraging to see both James and Williams taking opportunities to get forward and get shots off (and a header), rather than just sitting in front of the back three. Both forced good saves from Harris. I was really interested to see how Sykes performed and he got a nice tick from me. I liked how he goes both ways and has good first time technique. He popped up in good spaces throughout. As for the back three, they were pretty comfortable, Klose showing his two-footedness, you can’t tell what he favours, but he has played most of his career as a right sided CB. Naismith vocal, although he did get caught wrong side once. Atkinson was solid, and broke forward a couple of times to good effect. Up top, Martin looked a bit lacking in fitness having missed Austria, and Wells ran his channels well, linking well with Wilson. Both James and Williams had good chances to put him in during early possession phases, but the wind affected passes. But the highlights were in the width provided by our WBs. Wilson, first half was excellent, and he crosses into great areas. He almost scored inside 30 seconds, and it was a really nice performance to whet the appetite of fans. On the other side, and I’ve said it many times before, Dasilva is better moving onto the ball, so a high starting position means he is often receiving the ball moving half-towards his teammates, when ideally you want him facing his opponent on receipt. But when we broke lines, we saw how he can get in on the overlap. It’s was fine, but not as exciting as the other flank. Was good to see a straight swap on the hour, rather than a system change. Having mentioned Dasilva above, we saw how the more “bombing” style employed with Cam Pring in the final 30. The first goal was a lovely give and go with King, sucking in his marker and spinning him. A cross that Bell would’ve bundled in had the keeper not parried to Tanner, to control and drill home. The second goal followed nice play from Idehen, then Pring’s physical play to get past his marker…then slow down to compose a pass to Conway. Tanner gave Wilson a run for his money as MOTM imho, with an excellent 30 minute display, giving us just as much as Wilson. That bodes well. So, a pretty positive opening pre-season fixture.

sorry, just catching up on the MDT. I honestly think him and Tanner will share a lot of minutes this season, lots of 60/30, 70/20 games to ensure 90-minute intensity. Having 5 subs will aid this, same with Dasilva and Pring on the other side. I’m sure Wilson is seen as no1 as it stands, but I don’t think he will start every game. FWIW I thought Tanner was excellent when he came on, even w/o the goal. Louise… …Louise Gould, daughter of Jon Gould (who is brother of Richard)!!! He’s played the role with Oxford a fair bit, was only last season he started to play Right wing. Up to then he’d played centrally in midfield or as an attacking midfield. He had a niggle not related to his groin op, so a bit behind the others…hence why he was doing running in his own in Austria. I was encouraged that he was involved in some of the sessions, as I’d heard he was a bit further behind than he appears to be. Great post.

Ciaran Clark just been made available by Newcastle. Wages would be a huge hurdle obviously, but if there was deal to be made, I could see Nige considering him….same with Michael Morrison. In an ideal world we’d have mid-age range players ready to step into the gap between TK, TK, RA, KN and the u23s Idehen and Towler….but Vyner and Moore haven’t been able to manage it. So we are left with a problemette.

Showing blank on the webpage I looked at. Ignore me…they aren’t in the championship anymore are they ???

I’ve got his wicky gloves (signed) at home from the Aussie Tour over here.

Agree ?

Yep - paraphrased - happy to keep him at a wage commensurate to his ability / worth. Which is pretty much what he did with O’Dowda too.