LondonBristolian

The other thing is - and this is not aimed at Bamba, whose circumstances I know nothing about - not all footballers are good at managing money so he may or may not have money put by. If he is getting £1500 a week, that's still £78, 000 a year, which is a very good professional salary. Outside of football, he may have no obvious route for earning potential or it could be to earn a lot less than £78, 000 a year. There are way more ex-players than management, coaching or media opportunities. I don't find it surprising a footballer would take what salary they can get whilst they can.

To be fair, that's what I'd expect on these boards for a young player doing well in League One. It'd be roughly 50/50 between those who welcomed an exciting new talent and those who were expecting a bigger name and it'd be roughly 10/90 between those who had seen them play and those who were making up an opinion based off media reports and Youtube clips.

I still feel free things will settle to a more predictable shape after ten games or so. Norwich, Burnley and Boro will start moving up, Rotherham and Reading will move down and Blackburn will settle somewhere in the middle of the table. Having said that, West Brom appear to have carried their mediocrity over from last season and there are reasons to think Luton and Huddersfield could have much poorer seasons this time around. Nice to have the unpredictability whilst it lasts and it would be nice if - at the very least - there are no runaway teams in the top two places who steamroll the league. (Unless its us!)

Spoilsport!

I agree with you to an extent but, although you are right that the idea of a strong first XI is less relevant than it was a few years ago, I don't think it is irrelevant. You are right that teams rotate but even a team like Man City or Liverpool do broadly have a "first XI" that are likely to start top of the table games or key Champions League matches. And I reckon that even the managers like Pep that will deviate from their strongest team depending on the tactics of the game still need to have a clear idea of the template they are deviating from. Pep will rotate his team but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a clear idea of the eleven players he is most likely to put on the field and why. And, if we had a major game - say a key relegation clash or play-off final - I think NP would have an idea in his head of what team would be too.

Three weeks into the season and I feel - in a good way - increasingly unsure what our best XI is. It seems NP is pretty set on the 3-4-1-2 formation, which I've no problem with at all but there's a lot of players making a positive case to be included. Start of the season, I'd have said Bentley, Wilson, Kalas, Naismith, Atkinson, Dasilva, Weimann, Semenyo, and Martin were obvious picks in our best XI and it was just a case of which two from Scott, James and Williams slotted into the midfield. Right now you could make a case for at least 15 or 16 players to deserve to be in the frame for a starting spot. It's a nice problem to have but leaves a question. If everyone was fit, there are no more incomings or outgoings and we stick with the same formation, what do you currently see as the first XI?

Others on here have said similar. Real shame if it is true as he looked like he wasn't too far away from breaking through at the end of last season.

That's good news and must be a big relief for his family and friends. Really hope he continues to make progress.

Indeed. Hull unbeaten too. Very early in the season but the three teams we have failed to beat this season are teams nobody else has yet managed to beat either.

I think you misread the tone of my post. It is very possible that I was being sarcastic.

Wow. “It will be nice to see Kal for a moment, I’ll speak to him after I’m sure, but I’m not interested in reacquainting myself with anyone. I want to win the game, so if I never speak to Kal Naismith again but win the game, I’ll take that and that’s nothing on Kal, I really like Kal, and he did excellent for this football club.” That's some serious venom.

Indeed. At times he plays like a older kid at school playing against the Year 7s for a bit of a laugh.

Not meaning to take the piss out of Bournemouth but I'd be disappointed if he moved to a club where he was likely to end up playing Championship football again in a year's time.

Know this will get merged in the transfer forum but Palace seem to like quick physical forwards who can play anywhere across the front three. I think he'd fit really well there and I'd find it hard to begrudge him the move. I'd want at least £15m plus add-ons though.

I’d personally not want us to sell for less than £15m plus a sell-on fee. I guess it depends how we reinvest it but - Weimann aside - I think he would be the toughest player in the squad to adequately replace.

Without sounding like a bit of a conspiracy theorist, I wonder if more was made of it because - at the time - we'd moved from a back three to a back four and the manager did not see Ayling as a right back in a back four. I don't necessarily mean the club deliberately scapegoated him and forced him out - more that it was a point where the manager needed convincing on whether Ayling fitted into his long-term plans and the incident convinced him in the opposite direction. Obviously, if that was the case, it looks like a colossal misjudgement in hindsight. But I don't think Ayling would have become anywhere near the player he has if he had stayed here.

It's poorly worded but think the point they are trying to make is that Ayling is the first ever top flight player to openly march in the parade itself. Other footballers may or may not have attended, or perhaps even marched, but if so they did not feel either able or willing to publicly state they were doing so.

I feel for Engvall in many ways Whatever the reasons why it didn't work, it did nothing for his career to move to a team that could not use him and, from a personal point of view, moving abroad at 20 must be a big deal and being stuck in a foreign city with a manager (and perhaps teammates) that clearly didn't rate him must have been a lonely place to be.

I'm using this an excuse to post the video of Bullseye's greatest prize ever:

Unless a Premier League team came in - and I'm not sure they would - I think Weimann would think long and hard about moving elsewhere. He's lived in England since he was sixteen so presumably settled here and is playing at a team that are letting him play his best football. He's not someone who has moved around a great deal, doesn't have the carrot of a world cup to encourage a move and - whilst he might get a bit more money elsewhere - I'm not sure that would necessarily be enough to tempt him to move. I might be proven wrong but I'm pretty confident he will be with us come the end of August, even if bids do come in.

For me, it is less about individuals and more about combinations and how they work together. When Semenyo is fit, Martin is an absolute must on the team sheet. Those two complement each other and, with Weimann behind, we had the most potent attack in the division outside of the promotion places. However I am not sure we have found a way to get the best of Martin without Semenyo. I am still interested in seeing Weimann and Martin with Sykes behind and that could be effective but the evidence right now is Wells and Conway can combine effectively and there is certainly an argument for them both to keep their places.

Well, now it is official. We are screwed. Where on Earth will our next win come from?

Bentley Wilson Klose Atkinson Pring (if fit) Kadji Massengo Scott Sykes Weimann Wells Logic is to rest some players and rotate squad without putting out a team so weak it cannot compete or sets up the players who come in to fail. Kadji gets a chance as we need to learn if we have a defensive midfielder in the squad. Sykes and Weimann with Wells lets us try something new in attack to see if we can find more movement without Semenyo. My assumption is James and Williams not going to be fit/fresh enough to play.

I agree. I think both clubs have been shafted by Wasps and the Commonwealth games but I don't think Coventry can be blamed and I think it shows the problems that arise for clubs that don't own their ground.

Based off that, I think I'd like to see: GK Bentley RB Wilson (Tanner if Wilson not fit to start) RCB Klose LCB Atkinson LB Pring (Dasilva if Pring not fit to start) DM Kadji CM Scott CM Massengo FW Sykes (playing somewhere between an attacking mid and a wide forward) FW Weimann (playing somewhere between an attacking mid and a wide forward) ST Wells I think that balances using the squad a bit and seeing if Kadji can offer something in the position we most need someone to come in whilst also adjusting our shape for players who are missing and putting out a side who can compete.