ExiledAjax

I'm prepared for some criticism here, but I went for Mark Sykes for POTY. As a new signing he started the season strongly despite playing in a position unfamiliar to him. I watched him live in our August game home to Sunderland and his desire to get forward, running ability, and tenacity impressed me. Like our whole squad he's had some ups and downs but he's currently our highest scoring non-striker (if we count Weimann as a striker), and is only narrowly behind Weimann, Conway and Semenyo. He's been shifted around, played different roles, but has improved through the season and he's never stopped running. He's been included in almost all squads and has played a role in most games. Of outfield players he's got the 4th highest number of league minutes. It's been a really, really impressive debut season and I think he deserves recognition. Scott for YPOTY. Dasilva winning a pen for champagne.

Absolutely fine today. All our flaws were displayed in very clear and unstuttering glory.

True. I wasn't trying to score points either btw. It's always a valid question to ask but I really think there's an awful lot of nuance to the question: It's one of those questions that seems simple to answer but then every answer just leads to more questions. Personally squad size is huge. We're much slimmer right now, essentially this season we've had a main core of about 15 outfield players. That's a far cry from the "clubs in the bag" days of 2017-20. Every injury is impactful, and so more obvious, and so seemingly more serious.

Couple of points to add. Our squad is slimmer now than it was under LJ. So each single injury has a greater impact than before. Secondly, and I've not looked into it, but we need to consider the type of injuries we're suffering. Under the old regime the ones that were serious were muscle based and often recurring. A few suffered in training as well. Finally, remember that it was rushed rehab that contributed to the limited squad as much as the injuries themselves. This season, bar Kalas (which I think is a new injury) we've not had any be out for ages, then back for a few games, then out for ages.

Pre-season starts after the break imo. Try stuff, experiment, yes play Haikin, invert the pyramid, put Max up front, **** around and find out basically.

EFL changed the rules at the start of the season so yes this season teams can wear the same colour shorts. It's stupid imo.

Brownhill could bang one as well. But I remember Freeman as being the last person who could genuinely consistently deliver dangerous balls either onto the head of Flint or Wilbs or on target to test a keeper.

Scott is ok though. He popped a fk just below the bar at Luton midweek. Keeper saved it fairly easy, but it was def on target. But it's one a game, and our corners are ******* awful. Certainly something we can improve.

Freeman

Can't recall outside a transfer window.

You mean you don't feel a heartfelt emotional connection to the Club's latest trademark? I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

If that's the case then personally I'd rather Nige do that at his next club.

Something tells me he and Pearson might not get on.

The reason we are now reliant on the academy is because the risks taken under LJ/MA failed. How can you say you have no issues with those risks when you're concerned about something that is derived directly from their failure? Why would you want to take more risks like that when you're currently concerned about the ultimate outcome of the last load of risks taken?

These statements seem to contradict each other though. I'd rather we try the stable progression option. We tried "giving it a go" as Luton's chairman described it. It damned near cost us an FFP breach and a points deduction and saw us finish no higher than 8th. It failed. If Brighton and Brentford are the models then look at what they did. Brighton did 6 seasons in the Champ, including a finish of 20th. Brentford did 7 seasons before their promotion. Both needed a change of manager in order to accelerate them up that final step. For me we can discount the Cotterill and Johnson seasons in the Championship as those were the "giving it a go" seasons. We've reset since then. So realistically we are coming to the end of our second season of sensible management in this division. I personally would therefore expect, if we seek to emulate Brighton and Brentford, one more season of stabilisation (23/24), then a change of manager and a 3 season push to promotion. Promotion could then realistically be achieved in season 25/26 or 26/27. That would mean promotion achieved after 6 seasons of stability and steady progression. We should at that point have a stable club in terms of culture, staff, and players, and that should give us a good chance of establishing ourselves up there. You and @Mihai can disagree with the above roadmap, and I accept that, but we took the risks under LJ and Ashton. The risks failed.

One alternative is steady, sustainable and stable progression in this division, hopefully then leading to ten not two years in the top. Ten years of money, ten years of top football, maybe even a dalliance in the Europa Conference.

Scrap this. I checked @Nogbad the Bad's thread and I went 69! I do not stand by that. 56.

So would you be willing to trade 2 seasons in the Premier League for 10 in the lower Championship or League One? Personally I'd not. Of course in an ideal world we replicate a team like Brighton and go up and stay up for a while. In the end though even they will likely do what Burnley, Stoke, Bournemouth and likely Southampton will do and will come back down.

In the flesh the fluoro was enough that the shirt was really visible. Our players were distinct. Black numbers stood out well. Bad things - I did miss the badge. Green shorts are just rubbish. No football kit should be solid green. The mismatched yellows of the shirt, socks and underlayers looked poor.

Yeh I thought Sykes was our best player as well.

Think at the start of the season I went 56. I stand by that.

Derby. Oldham. Bolton. Portsmouth. Ipswich. Huddersfield. Charlton. Birmingham. Cardiff. Reading. Burnley. Wigan. Go and look at the teams below us, the EFL embargo list, and League One and see the roll call of those clubs who have in recent decades enjoyed fleeting success in the league and in cups.

Yes Atkinson would also have been very useful against Adebayo and Morris.

Trick question. All three are taller than Dasilva.

I think with Kalas at CB, Pring at LB and Williams and James midfield we would cope with the physicality and power much better. At times it felt like Luton had multiple Semenyos on the pitch. So much power and pace. Bell, Adebayo, Morris, Campbell, others. The first half was boys against giants. Second half was better matched, and Sykes and Weimann ran their socks off. But we still just couldn't threaten. 1-0 Luton was, imo, a fair result.