James

It's going to be very difficult for him to come back from this. He will need a lot of mental strength. Plenty of time to turn it round but they will all be branding him a bad boy and a flop from now on regardless of whether you agree with the sending off.

Should always be a wild card for us this season rather than someon we expect to start and perform week in week out.

Reckon we're going to need him for this when defending set pieces. Leave Thauvin and Perez further up the pitch and have Mitrovic in the box to win us defensive headers for them to counter on. Wijnaldum and Sissoko breaking from box to box at pace.

Not sure how he can be criticised for his first 20 mins in our shirt.

Taylor 9, Colback 7?

They're not wrong... long term we need both. Long term you could argue we need players for every position. But if we have only one signing left this summer it needs to be a new CM o They're not wrong... long term we need both. Long term you could argue we need players for every position. But if we have only one signing left this summer it needs to be a new CM nah, you've got wini and sissoko who can drop in. if we lose a centre half we're Fucked. Don't think they complement each other at all as pure central midfielders. So we need to drop one back and sign someone else to play alongside them, getting rid of both shithouses, not just one of them. It's like playing with 9 players at the moment.

But he had been doing it in the top Spanish division for some time before that

They're not wrong... long term we need both. Long term you could argue we need players for every position. But if we have only one signing left this summer it needs to be a new CM

I think Anita and Colback are as bad as each other. Anita is a bit better on the ball which makes him more popular on the forums, but is anonymous without possession 9 games out of ten. In comparison Colback is defensively more noticeable in that he will press, harry and get some blocks and tackles in, but can't pass for shit. However that defensive presence, over Anita makes him seem less anonymous and is therefore more popular with the man on the street. I know some say we need new defenders, others say we need a striker or winger. Both are wrong, we need one more central midfielder.

Definitely showed he is more midfielder than striker today, his ability to carry the ball out of defence showed and I can only imagine what he would be like in front of two competent central midfielders.

Sounds like Titus Bramble / Titfuck Bumble all over again

The gap between League One and Championship isn't as big as people think. A form League One usually carries a lot of momentum in the Championship post promotion. Armstrong is playing against men who are going to mark the fuck out of him and kick him to tiny pieces. He is playing well, receiving chances and developing confidence. He is better off staying there the whole season than having to readjust from the winter with a new club where he may not fit in as well or may not get picked as often

Think we will have a season of better home appearances, but dross away

Keep him where he is the consistency will benefit him. He is still a teenager after all, plenty of time left for him to develop naturally.

Advocaat first manager to go?

It's going to be a good contest because I thought there were a number of improvements to cisse's game, notably he was knicking the ball from people's feet and feeding it out to Wijnaldum and Sissoko, allowing us to attack quite high up the pitch.

I appreciate Mitrovic wanted to make a mark with that tackle, however by getting that yellow so soon it was one of the contributory factors to our downturn in the last twenty minutes as the yellow prevented him from playing a more aggressive game, made him a much less valuable outlet for the pressure we were under. He will grow out of it.

Apparently ran 2.5km more than any other player...

yes. though he might have been saying we should buy him, not that we are trying to. Seem to recall him saying our scouts had been there and we had said that we might be in touch in the future... But not immediately. Also it's possible that the scouts were there because of the Srnicek tipoff....

Isn't Krejci the one Pavel Srnicek said we are looking at?

Tiote clearly wasn't fit. We lost control when Anita came off, fair play to Anita he did much better than anticipated!

Mbemba should have been much closer to Pelle for the goal and the other headed chance but this can be forgiven in the context of his pre season.

First half performance a breath of fresh air we are asking a lot of questions of the opposition and getting a variety of balls into the box. Big worries are them getting crosses in from the right and we have also lacked dominance in the centre.

Perhaps McClaren wants a winger and we only have Obertan and Aarons. Aarons needs a bit of protection, so McClaren plays Obertan to tell the board: I need a new one.

Completely expect Anita to go hiding. Perhaps McClaren is using Obertan as a 'get me a winger' statement to the board.