toontownman

Jonathan David went 90 in Lilles preseason playing RAM or a double 10. Could replace Wilson or sit behind or alongside him. Think he would be immense for us tbh. Available for around the 40m mark but means we have to deal with Lille again so add another 10m before Manure bid less and get him.

Did the harrison "bid" go on the SSN ticker too? Interesting to see how much truth is in this. We don't tend to bid unless we think we are close to getting it accepted.

Sure. Dummett and Ritchie both didn't do too much wrong but didn't offer a huge amount either. Hard working sure and was solid enough in the first half but Dummett tired. I barely saw Willock in the second half other than a couple of breaks where the end ball was lacking. The team as a whole was closing down but I felt he and Bruno were too passive after we scored the second and we lost the battle for the middle. Dummett was tiring and Krath lost his head a little after the goal. We got murdered from then on down our wings and through the middle for 25 mins. Joelinton was the only one in our central mid with a constant presence and trying to regain control of the centre from my perspective. All that said I did say it was a harsh rating to be fair to myself and not Mr. Willock I wouldn't rate Dummett any higher though.

Have to also say the opposition have been excellent. Really complimented us and vice versa. Great tests and took the friendlies seriously. Exactly what we needed.

Some really smart planning of friendlies to get 90 mins in most players legs. Two great games at SJP. We faded badly in this one. Dummett knackered. Krafth with a crisis of confidence and Bruno and Willock simply disappearing leaving Joelinton the only mid on the pitch. Fantastic first half and a bit from us and we are nicely placed for next weekend when we can use 5 subs and combine the best squad available. Given the influx of players wanting to impress Nottingham Forest won't be a push over imo. Hopefully they are disjointed and overawed by the atmosphere. Dubs - 7 - pretty good on the whole with a few quirks Krafth - 6 (7 first half/5 second) - playing next to Jamal probably doesn't help but he had a mixed bag. Solid enough backup to tripps. Lascelles - 6.5 - bit harsh, he wasn't that bad but he worries me on the ball sometimes Botman - 8.5 - I love me some Dan Burn but Botman does everything with absolute calm, ease and professionalism. Couple of great spreading long ball passes too. Class so far. Dummett - 6 - wasn't horrific but wasn't particularly impactful either. faded badly. Willock - 5.5 - another probably harsh rating but good athletic first half, wasn't there for most of the second half and wasteful in the opportunities he got. Bruno - 6 - (8 first half/5 second) at his best and also at his anonymous worst in the 2nd. Hope he is saving himself. Uncharacteristic disappearance in the 2nd with willock that put us under constant pressure. Joelinton - 8 - typical performance from Big Joe. Constant presence. Fantastic ball for the ASM goal. Ritchie - 6 - great stamina but really past his time with us. You know what you are getting with him and it's solid but not wonderfully impactful. ASM - 8 - worked hard for most of the game and tracked back well until the last quarter of the game. Wonderfully taken goal. Wilson - 7 - nice goal. Great movement and gets on the ball so well. Missed service and space to really do much more. Subs Bondswell - 6 - switching ASM and Ritchie to protect him was probably a good idea. He looked nervous and was pulled about a fair deal but didn't disgrace himself at all.

Tells me the Zapata, Sarr, Cornet, Dennis stuff is nonsense. If we wanted them we could have brought them in. We are looking at next level players and playing the long game. Fingers crossed its not that long and we get 2 or 3 within the next month and a bit.

Thought Longstaff had a great second half sweeping up. Pope - 6 - not much to do. Did what he had too when called upon. Trippier - 6.5 - rocky start but was back to being himself by half time. Schar - 7 - solid for the most part but more conservative coming forward than normal. Possibly got a way with a penalty call. Burn - 7.5 - when he is good he is soo good. Love the guy. Coped really well with Zapata Targett - 6.5 - like Trippier, a few shaky moments earlier in the game and some poor passing but generally a solid but unspectacular game. Longstaff - 7.5 - shakey start and we were being overwhelmed for a period in the first half with a new midfield trio but I thought he grew into the game and did really well dropping deeper and sweeping in the second. Anderson - 7.5 - thought he was a bit lost but grew massively into the game. Not too much space to work in and maybe played a bit deeper than he would like. He showed some great touches, skills and strength though. Almiron - 7.5 - he faded a little towards the end like most but was a nuisance in a different role. Almost scored another better and showed some amazing feet and link up play. Likewise some nice spreading of the play when tracking back. Murphy - 7 - so frustrating but he just doesn't have the next level and consistency to his game. Some great bursts, dribbles and link up play though. Fraser - 6.5 - wee man worked hard but nothing particularly spectacular or game changing from him today. Wood - 6 - a few moments of good strength and hold up/link up play but only a few. Great penalty but ineffective for the majority of the game and never looked a threat. Shortstaff - 5.5 - ran around, got in the way with his own player resulting in a dangerous turn over. Will be out on loan soon. Hope he can find his feet there again.

Thought he looked a bit lost but found his footing and was one of the brighter spots in the team again. I'm fine with him going on loan if we add another CM and AM but seeing as we won't count towards the squad limit we might as well give him a go if we are priced out of the players we are looking at.

Better than Wood but we should get better. File under the Cornet, Harrison, Sarr categorie of improving us but not for long. He held the ball up well, good link up play and a couple of decent dribbles. Didn't get any real service to score, so would fit in well

I will take the almost perfect stream even with the sporadic clipped banshee scream of howies voice every few seconds.

So is someone loading up periscope then?

To be fair this is ground breaking and pioneering stuff this. I've never seen a stream do this. Congrats to the media team.

Stream worked enough to see tripps get put on the shelf for a few months. Yay.

Scottish legends the pair of them.

Which one?

Can't even get the audio stream consistent ?

Someone with power to sort this out must be watching this stream right. Ffs. Amazing ineptitude. Not sure what's worse the stream or the team. We split the first and reserve squad in half for today and tmrw? Thought we would want a game with our best 11 playing before next weekend. Guess everyone gets fit!

Apparently not

Random nonsense link of the day: Nabil Fekir https://www.fichajes.net/noticias/nueva-propuesta-newcastle-nabil-fekir-20220728.html

Alan Virginius a winger from Sochaux, via Le10Sport Latest reports today is that Tuchel wants to keep him for depth.

Apparently not according to the article.

Saturday game not available in Spain or the UK though.

Craig Moore! Although he did ok for us considering. Remember when we had Ronny Johnsen a couple of years before lol

If he is still available I do think he is a possibility in January. He would complete our CB pool and be a hell of a partner for Botman.

Listening to PJ Harvey when it's all made up and we are sticking with Fraser and Murphy..