Lotus

Not sure Barnes has the pace of discipline to play auxiliary LB so might be better to leave Gordon there. He's rapid enough to help Burn out whenever the ball goes to that side. None of the midfield 3 have enough pace to get over to cover quickly.

I'd be surprised if he got any meaningful minutes. He barely played when he was fit before and when he did he looked way off the pace. He won't be a shoe-in ahead of Burn so I can't him being brought up to speed slowly. Would expect us to try and shift him in the summer.

Whoever our 1st team manager is I wouldn’t want them choosing the person who should really be above them in the pecking order. That just makes sense for any sporting operation. Just responding to (probably) baseless rumours ?

I mean, almost all of the players we're linked to never materialise as a signing. I don't pay any attention to players we're linked to because it's 99% 'journalistic' nonsense. I start paying attention when we've actually bid. At that point I believe it's a player we're interested in. Given how many false flags there have been post takeover I don't know know how any of us can sincerely draw any conclusions from what BS turns up on twitter as to what players we're genuinely looking to sign.

I think it is an interesting observation that some clubs seem to get pretty good fees for their players. Chelsea for example. If Mount was a NUFC player I think it unlikely we could have got £60m for him in the last year of his contract. Pure speculation, of course. Still, it is an interesting debate. I wonder if there is some data about how well certain academy graduates perform over others (if sold on) that could justify any price difference (if real rather than perceived).

Part of the issue is that none of our starting defenders are great defending one vs one. Botman is the best of the starters but he is also susceptible to pace. All four of them have problems in a foot race with anyone even moderately quick so depend on reading the situation and starting position to negate it. That becomes problematic when players run at you unopposed. Last season we always midfielders or attackers sprinting back and forcing the attackers into less than ideal decisions. Botman is looking a bit less self assured because he hasn’t got the same level of protection. He’s still a very good defender imo and will get better. Needs a bit pace on at least one side of him though. Especially in our system.

Really looking forward to this game. Expect quite a reaction from us based on the Luton score line and performance against Forest at SJP. Team should be very fired up!

This i very much agree with because kids are never tried. Personally don’t consider Tino to be random and he’s one at least I would have thought would have seen a bit more pitch time but up to now, EH hasn’t thought so. We’ll see how it plays out through the rest of the season.

The issue is Bruno is better than all our midfield options both tactically and technically. Physicality, no. Having players who create dangerous and/or goal scoring opportunities are harder to find than players who can shield and maintain possession. Ergo I’d rather have Bruno further up the pitch if we had a decent midfielder who had the awareness of when to sit a little deeper to protect us during transitions or just limit he option of playing through our centre with relative ease.

Will be interesting to what happens. Couldn’t call it either way tbh. I think deep down I’d be surprised if started at FB.

There's going to be some very upset posters and some reactive posts (probably me included). Let's just remember it's none of our fault. We just watch and experience the joy or suffering at different thresholds. it's an emotional thing, it's meant to be. Sometimes we overly rationalise to mitigate the sick stomach feeling and sometimes we just vent.

I could see the point of Burn starting. He can get caught out by pace early on but he often makes the adjustments, even against the very best of wide players. There was a point quite early on in the match though where you could see trouble really brewing. And we did nothing to mitigate it. In fact, given we didn't really try to hold up play further up the pitch, our wide forwards were often too far up to help Burn. He often needs help with one vs one situations. Our set up for the game started to unravel and our reluctance to adjust was either born of naivety or stubborness.

This. It's not the result. Crazy things can happen in a game you can't legislate for and it gets away from you. Happens to everyone. It's the performance. That's the key indicator.

I think it depends on his philosophy. If it's always to 'run a bit further, jump a bit higher' then that has a ceiling. Even the great Simeone has banged his head against that. Coupled with EH's seeming reluctance to rotate (I'm talking about earlier in the season when it was possible) then I think the football heads above him at the club will think about alternatives. I love EH as much as everyone else so I hope this is all a moody fallow period and the EH and the team adjusts the approach and finds another way to be successful, to evolve.

Great going forward but, my god he left some gaps in behind him.

If he doesn't play the deeper role of the midfielders the others don't fill in for him. He's probably our most creative player so having him a bit further up makes a lot sense but ffs, Longstaff should have the wherewithal to drop in or at least cover a wee bit. Miley I can forgive.

It's very pleasing to be able to relate to the manager and EH is extremely personable. I want the club to continue succeeding though and I don't care who's in charge for that to happen. I certainly don't think it's time for a change by any means but EH has to change. I don't think PIF will stand for too much more of this. That's sad because I think someone who's delivered so an outstanding season (22-23) should be given the chance to correct things. Guess we see how things are by the end of the season.

I understand having to outrun the good and the bad Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, etc. They have excellent players and we haven't the footballing ability throughout the team to compete with them. But against technically inferior players I would like to see us outplay them and the manager to outsmart them with the chosen tactics. But with us it seems to be run run run. I couldn't stand it with Pardew when he actually said it as it showed his obvious limitations. EH I want to be so much more. He's having a tough time adapting though. We're looking pretty one dimensional.

Terrible from Schar tbh.

i wasn’t responding to you…

JT makes it sound like Luton might be a week early for him.

Genuinely interested to see how he does. He looked decent in his previous loan but was struggling when back at Chelsea.

Is he fit? Think there’s an argument for him starting against Luton. They’re a bit more agricultural and Jamaal is excellent in the air.

If you have a player who is injury prone and completely exhausted, barely jogging let alone running. I’d think to throw on anyone, a youngster even to protect the 1st teamer, inject a bit of energy into the side and at least give a youngun a taste. I’ve made this same point a few times now, these are the circumstances it’s clearly justified in my mind. If you want to contort that point into something else so you can make a counter point to something I didn’t say, fill your boots ?

The fact he doesn’t get any minutes would lead me to feel we could use that money more effectively. It’s a lot to tie up in ‘a project’. Don’t think we’re financially at the level yet where we can do that given how thin the squad is in other areas. That’s not meant as a knock to his potential. I’ve the same level of an idea as to his potential as everyone else on the forum. None.