Gillies Apprentice

Benkovic’s positioning was very poor for the fourth goal as well - his performance against England will be fascinating

Three things I think are in our favour , His negative experience at Monaco , where he found himself marginalised and out of the team , moving to anyone else could risk this happening again At 22 , he’s got plenty of time to enjoy his football here and then potentially get a move to one of the stellar clubs in two or three years The other clubs being linked with him seem to be Arsenal and Man U ,both of whom may well not be in the CL next season and are likely to be rebuilding ,as opposed to our stability and progression

My mind went straight to the Sunderland game after Saturday , which prompted me to recall other 'false dawns' I can remember, including beating Plymouth 4-0 in Sept 1987. This was Jari Rantanen's third game and three days after we'd beaten Oldham 4-1, when he'd scored his first goal for us . His awesome physique and aerial power complimented Mike Newell's pace and skill perfectly and the side containing Russell Osman ,Steve Walsh , Ian Wilson, Alli Mauchlen and Gary McAllister seemed destined for a real promotion challenge . Sadly, Wilson was sold immediately afterwards ,Rantanen got injured and only played another 10 times ,we went 7 games without scoring in Nov/Dec, Brian Hamilton was sacked and replaced by David Pleat , need I say more .....

Just looked in on the live stream and saw that the game is being played at Alfreton Town’s ground which has a serious slope towards the end we are defending in the first half .In theory, we should have a significant advantage in the second.

Joe Worrrall who is on loan to Rangers

I agree completely -he’s got a lovely left foot ,can pick a pass and rarely concedes possession .I fully expect we’ll see him in the first team before the end of the season .

Charlie Austen just been banned for two games so misses our game on Sat .

‘Ewan is a Welshman ‘

Justin Edinburgh

Mike Bailey

Peter Reid

Anyone who saw Johnson’s nightmare display at CB against Forest recently wouldn’t have him near the first team .In the last game he was pushed out to right back again with Knight and Pascanu in the middle - either of them would be far better

It certainly was uninspiring stuff and whilst I understand why both King and James played ,their presence didn’t add anything to the spectacle.The two things that struck me were that Pascanu looks a quality player and clearly gained a lot of confidence from his call up to the full Romania squad , and that the dearth of strikers extends well below our first team - seeing Knight pushed up front and scoring the winner took me back to the days of Walshie and Matt Elliott .If the recruitment masterplan is indeed to finesse George Hirst from OH Leuven , I hope it pays off ,because as it stands ,the cupboard looks pretty bare .

Was subbed off at HT in the U 23s game tonight ,which could mean he’ll be in the squad to play Watford on Sat

I think too much reliance has been put on Maddison being the fulcrum of our three attacking midfielders , such that when he's been injured/gone off the boil/been suspended , we haven't been able to replace him effectively. His two yellows against Brighton were totally out of character and , my guess is , were borne out of frustration . Whilst the stellar rise that his best mate Chilwell has achieved in recent months will ,undoubtedly, have delighted him ,the stark contrast in his fortunes over the same period must be a cause of huge frustration.The comedown from his first England call up to his embarrassing dismissal at Brighton has been massive and it will be a real test of Puel's man management to get his head right for Saturday . If we get a fit , sensibly motivated and back to form Maddison between now and Christmas our creativity and results will improve significantly ,if not it will be a pretty bleak outlook . Whilst I'm by no means a Puel hater , I think it is a misjudgement to rely so heavily on a 22 year old , in his first season in the Premier League and , so far ,not be flexible enough to change our formation when he's not available or playing well.