honeybradger

McCarthy's ball playing also leaves a lot to be desired.

Kevon, not Demarai

There is a timeline where we don't cave into his demands for a higher wage in the 19/20 season and do a swap deal with Arsenal for Emery. We get champions league football that season but I also shudder to wonder what monstrosities we would have signed with CL money.

Ran out of steam is a kind way to say we averaged just over a point a game for the majority of the season in 19/20 (last 21 games) which was slightly better than relegation form. 20/21 we were a bit more consistent. Fair enough we did have title winning form before that but a long stretch of those best years was just as bad as the season we were relegated.

I don't see the benefit in me calling out players who are clearly not going to make it with us and who aren't performing in pre season. In terms of players who have been given a chance I don't think I've ever been overly positive about Silko Thomas or Mcateer in the past for example.

I don't blindly rate every youngster that is coming through for us if that's what you're saying. I wasn't alone with being impressed by TWB last summer, I remember him widely getting good reviews alongside the likes of Aluko and Page who are cemented first teamers now. He's not done much this pre season but has still been pretty solid, was the best player in the second half against Northampton. I think we have to recognise that we are in league one, our finances are in the toilet and our recent history of recruiting centre backs has been abysmal. I would rather go with someone who I have watched and seems reliable than whoever the club roll the dice on.

I've always been impressed with him when he plays for us in pre season. I think he's very steady and reliable. Martin was tossing water bottles in rage a couple pre season games ago when Wilson Brown tried a cross field pass that didn't come off so maybe he doesn't rate him. I think he will end up being better for his new club than any centre backs we sign this summer.

They could have said in advance. They would have known they weren't going to play on that pitch since Wednesday.

Fair enough, didn't see the AI profile picture

I would tend to agree except he is the exact kind of profile we need, a technical, strong midfielder who would add some height into the team. It's unlikely he would take the step down to league one anyway but if the option's on the table I think it would be worth it. I think he would compliment Braybrooke and Page rather than compete with them.

Would anyone take him back? Page, Nyoni, Braybrooke midfield would walk league one probably.

Motsi was the last big name 14 year old we had and he did well at u21 level last season. Sadly looks like he is gone as well. I think this situation is going to be happening more and more because of the level of talent we are producing. Hopefully we at least manage to keep a couple of them.

Depends on what you mean by proven Aaron Ramsey, Lascelles, Jordan James, Julian Carranza, Joe Aribo, Okoli, Skipp, El Khannouss all had significant minutes at similar levels to the ones they were signed to play at.

I don't think anyone will match our £10mil valuation of Nelson. He's our only centre back comfortable enough on the ball to play Martin ball so I really hope we keep him. Otherwise i think we might be in for a disaster of a season.

The issue is can we afford to send him out on loan? In theory he is still the best goal scorer at the club and with the club looking at signings like Ings there's no guarantee that will change. I think it's a very typical outcome of the "you have to take your opportunities" approach that you end up with players like Otchere, Silko Thomas and Mcateer breaking through who managed to show up on the day whereas players like Evans who you would expect to contribute more over the course of the season get left on the sidelines.

I think we've not made it easy for Evans where he's pretty much always played with a weaker midfield behind him. Is Otchere really better than him or benefiting from being around better players? Riley Carr was also quiet today who previously looked very impressive when he had quality players feeding him the ball. I think Evans would look better playing with Alves, Braybrooke and Page.

Really happy with Braybrooke this pre season. Think he will be far too good for league one.

I don't think we need to worry about Sammy getting in ahead of Chaplin, the gap in class is too clear for Martin to overlook

Looking really good this half.

Brilliant pass from Thomas

Midfield more of an issue than the attack. They only had long balls from the defence to work off all half.

Need Alves, Braybrooke and Page to cleanse my eyes. Choudhury and Chaplin not good enough considering their experience. Neale struggling as well although it is more understandable and he was probably the better of the 3.

I have been similarly unimpressed by Chaplin but he is nailed on in our starting lineup at the start of the season.

A level above the rest of our players this half.

As much as I like Evans I don't think he should be on corners. Needs to work on his delivery.