DJ Barry Hammond

The whole squad will train in different units and pairings throughout the season, so again, your doubled down thinking defies any reasonable logic.

1st September is a long way away… and at that point some teams become more willing to take ‘a punt’ because of how the season has started. Even if he starts the season with us, that’s no guarantee he’ll be still with us past the window closing - especially if he makes a strong start to the season.

Have you rationally considered this point of view? Do you really believe that by parts of the squad being in separate places for around 5/6 hours at most, that this will be highly detrimental to squad cohesion? I’m all for people having opinions, but when the view and conclusion combines to present absolute nonsense it has to be questioned.

If you look on Twitter you’ll either find enough clips to give you the general gist and possibly the whole episode.

Harsh, keepers really didn’t have much chance from where they were shooting from (and which is the point of the drill, so the players have prior muscle memory in those positions to combat the added pressure they’ll be under in a real match).

I’m suggesting it’s a factor that probably hasn’t helped him settle and play with a freedom of mind and in a fully relaxed state which is how players generally perform to their optimum standards. There are other factors at play too - joining later into the pre-season, moving away from a club he’s been comfortable at for years, having a largely undefined role in a truly awful system. You know, it was a challenging situation to jump into and I can completely understand why he’s not impressed so far - and why he probably never will because he just can’t live up to that price tag.

I think one thing a lot of people are missing this time round is how essential KDH was to getting us going the last time we were in this league. His dynamic driving play really was a catalyst for the rest of the team; and the 12 goals and 14 assists he claimed that season really highlight something we don’t really have this time around. Add in no Vardy as well… and I’m wondering why a lot of people think this season will be a cake walk with the squad as is. We really could do with bringing in a couple of mentality monsters and a striker.

Of course they will be aware of it; we’re dealing with humans. The impact will differ between players; we’ve all seen examples of players that have got their big move, become Jonny BB’cks and never put a shift in again. Alternatively, there are some players that will embrace a big fee and the stature that comes with it and use it as a way to drive their own performance. But equally there are some that may feel the pressure of a big fee and the expectations they perceive that fee commands. Imagine for example everyone’s wages in your company are published for everyone to see; and you find you’re deemed to be valued 10x more than a lot of staff that do a similar job as you; there’s going to be some sort of psychological effect on you then isn’t there? And of course a footballer is not immune from psychological impacts just because they’re a “professional.”

I don’t think the ridiculous stonking fee we paid has helped him. I can imagine he’s quite a self aware guy; so the notion of apparently being worth £25 million pounds might not be the easiest thing to reconcile. Obviously the hope now is a fresh season might see him settle and grow into confidence and just play football… but I can’t help think his legend at this club will become similar to that of Junior Lewis.

Spotted! Fortunately Sean is “never wrong!” 😂

The problem is, your lead striker is arguably the most important part of the team; not only do they get you the goals to win matches, but you ‘should’ build your play around them so that they’re in positions to score the type of goals they’re most suited to. That means a good one can be a bugger to get from clubs; any striker that has any sort of goal scoring record at the level we’re looking at is going to come at a premium in both transfer fees and wages. So do we have £20 million all in to spend on a striker… I doubt it, at least at the moment? That probably means we are looking at ‘serviceable’ options - the unattractive journeyman free agents that you hope get your 15/20 goal contributions across a season - with the profile the manager wants. Now from what I’ve seen from Marti so far, his setup is crying out for the archetypical number 9 to lead the line, someone who can occupy the central defenders, that then brings our wide talent into the game. And given that… as uninspiring as the names DCL and McBurrnie are… there is some sense in us at least looking at them as an option.

Ah! Here it is! 😂

I’m amazed Sean from Enderby’s tweet hasn’t made it on here yet… I’ll leave it to someone else to do the honours!

I agree with these observations; and would hope we start hearing some serious noises about a new striker this week because ideally you want to bed them before the season starts. Get the right player - and in my mind that’s a big, physical athletic player; that can hold up the ball and be an aerial threat in the box - and I think we could be onto a winner. Problem is - those strikers come at a premium price.

You always want the option to change one if not both wingers during the 90 minutes with an equal dangerous threat. Run the fullbacks ragged for 70 minutes and then challenge them with fresh legs for the final 20. I thought it was also interesting that Fatawu and Mavididi swapped flanks for a bit yesterday; because I think Fatawu could be as dangerous down the left.

I’d argue that he’s not putting the work in of a striker at this level currently. He was very static and central during his 45 minutes - there was very little evidence of runs off the shoulder of his defenders in behind, or of showing deep into feet to either create space for himself or others. I also felt his movement when we were in advanced crossing positions was lazy - mostly straight and in a line to the back post, putting the onus on the crosser to find him with a perfect ball. His play (or lack of) is certainly something the coaching team will look to work on in the coming weeks - but it’s disappointing he’s not doing this sort of basic stuff off his own back considering for himself professionally, this is a big opportunity to position himself as our main striker.

New manager can’t do that, he has to keep the big egos onside whilst they’re here.

Need’s a striker adding to it - Daka is not the answer. Monga could do with more people running off him as well - he’s attracting and beating 3/4 players at times, meaning there must be space for others to take advantage of.

Bloody hell Luke, you can’t do that after I’ve praised you 10 minutes earlier!

I’m disappointed in our lads there. Monga’s just pulled of some great skill and got clattered in the process - so at least one of our guys should be getting themselves across there to pickup and praise Monga (and also give the fullback a bit of abuse in the process).

He’s looking alright isn’t he, looks to have some confidence about him.

Indeed - if fans want to see a manager play youth players, the stands need to contain a much more forgiving atmosphere.

Is this where we find out the club haven’t considered Monga or Evans passport situations?

I see Brentford are taking extra steps to secure relegation this season - fair play 👏

Especially if it turns out to be Rohl!