DJ Barry Hammond

You’re not serious are you? 😳

He’s got to take that Cardiff offer in any way true hasn’t he? (even over the Sheffield United one).

I’ll be amazed if Arsenal don’t go and buy Toney after this. They desperately need that focal point up front.

Bet that contained a fair number of Gas Head’s! They love a glory day away do Bristol’s fans 😂

I think we can also assume from this that Gerrard is going to be sacked soon.

Ah, I see! Surprised there’s no indication for that.

Well I count 6 subs too! Edit: For Brighton as well

How are Brentford struggling with one extra game? They’ll have full weeks to prepare for games soon enough!

We can’t afford to do that yet. This window will be about getting surplus players off the books where we can and if that happens bringing in the odd signing (probably on loan) to get us across the line. The only January action for next season is likely to be contract offers for players already here. We’ll sort out next season in the summer.

I think this current squad, if in the Premier League, would be sitting on around 25-22 points right now, which would get you 12th to 14th. True, the lower half of the league this season lacks quality that might be upgraded with the promotions from the Championship this season. But I’d be confident the core playing squad has the right mentality, alongside sufficient scope to develop further to compete.

Preparing for League One I guess 😂

Bugger! Couldn’t one of Sunderland, Middlesbrough or Preston have done a job to open up the competition that bit more?

Little bit disappointed we haven’t seen many sides ranked above / around us go out so far. Burnley out and of course one of Arsenal and Liverpool will go, but was hoping for something from Middlesbrough or Preston to get the vibes of a wide open year going. Still chance for something tomorrow however - who knows, maybe Huddersfield or Wigan will shock us all!

There is a problem if as a team you show you’re week at defending set pieces because that’s the easiest way for an opposition to identify and plan a way to score against you. They are situations that easy to get footage for, to then go through and identify weaknesses and advantageous match ups. Additionally, you can pretty much guarantee at least a handful of opportunities to pull off a set piece move in the game. If we don’t address this potential weakness - teams WILL target this as an area against us and we will concede more.

Well Enzo was very keen to get him through the door at the start of the season.

Those stats ☝️ also suggest Millwall are quite strong at scoring from set pieces as well - not that this will have surprised anyone.

Stats for Championship are in here. https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/08/championship-stats-2023-24-opta/ 8 conceded from set plays - worst record inside the top 8.

He was up against Gordon today wasn’t he? No easy task given the form Gordon’s been in, even when Newcastle have been shite. I’d also say - I don’t rate Beale as a manager and as such, I bet he hadn’t really incorporated any tactics to assist in nullifying Gordon’s threat.

Just dragging forward some comments on Doyle right before he got injured. We had just played Norwich away and won 2-0. I note varied comments about his defensive ability before this.

Still, 6’s goals will have them bouncing in training all week. Not saying we won’t take confidence into the game as well… but it’s their cup final more than it is ours.

They had a good win today didn’t they. Will be a tough game.

You’d think people would learn not to be too quick to judge players coming back from injury (especially at a place that’s not easy to play).

I don’t see anything wrong in fans taking positives from a performance, they are under a newish manager after all.

In that case I’ll have a PM too 😉

I believe Enzo wanted to sign Doyle on a permanent deal, but a loan was easier to get over the line. Justin was never going to be able to play week in week out - and wasn’t ready at the start of the season. Showing we’re a club that’s patient and good at developing young players is essential for our progression. We can’t afford the finished article - we have to smooth rough diamonds. Loans can be a good gateway to permanent signings - they can also be very cost efficient where you might need a certain level of quality for now, but anticipate that higher quality will be needed down the line. But the main point - discarding players signed 6 months ago, just like that, is not how you run a successful football club.