The Doctor

that's the point of signing Carranza. You'd hope he would be the stater, too frequently we've signed squad depth rather than creating squad depth by signing better players for the first team, but fundamentally the point of signing Carranza is to have depth in the striker position

regardless of what you think about Daka, he's one of only two forwards we had on the books two weeks ago, and is set to go to AFCON in January. Unless you want a month of just Ayew up top non stop, or the possibility of a teenager having to lead the line constantly, we needed another striker.

he's not though, he's been good whenever he's dropped back into the number 10 role for sure but whenever played in the number 9 he's been mediocre at best and has left our attack looking entirely incoherent. Like, he'll play a lot with Ramsey suspended and that's fine, he looks perfectly serviceable as a support striker at this level, but he cannot lead a line for toffee and the sooner he is replaced as the main striker, the better.

nah, his debut was v Blackpool in the cup where he did nothing. Scored an own goal about 6 weeks later v Ipswich, then about another 6 weeks to score his first goal at the right end

red or yellow I think you can argue either way, problem is the ref gave it purely based on the Oxford player reactions, weak as hell

has to be JJ and Winks as that double pivot, I think I'd rather jump in the soar than watch another 90 of the Skippmare experiment

yea, he scored. So did Ricardo for 2 in 2 and we're not calling for him to lead the line. Ayew is not a striker. He had an OK game up to the red card and then became entirely the wrong player to have on, because he can't lead a line or keep up with a break, and definitely should not have been kept on for the full 90, only to be subbed off for some stoppage time minutes for Bobby ****ing Reid. There's also more to leading a line than just scoring - has our attack looked coherent at any point with him leading it, absolutely not. Stick him at number 10, fine, but he cannot lead the line or knit an attack together, one goal does not change that.

we've looked better in every game before today when Daka has been up top. Ayew is just simply not a striker, not even at this level.

he is entirely the worst player to have in the situation of being down to 10. ok, he wasn't as bad as he typically is but he turns playing with 10 into playing with 9 as he's always 20 yards behind every attack. Where the ball comes to him deep sure, he can get us moving forwards, but not usually quickly enough to pose optimal threat

average at best, poor for most of it. I like Marti, he's saying all the right things, but what is his obsession with Jordan ****ing Ayew? should be removed for not suiting the game state the moment the red came out, instead sticks with him right to the 90 and then brings on Bobby Reid? Needs to be the end of the Skippmare experiment. Soumare has one good game in ten and Skipp looks like a competition winner.

finally Ayew coming off For ****ing Bobby Reid

desperately needed a change up top the moment the red card came out. Like, regardless of whether you acknowledge that Ayew is crap or not, he's clearly not got the pace to be able to make use of the few opportunities we'll get to break on them - the Mavididi chance a clear example, you can see how far back he is.

Aina out for three months https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ckgqd2eg1rlo Anges injury crisis starting before he's even met the squad

This is the biggest issue that really stops womens football from growing. Should never be that the next generation of players can't watch the current generation play.

Arsenal at home in 2003/4 he was pretty spectacular

unsurprising. Imagine Mouchon goes soon as well.

They were down to just picking the first 11 people into the ground with injuries tbf. He's a competent enough manager

Brian Clough Trophy

Mourinho or Rodgers would suit the level of delusion needed there. I actually think Ange would do ok, the running every player into the ground can be mitigated when they sign 79 players every window under that mental chairman

the what now?

Against us I've got a memory of Schmeichel playing an absolute blinder for Cardiff in the relegation season, not long after Holloway took charge.

could get much bigger attendances if they actually invested in and promoted the women's team though, rather than treating it as just a sideshow. I think women's football is limited in its ability to grow by the scheduling (so frequently clashes with the amateur games and kids leagues, so people have to choose between playing or attending) but there's growth there to be had if the club actually tried

Matt Beard. He's on gardening leave from Burnley who he joined in the summer then tried to immediately quit from. Liverpool manager of the last 4 years. He's got reasonable pedigree tbf

as the league is expanding, not this season. It's why if you want to do a radical rebuild, this is the season to do it, less danger if things take time. Problem is, our rebuild is stupid and doesn't make sense

realistic answer: WSL2 3rd place, which i would expect to be someone like Durham or Charlton. If we want to pretend not finishing 12th is possible, I fancy West Ham and Spurs to be down there again.