CloudFox

Left wing is not the priority position for us to strengthen in right now. Odd move.

He's currently our best option as a 9. Hopefully we get a starting striker in ahead of him and Ayew, but Ayew is not a 9 at all. In the meantime, Daka at least helps with the pressing and can cause some chaos in behind with his pace, giving defenders something to think about and opening up opportunities for our wingers to find space.

Much better playing off or behind the main striker. We desperately need him to never play as the sole striker again. Makes the choice to take the #9 shirt all the more baffling. That said, he does seem to be working hard for the team, and in the second half I was astonished to see him pressing and having a tiny bit of pace!! Definitely should be coming off the bench. We just need a starting striker.

Wow. Need I say more?

Did anyone catch his post-match interview? My errrr perfectly legal way of watching the match cut out just before. Anyway, keep it up Marti. It's good to see some fight and defensive stability back in this team. And the subs? They just make sense.

I hear you, but it is criminally unfair and unrealistic for the club to expect to be carried on the back of 16 and 17 year olds. It's a 46 game season, Saturday-Tuesday many a week. They're going to need support. And hell, someone to learn from too at times.

True. I'm just playing a game I like to play called "worst case scenario" 😁.

Yeah I like him coming inside more. If he keeps doing that (not the slipping 🙄) that could cause Brum some problems I reckon.

He's not played great, but he has hardly seen the ball to be fair to him.

It is making me laugh at the moment though. He's like an articulated lorry when pressing or running on to a through ball. He needs to be able to drop deeper with someone ahead of him, pressing.

I actually think it's in part because we've limited them.

Weird that Evans isn't in either squad tonight. Guessing he must be on the fringes of the first team? Can he go on loan now? Can't remember if 17 is old enough.

Oh **** off He's not a bad player by any stretch, but he is 30, on a long contract and doesn't improve us in our strongest area of the pitch. I'm going to stop lulling myself into believing Football League World have any insight (out of desperation). What a load of bollocks.

I think the 8s / 10s in Cifuentes' system operate as a hybrid of both positions, so he'd probably fit that well. Him being a leader is a big plus too, but...I am very uneasy about paying high wages right now.

Maybe we're going for one of them too, with Sylla also covering / rotating with Fatawu? I agree, I feel like we've needed a power forward-type striker for a while now. Was hoping it would be Koné, but that ship has sailed.

NEW NAME. But also, somehow, kind of an old name...? ...sorry, I'm in a Sylla mood. (He does look an interesting prospect—I like the sound of him having a knack for getting on the end of rebounds etc)

I was about to post that at least we don't have a striker Newcastle can unsettle or sign, as we don't have any. But wait.... 👀

A fair point, but I think one of the reasons people might make that distinction is that Mads was in demand and we didn't want to lose him, so we all wanted more for him, whereas Coady/Justin/Faes are players we want to shift and don't expect there to be much interest in. So any fee is a bonus! Historically we've also been pretty good selling players we wanted to keep for high fees (Maguire, Drinkwater, Fofana), and poor at shifting out players we don't want. So people will begrudgingly acknowledge that Rudkin has got good fees for in-demand players (maybe less so in recent years re: Maddison and Barnes), but our problem has been shifting out those we don't want, which is a failing. Earlier this summer, Tom Collomosse reported that Glover was being given more control on the transfer front, so people see success following that "change" and allocate that goodwill to Glover. Personally, I think Glover has got more control now, so he is accountable for transfers. As it should be since he's our Head of Recruitment! Rudkin is still responsible though, as he'll have final sign off. Just means they're both responsible for all of it, good and bad.

A couple of years ago, I'd be excited by this. His injury record of late is a pretty big red flag though. Is he robust enough to play in the Championship, playing twice a week?

Bearing in mind that Ricardo won't play every game this season, Coulibaly is actively not being selected, Kristiansen doesn't seem anywhere near the squad, and Aluko has yet to play a competitive game for us... That leaves Hamza and Thomas as our default first choice full backs, if we're honest. I'd love Ricardo to stay fit and Aluko to have a break out season, but the former is unrealistic and the latter unlikely given Cifuentes' preference for Thomas at LB. Once we sell Justin, a LB has to get added to the shopping list. But I guess that won't happen until Kristiansen is gone too.

Good fee since he's in his last year, but hard to feel pleased with when there's no sign of incomings. I'm a bit worried how short this leaves us at left back now, with Thomas not doing great so far, Kristiansen unlikely to stay, and Woyo ceasing to exist. Plus he's not one of the problem players we actually want to shift.

I am frustrated with the continual picking of Soumaré and Skipp as a CM pairing that clearly doesn't work, but others are right to point out Cifuentes doesn't really have much choice right now. His interviews are very encouraging. Post-Charlton and Preston he's said the same thing, regardless of result: He's not happy with the footballing performance, and wants to show the fans something better. That speaks volumes, and I genuinely believe these performances are not what he wants. He just desperately needs bodies in who can actually do the job on the pitch. Please, please, please, Top, Rudkin, Whelan, whoever can do something to make that happen: Pull your fingers out and give him the tools he ****ing needs, pronto. He deserves better. We deserve better.

No thank you, not for sale. He'll play a big role this season I think.

Skipp and Soumaré off, Winks and Ricardo on please. Ricardo to go to RB, Choudhury to move into CM alongside Winks, or as the holding player. We need to see more fight. Now.

It says a lot that we're captaining our 3rd choice right back