Wsm-ram

85 ?
The Mrs has a party to get back for, we parked in Travelodge and didn't want to get locked in there for 40 mins.
By time we went to cross the road the stadium erupted. 
Got to the car and erupted again.
She's been given the silent treatment.

Great result
No doubt haters will say they played a weakened team etc, but it's always nice to beat a team further up the football pyramid.
Also want us to go as far as possible, even if it's not a money spinner and we won't win the thing. Winning means something whatever the competition 

The contents of this thread are refreshing to read, no mention of amortisation, preferred bidders, Mike Ashley, Q or the EFL , we are back, at last, to the real heart of what's important to us, the football. 
A few thousand posters and tens of thousands of opinions, long may it continue. ??

Dissapointed, but 3 goals despite massive possession tells you the story of our first 4 games. We need to find more cutting edge as we're looking for worldies or mistakes to get us our goals.
We have the players, but the blend isn't right yet. I think we're crying out for more energy, pace and urgency in the middle to get us nearer to Collins...or we have to start with a genuine 10 just off him.
Knight would be first name down in midfield, for me. Can't Smith play RB?

We can’t continue to play a midfield three of Hourihane, Smith and Bird when we are searching for a goal. It’s fine if we want to protect a lead, but it’s just not going to work in an attacking sense.
I thought Smith looked neat and tidy when he dropped deep. But all he was doing was taking Bird’s role as Bird then became anonymous further up the pitch until they switched back.
Hourihane seems undroppable due to his ability at set-pieces and range of passing. I get that, but he is another who has zero penetration through the middle. It’s all too predictable in there. The balance is off.
Maybe Hourihane needs to play in a wide role. Maybe Barkhuizen can play as the number 10 if Sibley can’t be trusted. Something needs changing in there for sure. 
I felt for NML and Barkhuizen today. It took an age for us to give them the ball and when we did, it’s like we just expected them to beat their man every time and deliver pinpoint crosses. That seemed like the only tactic we had.
Collins also had an impossible job. Challenging crosses on his own against a back three. Pointless. 
 

Hmmm... we're playing alright but the lack of goals still concerns me.
I'm all for a 'footballing philosophy', but we need a Plan B for when that isn't working (against teams that are just going to put everyone behind the ball and try to hit on the break).
Whether that's getting a 'big 6'5" brick poo house' striker to bring on for the last 10mins to go more direct and push for a win remains to be seen... that's what I'd do... but that's probably why I'm not a football manager!

Disappointing result, and probably does point to the fact that we do need something different in the attacking third. Not a criticism of Collins, because he worked his nuts off, but how many times did he actually touch the ball?  Poor penetrating passes from those behind him. We should also be taking a few more risks out wide, whether it wingers or full backs. We must have only broke through on the wings a few times, but there seemed no great desire to take a man on. Knight, given his quality, perhaps the worst culprit. He kept passing the ball backwards, rather than looking for the give and goes that Byrne was doing last season.
Anyway, can’t knock the effort, and in truth we could just as easily be on 8 or 10 points this season with a little more luck. 7 will do, but hopefully we can be more enterprising on Saturday. Up the Rams!

Dobbin looked very promising..getting better with every outing...think he will be a key player for us..

It’s early in the season so can’t judge, but they were poor so we should really have won that.
I think we will need another striker and a right back as a minimum. 

Game ova. 0-0. 
Will we score much this year? When will LR get a FB in and move Knight to his proper position? Ugly game really. We dominate but we don't win much. Unfinished project. Collins being starved because we have no clue once we are at their box.  

A decent solution to a difficult GK conundrum. We need someone to genuinely challenge Wildsmith to get the best out of him. Loach isn’t at that level, from what I’ve heard, and Foulkes isn’t at that level YET.
We can’t attract top loan talent if we can’t guarantee first team football every week, which narrows the pool. We also can’t justify (in my opinion) paying a decent wage on a permanent GK, if one of them is guaranteed to sit on the bench. So we’re left with a younger/cheaper loan option who is good enough to push Wildsmith. Let’s hope he fits the bill.
Crucially, this allows Foulkes to go out on loan and play a full season somewhere. It’s a long road, but we need to get back to the point of sending our top 5 academy products out on loan, so they don’t have to learn on the job in the Championship/League 1.

Would make sense so oko flex and Dobbin swap with barkhuizen and Mendez laing.

Think it's mainly a fitness thing, but it is alarming and could be addressed better. When we didn't have a proper pre-season people are saying we won't get up to match fitness until October. 
For me our fittest player is Knight and we need him in the heart of midfield to give us more energy there. I think the physical transformation in Sibley this season is amazing and we also need his physicality in the middle of midfield. 
Neither of our two new wingers has the stamina right now and it seems the wrong approach to start them both and have them run out of steam by half-time. If we want consistent energy throughout the game it makes more sense to rotate Mendez-Laing and Barkhuizen rather than play them together.

I’m hearing Tyler Walker was the player Rosenior spoke to yesterday with him at the game last night. Also a RB is being loaned in from a ‘top prem club’ 

I would welcome Waggy back to the club! He did nothing but put 100% in on the pitch wether playing up top or on the wing. Also has the physicality that is needed in L1. He’s in his last year at Cov so would have to come here and work his arse off! 

He isn't going to cost anywhere near £5m like last time, so that's one positive. I saw this earlier and put it down to nonsense but seems like there could be something in it. 
He would obviously be a good option to cover the front three, plus we know what we're getting. He's not suddenly going to be a world beater, but he's never short of effort and is a very good squad member. He lives this way, still, so makes sense like with McGoldrick. 

If nis wages are low I think it’s an awesome addition to the bench.

I'd have him back ?

Would 100% have him bsck in League 1, versatile attacking player which we need. 
Collins McGoldrick Waghorn & Dobbin as striker options, cant be many too disappointed with that at this level

Would be difficult to get much better cover at this level

Would do well in league 1 imo
 
 

Not saying Waghorn in particular, but there's probably a spot in the squad for a sort of utility forward like him, than can do a decent job all across the front line, can hold the ball up a bit, works hard, does his defensive work and chips in with a few goals and assists.  Obviously in an ideal world we'd sign another James Collins-type that we could use as cover, or rotate with Collins, but realistically, I'm not sure we can afford to have 2 out and out centre forwards when we only play one of them, so a utility player may be the best option.

I nearly made the speculative guess of Waghorn last night when people said Rosenior was watching Cov. 
It’s probably not a thing, however I don’t see it as the worst possible option given we could do with another forward and he’s capable of playing across the front line.
Waghorn didn’t set the price we paid for him, he did score some important goals for the club and has scored goals at all levels he’s played at in his career, Waghorn would provide us another experienced forward option to further compliment the squad. 

Its 5 in a matchday squad, not 5 loans total.
 

Rosenior has said numerous times we are being patient to work on the right deals and bring the right characters in. Pretty confident we will see at least 3 or 4 more through the door before the window shuts. ?