Srg

Horrific performance from start to finish. Look incapable of a five yard pass. No idea how to create a chance from open play. Wildsmith has lost his mind. Bradley is a joke of a player. Even NML completely missing. Whatever the question is, Waghorn is never the answer. Deserved absolutely nothing from that game. Charlton were fitter, stronger, more athletic, sharper and more positive. Dont know where we go from that.

Wildsmith, Nyambe, Nelson, Cashin, Sibley, Adams, Fornah, Bird, NML, Barkhuizen, Gayle. Won't be that, but that's what i'd go with.

Was gutted Hourihane waltzed back into the team for this reason. Speaking to the resident Barnsley fan at work this morning and he confirmed what he had heard off of multiple Derby fans this season in that he can't move anymore.

Average age of the team that finished that final was actually younger for Chelsea than it was for Liverpool by a couple of years. Problem is, Chelsea's cost a fortune.

Big fan of the 10+ consecutive seasons discount for 6 year olds.

Still think we're pretty middle of the pack even in League 1 as far as prices go.

Wildsmith, Nelson, Bradley, Cashin, Nyambe, Elder, Adams, Bird, Sibley, Barkhuizen, NML. Can't see us not going wingbacks. Would be tempted with Sibley LWB with Thompson in the middle, too.

Not watched or anything, but looks like he last started a cup game but has been on the bench other than that.

Has Brown been recalled?

I still don’t subscribe to him having been anymore than competent… but you’re kinda proving the point that if he can do it and fans can go with it, why not Sibley?

Family definitely a big factor for him. He said how much his daughter loves Rammie when he re-signed. Can't see him going anywhere for the foreseeable.

And this right here is the crux of everyone's argument. Judge him the same way other players get judged. Who seemingly get to play out a bad performance and still start the next game, often for many games in a row. They don't have to score or assist to keep their place when Sibley does. Someone mentioned Bradley earlier in this thread and it was a decent comparison. He was atrocious at the start of the season. Up there with one of the worst defenders I can remember. Yet he's played a couple of competent games now because he's been allowed to and suddenly people are anointing him - and this isn't a knock on Bradley, this is just the fact he's allowed to play through a bad game to then show he can play. Hourihane... regularly bad. Collins... regularly bad. Smith.... regularly bad. List goes on, and this is just this past season or so. Just seems like players come in, be below average and that's fine, they keep playing until they show some worth. Sibley gets judged on a whole different scale by absolutely everyone. I think the days have gone where we thought we had a world beater on our hands, don't get me wrong, but a player who can score like he can from midfield positions could be worth their weight in gold at these levels... so let's find out what we have once and for all and stop bombing him out after a bad 45 minutes.

Surely there's one answer... make it affordable.

I think it's more of a product of how teams play against us home v away. We excel with room to use, where we can utilise NML on the break. At home, where we have to break teams down who sit back, we don't have the creativity and strikers to do it until the game gets more stretched later in games.

Well the top 7 there are all out of contract, and we maybe re-sign Loach as a coach but that's about it. With restrictions eased and a new league, we would be fishing in a different pond and will need a lot of players. But let's worry about that if and when we need to.

It's not, because of who plays who. If we win all our games, including beating Pompey and Bolton then we end with 105. If Pompey and Bolton do the same, one of you ends with 105 and the other with 102, depending on who wins between you when you play each other.

Knew I’d seen Gayle when watching Alien

Max Bird didn't stand out as way too good for League One until Adams came in, neither did Jason Knight last season.

Always knew Leicester was down south.

Do we know that for a fact?

So when has Sibley had 3 games in his preferred position? Genuine question, it must have happened, but I don't remember it.

In what world have Sibley and Adams played the same role? They're completely different players and have been asked to do completely different things. You're adding 2 and 2 and making 5. There's multiple problems afoot with Sibley, but fundamentally, he's fell in a trap we've had before with some players where if they score or assist then happen to keep the shirt, they're then hauled off at half time the next game if they've not done it again. Meanwhile, average performances that are no better than his start weekly. Only chance he's had to be in the team for any length of time was at left back, and we had a really solid defence during that period against all odds. We could compare him to Knight as someone who got used in many positions, but Knight had better attributes to do so - quicker, better engine, better tackler, just to name three. But, to no one's surprise, he's gone to Bristol and been used in the position we were banging on about for years and he's unlocked that next level we knew he had. Unfortunately for Louie, he's probably going to have to leave and I have no doubt he will do alright when a team let's him be him for a bit.

It's 2024, are we still perpetuating this "bulk up" nonsense in football?

Stevenage tried to turn it into many 5 a side games. They crowded the ball quickly with multiple players and kept it boxed in and frantic. You can see how that works for them, especially when they're a short team with no real players above 6ft. Unfortunately for us, that meant the space first half was at full back, and neither Nyambe or Elder are adept with the ball at their feet to use that space. We looked a little lost at times with what we were trying to do, in particular, Kane Wilson was struggling. He tried hard, just didn't really look like he had a clue what he was doing. The press was so frenetic it saw both teams seeing shadows at times and just ended up with getting rid of the ball thinking a challenge was coming, even if there was actually some time. It took Korey Smith to come on, which enabled us to get a better player on the ball in Kane Wilson going into the space at full back and Korey himself having the experience to realise when there was actually time to use for us to really get going in any sense of the word. Tough, attritional game which I think we did enough to win. I don't think Collins would have changed things first half, to be honest. I'm glad Hourihane didn't play, as I think he would've collapsed under that quick press in the first half. I think it played out how most thought, we were never going to stroll out and beat these, and it was nice to match them physically.

One of the only players we have who can score out of pretty much nothing. In this period whilst we have no strikers, we need to try and use him. Thought he was a little late coming on on Saturday when we were desperate for goal attempts, luckily he still managed one that counted.