plymouthranger

I think we’ll get a bit of a doing in all honesty

Whilst it was a disaster financially, not qualifying for the CL might have been the best thing for us in terms of keeping the existing squad together. Had we made CL this year, we’d likely have been stuffed most games in that group and the likes of Morelos, Kamara, Goldson, Hagi etc would probably all be looking for moves next summer. As it stands, they’ve now got to win 56 to get qualification and I doubt any of them push as hard for a move with guaranteed CL football, meaning we’ve probably kept the nucleus of the squad together for 12-18 months longer than expected. Disaster financially mind…

Our most important player? Comes on and actually presses his man, always on the half turn trying to create something, has the composure to pick out a man in the box within 2 minutes of coming on… Needs to play every game

Anyone wae a cough?

My worry is that if we win the league, the £30million was really meant to pay off some of the debt rather than remodelling a brand new side. Next summer we could lose (as it stands), Jack, Davis, McGregor, Goldson, plus Alfie, Helander, Aribo, Kamara, Arfield would have 12 months left on their deals. That’s basically most of our strongest 11.

Poch surely gets sacked soon if this continues?

Apparently considering not to use Ibrox for studio coverage in protest over the Sutton/TLB exclusion. As much as I like the clubs approach with the tabloids who print pish, I am beginning to question what our approach is in general with media partners. It seems we’ve now pissed off both Sky over the Cinch deal and BT with this. That’s not a clever thing to do long-term, as it’s not going to do us any favours. As much as we all despise those 2 “pundits”, this isn’t something you’d see EPL/CL level clubs doing regardless of rivalries. Thoughts?

If he’s fit yes, but he’s basically been injured for 18 months barring the odd spell of 3-4 games. The fact he was meant to be back for pre-season and it’s nearly October is a concern

Jack’s done, no chance we’ll ever be able to rely on him frequently again. As much as Lundstram looks lost right now, he needs to be given the chance to play himself into form. We’re paying him big wages and he won’t be easy to shift if he has a tough time up here, but if he can find some form and take his chance he could also become very valuable for us.

Thought so, interesting to hear about the difference in approach between us and them. Seems we’re really trying to focus on quality and filter out the deadwood as early as possible, compared to our approach 10-15 years ago which was to have a massively inflated youth set up full of players who wouldn’t ever make it. In the North East of England where I’m based, Sunderland have tried to do the same and have had much more success bringing through youth recently, compared to Newcastle and Boro who have 100s in the youth set up. That might be influenced by the issues Sunderland have had with external signings, but it’s interesting how different their model is (I play cricket occasionally with one of their youth team GK coaches).

Sounds like that age group is struggling, is it a lack of talent at that level or has the B team impacted the pool of players they have?

Shame but he’s been injured for a while now, was always going to happen. Him and Alfie haven’t given us much output in terms of goals/assists, so it’s an opportunity to get Sakala and someone else in the side for a couple of games. Hopefully those that come in do well, because Alfie and Kent haven’t been at their usual best since last season. Line up for the weekend? Shagger Tav Goldson Balogun Bassey Lundstram Kamara Aribo Sakala Roofe Wright

He needs a run of 3-4 starts, has had a disrupted pre-season and a string of subs appearances. With Kent expected out, I’d like us to play him in the middle and put Morelos & Roofe either side of him. Morelos’ physicality could help out wide, plus he’s not really much of a goal threat currently for whatever reason.

Scott Wright is a good 2-3 levels below Europa League standard, woeful since he came on

Market value isn’t really existent right now, until we have a proven track record of our players leaving and excelling in “bigger leagues”, clubs will be reluctant to pay top dollar for our assets. It’s where the tarriers, annoyingly, have done well and are able to collect gold fees for their players. They’ve sold the likes of Armstrong, Wanyama, Van Dijk, Tierney, Dembele etc for good fees who have all done well for their new clubs. As much as I’d rather keep our best players, when one does go we really need them to do a turn at their new side…