UEA Owl

Makes sense to me. Gassama has looked leggy the last few games and deserves a rest. Musaba and Ugbo a threat on the break. Palmer in as well is smart as we looked stable with him and Pol on the right at Leicester. I know everyone likes Cadz and he’s shown he’s a smart finisher, but he doesn’t get on the ball enough for me, doesn’t have a great touch and is limited in possession at this stage in his career. He‘ll improve, but you could see how we improved in possession from the top of pitch after he went off at Leicester even if they took their foot off the gas.

Looking vulnerable down our right hand side, Palmer, Pato and Byers giving them too much space. Thought we responded well after conceding though.

Rob's done a good job trying to hold this idiot to account when he’s asked the manager tough but fair questions given terrible performances and ridiculous selection choices.

Why Johnson isn’t first choice on the left will remain a mystery to me.

Coventry also had Viktor Gyökeres and Gustavo Hamer, two of the best forward players in the division. Don’t think any of our attacking players are anywhere near as good as those two. Think their fixture list was a mess too after the rugby 7s at the Commonwealth games tore up their pitch.

Don’t understand the Johnson thing at all. He's been one of our most important players for the last 18 months, is a pretty good crosser for this level and has contributed a good amount of assists and a few goals. Crucial in the playoffs too as he was involved in the first 4 goals against Peterborough. He's experienced at Championship level and has good chemistry with players like Bannan and Gregory, especially when we don’t know if any of these new players are even any good! Ipswich were interested in him as well and they’re expected to be at least top 10 this season, he probably wouldn’t be playing every week there, but he might have been better off going to them than stick around here.

Johnson on the right seems to nullify everything he’s good at. Windass ineffective out wide as well.

Really miss Pato here, would’ve been on 10 mins ago if he was available. Moore doesn’t have much to go with on the bench.

Plymouth look a good side, that’ll be a very difficult game. Would take a point give how we fared there last season.

Decent chance that he'll be the best of the bunch in a few years time, but we need to go up this year and IMO, at this phase in his development, he's less reliable in and out of possession, in terms of finding space, picking up the ball and helping us control games. He's great when he gets on the ball, especially higher up the pitch, but I feel that Byers, Bakinson & Adeniran (Windass as well in the 10 role) will be the more consistent and reliable performers whereas with FDB he'll play like he did against Portsmouth or be a bit anonymous like he was against Charlton (albeit it was extremely hot). If there's a decent chance he's not going to sign a new deal then we should take the money now and make sure there's a good sell-on clause.

Makes sense he'd go to B'ham anyway, if he's from the Midlands, and settled in the area with his friends and family close by and they offer similar terms to what we have it's hardly surprising that he'd chose to stay down there than have to come up here. That being said, I don't rate Karanka particularly, does't seem like he's a manager that talented attacking players can thrive under.

I think in all of Jos's games so far we have at times struggled to retain possession and have missed someone like Bannan who will get their foot on the ball and hold possession, control the tempo and just get the ball moving. A great thing about Bannan is he is always looking to receive the ball (as long as it's not too deep). I personally feel a midfield 3 of Jones, Reach and Bannan on the right of three would be fine.

I think CC said Jan/Feb return would have been ahead of schedule anyway, so it shouldn't be too surprising, coming back from knee surgery (I think ligament related) often takes a long time. It's probably better not to rush him anyway, which Carlos may have done, as he had done so with FF and other players previously.

I remember Hooper commenting in his first season here that he enjoyed playing with Nuhiu as he does all the donkey work and dragged defenders to him, Fletcher does something similar as he is excellent in the air, but also offers a goal threat that Dave didn't. Perhaps Rhodes would work better with Fletcher than Hooper, but then we would lose Hooper's ability to drop deep and connect the play; Hooper is far superior to Rhodes in this capacity. People can comment about Rhodes' goal record before he has come here as much as they like, but here he's not done enough to say he deserves a place in the first 11. Rhodes has three league goals for us and Winnall had four before he left, and he had played significantly fewer minutes than JR. In the end it is what makes the team better, and it should be clear to everyone that Fletcher and Hooper is our best partnership.

I believe Jack Hunt will have played for Huddersfield against Leeds.