Philb125

Already this year a team (I think Exeter) said they dropped interest in loaning hurst when they were told they needed to cover his current wages. Let's assume he's on less than 10k, do you think giving him more than most proven players earn in the league below him is wise.

I'm fairly certain it can be part of the structure yes. Effectively it's a transfer fee by mediation so each side puts their case and tribunal decides it. Then depending on how long the players been developed by team, potential etc the figures / future clauses decided.

Maybe because the record transfer of 12 months ago doubled in the last window and thoughts are the crazy hike in prices will continue. In that case a tribunal would likely award more than they were prepared to offer. A gamble in a sense but educated gamble in my opinion.

I'm surprised they are doing so well as I'm continually informed that neither have any pace and that we lack the creativity to provide service. On a more serious note, whilst the current run has seen a great return I think we need to find a way of giving them a break, more so Fletch than Hooper. We need to Keep the others fit and have 3/4 in form in case one of the top 2 have a sustained absence.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a switch in style / personal for Cardiff with a view to control and counter. That could mean less expansive fullbacks, bringing Pudil/Fox in for Reach. Using Jaoa as a wing forward instead of Fletcher with 3 very dynamic midfielders plus jones that cover shed loads of ground. Reach, BB, Jones Lee all with exception of Jones can play pretty much anywhere in midfield. That would leave decision of Hopper or Rhodes up top. Certainly looking forward to seeing the line up and looking how carlos wants to tackle them!

Best player, best partnership and best team threads often can be misleading or hindered by the fact that that: a) the season is long and arduous - if we had players capable of playing 50 games a season without fear of burnout, injury or suspension that would be great. In reality we don't, even the machine that is Lee has proved this. b) varied opposition, the championship must be one of the most diverse leagues around. With ranging challenges and player abilities to go with styles that we'll face. Facing pace, power and pigs through to experience, guile and trickery. The challenges will change and players needed will do too c) player form. An in form Jaoa is likely to offer more than an out of form anybody (hopefully the anybody comment avoids offending fan favorites of individual players). For the above reason I think it's great that our squad is so deep, but the challange is how do we spread the workload throughout the season to keep our favored frontline fresh, in form and hungry whilst not allowing our squad to get rusty, disheartened and out of form. It's a better problem to have than in times gone by though.

Odd to see Fletch rated a 6 by so many. I thought he won most of the long balls being punted up to him. Worked extremely hard in a game where we had very little platform to play the nice stuff. It wasn't our best game, and we were forced to play with scraps for large periods. We'll play better than that and lose I'm sure.

We'll play better and lose I'm sure, but a wins a win! Need to keep the run going and take some confidence into Cardiff game who'll be looking to bounce back after Preston have hammered them tonight.

Hoping to see some fresh legs in second half or players coming out knowing they've got 10-15 mins left to play and giving their all. Looked second nest for much much of the half and often it appeared they had an extra player or we were a yard or so off pace. All well and good playing the same team but when you've got quality on the bench you have to be able to rotate too. Bench is strong, with a few that will be hoping to force a way into starting 11. I think Carlos was hoping to be able to rest a few early but that's not happened.

Like Saturday?

I certainly thought they could have scored 2 or 3 on Saturday and that they exposed us far more than I was happy with. I guess we won't always be as open. Joost had to deal with plenty of movement and the enigma that is Murphy late on too. I agree he'll have tougher games but probably get easier ones too.

Being an expat, forking out for iplayer it's annoying having to hunt down streams as no coverage.

His position is certainly one where a youngster can get a chance without over exposing the team, relying on attributes such as pace and stamina. Personally im hugely keen for him to get a chance as from what I've read, seen in highlights (and bow to your better more considered judgement) he's as close to an attacking wingback who can cross that we have. I'd love it if he came through as Reach's understudy. When I look at how Reach plays for us, I don't see our other options having the stamina, engine, attacking intent to do that job so I'm hopeful Penney does.

Expecting quite a changed line up with a few of our players either recovering or carrying knocks, plays our full backs huge shifts in when we play diamond formation. Expecting: Westwood Palmer Lees Joost Fox/Pudil Boyd Jones Butterford/Bannan Matias Jaoa Rhodes great thing is can play a few ways and our strength in depth is crazy.

Maybe Tuesday then :)