cowl

It's odd that we'd not seen Penney in the first team before this season though. He's been with us right from the juniors and when someone doesn't make even the bench before being 20 it's almost inevitable that they'll be released at the season's end, and even if they do make an appearance it'll be obvious that they're quite limited. Absolutely not so with Penney though. I don't think I've ever seen a player come up through our ranks and be this good despite being 20 before they make the first team. Hard not to be critical of CC for not involving him whilst still here. He only left 10 months ago after all, and God knows left back had long been a problem position for him beyond his first season with us.

The past is the past. It's what he can do now that matters. I said to my mate before the game that I thought we needed a big performance from Matias today. Even when he scores, as he did against Stoke, he needs to be involved far more than what he has been mostly. His work-rate in all these games this season has been high, but as an attacking outlet he's only been doing it in flashes. To be fair though he was very good today. I thought he played well against Millwall too but I think he bettered that today. He can take a lot of confidence from today, and let's hope he can push on from here.

Could well be. It'll surely win goal of the month anyway. Sublime technique.

After a run of abysmal performances culminating in midweek's low-point against Forest, I thought Reach was outstanding. Easily his best performance of the season. Matias was also very good, as was Fletcher, who despite some chances he should have done much better with, lead the line superbly. Thought another poor performer lately in Pelupessy was far more dominant than he often is. Solid game. Dawson 6 - Nothing he could do about McGinn's goal of course, did flap a bit at times, but was mostly solid. Lees 7 - Strong performance. Marked Kodjia mostly out of the game, and even brought the ball out of defence a few times. Hector 7 - Like the look of him. Seems fairly confident with the ball at his feet, is good in the air and strong in the tackle - what's not to like? Pudil 7 - Solid. This was the kind of performance he was putting in at the back end of last season. Baker 6 - Obviously, his mis-cued header lead to their goal, although it's a bit harsh to point the finger too much at him. Thought he otherwise defended so-so. A bit limited going forward, although that was a very nice cut-back to Reach in the 2nd half. Pelupessy 7 - After much criticism he had a very sound game today. This needs to be his minimum from now. Bannan 7 - Somewhat less at the centre of things, but that's no bad thing because we played much better as a team today. Still involved enough, mind. Penney 7 - More impressed with this kid each time I see him. Very good attacking outlet for us on the overlap on quite a few occasions, and generally a sound defender. Reach 9 - Easily his best game this season. JL saying after Forest that Reach needs to drive games more, and he certainly did that today. Outstanding performance and MOTM. Fletcher 8 - Could've had 4 goals really, but I can't fault the performance beyond this because his work-rate was fantastic. Very good centre-forward's performance. Matias 8 - Much more like it. He's had some hard-working performances, and shown flashes of ability in other games, but today we saw both. Like Reach, he really grabbed the ball with intent today. JL 8 - After his criticism after we played Brentford, we got a good 'reaction' performance against Millwall, and today we've had similar reaction after a weak performance against Forest. Like he says, we'll find out over the next few weeks whether we can be a top 6 side this season, and the challenge he made to the players to believe in themselves more certainly seems to have resonated so he deserves a great deal of credit for that. Roll on Leeds!

Why the club want him out. If you understand why this is then you can explain it to me. And then when you've done that we can debate whether it's a reasonable way for the club to proceed.

I've given this kid some reyt stick over this past year but I thought he was more-or-less sound tonight. The cross for Matias in the first half was fantastic and generally his defending was solid. I think he's got a genuine contest on from Penney to keep the shirt but competition for places is a great thing and I just wish we had more of it.

I don't remember us ever looking so susceptible at the back week-in, week-out when Westwood was in goal. I know that'll be too simplistic for some of you, and in any case, I don't make this to sound as the indictment against Dawson that some will take it as - after all, it's not 'obvious' that any weaknesses at the back are even down to him; I rate him highly, and see him as our rightful future number one - but whilst we've got the tried-and-tested Westwood sitting around doing nothing, I'd prefer there to be an 'honest' contest for the keeper's starting shirt, as there seems to be with all the other positions. I'm also bewildered by the number of players that we just seem to have ex-communicated over the past 3 or 4 years, all while Chansiri's owned the club. Sadly, I don't think it's a coincidence. I'd much prefer we look to find more constructive solutions than what we have been doing with players that find themselves out of favour. We just seem to give up on them.

I know it seems unsporting but I also think Forest weren't up to much. We weren't playing a great side, and yet we seemed to set up and approach the game as though we were. Not as bad as the 2nd half against Brentford but there are parallels with how we just seemed to 'give up' with 30 minutes still left to play. And Jos, please, don't forget you can make substitutions at any time in the game; you don't have to wait until the last 20 minutes, and you certainly don't have to wait until the game's beyond reach. Better to be proactive than reactive.

Do I think our current manager signed players before he even joined the club, you mean?

You shouldn't worry about the fans - we've got a ridiculously stubborn owner in DC, and whilst ever JL is able to show him that things are moving forward then he won't be sacking him.

"Projects in his head"? Keep threatened clubs in the division and get aspiring clubs promoted - what other 'projects' could a manager have? Especially one with zero interest in laying down foundations at a club.

Did Sean Clare himself say he was homesick at any point anyway? Seems to be accepted as a fact, but I'm not sure what the origin of this was.

His work rate has been excellent, and he's certainly a skilful player, but I still don't feel as though he's doing enough to affect the game. I hope that's something that'll come still, but for now I'm just pleased to see him put a run of games together.

Agreed. There's more to come, and perhaps the side needs to look to him more at times.

Nicely put, and there's a lot of truth in that.