 | Forum
Reply | McKenna reported to be in boardroom at West Ham yesterday
at 21:25 15 Sep 2025
Potter is still manager of West Ham, so the idea that any potential new manager would go there on a 'tapping up' exercise, while the manager is still in situ, let alone one as intelligent & careful as McKenna, is just ludicrous. |
| Forum
Reply | Ivan Azon
at 18:39 13 Sep 2025
Based on yesterday, the team is starting to come together, with patterns of play & confidence, especially in the second half, and yet we've hardly seen anything of Azon, Egeli, Akpom or Nunez. We finally are becoming a side where the 'finishers' are arguably as good as the 'starters', which must be a frightening though for the rest of the league. |
| Forum
Reply | Mcateer
at 10:26 13 Sep 2025
Early days still, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. He's not a Hutchinson type player or even a Philogene or Clarke player, so no real point in those comparisons; the only question I have is have we let Ogbene go on loan in order to bring in a £12m replacement who doesn't offer us anything more, & arguably gives us a little less?
Time will tell. |
| Forum
Reply | Nunez is pure class!! (n/t)
at 10:17 13 Sep 2025
Sheffield United might be very poor at the moment, with some awful defending - all 5 goals came from the left (Godfrey's) side - & a pretty toothless looking attack, however, their midfield is really strong with Matos, Peck & O'Hare winning a lot of ball & causing us problems, particularly in the first half.
They may be bottom of the table, but Cajuste won't come up against players as good as them every week, so he will get plenty of opportunities to glide his way into dangerous areas over the coming weeks. A match fit Nunez may have been a better options alongside Matusiwa last night, but all 3 are going to contribute a lot of league minutes to the side this season. |
| Forum
Reply | Would you start Hirst tonight? (n/t)
at 13:01 12 Sep 2025
I don't really understand the negativity around Hirst; it's as though he just arrived in the Summer for big money & hasn't scored in first 10 games.
He had a poor game against Derby, there's no argument on that, but he has proven himself to be an effective centre forward at Championship level, made a decent fist of the games he played in the Premier League, & he knows exactly how to play in the style & formation that the manager wants.
We only have 2 proper strikers in squad between now & January, both of whom have question marks over their longterm fitness, so I don't see why we'd be willingly forgetting everything that Hirst has done in a Town shirt, since he came in halfway through the L1 promotion season & galvanised us onto an incredible run. We'll need him to be physically & mentally strong over the coming months if we are going to be promoted come May. |
| Forum
Thread | Starters & finishers
at 18:22 1 Sep 2025
A key aspect to KMcK's tactical success in our promotion seasons was freshing up the entire front 4, sometimes all at one time, after the hour mark. For that reason we have needed to have 11 strong forwards in the 25 man squad - i.e. a starting centre forward & 3 starting attackers in a line behind, plus a finishing centre forward & 3 finishing attackers in a line behind (totalling 8 forward players getting minutes for most matches), but then a 3rd centre forward/striker is also needed, plus 2 extra attackers, in order to cope with the inevitable injuries & suspensions.
Looking at our squad now though, we have
Centre forwards: George Hirst & Ivan Azon
Right side attacker: Kasey McAteer & Sindre Walle Egeli
Central attacker: Sam Szmodics & Chuba Akpom
Left side attacker: Jaden Philogene & Jack Clarke.
Now those are 8 very strong options to have in those positions, in the Championship, and Wes Burns will be back, although probably not match fit before November, but we are left very bare if we do pick up a couple of bad injuries.
Maybe we will look at using Cameron, Taylor or Nunez as a #10 if required, and maybe it will give someone like Tudor Mendel-Idowu a chance to break into the squad, but really, not having players like Chaplin, Broadhead, Ogbene & even Marcus Harness in the squad this time, might come back to bite us.
And why in God's name have we not made a real effor to sign Ivanovic from Millwall, who appears to be available for the cost of Kasey McAteer.
|
| Forum
Reply | Leicester doing good business now
at 13:09 1 Sep 2025
We let Ogbene out on loan (to rivals Sheffield Utd) in order to create a spot for McAteer to come in, for the princely sum of £11.5m, which went to another rival, Leicester City.
Are we (much) improved by having McAteer over Ogbene in that defence minded, attacking right wing role? Time will tell, but it was a lot of money to pay a clear promotion rival, with financial uncertainties, in any event. |
| Forum
Reply | Isak getting his move
at 11:05 1 Sep 2025
Would you want your club to sign players who down tools & refuse to play, in order to force a move, regardless of how good they are? It doesn't speak well of their loyalty & commitment, or indeed the ethics of their agent.
Of course Isak can be sensational & unplayable, but Liverpool are contributing to a dynamic that is ultimately damaging to clubs & they themselves will be in no position to take a stand when one of their key, in contract, players decides he wants to move to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
- I do accept that there can be circumstances where players are badly messed around & have actual promises broken when extending contracts etc |
| Forum
Reply | Club Developed Players
at 10:07 1 Sep 2025
The fact that McKenna publically stated that Woolfie wants out really suggests that there's no way bsck for him.
Humphreys can cover at left back, while Barbrook would be additional to te 25 man squad (& Sindre). [Post edited 1 Sep 10:08]
|
| Forum
Thread | "The Norwegian lad"
at 06:55 31 Aug 2025
How remarkably more difficult to say, type or remember is 'Sindre', 'Egeli' or even 'Sindre Walle Egeli' than the name of any other player we have had over the last few years? Not much, if even, I would say, and yet he is constantly been reduced to "The Norwegian Lad" by posters on here & even by some of our better known podcasters - almost disrespectfully so, I would say, from the EATD/KOA's Game Day presenter yesterday, where he said it multiple times.
It was perhaps understandable over the first few days when we were linked to him, had to find out who he was and work on the pronunciation, but he has signed now, so he certainly deserves better, especially from the media & significant social media personalities?
We don't call Azor Matusiwa 'the Dutch lad', Marcelino Núñez 'the Chilean lad', or Cédric Kipré 'the Ivorian/Ivory Coast' lad'. Why has poor old Sindre been reduced to it! |
| Forum
Thread | TWTD post match interviews
at 22:27 30 Aug 2025
Where is the show with match day interviews from Phil & Callum Brissett this season? |
| Forum
Thread | Reminiscent of how we were ...
at 18:57 30 Aug 2025
... over the first half of the season we got promoted from League 1. Trying to find an identity, looking for a couple of players to link it all together for us, plenty of possession but far too slow in hitting the opposition when on the attack, not enough energy, constantly checking back when in promising positions.
Back then pretty average, even poor, sides were able to contain us & we were caught out over playing it & then hit on the break to lose games that we had utterly dominated.
Ultimately, we got key players in & McKenna changed us into a more direct, forward focused side (not direct in a Wimbledon or Graham Taylor way), that moved the ball quickly in sharp patterns, and the rest is history.
Hopefully we will return after this break with a team that are better drilled in a faster, one touch, pass & move game to progress through packed defences. |
| Forum
Reply | Jack Clarke
at 17:42 30 Aug 2025
Some people have made up their minds that he is no good & cannot acknowledge when he plays well, the circumstances of the game he is in, or the lack of options available to him when he gets into a dangerous area atound the box.
Clarke played well in his limited time on the pitch today, looked up for it & was constantly looking to be positive. He did more than McAteer or Philogene & had balla of steel fir the penalty, which I felt was far superior to the one Hirst took (& scored) v Birmingham. |
| Forum
Reply | Derby is massive for Clarke and Philogene
at 07:35 30 Aug 2025
They won't both start in the same game, as they are our options for playing the role on the left side of three. Philogene will mainly start, with Clarke coming on when McKenna makes his complete change of the front 4 between the 60th & 70th minutes.
McAteer, Egeli & Ogbene will be the options on the right side, with Szmodics, Akpom & Chaplin the 3 to play in the centre #10 role. Now within that we have players who are adaptable & can play across the line & up front as a striker, depending on the needs of a particular game. McKenna wants 2 quality options for each position - starters & finishers - & then an extra 2 for the 3 attacking positions behind the centre forward (i.e. 8) in order to cope with injuries & suspensions.
Of all those mentioned above, I feel that Ogbene might be the most likely move, as we have spent nearly £30m (incl add ons) on 2 new players for his spot & Wes Burns will be back to challenge too, certainly after Christmas. Ogbene was seen at a Celtic match recently & they have been interested in him before.
I think Philogene will do really well for us once the side is settled, but Clarke is a bit of a mystery. He had a tough time adapting to the PL & the change of role that McKenna had for him. Having said that, I thought he had really improved in the second half of the season & was looking a real threat, not to mention his ball carrying to relieve pressure on the defence. In our cup game v a good Coventry team, he was MOTM & looked his old self, really comfortable on the ball. I was looking forward to seeing him rip up the Championship like he did at Sunderland, & then be much better prepared for another crack at the PL next season, if we got back up.
But his performances (mainly on the right tbf) have been noticeably poor & he does carry himself with the gait & facial expressions of someone who is not happy. [Post edited 30 Aug 7:39]
|
| Forum
Reply | Post window squad to January
at 10:32 29 Aug 2025
Maybe someone will come in for him, on a loan with option deal, despite his injury & unavailability, but they would be sacrificing a spot in their own 25 in order to him it open for him to start playing in October. Fair enough, that's certainly possible.
I can't see us just de-registering him & leaving him in limbo once recovered from injury after October, and to be honest, I wouldn't be happy with us as a club if we did it to a hard working player who seems like a decent guy. |
| Forum
Reply | Post window squad to January
at 08:48 29 Aug 2025
That's the full 25+ man squad there that I've tried to outline, not the match day 20, so calm yourself down before you give yourself another twisted scrotum.
Al Hamadi got plenty of minutes last time we were in the Championship & even played Premier League football for us, while Ayinde was on the bench for the Southampton game last week, so circumstances can dictate selections that may not be our preference.
My point, which I wrongly assumed would be clear to everyone, is that we probably can't sell or loan Ali now, due to his injury, so he'll stay with us until January. We're unlikely to sign another striker and/or leave him out of the registered squad as he'll be back fit in a few weeks, and available for selection. Hirst has had injury problems previously & Azon had issues with his medical, so there's every chance that Al Hamadi will be in a match day squad & be given game time this side of Christmas. Akpom can obviously play up front too, but was primarily bought to play as a #10. [Post edited 29 Aug 8:51]
|
| Forum
Thread | Post window squad to January
at 07:29 29 Aug 2025
Palmer, Walton, Button.
Furlong, Johnson.
O'Shea, Caceres.
Greaves, Kipre.
Davies, Young.
Matusiwa, Humphreys?
Cajuste, Nunez.
McAteer, Egeli, Ogbene.
Szmodics, Akpom, Chaplin.
Philogene, J Clarke.
Hirst, Azon, Al Hamadi.
25 man squad, with Egeli as an additional u21 player & Humphreys as the required homegrown player, presumably.
Al Hamadi's injury preventing a move, so will be back on the bench by October.
Very strong looking Championship squad, although no real cover for Matusiwa & question marks over the fitness levels of a few of them. |
| Forum
Reply | So who is partnering Cajuste?
at 23:42 27 Aug 2025
Still need back up for Matusiwa, which is actually a more urgent signing requirement. |
| | Len_Brennan
|
Site Scores| Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 0 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.