Ridiculous
We’ve had big bids in for klp and greaves. McLoughlin acquitting himself well
Smallwood had spent around eight seasons in the championship
We’ve just paid for longman
Forss is allegedly a pl player
Honey man is certainly a championship player. Elder is and Fleming is keeping him out
It’s weak and it’s lazy to label them league 1 after a defeat.
We've spent most of this season around the bottom of the Championship, if not bottom ourselves. To use your own argument, simply being in the Championship doesn't make you Championship quality. You could ask the question of Blackpool and why they are doing so well, but then you see the likes of Gary Madine, Richard Keogh and Chris Maxwell in the side and you see why their young players are holding out. The experience in each position is guiding their younger lads during games. We have Smallwood and Honeyman who consistently play, while Huddlestone is here but not playing.
KLP, Honeyman, Baxter and Greaves are quality, and if we had XI of their standard, we wouldn't be where we are now. Smallwood had eight seasons in the Championship, then dropped down to League One. Ingram had his first full season for us in League One, but I'd argue he's good enough to play at this level. Fleming and Longman are finding their feet and look alright, but they've got got a lot to learn.*
The likes of Doc, Wilks, Elder, Coyle (injury aside), Smith, Eaves, the ones that make up most of our appearances this season, are not Championship level players. They might have good games, but they don't consistently perform at this level otherwise, once again, we'd be much higher up the table.
*this is probably an important factor as well. We have a young squad; while having young players is great for things like transfer money, it's not so great when you're in the **** and need somebody to pull you out. We've got Honeyman, Smallwood I don't think makes a good captain as he doesn't seem motivational enough on the pitch. I'm hoping that with a season behind them in this league, next season they can really push on. We're obviously building our squad around these home grown and young talents, which is a perfect scenario and one that's enviable from other clubs without decent academies. But right now, in the 21-22 season, we lack any form of consistent quality and those young players need time to develop properly. The likes of KLP and Greaves have done it, Fleming and Longman like I say are nearly there.
I understand totally why Shota set up yesterday the way he did, he wanted to stifle Fulham and try and catch them on the break or with a set piece. That was, in my opinion, totally the right thing to do against much better opposition.