Start Pandur in goal and play Allsop as No9 for 60 perhaps? Then bring Delap on - if Pandur shucks one in you can stick Ryan back in sticks whilst saving a sub?
as good as tufan is, the way his body works, he'll never be a full 90 min he was absolutely empty, but no replacement for him same with seri, he was gone by about the 70th min anyone with 2legs would genuinely be as much use as sharp
Seri is a deep-lying playmaker by trade and he’s very good at that role. Asking him to be both the deep-lying playmaker and the ball-winner in midfield is too much of an ask. He’s getting on a bit, he lacks the physical attributes anyway due to his height and strength (or lack of) and he’s not particularly aggressive or assertive either off the ball. He’s de facto our best defensive midfielder but he isn’t a defensive midfielder. It needs sorting out in the summer. It needed sorting out last summer ffs. We couldn’t agree terms with Ndayishimiye who later went to Nice in France for €16 million when we had a bid of €4.5 million accepted in summer 2022, to my knowledge. Fair enough. That same summer we spent a lot of money on Sinik, Allahyar, Tufan plus the wages for Óscar and Seri and maybe we couldn’t afford or want to pay what Ndayishimiye was asking (parity with Tufan and Seri apparently). But then we went and signed Ryan ****ing Woods. I’ve been saying we’ve lacked that type of midfielder since Smallwood left and we never replaced him. We need an athletic defensive mid who can break up play and do the hard yards in midfield off the ball whilst also being reasonably comfortable in possession as well. It might cost a bit but if we have to sell Philogene to build a more balanced and well-rounded squad, so be it.
A fully fit youth team player, give them a taste of match day, being in the squad. Give them a real confidence boost, show them that their hard work and progression is rewarded and if we become so desperate that we'd have to bring them on, it would be someone for and no risk to longer injury to a half fit player.
That would be a good point, if we were ever going to play a Nathan Leake or whoever up against Isaiah Jones and Luke Ayling in place of giving 45's to semi fit experienced pro like Coyle or Giles, with a semi fit Matty Jacob as backup. Otherwise, why can't the benefit of that match day routine go to Matty Jacob - the one who's earned it, and might benefit the team from a continuation of it more imminently?
I enjoyed that, despite the frustrating last 20 minutes. It was a good indication of how far we’ve come, but how far we’ve still got to go. We played some cracking football at times but got done too easily and naively. Allsopp should have saved the first and Morton/Giles made mistakes for the 2nd. I don’t agree with the suggestions that we didn’t look for a 3rd. Omur, Jaden, Morton all had decent chances to put us 3-1 up. This wasn’t the game that cost us the playoffs and we’ve had a decent game against the form team. If we’d have beaten even 2 of Plymouth/Swansea/Birmingham/Stoke that would have been a really good point tonight. Ive enjoyed the progress in our top level play this season. The task next season is getting to that level consistently. If we manage that, I think we’ll finish in the top 5 and have a good chance of going up.
No chance that happens. That’s risking a baptism by fire in such a high-pressure must-win game so late in the season. If they fail to immediately rise to the occasion their confidence would be destroyed. They’d have all the fans on their back, and Rosie would be getting grief for putting some inexperienced youngster out and throwing away the playoffs.
Why didn't we make the subs earlier, even the same ones if there really were no better options? Tufan and Seri were knackered after 70 mins.
Much better then sticking a player on the bench that isn't fit enough to play. It's a complete waste of a place on the bench
Agreed, it's the same when we name less subs than we actually can. We have U21s for a reason. Exactly that kind of reason, actually. A fully fit U21s player is absolutely a better option than an injured first team player.
It comes down to relative degrees in the real world. I'm fully fit, I can quite easily elbow Johnny howson in the face and get sent off crippling the ****er with sharpened studs, so should I get on the bench ahead of Matty Jacob who might actually be competent for 20 mins if push came to shove? Or some other non-entity (yet) who hasn't earned the right to be in a first team dressing room? Sorry lads. You're talking idealistic football manager bollocks.
