Freebies

[tmesis]

Having watched Wickham for a half today. I can kinda see why we're interested.

He's a big target man to replace Joao.

Sadly he doesn’t have the skill, touch or vision of Joao. Can't comment on his finishing, as he didn’t get within 12 yards of a chance as far as I could tell. But his record speaks for itself.

I'll stick with the view he's not up to it. L1 lump at best. Probably L2.

His record is pretty poor. He's probably one of these players who was great in youth football because he was big, and has never come close to that level again.

[Stranded]

Having watched Wickham for a half today. I can kinda see why we're interested.

He's a big target man to replace Joao.

Sadly he doesn’t have the skill, touch or vision of Joao. Can't comment on his finishing, as he didn’t get within 12 yards of a chance as far as I could tell. But his record speaks for itself.

I'll stick with the view he's not up to it. L1 lump at best. Probably L2.

His record is pretty poor. He's probably one of these players who was great in youth football because he was big, and has never come close to that level again.

In terms of actual playing minutes, it is a very decent record actually. His issue has always been being made of glass.

[Snowflake Royal]

Having watched Wickham for a half today. I can kinda see why we're interested.

He's a big target man to replace Joao.

Sadly he doesn’t have the skill, touch or vision of Joao. Can't comment on his finishing, as he didn’t get within 12 yards of a chance as far as I could tell. But his record speaks for itself.

I'll stick with the view he's not up to it. L1 lump at best. Probably L2.

His record is pretty poor. He's probably one of these players who was great in youth football because he was big, and has never come close to that level again.

Yes, exactly.

[Hound]

To be fair he was good at mens level for a bit as well. He wasn’t just a youth team bully

Injuries really taken their toll

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I would take all of our trialists at the moment if we could get them all signed on, all would likely be good enough for us at this level I think maybe bar Wickham but he'd be a useful option at least.

[Snowflake Royal]

Did you watch any of the Benfica game YR?

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yes, very difficult to judge off one game against superior opponents really, I just feel like most would be able to compete at this level. Basing it more on what they have done though over their careers and where they've played rather than just yesterday.

[Snowflake Royal]

That's a pretty optimistic take.

There's very little to see in Murphy, Davenport, Wickham, Jones or Ward's recent past.

And they all might as well as not have been on the pitch yesterday.

The contrast between our actual championship level players in the first half and trialists in the second was enormous.

You're extremely easily pleased.

[Stranded]

That's a pretty optimistic take.

There's very little to see in Murphy, Davenport, Wickham, Jones or Ward's recent past.

And they all might as well as not have been on the pitch yesterday.

The contrast between our actual championship level players in the first half and trialists in the second was enormous.

You're extremely easily pleased.

I'm reserving judgement as apart from Jeanvier and Hutchinson, all others were playing in a scratch side. Horrible way to make any judgement. Hardly surprising the majority were most impressed with those two.

Will accept any decision the management come to based on what they saw in training.

[Snowflake Royal]

That's a pretty optimistic take.

There's very little to see in Murphy, Davenport, Wickham, Jones or Ward's recent past.

And they all might as well as not have been on the pitch yesterday.

The contrast between our actual championship level players in the first half and trialists in the second was enormous.

You're extremely easily pleased.

I'm reserving judgement as apart from Jeanvier and Hutchinson, all others were playing in a scratch side. Horrible way to make any judgement. Hardly surprising the majority were most impressed with those two.

Will accept any decision the management come to based on what they saw in training.

Fornah stood out. Don’t think Jeanvier did. Especially for a 30 year old.

[Snowflake Royal]

Manager's choice to test them like that. Didn’t think it was a great idea personally.

And given our almost total lack of midfield, Ward, Davenport and Fornah could be it next season. Except two of them were pretty rubbish


It's only 45 minutes, but there was absolutely nothing to recommend most of the trialists from that.

Hutchinson excluded first half.

[Hound]

Seen some positive comments about Jeanvier. What was he like?

Seems to have been fairly good prior to his ACL I think it was

[Stranded]

Seen some positive comments about Jeanvier. What was he like?

Seems to have been fairly good prior to his ACL I think it was

Composed and read the game very well. Would be very happy if he signed.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

That's a pretty optimistic take.

There's very little to see in Murphy, Davenport, Wickham, Jones or Ward's recent past.

And they all might as well as not have been on the pitch yesterday.

The contrast between our actual championship level players in the first half and trialists in the second was enormous.

You're extremely easily pleased.

Players are at different stages of fitness though at this time of season and, again, it's one half of football against a superior side.

Wickham, Jones and Ward, fair enough they haven't featured much at this level but Murphy is 27 and has played at this level fairly consistently for the last 3/4 years or so with last season probably being an outlier, Davenport has been an ok squad player for Blackburn for a few seasons now, Luongo and Hutchinson have spent a lot of years at this level and were capable as well etc.

I don't think it's a case of being easily pleased, none of them inspire me, but providing they are capable to compete in our squad then I wouldn't mind them. They've all been part of a Championship squad in the last couple of seasons, so must have some ability to compete at this level.

[Stranded]

We need a squad that can finish 21st. No more, most of the triallists would give us a chance in doing that.

[tmesis]

Having watched Wickham for a half today. I can kinda see why we're interested.

He's a big target man to replace Joao.

Sadly he doesn’t have the skill, touch or vision of Joao. Can't comment on his finishing, as he didn’t get within 12 yards of a chance as far as I could tell. But his record speaks for itself.

I'll stick with the view he's not up to it. L1 lump at best. Probably L2.

His record is pretty poor. He's probably one of these players who was great in youth football because he was big, and has never come close to that level again.

In terms of actual playing minutes, it is a very decent record actually. His issue has always been being made of glass.

Someone said in another thread that if you add up the minutes, it works out as not far off one goal every three games.

That doesn't sound so bad, except that it neglects to take into account the actual minutes played by people who do have a regular 1 in 3 goal ratio, as their strike rate would also improve if you measured their rate that way too.

The 13/14 season is the only one where he's looked halfway decent
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/connor- ... eler/95435

If we do sign him, then I really hope it works out, but barring a sudden return to the form he had in that one season, I'm not hopeful.

[URZZZZ]

That's a pretty optimistic take.

There's very little to see in Murphy, Davenport, Wickham, Jones or Ward's recent past.

And they all might as well as not have been on the pitch yesterday.

The contrast between our actual championship level players in the first half and trialists in the second was enormous.

You're extremely easily pleased.

I'm reserving judgement as apart from Jeanvier and Hutchinson, all others were playing in a scratch side. Horrible way to make any judgement. Hardly surprising the majority were most impressed with those two.

Will accept any decision the management come to based on what they saw in training.

Yep, agreed

Impossible to judge the trialists on such a game. Instead gives an opportunity to identify possible attributes that could be useful for the season ahead

[URZZZZ]

We need a squad that can finish 21st. No more, most of the triallists would give us a chance in doing that.

Do think we can aim a bit higher than this

Sure, there are holes in the squad (holes that are being actively worked on) but take the front five of yesterday of Joao, Meite, Ejaria, Ince and Azeez, there’s enough there

With proper coaching, Moore, Dann, Holmes and McIntyre are plenty enough as CB’s (although Jeanvier looked promising). Yiadom as RB too and an experienced Champ goalie (forgetting the inane criticism). No reason why we couldn’t push on with the addition of a LB (or two) and a couple more midfielders (one in the mould of Hutchinson preferably)

In so many recent seasons we’ve filled our squad with soft attacking lightweight midfielders and the balance of the team has been all wrong. Re-signing Hoilett and Ince is perhaps an indication we will play with a bit more of variety and balance in the XI and hopefully play more on the front foot as opposed to the insipid dross we’ve been so used to in recent seasons. Think the balance of the side is key, plenty of limited sides who outperform our “talented” sides season on season!

[Plymouth exile]

We need a squad that can finish 21st. No more, most of the triallists would give us a chance in doing that.

Do think we can aim a bit higher than this

Sure, there are holes in the squad (holes that are being actively worked on) but take the front five of yesterday of Joao, Meite, Ejaria, Ince and Azeez, there’s enough there

With proper coaching, Moore, Dann, Holmes and McIntyre are plenty enough as CB’s (although Jeanvier looked promising). Yiadom as RB too and an experienced Champ goalie (forgetting the inane criticism). No reason why we couldn’t push on with the addition of a LB (or two) and a couple more midfielders (one in the mould of Hutchinson preferably)

In so many recent seasons we’ve filled our squad with soft attacking lightweight midfielders and the balance of the team has been all wrong. Re-signing Hoilett and Ince is perhaps an indication we will play with a bit more of variety and balance in the XI and hopefully play more on the front foot as opposed to the insipid dross we’ve been so used to in recent seasons. Think the balance of the side is key, plenty of limited sides who outperform our “talented” sides season on season!

Good post.

[Hound]

We need a squad that can finish 21st. No more, most of the triallists would give us a chance in doing that.

Do think we can aim a bit higher than this

Sure, there are holes in the squad (holes that are being actively worked on) but take the front five of yesterday of Joao, Meite, Ejaria, Ince and Azeez, there’s enough there

With proper coaching, Moore, Dann, Holmes and McIntyre are plenty enough as CB’s (although Jeanvier looked promising). Yiadom as RB too and an experienced Champ goalie (forgetting the inane criticism). No reason why we couldn’t push on with the addition of a LB (or two) and a couple more midfielders (one in the mould of Hutchinson preferably)

In so many recent seasons we’ve filled our squad with soft attacking lightweight midfielders and the balance of the team has been all wrong. Re-signing Hoilett and Ince is perhaps an indication we will play with a bit more of variety and balance in the XI and hopefully play more on the front foot as opposed to the insipid dross we’ve been so used to in recent seasons. Think the balance of the side is key, plenty of limited sides who outperform our “talented” sides season on season!

Good post.

+1

First 11 (when we add a lb and CM) look handy.

Key is keeping them fit and getting that balance right as mentioned