oxfordshire_saint

How can you say with absolute certainty that a couple of poor pre-season results and the fact that we've not added the couple of cover players we need means that this season is destined to be a failure? I'm not advocating complacency, more realism. We've got more quality in our squad than any other side and I'm confident they'll deliver. Whilst preparation is key, I'll start reading something into results come the 7th of August. What will your view be if we beat Barnet and Reading?

As being a former Skate, doesn't he support them too?

Looks like Grant is off to rejoin Brian Laws at Burnley for £1m, that's the tax bill paid then. Do they have a decent #2 keeper?

That is why this thread is ridiculous, as good as Morgan is, he has no chance of being in their next senior squad. Mavuba and Matuidi in particular are both very talented young(ish) players who already have a few Ligue 1 campaigns under their belts and as someone mentioned above, Moussa Sissoko is very highly rated too. The one out of those lot who has the potential to be a true star though is Gonalons, watch out for him.

Quite strange that Swansea allowed him to play based on that. I hear Celtic took a look last season too.

I was more taken aback by how, proportion wise, Dean McDonald appeared to have the build of a midget! (short arms, short torso, short chunky legs) Was amazed to find out he's actually 5'7"! Still, he looked dangerous and must be a decent player given that he scored a bucket-load for them last season and has impressed on trial at Swansea.

You're right in that he showed nothing in attack, but McGlashan just had his head down and ran into the corner, rather than holding it up and waiting for an overlap from the fullback or going to the corner and than playing it back to the fullback. I think if he plays with Puncheon down the right, who varies his play a little more and has bit more discipline, we'll see Butterfield's attacking qualities.

To be fair, at Fboro he was marking a pretty quick player, who was being supported by an equally speedy left back who wasn't being tracked by our right winger. A lot of people would have been happy with a fit Murty at RB and he has zero pace. We had Otsemobor who was lightning quick, but simply couldn't defend. If there's a right back who can do all the defensive work and possess blistering pace, they'll be playing at a much higher level than League One!

To be honest, I didn't see it that way, just looked a little rusty but worked his socks off (I believe he hasn't had the benefit of a full pre-season?) There was an instance when a winger got the wrong side of him but he motored back, executed a perfect tackle and came away with the ball. I thought he was solid enough.

Opinions are like ar$eholes, everybody has one!

I've seen him play a few times now and he is just distinctly average. He doesn't make massive mistakes, but he is just very limited in what he can actually do with a football. Non-league would be his level.

However, I agree about the first half tactics, with Connolly and Barnard upfront against two physical centre-halves, long-ball was not the way forward. That said, when we got the ball out wide, it was wasted by Holmes and McGlashan and we couldn't play through the middle because McNish and Pullis were passengers.

By his previous showings, last night was not too bad, but trust me, he is a very poor keeper and I wouldn't want him anywhere near the first team. Shotstoppers are ten-a-penny in goalkeeping, even down to grassroots level. It's the bigger picture that's a problem. He's not very vocal, defenders seem nervous with him behind them and he is shaky on crosses and decision making.

Also, to put things into perspective, the following Reading team also only beat Farnborough 1-0 and it took a fluke of a goal from Noel Hunt to do so: Reading: Hamer (Locke, 42mins), Cummings (Davies, 46mins), Mills (Pearce, 46mins), Griffin (Gunnarsson, 46mins) , Kelly (Williams, 46mins), Henry (Kebe, 46mins), Karacan (Sigurdsson, 46mins), Howard (Tabb, 46mins) , Robson-Kanu (McAnuff, 46mins), Long (Church, 46mins), Rasiak (Hunt, 46, Antonio, 75mins).

You sure you watched him in the warmup? He was struggling to kick a ball straight at Bart in what is one of the simplest tasks in a GK warmup. His save was ok, you'd expect Sunday keepers to have made it, it was at a nice height and not that far to the side of him. Took one corner well (you'd expect a pro keeper to do so) but then went almost dropped one at a strikers feet. Hope he gets used to grounds like Farnborough's, because when his contract ends he'll be in non-league f'sure. It's not a one-off either, I was at a ressie game last year vs Swindon and he was awful, Wally Downes was sat nearby and all I could hear was him cursing him.

Greatest hope for this season? Champions Biggest fear? Long-term injury to Lambert Most important player? Lambert Terrace favourite? Lallana Keep an eye out for...Ryan Dickson Player you'd happily drive to his next club? Forecast One change you'd make at your club? move the away fans Have we got the right manager? Yes What advice would you give him? Stop the training top/smart trousers combo, please Which team do you most want to beat this season? Charlton or Swindon Opposition player you despise? Dean Lewington/Clinton Morrison/Kemal Izzet Opposition player you secretly admire? Clinton Morrison Where will we finish? 1st

You don't have to worry about Burton: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1295076/Former-Derby-Charlton-striker-Deon-Burton-joins-Tony-Adams-Azerbaijan.html

Just got back (live a few mins down the road), here's what I thought: Bart - didn't have a great deal to do, but looked comfortable enough, happy with him as backup to Kelvin Forecast - again, wasn't troubled a lot, made one decent stop but you'd have expected keepers at any level to have kept it out, had a bit of a fumble on one ball into the box Seabourne - didn't look too assured alongside Martin, mainly in a positional sense, but dealt with most things physical, sounds oddly Welsh when he shouts Martin - shouts a lot but almost for the sake of it sometimes, always looked like he was going to give away a foul when challenging in the air, dare I say it, reminds me a lot of Lancashire (but that may be a bit harsh) Butterfield - looks solid, good workrate, good in the tackle, got pushed back quite a lot down his side though (McGlashen didn't track back much), so couldn't get forward very often Mills - worked hard, but mainly hit aimless punts into the channels when he had the ball McNish - off the pace, showed bright touches at times, but the game seemed to pass him by Pullis - anonymous until he ran into the back of someone and messed his arm up Holmes - not quite sure what to make of his performance, lot of huff and puff, but little quality McGlashen - bit of a headless chicken, quite pacy but just ran into blind alleys and held the ball for too long, made some stupid fouls too Barnard & Connolly - both worked hard but had little service, good finish by Barney for the goal Subs Reeves - looked bright when he came on, kept it fairly simple Not worth writing about the others, nobody really stood out or had enough time to

Would you prefer if he signed an average one right now or took a week or two of haggling to get the man he really wants? Think about it! "Time to gel" is irrelevant now, as we only need a couple of signings, the core of the squad is there. If the right men are in by the 31st August, that'll do me.

I sat through last season's 1-0 loss away to Swindon, which was early on in the season and was during the period where we had yet to pick up a win. The current squad, even without the couple more additions we need, is lightyears ahead. That night our centre-halves were Lancashire and Thomas. FFS we even had Matt Paterson playing right wing! If you sat through that dross, you'd know that there is no way we can start a season that badly again with the squad that we have right now. Sit back, relax and accept that we'll most probably have a CM and an attacking player in by the start of the season or at least by the time the window slams shut. Why do we have to had signed them by now? Like I said before, no squad in the country if fully finalised by 21st July......

To my knowledge they don't actually have a ticket office where by you can actually purchase in advance, so I wouldn't worry about it. I'll be turning up around 7-7:15ish and I don't anticipate any problems paying on the turnstile.

I'll be happy if by the 31st August we've signed a central midfielder and a pacy right winger/striker, both as decent squad players. Even better if they arrive sooner (especially cover at CM), but I suspect Pards may want to see how Oxlade-Chamberlain fares if he features in the first few games. Despite all this, very happy with the fact that we've already got a cracking squad, we just need to add a bit of cover/different options and we're sorted. Give it time, no side in the country has a fully finalised squad right now.

Most definitely

Too right, I didn't hear any laughing when this was happening: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8605978.stm

I found this the funniest: "They also offer a back four of journey men whose combined pace rivals Bradbury and Fletch. As well as a keeper who rivals Fletchers age and clearly couldn't get a club elsewhere." Our back four are hardly journeymen with no pace and do they know Kelvin got offered a contract by West Ham last season?