RobM

Quite true, but wouldn't it be boring if ever reply to a new thread was 'I agree'.

Assuming this is true (no reason it wouldn't be), I wonder if Cortese has stepped down from his usual stance a bit, knowing we need to strengthen this position and knowing we have very little time left to do so? If so, well done NC.

As much as I respect Barnard for his efforts last season, I wouldn't be disappointed with this. It might actually help us keep all our remaining strike force motivated too.

In my simple logic, if we assume Cardiff will be chasing us for promotion, us taking three points from them means it's one less game in which they have gained three points. We might both be expected to beat the likes of Brighton, Doncaster (whoops), Millwall even if we're going for promotion, but to take points off of your closest rival could count for a lot come the end of the season. A draw against them puts us on an even level, we both gained +1. If we beat them, they gained nothing from that game, we gained +3. Like I said, simple logic, but then it has come from a simple brain

This must explain why we haven't secured any long-term contracts for existing players, or signed Lee, or signed Jos permanently, or put in a multi-million pound bid for Hooper or... oh, wait a minute...

This, for sure. It's not make or break, no single or pair of games will be until perhaps the last two of the season. But it would be a huge psychological boost to win both. Even 4 points from both would be a decent result as come then end of the season, the points we picked up from our closest league rivals will be more important than those gained from clubs lower in the league, as we'd not only have three points, but they wouldn't!

Home against Bolton!

He is one for the future for sure, he has the potential to be a regular and dependable Premier League CB. But he's not there yet, I'm sure he knows that too. He is getting better all the time, as yesterdays performance seems to show, he is a solid backup CB in this league. With time, patience and more games he will get better and better. A lot of his mistakes, such as the one derry refers to above, come down to playing experience at our current level. He's up against some very good, experience players who really test him - heck, they test Jos and Fonte enough - but he is holding his own. He does the basics right, the rest will follow.

Yes... but... not because I don't believe in our current options for success in the NPC, but because I don't think they are right for the Prem. I want to see us sign a Prem-ready striker to improve us now and allow us to get stuck into the Prem straight away. That could be Lee, of course, I certainly hope so but not having seem him play it's hard to say.

Let's hope we see both Jaidi and Lee today at some stage. Jaidi needs games for fitness and could be vital for us with our thin CB options.

Even though it's a cup game with a league game really soon after? Playing Barnard is a surprise, but it's the ideal time to play him as this game doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Saving our key players for the league is far more important.

Punch straight in will be interesting too, as will Fox at CB it seems. Some odd and presumably enforced decisions today.

Barnard and Lambert up front today, interesting. Shame no sign of Lee

We have a young and promising keeper in Bart, who with games and experience will be much better than he is now. That's not the route I think we should take though, we need to find an established keeper that's already playing, perhaps somebody from one of the better L1 clubs if we look now, or NPC clubs if we're in the Prem. Kasper Schmeichel would do very nicely

I could make you the owner of the World on Wiki, doesn't make it true.

Which is exactly my point Martin is great cover for Fonte and Jos, we also have two injured CB's in the background, one of which retires at the end of this season. We could go out and spend a wedge on a Prem-ready CB that is better than Fonte and Jos, but those two have been superb for us so I don't think that's the priority. What I do worry about is if Martin gets injured, we don't have an out-and-out CB ready to step into this level. Once we're in the Prem I think we'll need to invest in this area again, which is part of my reasoning for not spending big money now. Prices for an established, quality, better-than-we-have CB in the Jan transfer window would be crazy-high as no club wants to break up a good defence. I don't think it would be right or fair to sign a NPC-level CB with no promise of first team football, especially with Seabourne hopefully coming back at some point, so a 'lump' to secure our defence in Martins absence, a short-term solution until we're back to full fitness or in the Prem. Just my opinion

Agreed with the CB idea. We need cover, not necessarily somebody to better what we have, but somebody big and strong who can do the simple CB duties well, the stuff that doesn't necessarily need a long-term partnership with the other CB (like stuffing it into row z). A loan for the rest of the season for somebody who accepts they wont be a first team regular would be ideal. If only we had Jaidi available, he is what I'm describing!

And fit in with the tactics for that game, against that opposition.

When he was playing, sure, you're right. The moment there was a hint of not being a guaranteed first team regular his crap attitude shone through. He isn't (wasn't?) a team player, he was all about himself.

When we have our new forwards in and settled, I would rather have SDR as our 'luxury' player than Guly. SDR scares defences, he has pace and strength (which we lack!) and isn't afraid to just run at them and try to make something happen. All he needs to improve is bringing others into the game, knowing when to pick a simple pass and we'll get a lot more out of him. But, like Guly, he can offer little for 80 minutes and have just a few moments of brilliance, but those moments can change games.

KD is plenty good enough for us, but he is reaching the later stages of his career at this level. Replacing him, IMO, isn't a priority until we're back in the Prem.

Sums up my thoughts entirely. I've always maintained I didn't want to see him play for us again because of his attitude. If he is willing to change that, work hard as a team player and accept whatever position NA decides - even if that's a place on the bench or nothing at all - welcome back JP. I don't like you, I didn't want you here, but I'll support you for as long as you support the team.

Standard forum rules - criticise the post, not the poster. Back OT, it is very different as Norwich changed their squad quite significantly during pre-season, which IMO caused their slower start (compared to ours) but benefitted them towards the end of the season, when the squad gelled. We, on the other hand, had the core of a NPC squad when we arrived here, needing only a select few quality additions to get us to where we are (Cork and Jos being two key examples). The foundations of our squad are as they were in L1. What we do have in common with Norwich and almost every other club in the Jan transfer window, is we've had half a season to identify weaknesses which we now need to remedy.

He's a great forward, but cannot lead the line. He needs to play off of somebody, but as we only have Guly around, that person to play off simply doesn't exist.

About as 'cool' as calling describing something as gay. People who boo the players during a season as successful as this aren't fans and certainly aren't supporters, even if it was a poor performance.