The Kraken

I don’t think it’s been a disaster. It’s cost the club/Dragan money for sure, whether that’s affected us and in other ways I don’t know. There really have been very few obvious upsides though.

The Stewart/Larin rotation is arguably what made both of them look sharp and fresh. The level of competition between the two really helped. Big Cyle is 31 now. We’ll see, but it’s likely his minutes will need to be managed over a 46 game league season. If we’ve only got a ‘backup offering a threat’ rather than the genuine level of competition we had with Stewart, then we’re down some on last season in the striking options.

He may even get thrown in against Watford. The club are saying that Larin is still nursing himself back to fitness and they’ll only make a decision later in the week as to whether he can start. The idea of going with Archer or BBD as starting lone striker was starting to be a concern. Just hope this lad can step up. Def need some goals from him, but our system also needs him to be decent at hold up play too and that bit is a definite unknown for me at this point.

Archer will be number three, as it was last season. If we sell Archer then yes there’s scope but I don’t see that happening in terms we’d be agreeable with.

I would be astonished if we get another striker who is a genuine starter in the mould of Larin and Mubama. Think the plan will be to shift BBD, entertain bids for Archer but in all likelihood go with him as the different striker option. From what Alfie House said, Scienza last season was an over budget punt but one that worked out well. So we’d really have to be getting rid of quite a few players before bringing new in IMO. At the moment we’ve still got players onboard who were out last season and this term who likely won’t get a look in: Downs, Suga, Ramsdale, BBD, Baz etc., we kind of need to see how those lot get out and funded (if at all) before we can spend anything much. But up front it definitely seems like Mubama is earmarked for the Stewart role.

If Larin doesn’t start we could be a bit fucked.

Fair enough, gave a bit more leverage. Still a decent fee imo. Will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Very sorry to see him go, but inevitable once a PL club comes in. That sort of money also just can’t be turned down at our level. Given he’s only got a year left of his contract it’s a large fee.

I suggested pre game it was perhaps his last chance to convince Tonda that he has a role here, and he couldn’t have done anything more to prove that he just doesn’t fit into our system as a central striker. Just looked horrendously poor. The fact that others were also off colour, particularly in the first half, doesn’t in any way mask how bad BBD looked and how little he gave the team as an outlet. It’s getting a bit worrying that we have no other striking option apart from Larin (Archer gives us something different but not the focal point we clearly need for our system). Maybe that’ll be enough, but I thought the way we were able to dovetail Cyle and LND last season kept both of them fresh and sharp. Maybe we were spoiled and one striker will be ok. Big risk though. BBD showed he is no backup whatsoever.

Tbf, I quite enjoyed Tonda being asked about it pre-game. ”Given the rumours of Shea Charles being linked with a move to Fulham, what does him being on the bench tell us?” ”That he’s a Southampton player”.

Breaching GDPR 🤣 🤣

Just reinforces how much a strong spine is vital. Changing Bazunu and Armstrong/Archer for Peretz and Stewart/Larin made the biggest differences last term. Having a four of Downes, Charles, Jander and Bragg was a privilege. Big chance for Bragg to be more of a CM cog if Charles goes as expected. Thank god the Bazunu experiment is over (as you say, hopefully). His disastrous spell at Stoke really only served to enforced his quite obvious flaws.

Second half much better but that’s understandable, Colchester pressed really well in the first half but couldn’t keep it up. Our lot seemed to gain in confidence, having big Cyle up top made a massive difference. Azaz for me ahead of Dobbin so far. Delighted for the lad Romeo, great finish to culminate a super move. Braggy in midfield really shored it up too. Our formation just relies on a big man up top and a strong two sitting in midfield. Jander is a miss but hopefully Bragg and Downes do the job until he’s back. Manning’s delivery is quality. When he’s on it, he’s one of the best at this level.

Lovely goal, lovely finish.

Yay