stpedro

i watched the highlights, trying to work out if he made the mistake for Newport's 2nd goal, but don't know if he was playing at centre back.

I've seen several League 2 matches this season, the matches I've seen have been pretty poor quality, but obviously pretty physical. Will be good to see how he handles himself with that side of the game, but shame it is so low down in the league tiers. He needs to stand out at that level and not fall into the sloppy careless habits that you so often see. I hear Ainsworth is pretty well regarded as a manager so I hope it works for McCarthy

Decent weekend for goals and entertainment, absolutely. Another weekend of uniformly abject defending as well! I will happily take the goals, but it is pretty obvious why our top sides won't do well in Europe

I'm glad we are playing such a strong side. This is one of two competitions we could win, the whole point of football is winning, so why not put out a strong side? Are any of the youngsters better than those on the bench? Probably not. They have to really earn their place not just get a free game in a cup. If we want to grow as a club, we will need a bigger squad, which will lead to more competition generally, and not just for those youngsters. Targett has proved it is possible to start, hopefully it will inspire the youngsters to work harder to get in the match day squad. We are going to get injuries sooner or later and we'll see some of them on the bench then

What a suggestion. No doubt we should also pass messages to everyone in the class saying that Levy and Spurs smell and don't wash their pants.

As you say he is a talented player, but just because he has played for Spain does not mean he should automatically start for us. He has only played once for Spain, and it was in a friendly and didn't play particularly well given being played out of position compared to where he featured for Malaga - he was dropped for the next match. Spain are lacking strikers at the moment with Villa and Torres past it, Llorente not always playing for Juventus, Jese was out injured, Soldado hopeless for Spurs and Negredo not playing particularly well. Juanmi is part of the next generation alongside the likes of Morata, Jese and Alcácer. Long has been brought on because Juanmi is still finding his feet I'd imagine - Long works harder, better in the air and is used to the league and this - at the moment - is what RK is looking for tactically, which is another issue. I suspect that Juanmi will become more of an option as the weeks go on, hopefully if we look to play more creatively rather than directly.

i think he will turn out to be a useful player and it is sensible that he is being eased in to the team. He has good technique, vision and skills and I was impressed with him the few times I have seen him playing for Málaga. What is often forgotten is that it takes foreign players some time both to adapt to the different pace and style of the league, but also to living in England. It is very different, but luckily there are one or two other Spanish speakers in the squad who can help him adapt and get used to living in England. It's why I think Romeu will probably be the signing that will have the quickest impact, compared to our other full signings, as he used to the league and England. Clasie, Juanmi and Soares will take a little longer. Not many young Spanish players have come to England and excelled straight away. I do sometimes wish we looked at players already in the league, but obviously the cost can be preventative.

You'd think that RK would be reasonably happy to include the likes of Seager, Hesketh, Gape, McCarthy, McQueen, Isgrove of the younger players as substitutes where needed, if perhaps not yet starters. Throw in Stephens, Turnbull and Gallagher as well in case of an injury crisis and it looks pretty healthy. Perhaps the only thing lacking (apart from the centre back unless VVD is bought) is an experienced winger / wide option in that squad, though the likes of Mané, Tadic and Rodriguez can play out there

You forget Gardos. There is not going to be room for everyone, as you say. Caulker I think is a bit of a punt, particularly as he has not loaned and not signed. He will have to really impress if he is to get a deal, and I think was more brought in as the Carling Cup, bench option, rather than as a guaranteed starter. I do think we need a definite starter centre back this season as well

Should be a very good acquisition if true, and strengthens that area of the squad that looked a little thin. It would also allow more rotation of the centre midfielders which I think is crucial given the prospect of more midweek matches. The only downside is that Reed will get less playing time and his development may be hindered.

No Seager. Any reasons why?

Interesting too that McCarthy is seen as better than Turnbull and Stephens.

Have to say I've not been impressed with Caulker in the last two years. He was not helped by the coaches and the defenders around him, both unstable and constantly changing at Cardiff and QPR. He certainly has not progressed as he might have done since his time at Spurs - I think his concentration and awareness is currently questionable, but he should have the attributes to be a decent player. He certainly would have a lot to prove after the last two years, maybe with the calm head, leadership and experience of Fonte he could develop into a good player - he didn't learn much from experienced defenders at QPR however, though most of them were no longer good enough for the Premier league. Would be a risk but at least he would be used to the Premier league standard and should take less time to get used to the pace of the game etc, which can be difficult for foreign players at times who take time to settle into the new country, league etc

I think he's a really good player - if he has a consistent run of games he will become instrumental for whichever team he plays for. I sometimes wonder if we look at players on the fringes of the really big clubs or assume that they are slightly out of our league currently, whether due to wages, player expectations or not backing our attractiveness as a club to bigger names. The latter might be starting to change with our performances over the last two seasons

you'll note I said that team - not those you mentioned. But most of them got us to the finals (again opposition not very good). Shaw was apparently injured or asked to not be considered, Chambers didn't get in the team (was in the squad) and Oxlade Chamberlain and Sterling apparently are beyond U21 World Cup tournaments now as it won't do them any good. I disagree. It would do them a hell of a lot of good to get used to tournament football, taking responsibility as 'senior pros' and trying to breed a winning culture. Best team or not, we still were off the pace and overhyped - we were not the only side who could have included other players or had people unavailable

very easy to blame the manager - this seems to be the default position. The players in that team are very average - only Kane is near the full squad, (partly due to a dearth of good strikers) very very few of them are regulars for their team or are playing in the Championship (an exciting but poor footballing league in the tactical and technical sense), none are able to take a game by the scruff of the neck and win it and you can question the hunger given the pay a lot of them get and what they get told by the media. There is a big problem with the English mindset in tournament football as well, far too negative and scared to perform - this is becoming a cultural issue, but historically we are not a strong tournament side - one fluke in 1966 (at home, helped by officiating) cannot compare with many nations. Our premier league football is only good because of money and foreign players, not because of anything 'English' about it. As soon as English players do what every other nationality does and go and play abroad to learn as both players and men, they better.

have to disagree. QPR's defence has been absolutely shocking all season, and so was Cardiff's the season before. Caulker has been a large part of the comedy, positionally poor, lacking concentration and has gained a lot of bad habits.

Emre Can is not a right back, he's a midfielder really, but has been messed around by Rodgers as he tried to find a back four that were up to the task. Johnson is moving on and past his best so Clyne would be guaranteed a start. However, it is not really a move up - you'd expect him to leave for champions league football if he was to go this transfer window, not sure Liverpool at this time is a definite step up in his career. It just depends on who else bids for him as I think he's going to go. I would have thought Man Utd would tick more boxes for him

He was only one piece of a successful defence of course, but I think the team's results when he played were still good, particularly as he played when Toby wasn't there. He isn't as good as Toby of course, but is a decent player and will get better. I think he is better than some give him credit for. Remember that our two lads on loan helped concede 5 against Sheff Utd in the playoffs...!

it might have been successful in that the loan showed that he is someone who is unlikely to make the step up to being a Premier league impact player if he can't make an impact in the Championship! You never know of course unless he gets a run of games for us, but I don't see it at the moment; no assists, no goals and several substitutions is not a strong case for a successful loan spell!

Isgrove did not really impress any in his games for Sheffield Wednesday. Subbed in most games, then ended up on the bench. The fans I've chatted to up here wouldn't want him back

Smalling and Jones are also only average, I don't think they are much better. I fail to see where in my email I said, or even inferred that they were. I was purely commenting on Shawcross as you fail to have realised. They have at least, more often in Jones' case, performed better when it matters, at a higher level, but I don't rate them highly on an international stage. I haven't see any lasting proof that Shawcross is any better in his performances over the seasons, I'm not basing my appraisal on one performance as you for some bizarre reason think, but was using one concrete example of when a player needs to take his opportunity but fails to do so, when being faced my a big challenged. I point again to my comments about Shawcross' poor distribution skills, lack of ability to deal with trickier forwards. He can head a ball, can be strong, but that isn't enough at the highest level. If he was seen as being a top player, do you think he'd still be at Stoke, or would one of the big clubs looking to play in Europe, aware of the need for home-grown players? I think there is a dearth of good centre backs in the country - I'm not a huge fan of Smalling or Jones, or Jagielka either, but thinking Shawcross is the answer is in my opinion, completely misguided. I again think we should pick the best players for the job, whatever club they come from, and at least Hodgson has done this more than previous managers (people like Clyne, Shaw, Forster, Delph, Colback, etc etc) are being picked whereas I suspect they would not have had a look in under Capello. These players are good players - are they world class? No. I don't think there is a single top class English player around in the league; technique and game intelligence, as well as excelling under pressure and taking a game by the scruff of the neck are not particularly in evidence. Your ridiculous hyperbolic reaction, assuming my comments about one player covered my entire philosophy of picking players, is completely wrong. I don't see Shawcross as the solution, I don't think he's that good. End of. You have a different opinion, that's great, but don't leap to fatuous conclusions based on my opinions of one player. I'd also point out that this is the problem with this forum at times, the ability to completely misread a comment and jump to the wrong conclusion

what Shawcross did wrong was the game against Sweden. He was so embarrassingly bad in that short time against someone skilful. No experience against European players at top level, bloke is decent in England, but not international quality. Poor distribution skills, good in the air, but most of the best teams don't play punt and cross football

laughable if you think England would be any better under another manager. We're achieving at the right level for the quality of player that he has to choose from. No world class players, only one or two at the level below that. The fact we are topping our group is as much as we should hope for. Just not the calibre of players around to win international trophies.

Agree with comments about him being a squad player only and benefit of him being a UK resident. Bluntly, if he was good enough (at the moment) there would not have been the need to bring in Elia and Djuricic as loans this year. Perhaps the club see him as having the potential to get stronger/quicker/more confident in the next two years, and will not sign either of Elia /Djuricic following the end of their loan deals when they run out