Ah interesting. Thanks! JDT seems to be broadly sticking with what Mowbray wa doing last season then. So presumably we will start 343 next weekend. My guess at the team ; Kaminski Carter. Ayala. Wharton Brittain. Travis. . Buckley. Pickering Markanday. Gallagher BBD Subs : Pears, Phillips, A Wharton, Dack, Dolan, Hedges, Vale Im pretty okay with that except very light if injuries in defence of midfield.

Did we play 4231 or 343 in this game. I was only half watching bits of it so never quite figured it out!

Even if we sign them they won't go straight in I think.

I think coming back from injury it is. If players have had a bad one around the hamstring, Achilles etc they might only go 70%-80% to protect themselves. Pickering was out with a Hamstring so could be that. It's weird he still seems struggling for pace since he came back in March though. One to watch. We do need another left back, and would be very happy if styles joined, but I'm not writing Pickering off yet.

IMO Pickering he was very good first half of last season before he got injured. He was a key part of our run up to 2nd, and when he got injured at start of Jan it coincided with our collapse of form. Since he came back he's been poor. I'm hoping his struggles are temporary as he gets back to fitness and finds a bit of pace.

Usually last preseason game is the starting team for the first game. Players you would expect to be in there that aren't are Ayala, Buckley, Gallagher - what's up with them? Brittain not starting understandable.

Absolutely - I think we are over rating how much he is valued by Brighton. Their manager has indicated that if he gets any game time for Brighton it will be minimal and he is open to loaning him out. It's not looking good for him. As said I can't see much top league interest in him around Europe in terms of transfer rumours. If he was valued - especially as he is in last year in his contract - clubs would be going after him. I think we have a good chance to get him.

It'll come down to if anyone else fancies him who will pay more. Quick search on google news doesn't suggest anyone with more cash than us is sniffing. If there isn't prem/serie A/La Liga interest he's going to go for £2M-£4M imo.

Well we could have said the same about JPvH last season - he effectively blocked Carter. But he was dead good. I guess it's about whether Morton is a JPvH/Harvey Elliott or a Clarkson.

Good press release from GB. Have to say I like his style, very professional.

If we can't get him to sign a new deal, and it's clear that isn't happening, then we have to sell him.

No other clubs were linked to him despite being free, and he's only secured a one year deal with Wigan. It's hard to come to any other conclusion other than he is rated poorly by scouts and managers across the Championship. It's strange as we as fans have generally rated him highly. Never really seen so much of a disconnect between fans assessment and the market's.

Nice video... and yes very forthright to claim to 4 more signings. Hope that's an indicator that the poster saying that there's a load incoming over the last few days is correct.

Great - just need 1LB, 2CB, 1CM, 1 winger now! Maybe a striker too...? Though arguably if we have BBD, Gally and Vale for one striker slot in a 4231 is okay.

Hmmm.... He's a tidy all rounder but I can't really see where he fits in. Not physical, poor in the air, standard quality passing, not particularly a dribbler or pacy etc. Feels a similar sort of players to Davenport but not quite as good. It'll be a bonus if he steps up, but I am not anticipating it.

Wowzers

Seems very do-able with Barnsley recently relegated and likely to have wages below what we could do anyway. Looking at the news there don't seem to be a lot of rumours about him and other clubs so maybe we will have a good run at him?

I do wonder if we as fans don't really recognise how good our academy is. I certainly didn't till I started looking into it. Premier League 2 (the Premier academy competition in the UK) has two divisions : Division 1 - 14 clubs, 12 of them clubs with senior team in Premier League. Just us (finished 9th above Chelsea and Everton) and Derby (finished dead last and miles off the pace) not in the prem. Division 2 - 14 clubs, 7 prem (including the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Southampton, Wolves) and 7 championship If you consider we have also aggressively promoted a lot of our youth players to the Senior Squad it's really an impressive achievement. Maybe there is something in considering our academy something really remarkable at the moment? And when we fret about using "kids" it's a different proposition to say promoting kids at Millwall or Bristol City (both of which are not even in PL2 Div 2). Details here : https://www.premierleague.com/tables?team=U21&co=16&se=438

If we promise him serious game time I can see we would have a chance of signing him. Going to Spurs theres a real risk he would just disappear into the U23s and endless loan factory. Depends if we can promise him first team football I would say, as obviously if it's a choice between Spurs U23s or our U23s he may as well go to London. I have no idea if he's good enough for first team or not.

I don't think its realistic for GB to not give an update on transfers until 1st September. He's going to have to give an update soon. People will get frustrated, not least of which will be JDT who will be asked over and over again in pre and post match interviews.

If JDT can improve Gallagher's back to goal and aeriel game he will be a much better forward. His focus, bizarrely despite his height and strength and lack of dribbling or crossing ability, has always been running with the ball wide. I don't really buy this is 100% Mowbray, I suspect it is part of his own personal preference too. I am curious to see what happens under JDT and if he can really be changed.

Not only that but we are the only non Prem team in PL2 and we finished above the likes of Chelsea.....

Funny reading on here. Total meltdown during the game, but soon as the final whistle everyone sounds quite positive.

Haven't watched it but sounds like we've on got a makeshift right back, and out of sorts left back, and we are not providing sufficient cover for them.

Went back and looked at youngest squads last season and how they did. Us and Bournemouth had young squads but did well. Rest of young squads (Barnsley, Peterborough, Cardiff, Swansea) had very poor seasons. So maybe my copium isn't very good afterall.