Even though he won't be playing in his preferred position, I'm increasingly excited about seeing how Dack fits into this team. We might lose a bit with him not playing as a 10, but we should gain much more with him playing in a team with so many other attacking options who will occupy the attention of opposition defenders. 

Thinking who gets dropped for him is the difficult part. 

I can't believe that the lad is only 17. It will be a challenge for him to sustain his form over a season with plenty of three game weeks. Even so it's as clear as day what all the fuss is about with him. Extraordinary talent for a boy so young. 

Just now, dallydally said:

Should be 4 or 5 up. Not clinical enough

This is becoming a bit of a concern, hopefully we'll put them to the sword in the second half.

Brereton has been superb

Just now, tomphil said:

Multiple changes might bite us in the arse today.

Some were needed and looks a decent side but could be a bit disjointed.

Agree - but on the back of a 3 game week and with the new few weeks looking congested I think we'll have to ring the changes quite a bit over the coming games.

Attack like we did on Wednesday and we should have too much for them. 1-3 Rovers

1 minute ago, pick32 said:

Hope we can get Mulgrew, a keeper, davenport a couple cbs and maybe even Buckley out on loan till jan the squads looking big now. Great window though mr Mowbray ?

Agree apart from Buckley. With any luck he'll be starting tomorrow. 

Sharpe says that both are registered in time for tomorrow's game.

I think this would be one occasion where Mowbray's tendency to not start new signings is completely understandable given their lack of game time, but I'd love to see Douglas thrown straight in. 

On Evans, he's completely won me round from a few seasons ago when I would have happily let him go for nothing. I think the way that we're playing now though he would need to be the deepest player in the 3 for it to make sense, and I wouldn't want him trying to get as far forward as Holtby has been getting at times. In fact I think one of the things which did for him before Mowbray was that he had to get up and down the pitch too much in a 4-4-2, which clearly he isn't up to doing.

Different story if it's a 4231 or if we have two players in front of him doing more attacking. Need to get Buckley in for Saturday. 

Just now, Silas said:

The Leeds stats are insane this season. Top the Prem charts in just about everything- tackling, pressing, ball recovery etc.

Gotta be the hardest working team in the Country at the moment.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/12867725/leeds-top-tacklers-premier-league-records/amp/

 

You can see his influence on Pep - identify the way you want to play and commit everything to following that approach to the fullest extent, to hell with the weaknesses which comes with it. Sacrifice is the essence of strategy etc,

Another thing I like about the Trybull signing is that it seems to have been kept under wraps excellently. First knowledge of it about half an hour before he's supposedly having his medical. 

5 minutes ago, rog of the rovers said:

Had a brief chat with a good mate of mine who is a die hard Leeds fan. His assessment....

Douglas - Wand of a left foot, good passer, great on set pieces....not athletic enough to play in a Bielsa team, slow and is sometimes beaten for pace, but good at Championship level.

Sounds like a minor upgrade on Cunningham and almost a Mulgrew type of player at left back?

Two promotions on the CV with Wolves and Leeds can't be too bad though!

The 'not athletic enough for a Bielsa team' is interesting given how our set up is really fitness driven too. Then again Leeds have been ridiculous in their pressing, so I guess it's all relative.

On the potential defensive frailties, whilst we would obviously prefer players who can do both sides of the game well, an excellent attacking full-back is still a big upgrade on Bell (although by his standards he's had a very decent few games).

Just now, JacknOry said:

Nice TRY on the spelling

Start as I mean to go on.

To think I've still no issues with typing Khizanishvili after all these years. 

Whilst not knowing anything about him until half an hour ago, a little research suggests that Turnbull looks like a highly decent player. Seems to be good with or without the ball, should suit our new high-energy style.

4 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

2/3 players = Douglas & Pears with a half arsed attempt at Wilson. 

Just now, Ruaney said:

Don't get excited.

Douglas, Pears and Downing incoming

In fairness, I'd mark that down as a very strong window given the circumstances. 

12 minutes ago, neophox said:

Downing still a freebie.

Have to say I'm surprised about that, and can only assume he's asking for a similar wage when clubs are cutting their cloth accordingly.

There are good arguments (which I don't 100% buy, but whatever) that he slowed our play down too much last year, but he still created  great deal of chances. Played almost all of our games, versatile. Even if we have different priorities, amazed that other teams haven't taken an interest. 

58 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Great if true. I just worry that without Mowbray there may be a void in which chaos could thrive.

As you say under Allardyce and Hughes we did well at identifying these players and bringing them in. The owners ruined that with their running of the club and fair play Mowbray has worked to address it

I just hope that it isn't contingent upon Mowbray being at the club and hope it will be a permanent fixture regardless of which manager is in the dugout.

Agree completely with that, the successful clubs even at this level (see Brentford) are the ones with structures in place that are robust to changes in personnel. High turnover is a fact of life in football, exemplified by the fact that TM is almost in the top-10 longest serving managers in the football league. 

One room for optimism is that I seem to remember Mowbray giving an interview about this very point when the idea of a European scouting network first came about. He said that he wanted to leave a legacy which outlasted his stay as manager, and if the academy is anything to go by, Venkys do (currently) seem willing to fund the aspects of the club which are potential money spinners.

8 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Who will take the armband today I wonder?

Williams as a left-field choice

Just now, arbitro said:

Injured I believe.

Makes sense, would have been a huge call otherwise. Any notion of how serious the injury is?

12 minutes ago, Butty said:

 Chaddy, he was poor against Bournemouth, poor against Wycombe and played okay at Derby. We can’t keep him at left back for a full season, you know that surely. We need a left back desperately. 

No arguments that we need an upgrade at left back, but I don't think he was poor against Wycombe, or that he was terrible against Bournemouth for that matter - although he was partially culpable for one of their goals.

Obviously it's easy to look decent when we're blitzing teams 4 and 5-0, so I'm not under any illusions about his ability, but at least looking at this season, the only game where he was poor was an admittedly abysmal 15 minutes against Doncaster. 

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I watched him first in that game at Old Trafford when we won. He looked to be a real prospect in my opinion. Something went sadly wrong there.

And Anfield around the same time. I was told that he was on 12k a week. Not sure if that's correct or not, but getting that aged 17 must have an effect.

7 minutes ago, philipl said:

Ovie Ejaria Left Winger	22		Liverpool Premier League	€3.90m
	Josh Laurent Central Midfield	25		Shrewsbury League One	Free transfer
	Lewis Gibson Centre-Back	20		Everton U23 Premier League 2	Loan

-
	Adrian Popa Right Winger	31		FCSB Liga 1 - Championship group	End of loan Jun 30, 2020
	Jordan Holsgrove Central Midfield	20		Atl. Baleares Segunda División B - Grupo I	End of loan Jun 30, 2020
	Vito Mannone Goalkeeper	32		Esbjerg fB NordicBet LIGA	End of loan Jul 31, 2020

 

So Reading's transfer business was to convert three successful loanees to permanent add a decent squad midfielder, spend money to get a winger from Liverpool and bring in a hugely promising PL central defender loanee from Everton. 

From what I have seen of them Reading look the business this year. Much more so than Bristol City, the other 100% club. 

You could well be right, for what it's worth my perception of Reading is that they rely pretty heavily on their talented but unreliable forwards, Joao, Puskas and Meite. Could be wrong, and in fairness Swift looks a good player too. 

With a new manager who has no experience of the league, I had them down as more likely to be looking over their shoulder for relegation rather than going up, let's see. 

This isn't meant as a dig at Rhodes, who I thought was brilliant & I'd still have back now on the right money, but one thing which gets missed is how his finishing in the last 2 years didn't hit the same heights as his first season or 2.

When he first arrived off the back of his 40-goal season in League 1, his finishing was laser-like. Even when he shinned it from 25 yards at Derby it was right in the bottom corner. He turned half chances into gilt edged ones, and put away 9 out of 10 which came his way. He still scored a lot of goals in his last couple of years, which is testament to his movement and that he could still put chances away, but there were an increasing number of missed chances which crept into his game too and the goals he did score were that bit less elegant. 

14 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

You have to suspect that eventually the Premier League quality of Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich will show itself but I'm not exactly frightened of any of them.

I can't see Reading and Bristol City keeping up this form but in this league nothing surprises me. I'd place a wager that we are amongst the best in the league at the moment and suspect the top 6 will consist of the likes of us, the three relegated teams, Swansea, Brentford, Milwall, Bristol City & potentially Boro. Any variation of that won't be far wrong.

 

Still sussing out Watford, on the face of it their squad is ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than one which contains Robinson, Scott Dann, Martin Olsson, Danny Murphy, Etuhu, Leon Best, Nuno Gomes, Givet & Pedersen!

Don't think you'll be far wrong with those teams, but I'd swap Cardiff for Boro. Signing Moore is a big things for a team who plays like they do, and although it's early days, I'm not sure whether Boro are reacting to Warnock's magic in the way that other clubs have tended to. 

36 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Yeah, I mean I can't see Reading sustaining it. There's only ourselves, Bristol City and Swansea City who I'd say look like they could finish 3rd to 6th so far. Can see Bournemouth and Watford taking the automatics. If I had to place a bet this early I'd go: 

1. Bournemouth
2. Watford
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
3. Norwich City
4. Swansea City
5. Bristol City
6. Blackburn Rovers

But we all know it isn't that simple!!

I know they lost at the weekend, but I'm still looking at Cardiff as a team who could challenge too. That looks like a pretty sensible top 6, but even there you can make a strong case for all of them dropping off, for different reasons (including us, obviously!). All the recently relegated teams are doing the typical thing of picking up early season points without really looking completely convincing, so I'm thinking law of averages will be that at least one of them will start sinking sooner rather than later. I'd probably expect Brentford to be good enough to get a top-6 spot too unless Toney turns out to be no good at all. I'd guess that PNE have had their chance too unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat recruitment-wise. They're an Adam Armstrong away from being a really good Championship side - but with the striking  options they have at present, even Chris Brown would get a game.

Beautiful thing about this league is that by Christmas half of what I've just said will probably look ridiculous. 

15 minutes ago, Gav said:

Did you actually see King play?

He was useless until the cameras turned up against Stoke and Swansea, he also refused to play when Bowyer picked him, threw his dummy out, sulked, good riddance. 

As for Rhodes, Mr Goals, best scoring record since Shearer, that says it all.

I didn't know that bit, certainly paints him in a different light for me.

On his performances, his final ball was a times really bad, but his good patches were not just limited to that FA cup run. The spell under Bowyer when Marshall was injured, so we played King out wide for a protracted period and he was absolutely devastating at times. I'm thinking Birmingham and Charlton away, but I'm sure there were others. Rudy picked up a first half hat trick in one game, and it was entirely off the back of King having completely taken his fullback apart in the opening 20 minutes or so.

Highly frustrating player, but he showed plenty of glimpses here of what he was capable of.

Just now, JoeH said:

I wonder who the play-off rivals will be. Certainly doesn't seem like Derby or Forest will challenge. Maybe Swansea are one you could sketch into a top 6 position, but I wouldn't write them in with an ink pen either. Wide open season

It's a good question, definitely seemed like a wide-open league before a ball was kicked, but I'd have certainly had Forest and even Derby before last weekend as in with a chance. Forest still have the squad to make a comeback in my view, but the manner in which they missed out last year can either make or break teams. On the evidence so far, it looks as though it might have broken them.

I think you're right about Swansea, they've recruited well but then again they've needed to seeing as they've lost two premierleague quality players in Brewster and Gallagher. 

I know we're getting a bit giddy after two thumpings, but it's all there for us to challenge for the top 6 this year.