Same here.
There’s a definite trend to put certain players down no matter what they do. Scores a banger, puts the game to bed, celebrates.
“Oh look at him making it all about himself…”
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I think that the reason for not playtime is more to do with where we are in our team development. We are not imo at a point where throwing in youngsters is easy. That they get say 20 minutes later on when/if we look ‘solid’ enough is much more appropriate.
Voted Koumas, Trey and Mama although would have liked to have put McConnell in there.Id love to see him used more as he’s been around the 1st team a few years now and never let’s us down when put in. A bit like Rio,he along with trey and Koumas probably deserve the opportunity of a few consecutive games to see can he/they cement a spot in the managers thoughts rather than as just a squad bench warmer.
Your 7th paragraph doesn’t make sense in relation to the game?
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Totally agree. I also think next to Mac he would have somebody who can guide him through a bit. He looks good every time he plays - what more can the kid do?
Obviously ideally we wouldn´t rely on a 19 year old but we are in that position and he looks ready to step up. As you say, he ll get the odd lesson, but so far he´s shown enough to suggest he can perform.
The only negative I noticed was a few times he could have been sharper to cover behind Mac as he pressed, but nothing came of it. He had good instincts as you also said. Just maybe a bit more urgency there.
I see what you mean, I’ll edit it, I was referring to the fulham game where cody didn’t play due to injury concern. someone else also mentioned that Cody takes up very clever deep positions at times and has real vision to link play progressively when he does.
*Nyoni and Macca should be our starting midfield 2 going forward.
*Dom is a credible #10 rotation player with Wirtz especially with Nyoni and Macca behind either one of them.
*Wirtz and Etitike, Isak and Gakpo have shown chemistry as duos
*Early days but Barcola has to improve on his finishing sooner rather than later. Or the media will call him another expensive flop like Wirtz.
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MacAllister has really turned things around to the point he is 1st name on the teamsheet as far as CM goes. Not bad for a bloke who many, myself included, would have happily carried to the nearest airport in the summer.
Grav and Dom both poor when they came on. We lost all control at that point. Dom scored a great goal but we know he has that in his locker. The rest of his game was terrible and it’s just a recurring theme now.
Thought the young lads did alright but Ngumoha disappointed me, this is the sort of game where I want to see him step up and produce something special but he was pretty anonymous for most of the game.
Gave Mama one of my votes. He should command his 6 yard box better for a bloke his size and should have done better for their goal but he made a few outstanding saves and was probably the difference between us winning and losing.
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https://x.com/KayLFC05_/status/2100099612279230568
This video is making the rounds right now; we’ve seen it before with a different lineup, but apparently everything is sorted out and fine again (though Dom obviously isn’t too thrilled that Macca posted it on Insta 
).
Probably arguing over whose goal was better.
Surprised Trey hasn’t received more votes. I thought he made a massive difference; his positional paly is brilliant. Always available to receive the ball, always in the right place to make a challenge and always looking to make progressive passes. He has to start in my mind.
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Flo trumps Dom on every score except the screamer from deep. To be fair just like his shooting, I think Dom actually would be best in the Gerrard position (Torres era) just behind a central striker. Problem is this won’t work in our current setup.
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I was cheered by some of our defending (Kerkez looked better) but we still gave a previously scoreless Spurs far too many chances. Some better early signs though
Too many people turned on him for no good reason. Its precisely why we all should be prudent when calling out players who are out of form. Macca showed before the quality he has, so last season’s rotten performances shouldn’t have led to every fan and his dog wanting to let him go. Form is temporary, class is permanent is a real thing.
Call out a bad performance when it happens? Yes, by any means. But it doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, and the way some seem to give up on players who previously showed their class is weird to say the least. Macca, Gakpo, Dom, Grav… all targeted, not for singular sub-par performances, but as a whole.
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Didn’t Szoboszlai and Mac Allister have a tiff in a game last season as well?
It was hardly singular sub par performances though. Except for Szoboszlai it was a season of poor performances.
Szoboszlai has always had aspects of his game that I for example have criticised and others on here have had closed eyes over. This season they really have come to light the new system making them apparent.
Macca is a bit different for me you can always see the effort he makes however he’s not at all silky, he’s naturally slow and often hasn’t a great reading of the game so in a disfunctional team these negative traits get highlighted.
Gravenberch has only been productive for us for a very specific short period.
Gakpo has had times where he shows a selfish side and last season was really atrocious. Saying so was the right thing to do. Hopefully he’s over it and prepared to integrate the team again from now on.
For me they are all on probation. There hasn’t been sufficient games this season to relax the situation. Demanding better considering is normal as far as I am concerned.
Like one season long?
More like most of one season. His form slumped from March 2025 onward along with the team’s as a whole.
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Most of our championship season?
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4 or 5 months I’d say.
He started looking very tired and his passing suffered first then his defensive contribution.
I noticed against Spurs he managed an interception or two however what he did afterwards wasn’t at an acceptable level. Lost the ball almost immediately.