MATCHWATCH : Blackburn Rovers (h)

[karbota]

Have to admit that Puscas really impressed, I have been really critical of his past performance, but against Blackburn he look really sharp and interested. Maybe we will get some return on that 10m spent. Joao OMG whats gone wrong?.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ok. Moore gets injured. McIntyre gets drafted in. Where's the midfield cover? Pauno uses the same subs virtually every game. The kids are sitting there as a last resort. Obviously not yet ready for first team action.

If, if, if.

Most teams are 2 or 3 injuries away from issues, other squads are also not as big as you think. Yes most bigger than ours but still relatively small.

As it stands, we have a clear week after Saturday. Early view is that Morrison may only miss that, or even at a push be OK. So rest him and play one of Holmes/TM. Come Forest it is also likely we have Meite, MM and Araruna available and the 18 looks a lot stronger again.

I can see where LW is coming from - there does seem to be a big gap between McIntyre/Holmes and Tetek/others, at least in how Paunovic uses them. Holmes and McIntyre are fully part of the first team squad, but Tetek very rarely gets off the bench. Melvin-Lambert didn’t get any game time when we only had Baldock up front, Onen and Camara have made about one league appearance between them, etc.

I’m not jumping to any conclusions but it does feel like they’re there to make up the numbers rather than being serious options.

McIntyre is 22 and played a substantial role last season.
Holmes is 20 and first appeared seasons ago.

Tetek is 18 and is making his first professional appearances. He also has competition from the likes of Aluko.

NML is out on loan apparently

There's no equivalence.

Plus the bench is now 9 players. Of course some of them are there to make up the numbers. It's a ludicrous amount. A reasonable squad size is about 22 - 25 players. A matchday squad is now 20. Any injuries at all and you're basically instantly into youth team on the bench.

5 appearances isn't bad for an 18 year old in their debut season with plenty of competition.

[karbota]

LOL at the Sky Wokey cameras quickly switching away from the Blackburn players NOT taking the Knee. End this madness now, sport and politics should not cross. Let us not forget that Fifa originally banned the wearing of the poppy emblem on players shirts.

[muirinho]

LOL at the Sky Wokey cameras quickly switching away from the Blackburn players NOT taking the Knee. End this madness now, sport and politics should not cross. Let us not forget that Fifa originally banned the wearing of the poppy emblem on players shirts.

So you want the poppy emblem banned from shirts so? Fair enough, let's stop taking the knee at the same time.

[karbota]

LOL at the Sky Wokey cameras quickly switching away from the Blackburn players NOT taking the Knee. End this madness now, sport and politics should not cross. Let us not forget that Fifa originally banned the wearing of the poppy emblem on players shirts.

So you want the poppy emblem banned from shirts so? Fair enough, let's stop taking the knee at the same time.

Spot on, agree 100%, Politics and sport should not mix.

[Orion1871]

LOL at the Sky Wokey cameras quickly switching away from the Blackburn players NOT taking the Knee. End this madness now, sport and politics should not cross. Let us not forget that Fifa originally banned the wearing of the poppy emblem on players shirts.

So you want the poppy emblem banned from shirts so? Fair enough, let's stop taking the knee at the same time.

Spot on, agree 100%, Politics and sport should not mix.

Sounds like you're giving a political opinion there Carboot. I'm afraid you're going to have to leave this sports website.

Go on, off you pop.

[RoyalBlue]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

[Hound]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

[bcubed]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Not to mention his shot from half way!

Also agreed. And great interview afterwards too

[RoyalBlue]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Not to mention his shot from half way!

Also agreed. And great interview afterwards too

I so wish that shot had gone in! What an incredible demonstration of self-confidence and belief in his own ability when he probably realised that the critics would be sharpening their knives before the game!

[bcubed]

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Not to mention his shot from half way!

Also agreed. And great interview afterwards too

I so wish that shot had gone in! What an incredible demonstration of self-confidence and belief in his own ability when he probably realised that the critics would be sharpening their knives before the game!

Yep and really wasn't that far away either. Keeper was panicking

[Snowflake Royal]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Yep answered the criticism. Hope he continues to get the opportunity to keep it up.

[NewCorkSeth]

What did Dellor say about him? I didn't have their commentary but he was always a bit harsh about Puscas last season.

[URZZZZ]

Puscas demonstrated all of the attributes that his critics last season said he didn't possess.

Strong, powerful, able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, winning headers etc. He also bullied the life out of the defenders to the extent that Matt Mills and Curtis Davies said that they didn't envy the defenders who were having to deal with his physicality.

He has clearly worked really hard on his game, listened to the coaches and adapted to football in The EFL Championship.

He is/was a great signing.

Added to that he also seems a really nice guy with a great character and clearly feels an integral part of the team and squad.

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Yep answered the criticism. Hope he continues to get the opportunity to keep it up.

He had good games in a 2 last year though tbf - his main problem was leading the line by himself

In saying that, his touch and body strength looked more refined than last year, closer control, didn’t throw himself to the floor with minimal contact, useful assets to have as a lone striker

[Stranded]

agreed. And add to the fact he clinically finished one chance, and forced the keeper to make an excellent save on his other.

big part to play for the rest of the season hopefully

Yep answered the criticism. Hope he continues to get the opportunity to keep it up.

He had good games in a 2 last year though tbf - his main problem was leading the line by himself

In saying that, his touch and body strength looked more refined than last year, closer control, didn’t throw himself to the floor with minimal contact, useful assets to have as a lone striker

His performance on Tuesday showed that he does appear to have a lot of the attributes needed to do well on his own - which weren't always clear last season, though I did and do remain a fan of his.

[URZZZZ]

Yep answered the criticism. Hope he continues to get the opportunity to keep it up.

He had good games in a 2 last year though tbf - his main problem was leading the line by himself

In saying that, his touch and body strength looked more refined than last year, closer control, didn’t throw himself to the floor with minimal contact, useful assets to have as a lone striker

His performance on Tuesday showed that he does appear to have a lot of the attributes needed to do well on his own - which weren't always clear last season, though I did and do remain a fan of his.

Decision making was a huge problem of his last year, when to run in behind, when to drop deep, when to get in the box, when to pass and when to shoot etc which obviously stands out more as a lone striker as you become the sole focal point. He just didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength as the rest of the players on too frequent an occasion

It’s sometimes difficult to train the sort of things aforementioned into a player’s mind but he’s looked more adept in his (limited) appearances so far this season and if he can carry it on, we’ll have one hell of a player to compete with Joao and perhaps finally provide a kick up the arse for him, which Baldock sadly couldn’t do

[Snowflake Royal]

He used to spend quite a lot of time quite static and lost, watching the ball go over his head or around him instead of being in the right place to make a challenge for the ball. Not on his toes enough or the right anticipation if you get what i mean.

Looked much better for that this season.

[CountryRoyal]

He used to spend quite a lot of time quite static and lost, watching the ball go over his head or around him instead of being in the right place to make a challenge for the ball. Not on his toes enough or the right anticipation if you get what i mean.

Looked much better for that this season.

I commented on his hold up play which for a decently big guy was atrocious. Looked far stronger the other day and was actually a decent outlet.

It was only one game but fingers crossed he can build on this and really assert himself.

[SCIAG]

If, if, if.

Most teams are 2 or 3 injuries away from issues, other squads are also not as big as you think. Yes most bigger than ours but still relatively small.

As it stands, we have a clear week after Saturday. Early view is that Morrison may only miss that, or even at a push be OK. So rest him and play one of Holmes/TM. Come Forest it is also likely we have Meite, MM and Araruna available and the 18 looks a lot stronger again.

I can see where LW is coming from - there does seem to be a big gap between McIntyre/Holmes and Tetek/others, at least in how Paunovic uses them. Holmes and McIntyre are fully part of the first team squad, but Tetek very rarely gets off the bench. Melvin-Lambert didn’t get any game time when we only had Baldock up front, Onen and Camara have made about one league appearance between them, etc.

I’m not jumping to any conclusions but it does feel like they’re there to make up the numbers rather than being serious options.

McIntyre is 22 and played a substantial role last season.
Holmes is 20 and first appeared seasons ago.

Tetek is 18 and is making his first professional appearances. He also has competition from the likes of Aluko.

NML is out on loan apparently

There's no equivalence.

Plus the bench is now 9 players. Of course some of them are there to make up the numbers. It's a ludicrous amount. A reasonable squad size is about 22 - 25 players. A matchday squad is now 20. Any injuries at all and you're basically instantly into youth team on the bench.

5 appearances isn't bad for an 18 year old in their debut season with plenty of competition.

Like I say, not jumping to conclusions - I just think it makes some sense to be concerned that the squad looks a bit thin. We could have a five-man bench (or even a three-man bench) and it wouldn’t make a difference. I particularly brought up Tetek in response to others saying that he’s an option if we get a midfield injury. I get the impression Paunovic would rather play a midfield of McIntyre, Semedo, and Aluko.

If you really wanted to be cynical you could point to East and Watson, but frankly I am happy to jump to conclusions there and say that they haven’t developed as we might have hoped. The lengths Paunovic went to in order to not play Watson were a bit odd but I just have to trust his judgement.

[Snowflake Royal]

It was the playing him in midfield I found baffling rather than not playing him.