Greenfly

"He'd be worth money if he was any good."

They didn't. But the narrative being pushed by some is that the two Emis were refused permission but have traveled anyway. This isn't the case; we know a compromise was reached that suits everyone. We know Smith is a good man manager. He'll know that allowing them to go will build trust and keep their morale up, which is only a good thing in the long run.

Can't help but feel a little proud about this.

The idea of noses boycotting that competition is hilarious. There was a debate over what the point of the League Cup even is on their forum. It's literally the only thing they've ever won in their entire existence and their fans think it's pointless.

I was excited when we signed him and I still am now. He's clearly not up to scratch just yet considering the major disruption to both his and our entire pre-season, but we've seen glimpses of his quality. Some of the passes he pulled off in the Newcastle game were sublime. I can't name another player in our squad who could make passes like that with such consistency. He's a proper rottweiler off the ball, too. We've had issues with our wingers rarely tracking back to help out the fullbacks the last couple of seasons, but there's no danger of that with this fella. I think it's more likely he'll snap someone in half by accident than leave his fullback exposed. In short, I'm looking forward to seeing him in full flow and he's still for me our signing of the window.

They made that look hilariously easy.

Finally, a sensible opinion.

Well I was referring to Aaron there, but now you mention it I'm pretty sure there actually is a third. He's still in the u12s at the moment though I think. We'll have to wait and see.

I know this is irrelevant, but surely if you're living in his head, you should be paying him rent, not the other way around? Back on topic, I've hoped for a while that he'd come good. He always looked tidy if a little naive, but as time goes on he looks to be getting better. Majorly improved us when he came on against Watford and did himself plenty of justice today. Long may it continue. Also, if the general trend of younger brothers being better than their older siblings continues with these guys, we're in for a treat in about a year or two.

I keep forgetting that a good chunk of this squad has never played in front of our fans before. Bertie the great entertainer still hasn't.

Every fanbase has its share of reactionary fans. The ones with more measured opinions don't tend to speak as loud.

So far he's scored in every game he's played for us. One friendly, two League. The two from open play were both damn good goals, too. Also, I don't know the best place to post this, but in both games we've scored two goals; one absolute belter followed by a penalty. I'd be fine if that continued for a while longer.

They were referring to the one Rooney scored against the plastic oil barons.

He's started the season a little off, but in his defence mistaking Callum Wilson's head for the ball was definitely entertaining.

I saw those images and assumed he'd scored a belter. It turned out to be the exact opposite of Ings' goal.

I think his role is closer to Lange's. Purslow is CEO. I think even they aren't dumb enough to give him that much power.

Is there any way that putting the club in administration would benefit them? They seem a shady bunch after all.

I assumed Lange was pretty much board level, considering his role is director. It would be weird if they hired him then didn't use him for input in transfers.

Is... Is that a threat?

It depends on what we see against Newcastle. I'm assuming that combo was down to necessity. Bailey was a late arrival who likely wasn't fully up to speed and Traore is still coming back from an operation, there was no way they could've started. The same can be said for Buendia too, he's returning from an injury and probably wasn't ready to start in truth. Time will tell but I think we can wipe the slate clean for the next match.

NSWE, get yer chequebooks out.

I can only comment on my own experience. Some of the stuff I've read on there made me genuinely angry.

It's the same with Twitter, Facebook etc. A lot of fans of all clubs are super reactionary and are just as likely to say OTT negative nonsense after a loss as they are to be delusionally optimistic after a win. I try to steer clear of football discussion almost entirely after a loss because I don't think it's good for my mental health.

People need to stop being so reactionary. JR probably isn't the answer to our problems, but he came on yesterday and did alright. The way some people are talking, it's like he's being blamed for the loss. We looked like we had a little more control in the middle with him on, showing how important another CM would likely be for us.

He's definitely not a 10. He didn't look fully at the races, either. I'm not going to judge him on this performance, he just needs time to settle. I already know he's a good player.