01 Sep 2026 17:38:55
Hard to believe we haven’t addressed the middle of the park. Macca looked like he was towing a caravan with flat tyres on Saturday and I’m not gonna mention his passing. ??♂️
I just hope this doesn’t come back to kick us up the arse.
01 Sep 2026 18:21:52
It will and already has come back to kick us in the arse with two insipid midfield performances. Shuffle that lot any way you like but it’s just deckchairs on the Titanic. Every team in the league knows there’s a direct route to the defenders and the midfield offers no protection whatsoever.
01 Sep 2026 18:27:10
We will.
Thump.
Ipswich. They are getting served.
01 Sep 2026 18:27:27
I don't disagree that we should have bought someone - Camara, Kone etc - but I would like to see Nyoni starting with Grav and Dom on the RW against Ipswich.
01 Sep 2026 18:42:27
Nyoni is going to be this season's new MF signing.
01 Sep 2026 18:53:00
Zed, I'd prefer Dom at RB with Munoz on the Right, Nyoni and Grav as the '2', as at least Nyoni can hold his position whilst Grav carries the ball.
01 Sep 2026 19:22:18
Nyoni is only a kid and the fact that a lot of posters are hanging their hat on him as this year's midfield saviour says a lot.
01 Sep 2026 19:30:44
We’ve not had a breakthrough for a while, so we need a few.
01 Sep 2026 19:32:03
We should build the team around Nyoni like we did Bajetic.
01 Sep 2026 19:46:02
Nyoni isn't playing on his own, we seem sanguine enough with Jacquet starting despite being injured and not knowing the league. We could at least give Nyoni a chance to look like he's an answer to the question. If he's tactically adept to what Iraola wants to do, then we can and should give him the opportunity.
01 Sep 2026 19:47:55
Grav and Dom cannot pass the ball incisively thru the lines (something Iraola likes his mids to do) cos they lack the vision to do so from a deeper role.
So we are stuck with him and his lack of athleticism in transition.
Sad.
As for Trey, I'm not throwing him to the wolves just like that esp. with these two players who have very little defensive nous about them, leaving the poor kid exposed in transition.
01 Sep 2026 20:00:33
Nyoni will make mistakes, but so far this pre-season he hasn't really put a foot wrong.
Given we have been clamouring after Rayan, I'm quite happy to get excited about a 19yo player we already own!
Last few breakthroughs (not that many, tbf!):
Trent - played 12 games as an 18/19 yo and then 33 as a 19/20 yo
God - 34 games as an 18/19 yo and then 57 as a 19/20 yo
Judas - 2 games as a 17/18 yo, 44 as an 18/19 yo, 40 as a 19/20 yo
Stevie - 13 games as an 18/19 yo and then 31 as a 19/20 yo
They are rare, but even in our past history we have had teenagers establish themselves in the first team, and hopefully Trey can join their ranks.
Look at the £7m we were offered by Swansea for him a couple of months ago, and then £30m we dismissed out of hand from Forest in the last few days.
I think/hope he can have a good part to play this season, especially with Iraola at the helm.
01 Sep 2026 21:34:45
Trent played in 12 games, Zed. For his 9 PL games he played 165 minutes, so not even 2 games. I’m not against Nyoni featuring whatsoever and I think he might well be a decent player but, as I’ve said, we can’t be expecting a young lad with 22 PL minutes experience to sort our midfield problems.