The Lounge

[Windlesham Don]

Triallists not good enough according to NA on radio interview and won’t be going to the pre-season camp in Wales for a few days.

Still looking for a midfielder and a striker, but not much in the budget to attract them.

[MacWomble]

Lucky trialists not to have to attend camp in…Wales. Crikey, whatever happened to A Place in the Sun? Odd to hear about the deal whereby we try and sign a player, Milwall re-sign the player, and then we sign the player on loan. It’s not bleedin’ Wall Street is it? League One fitba! No wonder the managers and admin staff don’t have time to actually work on having a team that can pass a ball.

[Colum]

Just submitted my WDSA Pundits Poll entry to Rob. I’ve put us down (a little pessimistically) to finish 14th. I went with the logic that I’d be happy with some improvement on last season!

[Singapore Don]

Frustratingly I wrote a detailed report of tonight’s Burton game here – and it disappeared. Grrr! So suffice to say, it was a thoroughly entertaining game, all the more enjoyable for being watched alongside Windlesham Don. I can’t rewrite the detailed report, too late and tired, so in a nutshell:

Parrett was deservedly man of the match – very happy as his sock sponsor! He bossed the midfield. Hartigan I thought was excellent, amazingly quick thinking and composure for a 17 year old. Sibbick too was precociously composed and commanding. Kaja’s pace was electric, he was a real handful. Antwi could easily step in to being fourth choice striker, great speed and confidence for his goal. All round, great night for the youngsters against Championship opposition. For the “older ones” Deji great again at left back, Cody clinical in his goal poaching again. The one disappointment was new boy Abdou – pretty well non existent, he really didn’t impress. Hopefully summer rust and he’ll show us in time the engine room player he was touted to be. Overall, convincing victory against Championship oppo – great night. McDonnell didn’t have to make a save all game. I came away happy and with renewed belief we really could have a successful season – success being better than last season ‘s 15th place finish! COYD!

[Windlesham Don]

Good to meet up with Singapore Don for a beer and a chat (congrats on the work promotion BTW!) and great to see another uplifting performance from the boys.

Firstly, Burton, who were frankly awful. They lacked desire and fitness in my view. During the second half they resorted to some fairly crude challenges, which just illustrated that they were getting frustrated with their own performance.

Setting the opposition aside, it was another positive performance from the boys, confirming that Saturday’s result was not simply down to the opposition not turning up. Always difficult to judge PSFs, but what the first 180 minutes has shown us is that there seems to be a renewed positivity and dynamism around the squad.

As well as the negative influences around the squad last season (Poleon, Barnett etc), things may have become slightly stale. I never thought I would say this but the departure of Elliott and Reeves may prove to be a blessing in disguise for us. Tactically, we have upped the energy levels and work rate, and players are now looking for and finding space in which to receive a pass. Last season we may have become stuck in a rut – the ball would start with Jake and the play would slow, so no one else really made quick runs into space. The ball would always be pumped long to big Tom, or down the line to LTB or Barchy, so again no real need to show for a pass.

Last night, on a velvety smooth pitch, the ball was played through midfield, with Parrett always looking for the incisive final pass. That he was able to push on and showcase what he is best at was down to young Hartigan and Jimmy Abdou in the engine room of the team. Although Abdou did not shine and was rarely on the ball, he fulfilled the Bulman role well, chasing, harrying and screening the back four, ensuring that the opposition never had time to think about a pass.

Anthony Hartigan impressed even more last night than on Saturday and seems to be growing into his role. He is one of those players who seems to have an extra split second on the ball and can see a pass that others may not. At 17 years old he is a very promising prospect, but he should not be rushed at this young age.

Most of the others performed very well and some of those looking on from the stand will realise that their place in the side is not safe as the start of the season approaches. McDonald looked like the arch goal poacher again and Kwesi Appiah must be wondering whether a starting berth will be his when the season starts.

With Parrett staking his claim for one of the central midfield roles, and Abdou almost bound to sit in front of the back four, it then leaves Soares, new boy Trotter, Francomb and Egan battling it out for the third CM spot. Hartigan is also in the wings should form dip.

Sibbick again demonstrated skill, speed and composure on the ball. Bas Fuller knows that his position is under threat unless he performs at his best.

Up top, I feel that Jayden Antwi should be used as the fourth striker. I realise that NA sees much more of the squad than I, but to me Antwi looks like the ideal ‘project’ fourth striker – young, quick and maturing fast. Save whatever budget remains, Neal, and go with the squad that we have…

I know it is only two games into pre-season, but I have not looked forward to seeing a team start a season for a very long while…

[Windlesham Don]

Below is a view of new signing Liam Trotter from a Millwall fan:

“This debate about Trotter has gone on for a long time and was at its peak when he played for us. The honest truth is that on his day he could boss a game and win it for you with some great insight, some incisive passing and the odd goal or two at vital moments.
Sadly, his day came once in a blue moon and for the other 40 games in a season he was a lazy good for nothing who swanned around who could not be bothered to raise his game. One of Kenny Jackett’s endearing qualities was that he could motivate players and get the very best out of some fairly average squad members. A case in point was how, for a number of games at the end of a season a few years back he paired Josh Wright and Jimi Abdou in the middle and they looked a decent partnership. He persevered with Trotter in the hope that he could get the best out of him but eventually conceded that he was just a lazy good for nothing and moved him on.
Neil Harris has some admirable qualities in the motivation department but his first requirement is that every player in his squad has got to give his all and more in every game to get the shirt. Trotter would not fit that requirement and so he wouldn’t get the chance to be in a team managed by Harris.”

The concerning thing for me is that this is one of the only printable quotes I could find on both the Millwall and Bolton forums. Bolton fans universally hated him, 90% of the Millwall fans the same. The general view is of a player who was lazy and probably ‘turned up’ for half a dozen games a season.

To me this signing just doesn’t add up. NA must have talked to ex-Millwall colleagues Robbo and Jimi Abdou about him and seen something that he liked, but he couldn’t have been training with us, as he was training with Rotherham (who turned him down) and Scunthorpe.

I really hope that I am wrong, but this looks like a ‘Barnett’ style signing to me. Rumour is that he is on a two year contract and he won’t be being paid small change either. Furthermore, he looks to be the same type of player as Dean Parrett, and from what I have seen in pre-season I’d take Parrett all day long…

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