Two weeks to go indifferent preseason form to say the least and a catalogue of injuries. What does Bobby need to do? Has he any cash to add a signing or two?

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

Answers

Very loathe to sign anybody just now (unless it's a left winger or a replacement for one of the centre-halves). The kind of players who will be willing to join a squad where there are already plenty of players in their position currently injured, are the kind of players we are already having such a lovely time trying to get shot of.

Face it, if we sign another central midfielder he knows that Bassedas and Dyer will displace him on their return from layoff, a centre half already has half a dozen contenders so we shouldn't get another until we sell at least 1 of the current stable since too much competition is worse than none at all. I reckon the same holds true amongst the forwards as we have 5 (6 with Coppinger) who could play for the first team already.

We'll just have to bite the bullet and ride out the injuries. Bobby has been rationalising the playing slots in the first team squad and I can't see him altering that because of injuries. The good news is that we keep scoring goals even when we play like sh*te, which means we are at least in with a chance. Losing 2-1 to a top Dutch side away isn't all that bad; we could be the "Best Club in the World" with all our players available and get possed 3-1. At least you can say that Dyer and Shearer would be definite starters whilst Domi, Howey and Gavilan would probably have all started had they been fit.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

Whilst I sincerely admire your indefatigable optimism Softie I have difficulty sharing it on last night's showing. True we are missing a number of key players, but this highlights a lack of strength in depth. Our only pre-season win thus far has been against Burnley. Feyenoord are no great side, but they were tactically and physically superior last night. Granted they are ahead in their pre-season training but I still wouldn't expect us to be turned over. Our defence looked porous and vulnerable, our attack cumbersome and unimaginative (Cordone aside), our midfield too reliant on high-balls to Cort.

How much can one read into a pre-season? All I know is I'm downgrading my expectations. Still, great to be amongst the black'n'white again.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

No Dyer, no Gavilan, not much of Solano, no holdup play from Shearer...of course it was pedestrian. Cordone and Gallacher can buzz around like blue-arsed flies but if you don't have anyone capable of passing the ball to them then they're just going to get tired.

I know you detest Feyenoord, and can quite understand why, but they are full strength, match-fit and qualify for Europe: we are midtable, understrength, not fully fit and playing away from home.

Anyone we buy now has to either replace someone in the side or they are going to be sat around drawing a fat wage when the currently injured players return. We don't have the luxury of a European campaign to justify squad-rotation so getting more than a couple for each slot will get us back where we were with a huge squad of 'backup' players. Never again.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

Anyways, Heath went down in flames last night too. ;-))

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

Exactly Ciara , these lads are training , theyer not full blooded and im sure Berb is addresssing the games slowly . Its bad news that a few players have been rested due to injurise , but im sure its only Bassedas who has a bad injury , inflicted by a silly challenge from the opposition . It looks like were trying different things / shapes and plays .. everyone who has reported on preseason has come out with different views on the play . Cort is finding himself , Shearer is being rested and so is Yin ... the midfield are tring to find shape . We have a big squad of quality players who are preparing for a new season , but not playing fully competitive games .. so just staedy the ship all you pessimists out there . Bobby Robson is a true professional and has his ideas , hes trying things out , and this is of course the time to do it . Have faith .

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

You're quite right Softie, I do detest Feyenoord and getting beaten by them in any capacity does p**s me off somewhat. It being live on Dutch TV, and facing my Feyenoord supporting workmates tomorrow morning, doesn't help either.

However leaving personal grudges aside I guess I was looking for some sense of cohesion from the lads last night and it was lacking. It was "only a pre-season" but if all the absentees you listed aren't ready for the start of the season that could be our starting line up come August 20th.

I don't want to be doom and gloom (honestly), as Macbeth rightly points out elsewhere this isn't the same as last season, and I quite agree the last thing we need is panic buying of players who'll rarely make the first team squad.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000

Look at the plus side Stevo, Feyenoord wouldn't have had the chance to work particularly cohesively either since our play was apparently so disjointed. Hopefully it's done them no good at all in preparation for their season....maybe leaving them ripe for a stonking battering from Vitesse Arnehm ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2000