My beef with this is not so much that we can't keep the ball, it's that there's no attempt to. Controlling possession or the tempo of the game is not the plan. It's hit the channels early, pick up scraps and fire it into the box. We have the ball for about 10 seconds before giving it back.

This squad is far more experienced and there's more squad depth. We had one striker most of last season, and the loans had hardly played first team before. The style we are playing is agricultural and relies on specialist wingbacks that barely exist in world football let alone L1.

No malicious intent. Saydee was doing what he does 50 times a game. He happened to land on his opponent's calf on this single occasion. In still photos or slow mo, it looks awful Pete, but in real time, it was bugger all.

I think in L1, a fullback who can happily sprint up and down for 90 minutes is superficially aesthetically pleasing!

I thought he was dreadful. Ran a lot. Got up and down. But then, so would I if my job was running and I was being richly rewarded for it.

This game plan of high energy, direct balls, crosses and set pieces is obviously not sophisticated. But if you've got the best players, it will work at this level & I think Matt Smith is the best passing midfielder in L1. So when he came on, everything changed.

He won't get any longer than that anyway. Bad start next season and they'll probably bullet him.

We've been here before. With decent players, I've no doubt that a strategy based on set pieces, crosses,and balls over the top into the channels will eventually get us out of League 1. But there's not even a passing interest in controlling or managing the game, which long term is a step back.

Tickle is probably moving on but replacing our best players over and over again with cheaper/worse ones is objectively an unlikely strategy for success. We had Lang. Hughes and Aasgard. We signed Rankine, Sibbick and Darcy!

He's also a very cheap backup keeper who is happy to wait his turn. But, hopefully, for his development he'll go out on loan to the national league and play some games.

I was at the forum when Rioch said that. He is obviously well respected and, I assume, honest but he did seem pumped full of bravado. I wasn't sure in pretty much real-time how he could have that info! Unless, all the L1 clubs fax each other their bank statements post deadline day?

We will never know whether Rioch, Maloney or the budget was to blame. But without Thelo for half this season, we'd have gone down, probably bottom. It's noteworthy that in the season we were on the cusp of liquidation, we had a front 3 of Lang, Keane and Joseph!

The rules for friendlies are different Pete. Although that's based on Roy Carroll's U21 call ups in 1996, and I've drunk a lot of merlot since then! On balance, you may well be right!

He's 23 next week.

The new lad from Oxford who came on for the 2nd half, down the left. I'll learn his name if he's here next season.

Imagine spending most of your life in South Liverpool, but ending up in Luton...

I actually think we could have a Haaland, Watkins or Kane upfront and they wouldn't score more than half a dozen a season. Maloney has cracked the youth development and defending parts of his remit but we are still miles off creating decent chances. He'll get there mind.

To me it's a pointless signing unless we plan to make whoever it is permanent. Norburn, Dummett, Goode etc just blocked the pathway for McHugh, Robinson and Carragher.

I don't think there's any manager or any team in mainstream European football who routinely leaves their "9" (as the kids say) on the pitch for 90 minutes. The problem, as I see it, is that we have nobody to swap him for!