Lionel Fessi

2 - McNeil 4 - Otegbayo, Palmer, Iorfa, Horvath 5 - Everyone Else The last time I remember seeing an outfield player directly at fault for 2 goals was Odubajo vs Preston a few years back…I actually thought McNeil gave the ball away for all 3 of theirs today. Probably a glimpse into why he isn’t playing regularly, really poor zero awareness. Another dreadful performance, we’ve got absolutely nothing in this side. We look bad all over, Bannan is even struggling and was careless with the ball. Hard to take positives, we’re lucky Bristol seemed happy with just 3 goals, felt like they could have had more. Atleast Charles & Bernard back in a few weeks should limit these performances!!

Trying to keep this just about the players, manager & performance so just bare that in mind. 6 - M.Lowe & Bannan 5 - Everyone else The first full match I’ve actually sat down and watched this season. I thought we were pretty bad and could have lost that 4 or 5 nil. We are a complete shell of ourselves vs this time last year. We have problems all over the pitch. Horvath looks exactly like a 4th choice keeper, we have zero structure still in defending set pieces and going forward we are completely void of ideas, apart from pass it to Bannan. Players like Ingelsson, Kobacki & Cadz I can’t decide if I think they’re any good or if they just work hard and run around a lot…lacking end product so often. Similarly J.Lowe is a complete passenger, I still don’t know what he brings to the team.

Sounds absolutely mental doesn’t it? But I’d agree.. If by some miracle those 11 players can give us ~40 games we might have a chance, still a poor poor side but they’re capable of grinding away a few wins. Maybe we get lucky and a youngster like McNeil or Charles has incredible breakout season? In reality though that defence is a major worry, it was already under Röhl and we’ve lost 3 starters from last year plus plenty of experience… Palmer & Otegbayo are not good enough, Lowe could be off, Bernard is still injured and Charles is a massive unknown.

Even if those 11 stayed fit all season, still a bottom 5 side. On the upside there’s plenty of potential in there - Charles, Otegbayo,Cadz & Kobacki are all still very young and could all be hits. Plus there’s quality in there and players capable of putting in good performances, how consistent the likes of Ugbo, Svante, Chalobah & Iorfa will be is going to be crucial I’d even put J.Lowe into that mix. If we have any chance at all in staying up they’ll need to be fit & firing when it counts.

I always go back to that first season he came in and assembled a board of advisors at the club - Glen Roeder, Adam Pearson and Paul Senior. Lasted a few months then they all vanished. We never had a form of leadership at the club other than Chansiri since. No board. Big big problem. No other club in the football league operates like this.

I’ve been in this camp, as one of the best players at the club we’ve held him in the same light as Bannan. Expected to be 7 or 8 out of 10 every game and when he’s not, we probably don’t win and he gets a lot of stick. Fickle fans aren’t we? But that comes with the territory of being a good player. Especially one with the attitude & swagger Windass carried around. He’s been very good for us, nobody can argue with that. The attacking returns, THAT goal at Wembley and how instrumental he was to our success under Röhl - more so than probably any other player. But…he’s had his flaws. Injuries, consistency and at times he’s just the wrong side of selfish. As good as he’s been, let’s not pretend he hasn’t frustrated us all over the years and he could have been even better. Sad to see him go and even more frustrated it’s for nothing but thats all down to our shambolic owner. Best of luck to Windass, the type of player any side in this division would want in the squad.

Can’t see him at a game unless there’s a drastic uptick in our situation. Regardless of what you thought of him before this summer, it feels like he’s actively gone out of his way to sabotage the club these last 3 months. So so many issues across all levels - leadership, strategy, academy, training facilities, stadium, legal, players, financial, manager it’s actually quite unbelievable what a mess we’re in. I’ll give it 10 games, when we’re rock bottom with 5 points, zero signings and we get embarrassed by United, after that it will turn really nasty. It’s going to be a horrible toxic season that could quite possibly be one of the worst in the club history. Depressing, just at a loss for words now.

The only positive we can take it atleast the players have experience with eachother & Röhl, after everything we’ve been through this summer any game we avoid getting beat 4-0 I’ll take… Think we’re going to see a totally different style of play this season. If we have any chance at all of staying up we can’t try and replicate how we played with the likes of Windass, Gassama, Smith, Charles…impossible to replace them with bottom of the barrel loanees. Charles Valery Otegbayo Iorfa Lowe Palmer Bannan Svante Chalobah McNeil Ugbo

Utterly depressing no other way about it. On the verge of what might be one of the worst seasons of my lifetime. Windass Gassama Musaba Charles Smith Those 5 were our best attacking players last season and they’ve all left, with the exception of Bannan probably 5 of our best players from last season too. Really really depressing, the only positive is players mutually terminating contracts might lead to action from the EFL to force Chansiri out.

I always think this should really be ‘when they don’t play, who do we miss the most?’ To which, Bannan would win every single season, there’s a case again for him this year too. But, Shea Charles has been magnificent and without his influence in the middle I worry who could have stepped up. Bannans impact for certain would have suffered. Windass very good too, 17? G/A is hard to argue against and goals are by far the most valuable asset in any team. 1-Charles 2-Baz 3-Windass Interesting also, Musaba now has more goal involvements than Gassama…despite playing 1500+ less minutes. Food for thought on how valuable he is when fit. Not quite POTS candidate yet but Valery has been impressive as well, suits Rohls system really well and so good on the ball. Very clever player.

What’s the story again? A fan group cobbling together ideas for a takeover that may or may not have made contact with some wealthy individuals?! I’m a big fan of the Radio Sheffield team and I think this season the coverage from journalists like Rob Staton has been excellent. But fans need to remember, they’re professionals and they will be doing their own research through trusted sources to see how credible the story is before bringing it to a wider audience… Similar to some of the coverage for the protests & Chansiri drama this season, due diligence & fact checking drive good quality journalism. Not reactive scrambling jumping on a bandwagon story from a fan podcast. The Owlstalk vacuum in full swing once again.

I am bloody good aren’t I?!?

That spell between 2015-2017 with the 2 playoff runs was the best 2 years of football I’ve ever seen at the club in my lifetime. It’s also the most ‘success’ we’ve had in the last 25 years.

Ihiekwe an 8, don’t think I’ve disagreed with you since one of your Fessi takes @Holmowl!! I think my 4 was maybe abit harsh, but he’s SO poor with the ball to feet especially when pressured, felt like after Lowe went off United clearly targeted him on the ball. Plus how many headers in the box did he win, but fail to get the ball on target? I’ll admit though, we probably need to curb our expectations given he is our 4th choice CB and isn’t ideal for Röhl’s system. Small margins but against the best in the league our weak links stood out. Ihiekwe was one of them.

4 - Ihiekwe 5 - Windass 7 - Smith, Hatsuse 6 - Everyone Else Copy & paste of how many home matches this season? Created more chances, missed the best chances and gave away a sloppy goal. Pretty solid all around performance, consistent across the board but lacking quality in both boxes. Smith, Windass & Svante all have to score those chances. In the end their multi million pound squad made the difference, £4m keeper made 2 top saves and a winner scored by their £40m striker. Annoying. Hard to pick apart the team when we played pretty well (again). Defensively we need big improvements, not organised and beaten so often individually in 1on1 situations. Ihiekwe is awful with the ball and completely torn apart when he’s got space behind him, although part of that is due to how attacking we are.

First time on Owlstalk? Have you ever read a post from the OP before… The article is complete click bait, jumping on the DR hype train and imminent opening for the Southampton role which I’m sure he’ll be a strong favourite. Röhl is under contract for atleast another year which I’m confident he will honour in the right situation. The turning point will be our spending in summer, Chansiri needs to back him. DR is highly ambitious and if the squad doesn’t get the financial backing it needs I can see him pushing for a move. We’re in this weird spot where Röhl is really propping up a bottom half squad with his brilliance and heavy reliance on players like Charles, Bannan, Windass & Gassama. People forget Charles & Beadle will be gone, Windass’s contact for next season is a player option as is Bannan’s who is turning 36 in December. And if Gassama’s form continues he will surely attract some interest in summer too, he’s only 21 still. Potentially 4-5 key players we’ll need to replace, big ask and a very important summer window for us.

If you can brave The Star website it says he might be out ‘several weeks’ with what I assume is a calf issue. Mixed feelings, he wasn’t a signing that excited me anyway but it did feel like a smart one given Bannans injury status and his history with Röhl. Maybe we’ll see him in a deeper role if he’s around next year - turns 33 in a few weeks mind. Ultimately this is what happens when we’re scraping the barrel for ‘impact’ signings in January. No preseason with us, barely played this year anyway and just as he finally looks fit and up to speed gets injured.

Yawn, is Owlstalk the only forum that keeps giving this group airtime? The fact they waited until we’ve been drubbed 4-0 to ‘reveal’ this in the know nonsense should tell you everything. Opportunists desperate for a moment in the sun. Im still hopeful this summer Danny will get backed properly or he’s going to walk. Trust in our German maestro.

4th choice centre back & ‘5th’ choice centre back who isn’t ready for Championship football. What do people expect? Its nobodies fault, we’ve just been really unlucky with injuries. I don’t think with the players available we could put out a stronger back 4/5. The issue is just highlighted even more against the best sides in the division.

Cannot believe this, we’ve been really really good. And we’re losing 3-0. Just not been our day at all.

Always thought Bannan was a very similar type of player to Wesley Hoolahan - who went on to play in the Championship until 35/36. Didn’t play as far forward as Hoolahan did but in terms of stature, work rate, quality on the ball and ability to influence a team going forward it’s remarkable how they both did it at a high level for so long. Championship Legends. The only regret I have with Bannan is that he never got us promoted to the PL. It just didn’t align under Carlos and after that we never had the momentum to make a proper push. It’s the only thing missing from his legacy that would cement him as an even bigger legend.

Did you celebrate when that WBA winner went in? Or when Bernard’s ACL went?! You can’t predict injuries, it’s just part of the game. 3 senior CB’s all out is very unlucky. It actually had been quite a good season for us with injuries until this week. We’ve lacked squad depth all season and if Charles didn’t resign we’d be in even bigger trouble. I expect we’ll still finish around mid table maybe slightly below now. But I’m confident come summertime Röhl will get more backing for a proper push next season. This year was always going to be a ‘steady the ship’ type season, we aren’t ready for the top 6 yet.

It’s easy to blame the lack of recruitment but in reality it’s just very unlucky 3 of the 4 senior CB’s in the squad are injured. Great opportunity for Otegbayo to show why he’s signed a new deal. Im not too worried…yet. We still have options but Ihiekwe & Lowe now become vital. I except we’ll see those 2 in every combination alongside Otegbayo/Valery/Pol/Palmer/Johnson/Ryo - whoever has the hot hand. We’re very fullback heavy and our set piece vulnerability surely doesn’t improve with any of the above replacing Bernard? Especially with Bannan out too our midfield already looks weak if we play a 5 then 2 infront.

7 - Beadle, Gassama, Pato, Valery, Lowe 5 - Armstrong, Smith, Windass 6 - Everyone else Good competitive game of football, I think the better team probably just edged it in the end. But considering we were missing Bannan (our record is very bad when he doesn’t play) and Bernard for most of the game, we actually played better than i expected. Our midfield still struggled, Armstrong does not look sharp and Charles was unusually off the pace today - felt he tried to take more responsibility in BB’s absence and was quite wasteful. Windass also quiet & hardly involved. That first half in particular we started so slow and couldn’t keep the ball, just like Luton last week… Our subs literally changed the game. Excellent play from Pato/Johnson/Svante for the goal and again Pato/Ugbo combo forced Wildsmith into a great save to keep it level. Then the bad, felt Johnson & Ugbo both should have done better for either goal…just lacking that concentration (Ugbo on the near post too slow to react & Johnson lost his man AGAIN). Overall though some good defending in parts against a genuine promotion challenging team. Gassama is starting to look a cut above (do we know why his goal was disallowed yet?!). Beadle made some fine saves and Röhl 2nd half magic/strategic subs almost stole a result. Real shame about the Bernard & Bannan injuries, fear they’ll squash any top 6 aspirations we had.

Musaba is better than JJ, he’s only had one full season in The Championship and he was involved in 13 goals - JJ’s best was 9. He’s having an underwhelming season so far yet he still has 2 goals & 5 assists…probably will beat JJ’s best again. I loved JJ, one of my favourite ever players and they’re a very similar style equally brilliant & frustrating. But I think Musaba is a little more polished and still plenty of room to grow at 24. I wouldn’t be surprised if we sold Musaba in the summer tbh, on his day capable of a higher level and with the emergence of Gassama not as valuable as he once was. If selling him meant we could bring in another 2 younger high potential players at CB & CM? I’d probably take it.