Gbamin: I need to be faster

Personally, I thought Marco made a mistake choosing him over Davies. He didn't protect his new signing. The kid can't possibly know the system, his role in it, the pace of the game, etc. Marco was too eager to introduce his signing, and chose him over, what I would define as, a more than capable Tom Davies.

This kid will be good. I really liked his movement. Once he adjusts to the increased pace of play and the physicality (no problems with the latter), he's going to develop into one heck of a player.

The kid might be called upon yet again this upcoming weekend, next to Tom. I've no doubt he'll make a few errors in the process of his development, and introduction to the English game.

Patience. He's going to be a good one.

For me, the biggest mystery is: "What is the situation with Beni Baningime?" Something has gone terribly wrong there (hope I am wrong), and nobody is saying anything about this kid.

Just want Silva to work on how we move as a team so that options are available ahead of him. We are better at counter attacking. Palace won't be the last team to fear us and sit back, letting us have possession.

A bit of patience is going to be needed team wise mate.

The new signings will take a while to bed in but we will be the better for it.

The drama queens and naysayers after Saturday's game should look at the weekend's games. They where typical of early season and I saw nothing to really scare us if we can repeat the form of the back end of last season.

Chelsea for the majority of the game battered United and the flag wavers were nowhere near 4 goals better than the Canaries.

Other than City this league is wide open IMO.

As supporters we may get glimpses of why they were brought in, but it will take a few games before they are able to fit in smoothly and show the talents they were bought for. So as true supporters lets get behind all our newcomers to show them what a great club they have joined.

It bewildered me that a couple of posters bracketed his performance as Krøldrup and Nyarko like, even though one poster even prefaced his comments with the admission he hadn't even seen the game!

Gbamin also had some good moments amongst his poor ones to at least convince me there will be more to come from the player.

With the Schneiderlin suspension and Gomes & Delph injuries (and selling of Gueye) we now need McCarthy but he has gone and we didn't even use him as a bargaining chip for Zaha.

Brilliant planning by this his immature management!

Yes, I was a bit taken aback at the criticism. Granted, I didn't see much of the 2nd half but found it hard to believe he was as bad as some said.

Mainz are a decent enough team in a fairly competitive league so I can't imagine he was that bad. It sounded almost like an Ali Diea imposter situation like a Soton. Surely Brands and co are wiser than to sign a complete turkey.

I agree with those who think he will prove to be a good signing, when he becomes more inured to the demands of the Premier League, all things taken into account, having the possession we did, should have yielded at least a goal or two.

Their keeper did make a couple of good saves, but was rarely troubled apart from that. Hopefully the new lads will get a rousing reception at home before the Watford game, and Delboy doesn't come back to haunt us! (wish we still had him)

Looks like we might not see either Gbamin or Iwobe for a week or two as they get up to speed. I would expect Tom Davies to start on Saturday, hopefully alongside Gomes if he's fit or Delph if he's fit.

I too can't believe people are having a pop at him, give him some breathing space, he will come good. Just needs a few games to find the tempo and acclimatize.

Jim, a suspension and injury in the same game (1st of the season) can't have been in many managers' planning. Are you saying we hold on to players for 1 or 2 games a season when these freak occurrences occur?

I doubt whether Gomes or Delph will be fit for Saturday & Schneiderlin is suspended. I think Davies & Gbamin will start alongside each other on Saturday unless Marco decides that Mason Holgate will play as the DM like Stones has a few times at Shiteh. Holgate is quick, comfortable on the ball, doesn't shirk a challenge & is a good passer. Will be interesting to see.

Physically he looks an athlete that's equipped to be a top player, time will tell.

He did put him on and, because he's not match-fit or used to the Premier League, he's another Krøldrup.

Of course, neither one is true. Give him some time.

I will now resume laughing at the post about how "immature" management bollixed the McCarthy deal.

Very much thinking it will be the obvious Gbamin and Davies, after all they are midfielders. The only other option would be Davies and Siggy just so he can find room for one of Kean or Iwobi... but l doubt that too. The less change the better. That's Silva's way.

Maybe if Martinez was still in charge we might've seen either Holgate or a fit Baines. It's all about our forward play though being the home side and an expectant crowd. Looking forward to Davies and Gbamin taking their opportunity.

I hope to see more of Kean at the weekend and I am an Iwobi admirer and think he will prove to be our Player of the Season – you read it here first!

We need to get behind this team, Silva and Brands, who are steadily improving the squad and letting go those who have no future as a blue.

There was enough on show on Saturday to suggest there is a very good player in there... he now knows he doesn't have time to dwell on the ball.

The midfield could not get service into the strikers with opportunities. That's actually my main concern coming away from the Palace game. Richarlison was coming way to deep to be any use up front.

Our squad right now is 23-strong (24 if you want to count Lewis Gibson), which is right around the size it should be.

Always a good place to begin improvement.

Opponents do meticulous homework, their midfielders and forwards will be told pre-match to be on to him fast when he is possession. It will be interesting to watch him adapt to it.

Unless Gomes proves to be okay, it will probably be Davies & Gbamin or Iwobi – even though neither is fully fit.

Another possible option nobody seems to have mentioned is Davies & Beni Baningime.

Give the lad a chance, he's only played for 45 minutes for God's sake!!

Does anyone know what the situation is with Beni?

Top-Cat and Officer Dibble are equally flummoxed! :-)

I see that Beni Baningime is turning out for the U23s as we speak. 0 - 0 at HT vs the Foxes... at the newly named 'Pure Stadium'. (Yuk! That just sounds weird.)

It will take Gbamin a few games to bed in, but I'm confident he will be a success.

I'm hoping too he will be taking a few shots from outside the box as well, as he tucked a few in during his Bundesliga stint.

Can you drop the initials please...

JP — Jordan Pickford or Jean-Philippe?
MS — Marco Silva or Morgan Schneiderlin??
MK — Michael Keane or Moise Kean???

See the problem?

I did get the O-level in English, a lifetime ago!

No worries Mike, Ill be very specific and clear in my future threads.👍🏼

Gbamin showed enough promise to suggest he will good player I think.

And I find his honest look at himself refreshing. He'll be a good player for us if he can get used to the speed and intensity of the Premier League.

No, I'm saying we got rid of injury-prone McCarthy only to buy injury-prone Delph and keep liability Schneiderlin.

McCarthy was also a ball winner and the nearest we had to Gueye's style.

But if we were going to get rid of him use him as a makeweight for Zaha.

It's a funny game and if you make the wrong decision, it will come back and bite you.

3 points is a must next game and we now have a weak centre-mid.

Good man, J-P. Your colleague Morgan committed the same foul time and again in the same fixture and got himself sent off through crass stupidity.

Einstein commented that performing the same actions repeatedly whilst expecting a different outcome constitutes a definition of insanity.

Firstly he was immensely strong, he outstrenghed a couple of the palace lads more than once.

Another positive is the lad isn't the type of guy who wants to play safe all the time, sideways and backwards is the old Bobby Martinez way, the future of our midfield is about going forward.

Almost an hour banked in terms of prem minutes can also only be seen as a positive, top that off with the fact Gbamin already knows he needs to speed up his game.

I bet Gbamin is back in v Watford, and I'd bet we will see progress.

Good news, I'm happy.

Pickford
Coleman Keane Mina Digne
Davies Sigurdsson Gbamin Bernard
Richarlison Calvert-Lewin

Subs: Lössl, Holgate, Sidibé, Iwobi, Baningime, Walcott, Kean

They will be both be really focused on training now and won't need to be told what is required. I expect the other signings to be given a run out next week. Might even see Kean start.

Gbamin not ready, Delph and Gomes injured and Schneiderlin suspended. We've played one game.

As for the comments about losing the ball from Mainz fans, that's why we bought him at 23. We can coach that out of him. I keep reading that Marco is quite specific in his coaching and advice to individual players. Time to see it in action now that we have such a young team.

A front 4, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Kean and Iwobi, all under 23. Exciting times.

I keep going on about pace and movement, but it's something that sorts out the men from the boys in most sports, and hopefully Gbamin is not looking around in a few weeks thinking, “I actually thought it was me?”

Whether Marco Silva is encouraging this or trying to eradicate it, is unclear. He stands on the touchline like Tweetie Pie shaking his head at times, but I don't know whether the players are not carrying out his instructions or he isn't getting them across clearly enough.

Your first paragraph is spot on. Our play through midfield is too slow. The trio of Gomes, Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson is too one-paced.

In fact, Sigurdsson is not a midfield player as such. He is not even a Number 10. He is more like a modern-day Martin Peters, a tidy finisher when ghosting into the penalty area but not a player who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck.

It doesn't matter if the players are not carrying out his instructions or if he's not getting them across clearly enough because it's only going to end up in failure either way. But maybe it's no coincidence that we are keeping clean sheets yet failing to score, because he's been waiting for fresh blood in attack, and these players were only signed right at the death, alongside Richarlison who has also had a very extended break.

I think we all want to see more pace and movement, and also know we won't improve unless we find it.

We've bought the new players to improve the team. Get them in asap. Don't agree with people saying we need to wait on Kean. He's raring to go, and has played 35 times in Serie A (between Juve and Verona), plus 3 times for the national side. He's more than capable of holding his own against a Watford side who have just lost 3-0 at home to Brighton.

Couldn't agree more mate, that said we now have attacking players who work hard, are very quick and can all interchange positions. Once ul to speed I'd like to believe Kean, DCL, Richalison, Iwobi and Walcot can flit between positions freely, and Bernard along with Siggy can do the same.

Clearly all wont start together, but all of the above can play in a number of positions across the front line, hopefully we start to develop patterns in play where defenders cant mark the same player all game, and our attacking players pop up all over the place to cause confusion.

This model seems to have done the top few sides no harm over the past few years, hopefully we can become a team with a lot of goalscorers rather than put all or hope onto either of the young forwards.

I've said it before, we need 70/80 goals for a top 4 finish, hopefully we can start to see where they might come from.

Richalison 15
Siggy 15
Iwobi 10
DCL 10
Kean 10

I honestly don't think them numbers are unfair to ask for, Siggy takes set pieces, Richalison is getting better, DCL and Kean have to aim at double figures and Iwobi is now 23 and cost near on £40m.
That takes us to 60, add goals from our midfielders, and the defence, not to mention any goals from the likes of Walcot, Bernard and Tosun and we are starting to look like we have enough goals within the squad to challenge.

Let's see if the lads have the balls to hit the targets and fire us into the big league.

If he does mean any other way, we really are screwed. 🤣

Jim (11) another great piece of business, selling McCarthy to Crystal Palace. The message sent and received by Zaha and any other player we are interested in, is that we will not keep you if you wish to leave; we, as always, will abide by our word. We did it with Arteta, Lukaku, Barkley, Gueye and even a youngster called Rooney. So how good is your management about keeping their word, Mr Zaha?