It is nowhere near as loved as it should be. Plenty of great features, good acoustics, excellent sightlines in the Poundland Upper, the Undercroft, the Locker, excellent transport links.
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Somewhat related to the thread -
Does anyone know if The Locker is open on away days? A mate of mine has asked if there’s anywhere to go for a pint around Bescot before I pick him up there later
Jamma is back 
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Muy bueno.
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When’s Lowe back 
That is good news. Excellent.
Great news - give em some s*** Jamma and let’s get back to winning ways!
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Great news about Matt. I wonder who drops out of the squad from the SIX available centre-forwards? Surely Harrison, Amantchi and DJ will be in.
Which 2 do we start?
If Amantchi is seen as the long term replacement for Jamma (who, being Sadler’s captain, you would put money on starting if fit) then you would expect the lad to be on the bench as his regular replacement rather than play alongside him.
Wheatley has started the last 2 but hasn’t shown himself as the reincarnation of Lowe as yet, so it’s more likely that Harrison will get the nod over him - although MS has a tendency not to throw newbies straight on for their first game. If Harrison doesn’t start on Saturday then definitely expect him on the bench, but not so sure the same applies to Wheatley.
DJ I don’t expect to start (he hardly ever does) but he has shown himself more than worthy of keeping his place in the match squad (especially after Salford) and being brought on if we’re desperate for a goal or two.
That leaves Gordon, and much as I like him (he certainly doesn’t deserve anywhere near the disrespect he sometimes gets from some posters) I can’t see him as a starter now and he’s not a game changer for the bench either.
I think we can now safely forget about Albert being used as a forward too.
So my punt is Jamma and Harrison to start, Amantchi and DJ on the bench, Wheatley and Flash to miss out, Adomah to only be used as a straight swap for Barrett (maybe alternating starts and subs?)
I may be way off here, but I think Wheatley will start next to Jamma. I don’t think it is fair to judge the lad yet and I can’t see that we have signed him to not even be in the matchday squad. If it isn’t him then I’d expect it to be Harrison next to Matt, but as you said, Sadler doesn’t tend to throw new signings straight in.
That leaves Amantchi on the bench with either Wheatley or Harrison. Where that leaves Gordon and DJ I don’t know. Sadler has been known to have 3 strikers on the bench but we have more midfield options again now. I’d hope DJ would be in front of Gordon as he is someone who can grab you a goal, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
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We didn’t sign Cleary to not be in the squad either, but he often wasn’t.
Not disagreeing with you though, we shouldn’t judge him solely on what we’ve seen so far in a (slightly) misfiring team. I’m sure MS will base his decision on what he sees up at Essington as well as during actual games.
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Am I the only contributor to this board who is not convinced that we need seven strikers at the moment?
It could be said that we have just six strikers available but, although I don’t consider Adomah to be striker, Sadler clearly does, since that is where has played him in around 30 games so far this season.
Having seven strikers means that those who are not first choice will not get enough game time to find any form, nor learn how to fit in and form partnerships with the rest of the squad in league games.
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I can’t see Sadler bringing in 3 new strikers, plus the return of Josh Gordon, and then persisting with Uncs up top. Well, not as his plan A, B, C, D or E.
Albert does still have a place in this team though.
I do agree, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see Adomah up front again at some point.
I think part of the plan may be to use Matt more sparingly, I don’t think anyone expected him to play as many minutes as he has, but he has become so vital to us.
I know I’m not meant to say this because it upsets a few, but Josh Gordon just isn’t good enough, he is okay in certain circumstances but I’d expect to only see him now and then off the bench. Despite DJ’s goals the other day, I still don’t think Sadler fancies him much only when he is the only option.
It can become a problem if you start to get unhappy players in the dressing room though. We will see how it pans out I guess.
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We haven’t got seven strikers. Adomah isn’t a striker. He has had to fill in from time to time but we now have a full set. We have a lot of games and I would expect Matt to play in all of them , if fit, but only for 60 minutes at the most. I think who partners him will change depending on the opposition and that goes for those on the bench. This Saturday I think it will be Matt and Wheatley to start with Harrison and Gordon to come on. It will be different on Tuesday but at this stage I wouldn’t like to guess who it will be. I see DJ acting as a third striker if the game situation requires him.
Still think we will see a striker go out on loan. Either DJ to national league or even Amantchi to Drogheda until June if he is seen as more as one for the future
Since bringing Josh Gordon back to the club January last year, and giving him a two year contract at the start of this season, Mat Sadler has given him a place in the starting eleven whenever he is fully match fit.
He was almost always preferred as a starter by Sadler to his options such as Lowe, Adomah, DJ, Faal, DJT, Oteh and Cleary.
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We did alright without him to be fair. I don’t disagree with what you are saying, I know Sadler likes him.
Gordon really annoyed me when he came on at Fleetwood, he basically played right into their hands, fouling all over the place, stopping the game when we needed to get some momentum, going. And then, yeah he is in the starting line up the game after, and I thought he looked way off it. Fair enough he has been out for a long time, but we surely have better options now.
I agree that Adomah is not a striker, but that is clearly not Sadler’s opinion, and he is person who picks the team.
Adomah has played as a striker in around 30 of his 37 appearances this season, most of them when alternative specialist strikers DJ and Cleary were fit and available.
There are a few possibilities up front which for me include Matt plus one other. However, those possibilities most definitely do not include Josh Gordon - we must win this game. We have seen enough of Josh Gordon to know he does not contribute enough. For me it is so obvious. I really don’t care how nice he is or how much effort he puts in. There is no positive end product to his endeavors.
UP THE SADDLERS
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