• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Djed Spence

I don't pretend to know anything about squad rules but thought perhaps Spence is not in Euro list in case a club might want to loan him.

Even that would be a shame though. I didn't want to kneejerk to this before understanding the permutations, however I look at it the vibe seems off.

A promising pre season and a competition that we can give out minutes to for players that need it, seems ideal for Spence and would have kept momentum going. Maybe Grey (or Gray IDK) has impressed in that position dropping Spence down the pecking order? I don't see how 4 GKs is necessary/ helpful.

Our GK situation looks a bit of a mess, whatever happens unless one of the youth GKs turns out to be an absolute baller, an injury to Vic (who isn't without his weaknesses) and we're pretty screwed anyway, in terms of competing that is.

At least Conte had been pretty clear about Spence and his plans so he knew to head off on loan - This seems a bit more odd, loadsa gametime in preseason and positive noises to then be dropped out of the Europa squad? Can he be added in after the group stages (yes this is a lazy question that I could probably find out myself)
 
Honestly I genuinely don't believe there's any drama here. There is a legitimate (or explainable reason) why he's been left out. It's do with our squad composition coupled with Europa restrictions.

If we ignore the Club Trained requirement there's only 21 spots available. In the general pecking order he's not ahead of any of our 15 Overseas players, so that's 6 spots available for the rest of our 7 Association Trained players. So one person had to miss out.

So back to the Club Trained, we only have 2 (Whiteman, Austin), so we might as well pick them. It means we can only name a max squad of 23.

So what were Ange's options, technically he could leave out Forster as he has those 2 others. But he clearly doesn't trust them, hence Forster back on the bench last game last game after injury.

Another option is to leave out the least favoured, that would be Werner. But Ange 's an attacking manager, so might opt for an extra attacker over a defender.

Regarding defensive cover I think he sees VdV and Davies covering LB and Gray as RB. Seems very thin though.

Bottom line this more about how much he doesn't trust Austin and Whiteman rather than any issue with Spence. IMO of course but of course I could be wrong.

Appendix - Squad breakdown:

Squad.png
 
Honestly I genuinely don't believe there's any drama here. There is a legitimate (or explainable reason) why he's been left out. It's do with our squad composition coupled with Europa restrictions.

If we ignore the Club Trained requirement there's only 21 spots available. In the general pecking order he's not ahead of any of our 15 Overseas players, so that's 6 spots available for the rest of our 7 Association Trained players. So one person had to miss out.

So back to the Club Trained, we only have 2 (Whiteman, Austin), so we might as well pick them. It means we can only name a max squad of 23.

So what were Ange's options, technically he could leave out Forster as he has those 2 others. But he clearly doesn't trust them, hence Forster back on the bench last game last game after injury.

Another option is to leave out the least favoured, that would be Werner. But Ange 's an attacking manager, so might opt for an extra attacker over a defender.

Regarding defensive cover I think he sees VdV and Davies covering LB and Gray as RB. Seems very thin though.

Bottom line this more about how much he doesn't trust Austin and Whiteman rather than any issue with Spence. IMO of course but of course I could be wrong.

Appendix - Squad breakdown:

View attachment 17625
Thanks for the breakdown, without even going into this depth of thought I was of the thinking it's likely to be a mountain out of a molehill - we all knew there was an issue with the squad for Europe and it's likely a case of Ange's priorities/thoughts differing from some on here.

We shall see in the coming weeks, whether Spence continues to get some minutes or not - likely Ange will clear it up one way or another in his next press conference anyway.....
 
Thanks for the breakdown, without even going into this depth of thought I was of the thinking it's likely to be a mountain out of a molehill - we all knew there was an issue with the squad for Europe and it's likely a case of Ange's priorities/thoughts differing from some on here.

We shall see in the coming weeks, whether Spence continues to get some minutes or not - likely Ange will clear it up one way or another in his next press conference anyway.....
The issue is Ange could have manager the squad differently here
We don’t know what he is thinking though until we see lineups
I think taking Forster out would have made more sense, but I’m not the guy in charge
 
The issue is Ange could have manager the squad differently here
We don’t know what he is thinking though until we see lineups
I think taking Forster out would have made more sense, but I’m not the guy in charge

Do we ever see the same 1st choice keeper ever play in all 4 competitions though? I don't recall any examples.

Whether it is Carabao or EL, I'm guessing one of the others will deputise for Venom.
 
Do we ever see the same 1st choice keeper ever play in all 4 competitions though? I don't recall any examples.

Whether it is Carabao or EL, I'm guessing one of the others will deputise for Venom.
Hence why I’d have one of the Hgs in Europe and Vicario in the league
 
I don't think Austin did himself any favours during preseason, He was pretty poor for most of the halves he played in. I know we all think Forster isn't good enough but Ange must still rate him a lot higher than the other two and I don't blame him. Saying that, We should probably have considered replacing Forster with a more modern back up keeper this summer.
 
Honestly I genuinely don't believe there's any drama here. There is a legitimate (or explainable reason) why he's been left out. It's do with our squad composition coupled with Europa restrictions.

If we ignore the Club Trained requirement there's only 21 spots available. In the general pecking order he's not ahead of any of our 15 Overseas players, so that's 6 spots available for the rest of our 7 Association Trained players. So one person had to miss out.

So back to the Club Trained, we only have 2 (Whiteman, Austin), so we might as well pick them. It means we can only name a max squad of 23.

So what were Ange's options, technically he could leave out Forster as he has those 2 others. But he clearly doesn't trust them, hence Forster back on the bench last game last game after injury.

Another option is to leave out the least favoured, that would be Werner. But Ange 's an attacking manager, so might opt for an extra attacker over a defender.

Regarding defensive cover I think he sees VdV and Davies covering LB and Gray as RB. Seems very thin though.

Bottom line this more about how much he doesn't trust Austin and Whiteman rather than any issue with Spence. IMO of course but of course I could be wrong.

Appendix - Squad breakdown:

View attachment 17625

When you make subs it is usually attackers not defenders. So can see why werner goes in ahead of spence.
 
I don't think Austin did himself any favours during preseason, He was pretty poor for most of the halves he played in. I know we all think Forster isn't good enough but Ange must still rate him a lot higher than the other two and I don't blame him. Saying that, We should probably have considered replacing Forster with a more modern back up keeper this summer.
When I thought of gaps during the window I thought we needed a backup GK. But tbh it was pretty far down my list of priorities. I focused more outfield players and their backups.

However seeing this Europa League squad laid out in black and white somehow highlights that need more than the league squad did.

Anyway even if we had a better keeper, Spence still misses out
 
When I thought of gaps during the window I thought we needed a backup GK. But tbh it was pretty far down my list of priorities. I focused more outfield players and their backups.

However seeing this Europa League squad laid out in black and white somehow highlights that need more than the league squad did.

Anyway even if we had a better keeper, Spence still misses out
Yep, We had bigger priorities this window. There was some rumour linking us with a promising younger keeper I remember. He was only 18 though I think. I'm sure Forster will be replaced in one of the next couple of windows
 
Indeed, thats what I said - Ange's thoughts on this differ from ours, it doesn't mean Spence has gone rogue....
I doubt he has gone rouge too. But if he cannot play in Europe and he is first choice in the league his minutes will be limited. . At most we have 3 domestic cup matches between now and December.


No one can convince me that Forster is a better asset to our European squad than Spence. He is incapable of saving shots that are low down.
 
Yep, We had bigger priorities this window. There was some rumour linking us with a promising younger keeper I remember. He was only 18 though I think. I'm sure Forster will be replaced in one of the next couple of windows
I do not believe Forster is the second best keeper in our squad.
 
Back