Thierry Small

I can't remember who else.

Well, Thierry Small as well.

I mean, we didn't pay for him, but he's gone to Charlton.

No, exactly.

But it's part of the reason why Mwamba looks so good.

It's actually what you're asking him to do in many ways was... either run with the ball if they don't press because towards at some point hecking bottom changed it he brought thierry small on and went okay we're not going to try and press up we're going to try and stop that press because you're getting in behind us too often so hecking bottom went okay we're not going to do that well if that's the case then it's drama amber who's got a decent range of passing on him but isn't the most physical player in the world also you can take the point you can just pass that off right straight away if you see oh i've got all the space in the world if they do press you Just a quick pass, right? Whether you're going backwards, you're 1-0 up at this point, right? You can either go backwards, you can go forwards, you can go to your winger.

There's always an out ball.

And that, to me, is why Milner and Galli looked so much better yesterday.

like that but whilst he's here and i say this about all of the kids just give them some time that they're not going to be perfect they're developing and i say this on this podcast i feel as if every five episodes you're not going to get a gomez you're not going to get a lookman and you're not going to get a concert every single year where they come in and look even concerts sort of struggled at first right gomez didn't and lookman certainly didn't but It takes most kids time, and you're bringing them into a league that's very, very quick.

This is not League One anymore, right? This is really hard to come on for 20 minutes and play against Odinofia, right? And play against...

You've got Thierry Small on one side.

You've got Alfie Devine in midfield that's marshalling sort of in behind.

But I'm just, when I'm watching us, I'm not really seeing a certain way of playing, which to be fair, I think in previous two seasons, I have seen with Heckenbottom and I saw with Alex Neal, I'm not really sure what we're trying to do.

You know, yesterday, I know you were both there, it looked like we were sort of going down the left side a lot with Bergslag and trying to get Djokovic over the top of him, which I know was, been spoken about on various press and podcasts the other reversal going inside and Vukovic going over and then you know a few times we went to Thierry Small it wasn't really working and then the subs all back you know some of them obviously depleted we know a second striker on the pitch got Lang up front but I'm not really sure what we're trying to play for really it's just a bit iffy

and what I don't get I understand it but I understand that maybe some of the reasoning but why are we playing half of Divan as a right winger

Yeah.

Cherry Small, He's quick.

He's got no right foot, even though I said he was right-footed in the way to Jack, which I got instantly corrected for.

Nor have we had an argument between me and Oliver in debating what foot Thierry Small is.

I said left very confidently, and Oliver said right with twice as much confidence.

And if you think about our counter and our pace up front and what we offer up front, if they're giving up a lot of chances and we're able to create a lot of chances, then you've just got to think one or two of them have got to go in.

The, uh, the caveat to all of that is they've got Thierry Small and Harry Clarke, who are both guaranteed to, to net, aren't they? Which will be frustrating, assuming they're fit.

But, um, I still go into this game irrespective of everything that happened last night, expecting us to win that game.

Yeah.

I mean, we, we, we had bad results against them last season.

They beat us home and away, obviously.

Thierry Small scored in the, uh, away game.

Got picked off on the counter in, in the home game sort of quite towards the end of the season.

Tonight, David Moyes and Everton were really enjoyable to watch, him.

And I would just also like to thank, sorry, congratulate Thierry Small on his big move.

It seems to have really worked out for him.

[laughs]

Like, I do think if you're, if you're, if you are Bolton, you are saying, "Well, we were by far the better team when the get, when, when the match really matters." Um, I think we'll see Preston surely for the, uh, home game against Wolves on Saturday bring the changes in terms of personnel.

Like, I, I cannot see a world where Thierry Small shouldn't be starting games.

Arabi looks really lively.

Afiya has to be in that back line.

He referenced it himself there.

We spoke a little bit off camera about the promotion season as well, about obviously, we said it at the time, Thierry Small used to get so far forward that we did effectively play a 4-2-3-1.

But it is different for him.

And it's a back four at championship level that he'll have to adapt to.

Leroy, who's just signed for them as well.

Uh, Thierry Small, Martin Afiya.

So interesting that, that they've gone for Valentin instead of Afiya.

I'd have gone for him.