Gray To Palace?

A) His name is Julian Gray not Julien as in a girl. B) Palace will be rivaling us for promotion why in god's name would we give them a decent player on loan??? C) Your right about Julian not warming the bench he's going to be in the first eleven. D) It was CHARLTON ATHLETIC who were interested in him not Palace FFS.

If he's going to struggle to get on the bench then you might as well get rid. Pity, as he has displayed some quality in a Birmingham shirt.

I agree it would be good for him to be given a run, especially as this season in many ways is a fresh start to see if he can become the player we all thought he would be. But baring injuries or a suspension it seems everyone but Gray is in consideration for the left hand side and regardless of what he could do he hasn't been doing it when he was in the team, so is it better to cut our losses, loan/sell him on and make sure we don't have another unhappy player in the dressing room. I think a loan all round would be a good idea to be honest. Get him playing regularly again, get his confidence up and if he doesn't come back better for it then who's lost out of the deal.

Unless I've missed something though he hasn't even been on the bench so far this season, at least that's what my memory is telling me. As you say though we have no natural balance in terms of width, we seem to be set up to punch through the middle of sides in many ways and if that's actually what Bruce is gunning for then there are better ways to utilise the players we have to make that truly effective. I think I'd still let him go, but not a permanent deal till January - have him available for recall at any point should he be needed. I just think with how things have gone getting him playing first team football would yield better results for us in the long term than leaving him in the reserves. That said it could all change if Bruce decides to loan himself a natural right winger again and we do play with more width - that's when you would expect Gray to a get run out. Shame in many ways we couldn't directly replace Pennant and get some true balance in there again.

I always thought McSheffrey played central anyway, surprised to see him occupying a more wide area from what I've seen. Thought he would be used a target man to allow the pace of others to run around him. Johnson is definitely suffering, but I think everyone knows that. Keep forgetting about Gray as left back, although I don't think that's his best position when he is on form. Maybe it would be far easier to go with a more diamond shaped midfield or a direct 3 upfront and really try and punch through. We have the pace and the strength and with Dunn's creativity to ping little balls in and over it might yield more positive results and give Gold the thumpings he wants.

What ever gave you the impression I was a journo - I just like rambling! Don't know why (but then again I know nothing of Coventry really) always thought he was a typical centre forward/striker not a wide player. Must have read striker and assumed he just played through the middle - hence I thought he was being brought in to free up the more pacey of our forwards. Agree with that on Bruce, too many players seem to have a habit of not being played in their best positions and then everyone is surprised when their performances aren't top notch. I do think a diamond shape, or straight 3 upfront would suit the players we have and then we wouldn't have to worry about being unbalanced on the wings. It's still early days though, I think the players are taking a little longer to settle with the more physical aspects of the Champ again (especially after Cardiff) and I do think Bruce is tinkering when really this should have been sorted out in preseason. Shouldn't argue too much at the moment though, decent place in the league and only one defeat and we've yet to see our strikers and forward play really gell together. Just a shame Cardiff cocked it up and we are still at the point where we are debating the usefulness of some players.

I think we can definitely out play and out score almost all the teams in the league - it's just the gritty battle games where out flair is stiffled and teams close us down quickly we will struggle. Once we find a way round that and start kicking as hard as everyone else we will be fine. Cardiff was a good sign of things to come, the new players already know this, those left from the Prem days are probably still expecting a little more time than they are getting on their ball so they just need to be sharper really. Agree with the selections, and think it would be further improved with Bentner and Larsson starting from the bench to provide a change in the second half. In the Jan window I would look to add somebody in the mould of Savage to be honest as a priority - still think we look weak in terms of backbone and a midfield general.