Town in Devon

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I like Osborne but he does drift out of games - can't help but feel that he's not quite as good as Mr Bignot made him out to be.

As opposed to Berret and Summerfield who exert control throughout the majority of our games? I struggle to see how we can do better at this level.

Quoted from penrith mariner

Just back from tonight's game. Jamie Osborne has shin splints again. Spoke to him as he limped off at full time.

Bloody hell Tavistock to Penrith 370 miles , you must have got a move on ,or have you got your own private jet ?.

You need to check your map, it's actually 385 miles. We left 5 minutes early to avoid the traffic that may explain why we got back so quick

How did the trialists do last night?

I'm not sure that the comparison between Osborne and Berrett is the right one. The quick-breaking, mesmerising, dribbling game is the style Osborne more closely shares with Dembele IMO. Berrett seems to me more of a 'tick-over' midfielder, certainly mis-placed on the left wing, where we now have Kelly.
However, it's a great shame if Jamey has a recurrence of his shin splints-that will certainly restrict him. It will not have helped playing so many minutes already in pre-season on bone-hard surfaces.

Where has this come from with Osbourne leaving?

Is it just bored folk making up rumours?

It's quite clear to me that the standout players we have are Sam Jones, Jamey Osborne and this Dembele fella (I've not seen him yet, just going off reports).  Berrett may well prove he's got a part to play this season (although I'm very dubious about this), but Osborne having no part to play, to me, is completely unthinkable.  He's the sort of player we've been crying out for, for years.  Pure class.  Look at that ridiculous goal he scored the other week at Bradley; there's only a small percentage of players that can achieve that even without a goalkeeper to beat.  Take him out of the team, and we lose a lot of guile.

OK, so it sounds like he has shin splints, but if he is not quite 100% fit he still needs to play, or at least start each game.  I'd rather get 60 minutes out of Osborne than 90 minutes out of any of the others.

As I see it, Summerfield and Berrett are just getting in Harry Clifton's way of progressing.  It's hard to clear them out because of Hurst being an idiot with contracts (remember, the York fans couldn't believe he'd done it....), but if they must stay then they should only be used IF they're better than the others.

I like the sound of Mitch Rose, Osborne I'm clearly a fan of, and I like Clements too (at least as a good backup, sometimes a starter).  McAllister looked good when he eventually played at the end of last season (was it against Plymouth?), but he's clearly got major fitness issues.  I've not seen much of him, but Clifton would be the next one for me knocking on the door.  Berrett as a starter?  Never.  If he proves me wrong I'll be really happy and eat humble pie, but this whole thing concerns me at this stage.

I'm not anti Berrett and think he's probably one of those players that managers appreciate more than fans. I just want whats best for the team and we can female dog and moan all we like, but Slade will pick the players he thinks have the best chance of success. I really like Osborne, he's a throwback to players of the past when it wasn't all about strength and fitness. He looks to be a bit of a maverick and is exciting to watch but football now is a different game. I just get the feeling he's not a Slade type of player, but i could be way off beam here.

I don't think it's a toss up between Berrett and Osborne for a starting place but there are only 3 or 4 places up for grabs depending on formation used. Slade and Wilko are paid to make those decisions but we'll just have to wait and see i suppose.

Quoted from monkeyboy

Where has this come from with Osbourne leaving?

Is it just bored folk making up rumours?

It's the Fishy way,  

FFS Osborne has played just as much pre season football as the rest - how has anyone decided he's out of favour? Classic Fishy

And also, McAllister is injured, Clifton is injured, Clements is injured or on compassionate leave. So we're probably going to play Berrett or Summerfield, it's not the end of the world.