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Jourdan

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Everything posted by Jourdan

  1. The performances will improve, but then they will dip and then they will ramp up again. This is League 1 football and a League 1 team. Consistency of performance is not really compatible with where we are and what we’ve got. People carry on like the teams around us - Bolton, Portsmouth and Peterborough - play sparkling football game after game. They will have ups and downs too. I do think a lot of people haven’t detached their expectations from where we were in the Championship. People idealise the type of football we saw in 2013-2015, but this was a team that took five years to build. We are only in year two of the Clowes era and people are showing the patience of a nursery child learning French.
  2. I always thought: the more games you win, the more chance you have of promotion? At the moment, we have won 11, drawn two and lost three since the end of October. We won 6 of our first 13 games. By that metric, we are getting better?
  3. Sometimes you have to credit the opposition. I had this on while wedding prepping. Maidstone put in an heroic effort and reminded people why the FA Cup is such an incredible competition. If I was an Ipswich fan, I would simply be applauding Maidstone. Ipswich played well, threw everything at Maidstone, but those players played the game of their lives.
  4. You’ve had a downer on this manager ever since he walked through the door. That’s why it’s been hard work for you. Even through good spells of results and good performances, the praise is not exactly forthcoming or through gritted teeth. I’ve watched a good number of games over recent weeks, even travelling all the way from Cornwall to watch us v Lincoln, and all this criticism seems way overblown in the circumstances.
  5. Even home bankers require more than just turning up and expecting to win. Everyone - Warne, players, fans, ball boys, boot cleaners, catering staff - will know that we need to improve but in the circumstances, it is better to grind out a win and have three points on the board. 8-9 players, including three starters, are missing and this is and will continue to put a strain on us. Cashin, Nelson, Bird, Hourihane, NML and Collins are having to play each and every game at a time when they might need a breather. Several players are having to play out of position. Is it really any wonder that performances are not quite up to standard?
  6. I didn’t watch today as I was busy with wedding preparations, but seen enough of this season to know that there will be hyperbole and the bad will be super-imposed and over-egged.
  7. When has being a Derby fan been anything other than hard work? For me, living in Cornwall makes it difficult to go every week but if I was able to go and watch every week, I don’t think that would change my perspective. Football is a results driven sport. Performances are secondary and don’t always count for a whole lot. Look at our sides in 04-05 and 13-14. They had some great performances and played some fantastic football but ultimately fell short when it mattered. We can’t really afford to have that glorious failure this season. I think the team has shown character in recent weeks and months - v Oxford, v Burton, v Cheltenham, v Fleetwood - to bounce back from setbacks and bounce back from poor results, which shows that perhaps we might have more about us this year when it comes to the crunch. Perhaps we won’t capitulate as greatly as we did last season. I also think that some people expect too much from a group of players that are of League 1 quality. How many teams go up from this league playing wonderful football week in, week out? More often than not, it’s a grind.
  8. We could play well and still miss out on automatic promotion. We could play well and still come unstuck in the play offs. In reality, in the next 17 games, there will be some good performances, some bad performances, and some ugly performances. It’s the nature of a League 1 team with almost exclusively League 1 quality players. We are at a point in the season where results and results alone are decisive. We all know performances can be improved but this is not artistic gymnastics or figure skating, you don’t win prizes for style. Look back at last season and a similar time of the season, how many games did we play well for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes or more but still couldn’t get the desired result? Too many games to list!
  9. It was tongue-in-cheek. I am a fully-fledged constable in the performance police from time to time too. I just think that given we are missing three definite starters for various reasons and another five or six through injury who would allow good rotation and squad management, perhaps Warne and the players can be cut some slack. 11 wins from 15 is hardly a disgrace.
  10. Personally I am thrilled. That was a much needed win and we showed character to claw ourselves back into the game. In years gone by, we would have lost that game in a typical Derby fashion. Of course the performance police will be gutted, but we have had games where we have played well and not got the desired result. Sometimes you have to take what you can get. Given the injuries are mounting up, the squad is looking stretched and we have little flexibility and movement in the transfer window, all that matters at the moment is getting results and keeping ourselves in the hunt. People forget that once you are into January and beyond, every game carries jeopardy and sometimes it’s more about showing guts, determination and grit and getting something out of the game than having a picture perfect performance. People would be complaining about a lack of character if we were playing well and not getting results. Warne and the players, as frustrating as they can be, cannot really win at the moment. It sounds like Cheltenham made it very difficult for us and deserve credit, which many people suggested they would by highlighting their turnaround under Clarke, so I can’t understand the outrage. We got a good result from a very awkward fixture and if nothing else, it consolidates our place in the top six and keeps us in striking distance of the top two. Maybe it’s just me but I’ll be enjoying my Saturday evening.
  11. Thanks for the updates as always, @Foreveram
  12. Derby 3-1 Cheltenham Blackett Taylor
  13. How can you class what are mainly free or nominal transfers as big-money signings when we are not privy to the wages, bonuses, or the agents fees being paid? Yes, good players can come in and make an immediate impact. However many players need six months to a year before they find their feet, understand their role, settle and start to perform. Many good players tend to look improved in their second year with a team, learning from the previous year. The overall picture is only poor if your mind is made up. Keep an open mind and maybe some of these poor signings will surprise you.
  14. It’s not about making excuses. The reality is that not every signing works right away. Some need more time, some need more patience, some need a run of games and some are a project and just need good man management and nurturing. Given finances are tight, can we really afford to consign players to the list of failures already? Even the very best coaches with the very best set ups off the pitch can make mistakes in the transfer market. Look at Guardiola and his search for a keeper a while back. Difference is that we can’t really afford to be so ruthless with our management and turnover of players.
  15. You say his signings don’t fill you with confidence but how many managers get all of their signings right? I see some good signs with hopefully more to come from some of the players. Players sign two or three year contracts for a reason. Nyambe and Nelson have been very reliable. Wilson is a very exciting prospect. Washington and Waghorn contributed solidly before getting injured. Blackett Taylor could be a revelation. The likes of Ward, Fornah, Elder and Bradley haven’t established themselves in the team yet but in reality they have been competing to displace some of our most trusted players (Bird, Hourihane, Smith, Mendez Laing, Cashin and Forsyth) but when you look at contracts, you can see there are going to be changes over the summer, and there will be an opportunity for them take on greater importance and seize the moment.
  16. I think the problem is that our fans expect players to come in and perform straight away. Players are rarely signed on three-month contracts, yet they probably should be because that is the grace period players get before being written off and deemed poor recruitment or a failure. Just because Ward, Bradley, Washington and others haven’t yet met expectations, it doesn’t mean that they can’t come to the fore in their second or third seasons with the club. It always reminds me of Vydra. He really struggled in his first season but then was our best and most valuable player the following season.
  17. Absolutely not. We are a top six side with a fighting chance of automatic promotion. While that is still possible, we should get behind the manager and the team. We always knew we would probably have to finish above at least two of Bolton, Barnsley and Peterborough to get promoted this season and as the season has progressed, that is still the measure and still the challenge. However it was never going to be easy or straightforward. Teams rarely stand still. Bolton look solid and efficient as ever. Peterborough are arguably better than last season. Barnsley are starting to collect themselves again as they did in the second half of last season. Add Portsmouth and Oxford who were the fast starters and are still in the mix and that adds another layer of difficulty. I think we have seen some good and some bad when it comes to Warne and the team. Games where it clicks and we look good and games where it doesn’t. We have seen a mixture of each within one half and within one game too. This is typical of all teams at this level, no matter the style of play or the philosophy. Peterborough - arguably the best footballing side in the league - have dropped points in 11 games, only one fewer than us. If they win their game in hand, they will have won one more than us, only one greater than us. So as much as people want to talk about style and talk down the manager and his supposed lack of tactics and suggest his philosophy is uncultured and unrefined, there is nothing to say a different manager with a different philosophy would be far more effective.
  18. Injuries and diminishing availability of players is leading to a wobble. At one point we had won 8 games in 9, right now it’s 10 wins in 14? It’s impossible to keep up that success rate and play with the same energy, composure and intensity again and again. Take the first choice goalkeeper, left back and right back out of any side and it is telling. Having to rely on six players without any rotation or respite is making a difference. Forsyth, Smith, Waghorn, Washington and now John Jules are all injured and Nyambe is unavailable and that is a factor. Some players - young and old - can’t be trusted to start and that is a factor too. We were bound to slow down at some point. We just have to bounce back quickly.
  19. We have no other choice at the moment. The squad is becoming stretched. Nyambe is away. Smith is injured. Ward can’t comfortably defend. Nelson is needed at centre back. Wilson is, like you say, much better further forward where he has the freedom to express himself and his positive intent can lift the team. When Nyambe returns, we’ll look more balanced.
  20. This is a fair point, but how much of that is down to tactics and fluidity of position and how much of that is down to injuries, readiness, and availability? For me, it’s the latter. I think when the squad is stretched, this is when we start to lose sense tactically and take too many risks. Nyambe and Forsyth would improve the defence if they were available. Wildsmith too if he was reinstated. There’s no-one viable to come in and displace Bird and Hourihane, so we take the rough and the smooth. Then of course you have Collins who is shouldering the burden of the attack because Waghorn, Washington and John Jules are long term injured.
  21. Some players decline physically faster than others. If he was still anywhere close to the same player, he’d be playing in the Championship, not with us. We do need more athleticism in midfield but not in the complete absence of quality, so it’s difficult. I think shopping in the market we are currently, we might find a player who adds some pace, power and athleticism to the midfield but then could possibly create problems of his own. It’s a very difficult balancing act.
  22. We can compete on a technical level, but not on a physical level. With Bird and Hourihane, they are a dream for an opposing midfield that is athletic and can cover ground, press, crowd the ball, force mistakes, win aerial battles and win second balls. I don’t think Warne wants to bypass midfield. It’s obviously an area that is costly and difficult to improve and one where he is hoping it’s a case of damage limitation. He obviously wants them to move the ball quickly not because he is control averse but because it’s an area for the opposition to exploit. A loss of possession in the middle of the pitch can lead to a quick counter attack and a chance to score.
  23. Hourihane was excellent for Barnsley and everything went through him but this was seven years ago, even further back if you are thinking about his standout years in League 1. He was in his mid-20s when he left. You are a completely different player physically at that age compared when you are approaching your mid-30s. At Villa, he was part of a really high quality midfield playing in a three with McGinn who plays with aggression and covers a lot of ground and Grealish who can draw defenders and create space for a player like Hourihane to operate in. I just don’t think he can do what he did before with the same frequency in this current set up.
  24. Indeed. Elder had some nice moments - good blocks, good link up and overlapping runs - but couldn’t live with Azeez and their other players’ pace and movement.
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