DCFC1976

                   Wildsmith

Smith   Forsyth   Cashin   Roberts 

      Knight   White   Hourihane

   Sibley   McGoldrick   Barkuizen 

4-3-3, Sibley further forward (all of a sudden he just plays fullback) rest NML as I think he was well off it on Tuesday although he is allowed a bad game after recent good performances. Don’t think Dobbin was as bad as some make out on Tuesday but would still give him a rest. Collins might play instead of McGoldrick as 3 games in a week might be too much? 

                   Wildsmith

Rooney   Forsyth   Cashin   Roberts

      Knight   Smith   Hourihane

    NML   McGoldrick   Barkuizen 

McGee, Davies, Sibley, White, Springett, Collins, Dobbin, 

                 Wildsmith

Smith   Fozzy   Cashin   Sibley

               Knight    Bird

Barkuizen  McGoldrick  Dobbin

                      Osula

a bit of rest and rotation for me, play Osula as he’ll have good feelings from the away game against them. Collins looked a bit off it the other day and needs a rest, NML the same although he did set up the goal against Cambridge but wasn’t that great otherwise compared to his usual standards. Give Hourihane a rest and bring him on for McGoldrick on 60mins in the number 10 position?

                    Wildsmith

Rooney   Cashin   Forsyth   Roberts

                        Smith

        NML    Hourihane   Dobbin

                  Collins   Osula

Attack the best form of defence right now, 4-1-3-2

                   Wildsmith

       Chester  Cashin  Forsyth

 NML  Smith  Hourihane  Roberts

                 McGoldrick

               Osula     Dobbin

Could swap Hourihane for Bird if you prefer but they can’t play in the same team, pick on form. Bird not been great lately so I would give Hourihane a go?!

I think it’s clear we haven’t got the personnel to play 3-5-2 but Warne isn’t going to change what has worked for him in the past and you would imagine January will be important in trying to get the players he wants to play that system? In the meantime the lack of pace in the back three worries me and showed last night.
 

Could Roberts play as one? Forsyth at left wing back? And I’d like NML more central if we aren’t going to play with wingers. 

Decent player but he’d quite often get into some good positions and the final ball wasn’t always the best. Not the worst by any stretch but considering the amount of times he would get into a position to assist his final ball wouldn’t be there…. or is it just me?

35 minutes ago, DCFC1388 said:

Imo i would get rid of Knight for the right price, even more so if he doesnt renew his contract. He is jack of all trades but a master of none type of player. Has alot of energy but little end product. If he is played out wide he rarely beats his man, and if he does he tends to smash it low & hard or over hits his cross. Not good enough on the ball to play CDM, not creative enough to play CAM so unless we play a 433 so he can play his best position which is an energetic box to box midfielder I dont see where he fits in to the current formations. In a 4231 he will do a job wherever but not as well as someone who plays there regularly.

Love him as a player but the above is fair comment.

48 minutes ago, big bad ram said:

If they are allowed to leave, what would stop the other contracted players at the time doing the same?

Or does the fact that Bird, Knight, Sibley etc have stayed, trained and played mean that they have accepted the transfer to the new company and they now couldn’t realistically turn around and justify leaving?

MM loved a loophole and it looks like it has passed on to some of the players. 

I think it’s the automatic renewal the club took up on their contracts that they are contesting. Bird, Knight and Bielik etc. contracts already have a year or years left.

Can we get on with the important stuff now…. like when’s the new kit out?

9 minutes ago, dajstrawb said:

But what does it all mean Basil?

3 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

100% this. Liam is a coach primarily which is fine but he may lack a little steel. I think having Curtis as his assistant would give the management team some gravitas. Also gives continuity and makes a lot of financial sense. 

Hasn’t Davies said he wants to go into the media rather than coaching when he finishes?

I’m struggling to be positive about a potential Ashley takeover. With his wealth he could have bought us in December prior to selling all our better players and we could possibly have added to the squad to give us a better chance of staying up?! I know he buys failing businesses for the lowest price but surely the outlay (even in December) would have been minimal if we then got promoted to the Premier League and what the value of the club would have been then?

Expect Bielik to return tomorrow, I’m not going to criticise Rooney after the miracles he has performed this year but I would have thought Bielik would have been more suited to the Blackburn game than the Bournemouth one, Blackburn are the more physical team and his strength could have helped. Thought Thompson got bullied a bit on Tuesday?!

                        Allsop

       Stearman    Davies    Cashin

Byrne  Knight  Bielik  Bird   Buchanan    

                     Lawrence     
                                      CKR

Roos, Forsyth, Plagne, Morrison, Thompson, Ebosele, Ebiowei

                         Allsop

      Stearman   Davies   Cashin

 Byrne   Knight  Bielik  Bird  Buchanan

                     CKR    Plange

Roos, Forsyth, Sibley, Ebosele, Ebiowei, Thompson, Morrison

                        Allsop 

        Jagielka  Davies   Stearman

Byrne   Bird   Knight   Shinnie   Forsyth

                Lawrence   CKR

Subs  Jozwiak, Ebosele, Thompson, Plange, Roos, Morrison, Baldock

10 hours ago, atherstoneram said:

I think Forest will come back in for Buchanan with a revised offer and the administrators will accept.

Don’t think he’s due back from injury until the middle of January, could scupper a move potentially?

36 minutes ago, atherstoneram said:

I have to agree, we have seemed to play some decent football but i think that's because of the opposition we have started the season against, other teams will not be so forgiving against the mistakes we are making. That's not the fault of Rooney or the team. It will be interesting to see where we are at the end of October. Our aging back line will struggle to cope with the pace of some of the more experienced faster players.

As a club we tend to play better against the so called better teams. It’s normally the more physical / energetic teams we struggle against. When teams let us play a bit (as they believe that they will eventually win) we seem to play better. Obviously this doesn’t mean we win these games but hopefully performances will continue to be ok and we may surprise a few and win a couple?

Could that line up be 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, Brown, Stearman and Forsyth back three with McDonald and Williams as wing backs?

36 minutes ago, Steve How Hard? said:

That post seems to have been submitted by somebody called Sean Seal. Seems a bit Crazy to me, as if we're never gonna survive unless.....

???

Stand outs were Roos and Forsyth, Sibley did well when he came on. Watson isn’t a winger would like to have seen him inside to get the best out of him, he’s got a good touch and can spot a pass. 
 

Jozwiak and Byrne weren’t great although Byrne did have his hands full with their winger. Bird and Shinnie were too flat sat in front of the back four, one needed to be slightly ahead of the other as at times I thought the midfield were overrun a little bit.

Centre half’s we’re good but you do worry sometimes about the lack of pace and nearly caught out a couple of times, Buchanan will help with that when fit in the cover.

We’ve had no income for over a year, no other owner has had no matchday, season ticket and sponsors income to deal with which has compounded the errors made previously. Mel has made mistakes but I don’t see the point in lambasting the bloke until we know the full story and what the outcome is. He has always said he would only sell to someone who can take the club forward so you have to hold him to his word. One thing I would criticise him for is for not submitting the accounts ASAP which is no doubt holding up the takeover as the prospective owners would want to know of any points deduction.

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