duncanjwitham

When Warne was first appointed I posted on here that, given the state of the squad at the time and the financial restrictions etc, we were basically writing off at least 2 seasons.  He was going to have to replace the majority of the squad with players that could play his way, and I didn't think it was worth doing that, given his record in the Championship etc.  A lot of people were not happy with me posting that - "Warne guarantees promotion" they told me.  Nothing I have seen in the nearly a year since then has changed my mind.

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

The thing is, if you look at any player that gets a load of assists, they aren't all going to be defence-splitting passes or inch-perfect crosses, there will be the ones that fly off their backside and drop to someone, or the miscued shots that someone gets on the end of.  If Max Bird doesn't get himself in the box and get his head on it, we probably don't score that goal.  He directly impacted the game, and that's what people have been clamouring for.

The thing is, if you look at any player that gets a load of assists, they aren't all going to be defence-splitting passes or inch-perfect crosses, there will be the ones that fly off their backside and drop to someone, or the miscued shots that someone gets on the end of.  If Max Bird doesn't get himself in the box and get his head on it, we probably don't score that goal.  He directly impacted the game, and that's what people have been clamouring for.

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

This forum: "Max Bird needs to get more assists."
Max Bird: *Gets assist in the first game of the season*.
This Forum: "Oh no, not *those* kind of assists"

I’m not even sure that’s true. Cashin spent most of the game dealing with pacy wingers running at him, and making overlapping runs to cross, none of which is remotely in his skill set.  And I’m not convinced Ward is really a wingback either, they got numerous crosses in from his side, including the one for the second goal. 

Nothing apart from assist the only goal we scored, with a header…

Nothing apart from assist the only goal we scored, with a header…

Nothing apart from assist the only goal we scored, with a header…

I’m not even sure that’s true. Cashin spent most of the game dealing with pacy wingers running at him, and making overlapping runs to cross, none of which is remotely in his skill set.  And I’m not convinced Ward is really a wingback either, they got numerous crosses in from his side, including the one for the second goal. 

For me, the issue with not replacing McGoldrick isn’t necessarily the number of goals he scored, it’s the situations he scored them in.  The other day, I skimmed through his performances from last season, and there were half a dozen or so games where we really struggled to break down teams, and then McGoldrick was the one that got the goal or assist and we won.  I think we got 13 points off the back of those contributions alone.
That’s not to discount other players contributions in those performances or anything, but I do worry that we don’t really have anyone that can do that this season.  If Collins is being marked out of the game by 2 big centre halves, they’re sitting in a low block stifling us, who in this team at the moment, is going to drag a win out of that game somehow?  I’m not sure we have many players that can do that.  And I’m not sure it’s a problem you can solve by just running around more.

As a fully paid up member of the "most opposed to Warne fans", even I think he'll have them working hard.  If anything, he's got them working too hard - too much wasted effort running around, instead of getting control of the game, keeping the ball etc.
People do seem to have a weird fixation on blaming work-rate/laziness for every deficiency in a player's game.  I've seen strikers called lazy on here for dinking a shot rather than smashing it, players called lazy for under-hitting passes etc. Like people think the players just couldn't be bothered to kick it hard enough or something, instead of it being a genuine mistake, or a choice that just didn't pay off. 

As a fully paid up member of the "most opposed to Warne fans", even I think he'll have them working hard.  If anything, he's got them working too hard - too much wasted effort running around, instead of getting control of the game, keeping the ball etc.
People do seem to have a weird fixation on blaming work-rate/laziness for every deficiency in a player's game.  I've seen strikers called lazy on here for dinking a shot rather than smashing it, players called lazy for under-hitting passes etc. Like people think the players just couldn't be bothered to kick it hard enough or something, instead of it being a genuine mistake, or a choice that just didn't pay off. 

As a fully paid up member of the "most opposed to Warne fans", even I think he'll have them working hard.  If anything, he's got them working too hard - too much wasted effort running around, instead of getting control of the game, keeping the ball etc.
People do seem to have a weird fixation on blaming work-rate/laziness for every deficiency in a player's game.  I've seen strikers called lazy on here for dinking a shot rather than smashing it, players called lazy for under-hitting passes etc. Like people think the players just couldn't be bothered to kick it hard enough or something, instead of it being a genuine mistake, or a choice that just didn't pay off. 

As a fully paid up member of the "most opposed to Warne fans", even I think he'll have them working hard.  If anything, he's got them working too hard - too much wasted effort running around, instead of getting control of the game, keeping the ball etc.
People do seem to have a weird fixation on blaming work-rate/laziness for every deficiency in a player's game.  I've seen strikers called lazy on here for dinking a shot rather than smashing it, players called lazy for under-hitting passes etc. Like people think the players just couldn't be bothered to kick it hard enough or something, instead of it being a genuine mistake, or a choice that just didn't pay off. 

As a fully paid up member of the "most opposed to Warne fans", even I think he'll have them working hard.  If anything, he's got them working too hard - too much wasted effort running around, instead of getting control of the game, keeping the ball etc.
People do seem to have a weird fixation on blaming work-rate/laziness for every deficiency in a player's game.  I've seen strikers called lazy on here for dinking a shot rather than smashing it, players called lazy for under-hitting passes etc. Like people think the players just couldn't be bothered to kick it hard enough or something, instead of it being a genuine mistake, or a choice that just didn't pay off. 

That's my biggest concern. I don't really think any of the midfielders we have can really do what Warne wants them doing, they just aren't fit enough or mobile enough.  There were multiple instances last Saturday where they all bombed forward, we lost possession and then they were basically breaking 3-on-3 against our backline, because we couldn't chase back quickly enough.

That's 100% what I'm expecting to see, although I think you're being a bit ambitious with step 5.

That's 100% what I'm expecting to see, although I think you're being a bit ambitious with step 5.