Ghost of Clough

Post-Covid, 69 points was good enough for 9th-12th.

In the years leading up to Covid, 69 could finish anywhere from 6th to 10th.

This season, you're around 9th with 69 points. 4 more wins to guarantee top 6 I reckon. 7 wins will be the minimum for top 2.

Joint 3rd top goal scorer across all competitions now. 

55 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Is that his first of the loan spell? Good on him either way 

Yep. To be fair, he's only had 115 mins in the league since joining them. Almost scored 5 mins after being brought on too.

6 minutes ago, Crewton said:

A great win for the youngsters, but before anyone gets too carried away on the back of it, this was a comment on the Red Cafe forum when their team was announced:

It seems they may have been prioritising their U18 game tonight.

 

5 of their starting 11 are in their most used 11, including 3 of their back 4.

15 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Were there any of the young lads in the Manu team who were sold to them by Mel a couple of seasons ago?

Only a young lad called Tom Huddlestone

5 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Another 20 quid on the compo fee before he's another supposed graduate of the Liverpool academy having been their six months

This time next year he should be getting some first team involvement with a view to a couple of short term loans the following season

A good win against the top scoring side in the country. Our 2nd win in 3 games means we climb another 2 places in the table.

Osong went down for 2 mins after attempting to tackle. Hopefully just a jarred knee or similar.

Oguntolu comes on for him.

A very good 85 minutes from Allen. McAndrew comes on for him at AM, with Fapetu moving to RW

4-2. Winger's effort deflected in off Bartley and wrong footed JThompson

Bardell involved in a strong challenge as soon as the 2nd half started, which resulted in him coming off. Only a head/neck injury so won't be out for long.

DRobinson moved to RB with Hawkins on at CM.

Osong now on for Moloney who had a quiet 65 minutes.

JThompson

Bardell   Bartley   KRobinson   Gill

DRobinson   Fornah

Allen   Fapetu   Moloney

Weston

Weston with 2, Allen and fapetu with the others. Bardell, Weston and Fapetu have assists

2 minutes ago, DCFC_Sloth said:

I really liked the theory that was laid out in the final couple of years of Mel’s tenure (frightening sentence, I know). The idea that over half the first team would be made up of academy players, with high quality loans to cover shorter term gaps and good signings brought in to cover areas where there were no players coming through. I thought this was quite a good model in the modern day. It would attract youngsters with high ceilings to the club as their was a clear path to the first team, build confidence with other clubs to lend us their best talent, and allow us to spend decent money on players as academy players would be pure profit. It seemed to align academy with first team and present a good vision for a modern sustainable football club. 
 

I think we were maybe a couple of seasons from seeing it come to fruition too. We were looking at having a team/squad with the potential of having Knight, Bird, Sibley, Thompson, Delap, Gordon, Kellyman, Cashin, Ebosele, Buchanan, Whitaker, Plange, and Williams all drawn from our own academy in it. We all know why it never happened, and the initial idea behind it may have been pushed by outside factors, but looking at the idea on paper it showed a club well aligned in philosophy, both in development and recruitment.

At the moment I don’t really know what the plan is. Academy players don’t seem to be anywhere near it. That might be due to the club being gutted and them not being to the standard but they never seem to be given a chance. The recruitment seems to be focused on older players, but they don’t appear to fit a system. Cocu spoke about having all teams playing the same way so younger players can step up, which seems really sensible, but currently our first team doesn’t seem to have a consistent way of playing let alone something aligned through the age groups. I think we could do with really setting out a clear goal and a philosophy and working towards it. It would really allow supporters to buy into the vision and direction. Build trust and patience. And, as I think supporters often back their academy graduates the most, really build a unity between team and fans. 

Philosophy adaptation is discussed from 5 minutes onwards:
https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2023/08/academy-catch-up-matt-hale

As well as speaking about wanting a high intensity press starting with the forwards, here are a couple of quotes from Warne on how he like his teams to play:
- "Our dream scenario is to get the ball wide and get crosses into the box"
- "They won’t tire you out because [they] are not as fit as you."

4 minutes ago, FindernRam said:

I'm not sure how good these stats actually are particularly xG

One game I sat next to a guy who spent the match clicking his laptop. Half time he told me he was supplying stats to a company that sold it to bookies (and others..Google maybe?).

Given that for a lot of the time he was head down not watching the match and several times I saw him mis-identify a Derby player. Who knows how he decided it was a shot not a pass or if it was a chance; or any other of the multitude of Stats we are drowned in these days!

Only one stat is unarguable: Goals, and as the great man said "There's no such thing as a bad goal (if you score it)"

The point is goals aren't a measure of chances being created

20 hours ago, Mick Brolly said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-68439547

I remember when some Forest fans said our £1.1m rent was too low. They tend to think their stadium is better than ours too.
But, £1m is too much for them and £250k is fair?

4 minutes ago, Crewton said:

So a loss of over 40% of turnover?

That's right

9 minutes ago, ck- said:

And yet we’re joint second highest scorers in the division ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I don’t disagree that a lot of the football is industrial, but by that metric (add indeed goals conceded) it is effective.  

Whether other styles would be more effective is, of course, a fair debate. 

Goals scored doesn't equate to chance creation though.

Shots
Shots per game: 12th
xG (quality of chances created): 5th
6 yard box shots: 4th 
Penalty area shots: 6th
Open play shots: 10th

Key Passes
Total key passes: 6th
Open play key passes: 7th
 

At least we lead the charts for chances created from crosses and corners.

Barnsley - £4m loss last season with a wage bill of £9.3m (97% of revenue). They finished 10 points higher than us.

4 minutes ago, angieram said:

There won't be a supporter on the DCFC Board,  there will be an independent supporters' board, who will meet regularly with the DCFC Board to ask such questions. I think a lot of people misunderstand this, so happy to clarify. 

The Supporters' Groups, as part of the Supporters Charter Group, meet mainly with staff, although I understand David Clowes often attends those meetings as well. 

Once the Independent Regulator is in place, this Supporters' Board will have an independent route to the regulator if there is a major concern. 

Wrong. Clowes is a supporter and will be on the DCFC Board 😉 

I'm sure many have chosen not to read the infomation provided by the club, but the headlines are:

• The initial view is to meet quarterly with the DCFC Board but I imagine the regularity could be adjusted in the future.
• The SB will have the power to veto against key changes - colours, badge, stadium, league, etc...
• They will mainly discuss accounts, diversity, sponsorship values, and corporate values.

1 minute ago, Waghorny said:

Box ticking exercise, sort the actual board out first and then worry about this.

At the moment, the 'actual' board is made up of Stephen Pearce, and David Clowes - get someone with the footballing knowledge on it, please....

Is it not possible to do both concurrently?

On 24/02/2024 at 13:53, Ilsonram12 said:

Rated at £6mill on transfermarket, has no goals or assists despite playing 24 games....

Their entire team has only scored 24 goals this season, and only got 2 goals in total from their other wing backs. He's also still only 21 and would be classed as a homegrown player in England. This is how he compares with all other wing backs in Serie A:

15 minutes ago, We'll be back in 81 said:

Aren't the EFL ruled by one of the top six board members p**** Parry. What a surprise if the EFL agree to the deal.

6 years as PL CEO, taking the role to ensure the PL seperated from the Football League, dollowed by 12 years as Liverpool CEO until 2009.

17 minutes ago, angieram said:

Read this. 

In exchange for the cash, the EPL want to limit spending of EFL Clubs.

 

Bear in mind the EFL allow recently relegated clubs to spend 75% of revenue on wages whilst all others are limited to 60% in League 1. It's perhaps a bit hypocritcal of them to be against it at a different level of the pyramid.

There should be more control over what parachute payment can be spent on though - such as just the legacy contracts prior to relegation, which is what they were introduced for

5 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

The Prem and The EFL are meeting to agree the handouts for the coming 6years . The Prem are offering £900 million . In return they want rule changes to help the Big Top Six. Looks like we could get stitched up as the EFL clubs are desperate for cash . £150 mill a year will seem like peanuts in 6 years time .

What is the £150m a year for? EFL clubs currently get somewhere between £230m (21/22) and £370m (18/19) heavily weighed in favour of the parachute clubs