Ghost of Clough

49 minutes ago, Archied said:

How many players on the wage bill that warne hasn’t brought in and probably on big wage for our level ? Let’s be honest they are often the players the over the top brigade keep screaming should be dropped as they are no good , past it , not putting any effort in 

How many of Warne's 12 signings from this season (not including Embleton) are starters in a fully fit squad? Only Nyambe, Nelson and Blackett-Taylor? Maybe Wilson too depending on formation. Only Neson and Wilson have played in more than 50% of the total minutes this league season. The only other signing to be on the pitch more than Sibley is Nyambe.

Maybe if Warne spent what he did more wisely, he would have improved our starting 11 more than we have. How much are we paying Washington, Waghorn and John-Jules? Collectively, they've been on the pitch 400 mins less than our 8th most used player. Wages wasted on Embleton who only featured for 52 minutes. High end wages for the likes of Bradey and Wardcand barely playing.

14 minutes ago, LazloW said:

Funny, you get a load of posts on various threads criticising Warne for not playing academy players and then when people in the know are asked who’s good enough, the answer that we have a few who might be good enough for Non-league, maybe league two or bottom of league one.  

I bow to the knowledge of people who see the Academy but doesn’t necessarily sound like there’s a lot coming through who are good enough (assuming of course people consider our 1st team players to be good enough for too if league 1!).  Obviously chucking some of these kids in might be the making of them and we’ll never know if we don’t try them, but I guess Warne is less able to take risks - particularly now we’re in a stone’s throw of automatics (and - as per - making a bit of a pigs ear about it).  

Is the bigger question why we don’t seem to have the kids coming through at the moment, or is the obvious answer administration and bigger clubs coming in a nicking all the talent. 

There's a difference between 10-20 minutes at the end of games or 1/2 starts over a season versus starting every week.
The likes of John O'Shea and Wes Brown were good squad players for Man Utd, but were only good enough to be regular starters in a side battling relegation.
Fabio Carvalho was playing infrequently for Liverpool last season, now he's on loan at Hull to play regularly. Freddie Ladapo from Ipswich to Charlton...Springett from Norwich to Northampton... the list goes on...

Other Cat 1 teams like Reading are using players in their first team who I wouldn't even put in our U21 side. If I were manager, I absolutely would have used Brown and Robinson a lot more than they have been. Weston would have had a few appearances following on from his good form in the U21s and brief appearance in the first team 9when he grabbed a goal and an assist). I would have given Cox a few outings at the end of games as a LCB in a back 3 - he's much better suited to that role than Cashin who would be better in the middle of a back 3 than on the left. However, I wouldn't expect them to be starting a run of games unless their perfomances when given a shot meritted it.

The U21 squad is deplated due to a couple of bad years in terms of scholar year groups passing through and not making the grade as well as 4 players who would have been good enough being snapped up by PL clubs. The U18s have stepped up early to fill that void. We also had to recruit lower potential players to help boost the numbers - Ridd, Oduroh, Bartley, Jeffcott, Radcliffe, Lindsay, Gibson-Hammond, Nto, Nunn, Weston, Oseni...

In terms of 1st year scholarship groups following on from Cashin, Sibley, etc in 2018, there is only Delap and Bardell who are at our club or a higher level from 2019, Gordon and Williams from 2020. This 2020 groups would ordinarliy be our senior players in the U21 squad now, however the rest of them have been released. From the 2021 group, Ryan moved to Brighton, Eze to Norwich, Ebiowei to Palace, whilst 4 others were released at the end of their scholarships (after 2nd year at U18 level). This is a big reason behind fewer U21 players being ready to step up than we would have liked.

In summary, there are a lot of youngsters coming through, but it's a bit soon for most of them. A few of them are ready for infrequent game time in our first team, but Warne doesn't like taking risks. If they aren't getting game time here, then loans out to clubs where they will play regularly is important.

2 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

Did our recruitment dept know about Hugill at Man Utd ? How did Burton know about him . Some on here said he’s not good enough for us 🤷🏻‍♂️ Time will tell.

Hugill only has 1 more goal that Brown in PL2 this season. He also plays in a side which are the 2nd top scorers in the country, having scored twice as manay as our U21 side. If we're at the point where we think Hugill is a good signing for us, then why haven't we given Brown a serious run in the first team beforehand?

4 minutes ago, MadAmster said:

A few weeks back when we were however may games unbeaten, we weren't suddenly Barcelona and now, after just 7 points from 5 games we have still only lost 2 of 14 so we aren't going to do a Forest Green either.

Why do Derby fans seem incapable of a sense of relativity? Unable to put context into a situation. A loss sees so many in a dark and dismal place, a win has them creaming themselves. Extremes, it would seem, as with just about everything in modern day life. 

I think only 1 win in 4 is a factor - we didn't score a single goal in the other 3. In that one game we did win, we needed a 93rd minute goal to take all 3 points. This was against a team in L2, a team in the releation zone, a team who were only 2 points clear of the releagation zone, and a team who had gone 8 games without a win.

35 minutes ago, Archied said:

I’ve kept an eye on hull purely because I quite like rosenior as a bloke but he’s flirting with in and out the top 6 with a very decent squad and the times I’ve watched them I’m not overly in a rush to watch his brand of football either , against Sunderland they nicked a very very much needed win in a not too impressive style / performance of the kind people slate warne for getting, like us he has had some injuries and like us he has depended on a few decent quality players creating some magic ala cavalio,

no matter how warne turns out I’m not looking at rosenior with rose tinted glassed, he has a bit to prove he’s anything like the top rated tactical master and manager some on here are claiming

People keep stating they have a good squad and a good budget, but they won't even have a top 10 budget this season. For reference, only 2 years ago (in the Championship) their wages were under £13m... a figure no too dissimilar to our wage bill in this league. Whilst their wage bill since then would have shot up it would still be a modest wage bill compared withthe rest of the division. Their transfer expenditure is also on the back of selling Lewis-Potter for £16m last season.

4 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Didn't Robinson play at Burton last season? But anyway there wasn't much physicality on show last night either.

Warne has opted to only use Robinson in the EFL Trophy.
Last season he got 45 minutes against Mansifeld - coming on as a half-time sub at 1-1, withthe game finishing 1-1
This season, he got a full 90, but only against Wolves U21s. He's been fit for most of the season and has been an unused sub in 9 games, including games where we won 2-0 (we only used 3 out of 5 subs) and 3-0 (we only used 3 out of 5 subs)

3 minutes ago, Crewton said:

It's pure conjecture though, regardless of their respective records. The question is - is it worth gambling when we're 3 points off the top?

It's definitely too soon to smash the panic buttons. However, the way Warne sets the team up means we struggle when we're lacking squad depth - we saw it at the start of this season, we had it when we didn't rotate the squad as much as Warne would have liked last season, and we're seeing it now (6-8 players had been unavialble). It doesn't help that a significant number of signigns are injury prone or have a recent history of not playing much. 

Warne needs to trust the players on the fringes of his squad more (we said the same last season). There's no reason for players such as Ward to have just 30 minutes of football over a 4 week period when he's fully fit and other players are starting to struggle with fatigue a little bit. The use of players such as DBrown and DRobinson at the end of games needs to happen more frequently in periods when we do have a mini injury crisis as it helps keep the senior player fresher. More games for Brown earlier in the season would have meant he'd now feel comfortable playing more of a part now when we only have 1 fit forward. Instead we'll now have to rely on Collins playing full 90s or move Mendez-laing upfront and weaken ourselves on the wings.

On 21/01/2024 at 10:06, Ram-Alf said:

£16,250...that's how much, I'm single and mortgage free and 68 in 3 months time, I don't owe anyone anything, I refuse to have credit and don't own a credit card, I pay everything on my debit card or cash, I live in a 2 bed semi bungalow, I sold my car recently(free bus pass)still shop in the whoops isle at times...not because I can't afford the other things but because I get a deal, I go out on the lash once a week, I can holiday anywhere in the world I choose as I can afford too, But I choose to stay in the UK.

I wake up every Morning with a smile on my face and it's nowt to do with my genitalia, Life is great, Yes money plays a huge part in my life as I've earned it through hard work and investments, I've had nowt...back in the early 80s when millions had nowt life was tough, I've walked miles to get free food parcels(Thanks David Bookbinder)to feed our family...there's more...but I can see posters getting teared up 😉

I wish you well in your endeavours to chase the end of the rainbow, but be careful as life is what you make it and money can fcuk with your mind if that's all you're focussed on.  

Excluding our mortgage, our household expenditure is roughly £28k per year (2 adults, 2 toddlers). About £4k of that is the cost of having a single car and another £3k for childcare (I know some people who are spending in excess of £10k on childcare)

Just now, Dcfcsr92 said:

I feel warne knows if we go up we will struggle, we are not good enough for the championship how many times has warne said himself that we wasnt our best? Thats why everytime we get close we drop off again. I agree reading are a very good side i said before the game it would be tough but i didnt think we would be as poor as we were, after the weekend i didnt think we could get worse but we did

I think everyone at the club knows this squad would struggle in the Championship. In fact, I there isn't a L1 squad which wouldn't. Any side getting promotion this season will make at least 7 signings in the summer, as is always the case for promoted sides.

3 minutes ago, Crewton said:

Ah, so it's style you want, not results?

You don't get points for style. It's great of you can achieve both, but I very much care about how many points we are off the top, because that will dictate which division we're playing in next season, and I'd prefer it to be the Championship. As it stands, Warne has a better chance of taking us there than a new manager with no chance to bring in "his" players and no chance of a honeymoon period. Sacking a manager when you're in the play-off positions doesn't have a great history of success AFAICR.

I think even Phill Brown would struggle to not finish top 2 with this squad. Someone like Warnock would jump at the chance of managing us thhrough to the end of the season, and it's easy to see him gettting a lot more out of us than we've seen

7 minutes ago, MACKWORTHRAM said:

Sorry mate but that's absolutely ridiculous. You can blame Warne for certain things but players not being able to play simple passes is not on him.

Hourihane last night had two where all he needs to do is slip Wilson in down the right and he's in acres and passed both out of play. 

Players have to take a certain amount of responsibility also. The quality of balls in and the final third were atrocious, so was the decision making.

I didn't intend to imply it's all down to Warne. Mereley, a focus on situational passing in training and working on when to make the runs and when not to will improve the success of our passing during matches. If training wasn't a factor, then why do teams bother doing it? The best passing teams in the world rehearse how they're going to pass it from back to front, so much so they can almost do it blind-folded during games. It's no different at our level - the more practice put towards something, generally the better you are at it...

DRobinson's the only player who I think is ready for regular football at this level (lower end L1 level). I would trust his ability to play (and start) the odd game for us at this end of the table. He isn't yet ready for several starts. However, infrequent appearances throughtout the rest of the season would be enough to earn him a loan move for next season. He needs to improve his end product, but otherwise he's another safe and reliable player on the ball.

DBrown is next in the pecking order. He too would be good enough for seeing games out and the rare start. His level (in my opinion) is L2. However, the benefit of a National League loan is our ability to recall him in an emergency whilst a L2 loan would be fixed until the season has ended. The exposure to men's football will be a big boost from him, as I think it could be the difference between him mentally beign ready to play regularly for us next season.

Radcliffe and Weston have shown at other clubs that they are capable at handling themselves in men's football. Radcliffe played in the National League North last season, so a step up this season would have been a fair assupmption - he's been injured since October. Weston played infrequiently in the Scottish Championship last season for Partick and Cove Rangers. He's National League North or even National League level.

Oduroh, who spent the first half of this season in and out of a National League side, is a bit behind Weston.

6 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I agree, but do you believe Warne would trust him and play him? More likely to see Bradley up front.

Warne opted to use Mendez-Laing in the middle rather than playing John-Jules there. What hope does an academy player have?

Just now, ramsbottom said:

Looks good on paper.  I wonder if 3 at the back will work better with Nyambe being more mobile than Bradley?

I think Nyambe is a better RCB than RB as his attacking output is minimal

We'd also have a second 11 (with everyone fit) of:

Vickers
Rooney   Bradley   Forsyth
Ward   Thompson   Fornah   Sibley
Barkhuizen   Washington
Mystery-new-forward

Which leaves John-Jules, Waghorn and Smith in reserve.

Just now, ramsbottom said:

See below

Once Nyambe's back we'll hopefully see Wilson pushed forward and NML moved in behind Collins.  We know he's not a natural No 10 but a lot of our unbeaten run was with him more central.

To be honest, I'm expecting a shift to 343/523 sooner or later:

Wildmith
Nyambe   Nelson   Cashin
Wilson   Bird   Hourihane   Elder
Mendez-Laing   Baclkett-Taylor
Collins

2 hours ago, SK47 said:

Warne does not have involvement in them making simple passes.. countless times the pass wasn't strong enough or aimlessly passing straight to the opposition, no composure or controll, you can criticise the formation and style of play, but last night and Saturday was a whole lot of basic errors that you see U10's making. I don't know if there's 1 or 2 that are looking for moves or are unsettled, but this isn't the same team as it was 2 weeks ago.

 

Shocking display all round.

Some simple passes going astray are from the passer expecting the wide player to continue his run down the line. Others are from being caught under pressure. Both of these are a direct result from alack of coaching those aspects of play

19 minutes ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

So did we lose 2-4 as per the result on the DCFC website or did we win as per these highlights?

That depends on which highlights you watched. The first was our 5-2 win over Lincoln earlier in the season in the Central League Cup. The 2nd was yesterday's 4-2 loss in the Central League 

Defensively, Wilson's making just as many tackles as Nyambe at RB (dribbled past a fraction more. He's also making more interceptions and commiting fewer fouls. The big difference is the number of crosses Nyambe blocks compared with Wilson (he blocks crosse 3 times more often). Given Smith's contribution in his 1 game at RB was lower than what we've seen from Ward there this season (although less liekly to give away penalties), I would be reuctatnt to use him there either.

It's less about Wilson's attacking output being wasted and more about trying to stay as defensively solid as possible. It hasn't helped that we've relied on just Barkhuizen and Mendez-Laing on the wings for the past few games with no-one on the bench to freshen it up - a factor mitigated with the Blackett-Taylor signing. It'll hopefully be just 1 more game of Wilson at RB before Nyambe.

1 hour ago, EnigmaRam said:

No idea why we aren’t playing Fornah in a midfield 3

Based on the effort he put in vs Bradford, especially defensively, I can't see him getting another start for a while

Bradley pulled down in the box. Argued with the ref and is lucky to not get booked.

John-Jules is off. Down to 10 men

Just now, rammieib said:

I simply can’t understand the formation at all.

523/343. Sibley and Bird CM. Blackett-Taylor, Mendez-Laing and John-Jules the front 3

Have we put John-Jules RW and Mendez-Laing CF? 

1 down and we bring a CB and a wing back on 😅

Ref needs to book himself into Specsavers