Ghost of Clough

Wildsmith
Nyambe   Nelson   Cashin   Forsyth
Fornah
Sibley     Bird
Wilson     Waghorn     Barkhuizen
Subs: Vickers   Bradley   Smith   Robinson   Collins   Mendez-Laing   Washington
Expecting to replace the front three from the hour mark onwards.
Obviously it won't be anything like this, but I want to show it is possible to set up with control and the ability to dominate opponents with these players, attacking through the middle as well as out wide, making us much harder to defend against.

OK I’ll start, why is Max Bird swanning around in IKEA with my grandson this morning when he should be resting.😂

I don't think we could afford any current Championship or League 1 manager.
Lee Carsley (England U21) would probably be holding out for the main England job at this point. Even if he isn't chosen for that job, I doubt he would drop down to L1 level. Luke Williams (Notts County) for the long term project. Someone I could see taking us all the way to the PL. Gary Bowyer (unemployed, previously at Dundee) to build solid foundations and rebuild the link between the first team and academy Paul Cook (Chesterfield). A difference in opinion led to him being sacked at Ipswich, but he's done well everywhere else. Aaron Danks (Middlesbrough assistant manager) has been assistant for Kompany at Anderlecht, Dean Smith at Villa and now Carrick at Boro. Has also been involved with the England setup, having assisted Paul Simpson as they won the U20 World Cup in 2020, and then the  U21s in 20/21. The riskiest option I've listed, but has a good contact list and I think is worth taking a risk on. Another I could see growing with the club as taking us to the PL.

I don't think we could afford any current Championship or League 1 manager.
Lee Carsley (England U21) would probably be holding out for the main England job at this point. Even if he isn't chosen for that job, I doubt he would drop down to L1 level. Luke Williams (Notts County) for the long term project. Someone I could see taking us all the way to the PL. Gary Bowyer (unemployed, previously at Dundee) to build solid foundations and rebuild the link between the first team and academy Paul Cook (Chesterfield). A difference in opinion led to him being sacked at Ipswich, but he's done well everywhere else. Aaron Danks (Middlesbrough assistant manager) has been assistant for Kompany at Anderlecht, Dean Smith at Villa and now Carrick at Boro. Has also been involved with the England setup, having assisted Paul Simpson as they won the U20 World Cup in 2020, and then the  U21s in 20/21. The riskiest option I've listed, but has a good contact list and I think is worth taking a risk on. Another I could see growing with the club as taking us to the PL.

Still arguing over whether Nigel Clough should still be here😳

I think I'm starting to lean more towards out. We should be having a squad that looks like it is now settling down and starting to take shape a couple of months into a season, but we still look disjointed and a bit lost. The football has never been massively to be taste, but nor is that necessarily a requirement, however the style is however we should look more coherent than we do. 

Just listening to Warne's post-match and he thinks we did well and enough to win the game. The analysis he gives really concerns me if he thinks that was good. 

Please don’t say we’re only so many places off the play offs. 
 
We should be top 2 - simple as that. 

we are that bad that we won’t make play offs at this rate. Why would we when we can’t score against Cambridge at home. 0-0 against Cambridge FFS who have even less than us up front. 
 
Please don’t be happy with a draw at home to Cambridge. 

The boos were for the ref who in the first half looked a bit like a ref, apart from 3 very poor decisions. But second half he had obviously had the regulation bollocking for looking almost impartial.

Warne: We played through the middle and I want the team to play it out wide more (paraphrasing)
I must have watched a different game.

I’ve been a season ticket holder for 30+ years and never wanted to miss a match. 
 
I’ve decided today that until Warne has gone I won’t be attending any more games. I left on 72 minutes today, something I’ve never done before. 
 
It was awful, no direction and wasting my Saturday afternoon. 
 
The football he plays and the way he treats the academy (something that is close to me and my family) I can’t give him any more support. 
 
Call it mardy, but in all these years I’ve never felt like this about a manager. 

Warne: We played through the middle and I want the team to play it out wide more (paraphrasing)
I must have watched a different game.

I'm going there to support the team. Why would I not, despite thinking we would be better off if we made changes out of my control?

He would fail, playing bad football (based on the games so far this season), whilst having one of the biggest playing budgets in the league (if not the biggest).
Mac had the 13th highest wage bill in 13/14 (9th highest revenue) and made a profit on transfers that season. Wages in that season (£13.5m) won't be much higher than the budget Warne has this season in League 1!!!
In 14/15, the wage bill still remained at most levels, and we weren't anywhere near the top clubs for transfer spend, despite buying Thorne and not receiving any significant fees from departures.
Remarkably, Lampard's wage bill would have been 7th-10th (a lot of clubs close to our estimated figure) and around 9th for revenue

He would fail, playing bad football (based on the games so far this season), whilst having one of the biggest playing budgets in the league (if not the biggest).
Mac had the 13th highest wage bill in 13/14 (9th highest revenue) and made a profit on transfers that season. Wages in that season (£13.5m) won't be much higher than the budget Warne has this season in League 1!!!
In 14/15, the wage bill still remained at most levels, and we weren't anywhere near the top clubs for transfer spend, despite buying Thorne and not receiving any significant fees from departures.
Remarkably, Lampard's wage bill would have been 7th-10th (a lot of clubs close to our estimated figure) and around 9th for revenue

Scanlon is one of the trio Man Utd poached off us. Still only 16.

I'm going there to support the team. Why would I not, despite thinking we would be better off if we made changes out of my control?

There are a few factors which come in to play:
1. training and match intensity (primarily the former)
2. Age of players and being managed carefully (see Mendez-Laing as an example of someone who needs reduced play time to reduce the risk of injury)
3. A lot of the players we've recruited have all had limited game time over recent seasons - either due to injury or other reasons.
Here's the percentage of minutes played in the league last season for our new signings:
Ward - 77%
Nyambe - 53%
Nelson - 49%
Fornah - 47%
Elder - 46%
Washington - 41%
Bradley - 28%
Embleton - 26%
Waghorn - 22%
John-Jules - 19%
Vickers - 5%
Wilson - 2%

There are a number of promising moments, but we need to tighten up at the back.
We're arguably missing out on our first choice CB duo in Bardell and Bartley. With a fully fit first team, Rooney probably would have been dropping down occasionally too.
I would try to slot the odd first team defender in when we have a gap in our first team schedule. At the very least, it would help top up the match fitness of players like Elder and Bradley. But, I feel an experienced defender could help the youngster with their positioning and decision making.

There are a number of promising moments, but we need to tighten up at the back.
We're arguably missing out on our first choice CB duo in Bardell and Bartley. With a fully fit first team, Rooney probably would have been dropping down occasionally too.
I would try to slot the odd first team defender in when we have a gap in our first team schedule. At the very least, it would help top up the match fitness of players like Elder and Bradley. But, I feel an experienced defender could help the youngster with their positioning and decision making.

5 loan signings with Warne as manager. 3 have picked up significant injuries whilst the other 2 got limited game time.

A painful 92nd minute goal for Brighton.

We played really well uphill! I thought the draw would have been a fairer result. Good fighting spirit, though.