Ghost of Clough

I want him to be successful as that means the club is being successful too. Everything Warne says he wants, sounds like everything I want to see too. I go to every game thinking this will finally be the game where everything clicks into place. However, we're now moving on to game 56 under Warne...
 
When I look at the short term target of promotion, and I currently struggle to see how we'll achieve it. The results aren't sustainable due to the style of play. 7 of our 14 league goals have come directly or indirectly from set pieces, and we've created very few good chances from open play, and have been fortunate that the ball has landed at Waghorn's feet from Washington/Mendez-Laing shots. Take 'luck' out of the equation and we're currently a bottom half side.
Many point towards injuries as a problem, but these are partly self-inflicted due to style of play and intensity of training. If coached well, the players who come into the side will be able to play the same style of football as the first choice(s). The excuse given suggests we can only play as Warne intends when Bird and Ward are fit. Warne wants runners in midfield (which excludes Hourihane), only used Rooney and Thompson when others were injured.
 
I also look at the long term future of the club. All around me in the South Stand I hear people complaining about the quality of football on show. These are mostly Season Ticket Holders. If they're contemplating not going next season, your casual match goer will give up much sooner. I'm currently expecting a big drop in attendances and match receipts next season, with that financial impact hurting the club further.
I see no serious effort to work with the academy. He doesn't know who they are, even when he attends the game and one of the payers scores a hattrick. Thompson and Rooney have only been used because Warne 'didn't have anyone else'. He openly stated he had no-one other than Smith and Hourihane as an option in the middle, despite Thompson being an unused sub and impressing in pre-season (out of position). What chance do the best of the U21s have? How does that motivate them to push harder for a shot in the first team? He hasn't given any minutes in the league to any player not already viewed as part of the first team squad since becoming manager.
Warne's views on introducing youngsters to the first team are outdated, and contradictory to every other top level academy. Take Robinson as a key example. He was given his first taste of league football in the final 10 minutes of a Championship game. Warne recently said he didn't trust him enough to five him games. Hence, why his game time under Warne has been limited to just 45 minutes in the Pizza Cup against L2 opposition. Warne's comments suggest they have to be of L1 standard before they can play a single minute in the League. I wonder how long we would have had to wait to see Bird, Knight, Sibley, Buchanan, Whittaker, Cashin etc if Warne was manager at the time.

The question was who would i pick.
However, I think Warne would go with Fornah, Hourihane and Bird. Smith and Embleton as backup. Sibley and Thompson hardly used in the middle, if at all.

Since he became a regular in 19/20, there hasn't been a single season where our ppg has been better without him.

Mac1 turned a slightly above average Championship side into one playing fantastic football over night.
Rosenior created a very good League 1 side from scratch over a few weeks.
Warne has taken a very good League 1 side and turned it into an average one after 12 months and 55 games in charge, and can barely pass the ball anymore.

Don’t know about anyone else, but I also quite enjoyed the 4 passes Stoke put together too.

Wildsmith
Nyambe   Nelson   Cashin   Forsyth
Fornah   Smith
Mendez-Laing   Sibley   Barkhuizen
Collins
 
Subs: Loach, Bradley, Wilson, Elder, DRobinson, Washington, Waghorn

Mac1 turned a slightly above average Championship side into one playing fantastic football over night.
Rosenior created a very good League 1 side from scratch over a few weeks.
Warne has taken a very good League 1 side and turned it into an average one after 12 months and 55 games in charge, and can barely pass the ball anymore.

Mac1 turned a slightly above average Championship side into one playing fantastic football over night.
Rosenior created a very good League 1 side from scratch over a few weeks.
Warne has taken a very good League 1 side and turned it into an average one after 12 months and 55 games in charge, and can barely pass the ball anymore.

Mac1 turned a slightly above average Championship side into one playing fantastic football over night.
Rosenior created a very good League 1 side from scratch over a few weeks.
Warne has taken a very good League 1 side and turned it into an average one after 12 months and 55 games in charge, and can barely pass the ball anymore.

Mac1 turned a slightly above average Championship side into one playing fantastic football over night.
Rosenior created a very good League 1 side from scratch over a few weeks.
Warne has taken a very good League 1 side and turned it into an average one after 12 months and 55 games in charge, and can barely pass the ball anymore.

Thought Brad/midfield pushed further forward more too, or it was just a better stream compared to the first half! 😉 😄

Much better in the 2nd half due to keeping the ball on the ground and passing it to feet a lot more. On balance of play, I think 2-2 would have been fairer.

He looks lively. Like the look of him. My feed is a bit blurred, I didn't realise who no8 was lol.

2 very good stops by Evans from range so far. Has shown good composure with the ball.
DRobinson has shown a good range of passing range when we've decided to pass it around a bit.
Our main threat is releasing Richards down the right wing who drags it back to the penalty spot.
A couple of good bits of play from DBrown, with a fine turn into the box, and good positional awareness to pick up the loose ball on the edge of the box.
 
Overall, it feels like a side thrown together and lacking a bit of confidence. Bardell, Bartley and Hawkins all injured (?), plus Oseni going out on loan has left us a bit light all over the pitch.
We perhaps need a few senior players to help then through a few games once more players are back from injury.

Weston

Yep.
 

Evans
Moore   Radcliffe   Cox   Jeffcott
DRobinson   Johnson
Richards   Weston   Gibson-Hammond
DBrown
 
Subs: Ridd, Moloney, Bates, Fapetu, Lindsay

A crazy last 10 minutes. 
Gough (a 2nd half sub), got a straight red, quickly followed by a straight red for a Stoke forward (a 1st half sub) and a 2nd yellow for one of their CMs.
In the 3rd minute of injury time, Cruz Allen (in fantastic form this season) stepped up to score the winner. 1-0

Following our 5-0 over Morecambe on 4th Feb, we were the 14th best side in the league with just 23 points from our final 18 games.

Following our 5-0 over Morecambe on 4th Feb, we were the 14th best side in the league with just 23 points from our final 18 games.

A crazy last 10 minutes. 
Gough (a 2nd half sub), got a straight red, quickly followed by a straight red for a Stoke forward (a 1st half sub) and a 2nd yellow for one of their CMs.
In the 3rd minute of injury time, Cruz Allen (in fantastic form this season) stepped up to score the winner. 1-0

A crazy last 10 minutes. 
Gough (a 2nd half sub), got a straight red, quickly followed by a straight red for a Stoke forward (a 1st half sub) and a 2nd yellow for one of their CMs.
In the 3rd minute of injury time, Cruz Allen (in fantastic form this season) stepped up to score the winner. 1-0

A crazy last 10 minutes. 
Gough (a 2nd half sub), got a straight red, quickly followed by a straight red for a Stoke forward (a 1st half sub) and a 2nd yellow for one of their CMs.
In the 3rd minute of injury time, Cruz Allen (in fantastic form this season) stepped up to score the winner. 1-0

The U21s played on a Saturday one last year - vs Villa in October.
It was me who requested a few questions on the academy via email. Not to catch Warne out, but in the hope of easing some of the concerns I had. Those questions related to watching U18/21 games, what's he doing to get the youngsters into the first team, and should more be used last season to avoid burn out.
As a reminder of what was said, these are the notes I made from the Fan Forum:
How can someone who doesn't know which age group he's watching, what the scores were, and who the players are, be the man to judge if these youngsters should or shouldn't be given first team games?