brady1993

My thinking with the DM in January is I don't feel like we have someone other than Ozoh who can play as a sole DM as a 433. I think it does gets a little different if we are thinking more in terms of 4231 and I'd agree with you there. Personally I do think I'd have Thompson higher on the pick order than Osborn and I also do think he'd have more of a role in a 433 than a 4231 which would be my preference as our primary formation. I think it's hard to say where Thompson will go career wise. He's largely not moved forwards as a player since his introduction. Personally I think that had less to do with him and more to do how he was managed by Warne at would be expected to be critical ages in his development. But the window for that surge in development may have passed him or he may have developed exactly the same under different management. I also think his career does depend a bit on getting a manager who plays to his strengths and likely puts him in a system that really suits him. I doubt he goes beyond being a championship player but I do think if things line up right he could develop into a very good player at this level. You saw more of him at an academy level though, what did you think about his prospects at the time? Is he more or less in line with that right now ?

Saying our away form is bad is a bit like saying everybody who drinks water has died. Technically correct but silly and misleading. We've played 4 games against 4 top 8 sides, 2 of which are the current top 2 of the table averaging over 2 points per game so far. The same four teams constitute the same 4 teams with the highest points return from home games this season. Collectively out of the combined 19 home games they've played, 16 were wins and 3 were draws. We also didn't have our best 11 in any of those 4 games. Zetterstrom and Yates were missing for two, Ozoh was missing for two and we had to play Bradley in one game for the injured Cashin. Are there things in the performances of those game I can criticise and think we should have done better? Sure. But extrapolating out from that particular sample to some great concern about our away form and what we should do about it is frankly ridiculous.

More or less agreed but I think I'd focus on a DM in January and probably look at 2 in the summer. With the caveat of looking at moving to 433. Phillips might depend on wages a little as well. On Thompson, personally I think it's a weird one. I think in our relegation side I think he showed the tools that he can develop into a very good player at this level but in league 1 under Warne his development stagnated and doesn't seem particularly highly rated by Warne. From what I've seen I think he's a better player than Osborn and he's the kind of player that will look better and better the more interested you are in passing the ball around. I'd try to keep him for sure (but I'd also likely be playing him a fair bit) however for his own sake I think he should probably be looking elsewhere.

Oh sure it's a rough heuristic and I don't think we've had a wildly difficult start but I would say it's been harder than average. The fortunate couple things here that make a quick look at the table more or less ok is that the teams we beat would have move further up the table had they won than the teams we lost to would have moved down had we won.

But likewise they might not. For the most part our wins against the 'easier' teams have been more comfortable for us than the opposition has had in beating us away from home. I think it's unreasonable to extrapolate out a big difference between home and away form for this season given that the more decisive element in the results is highly likely difference in squad quality. You kind of see it was a tricky start with some back of the napkin calculations. We've played 5 at home, 4 away so we've played around an extra 6% than the expected value. The mean position of the teams we've faced is around 10.5, an elevation of of around 8% from the expected middle of the table at 12.5. And if you look at the median it's a bigger difference, with the median position of the teams we've faced being 8th around a 19% difference. Now obviously it's a small sample size but I think it mostly bears out with you'd expect intuitively based on the teams we've face. Also these calculations are impact by that we will effect that relative position, however the impact of that is minimised by that we are essentially smack in the middle and that the teams we beat would likely move further up the table had they got the three points than the team we lost to would move down (if we'd won instead) And that's all overlooking what I would say is overlooking a couple key elements. Yates and Zetterstrom were missing for 2 of those 4 away games and I don't think it can be overstated the difference in quality between them and replacement. Then Ozoh was missing for the other 2 in which we struggled to field a balanced looking midfield.* Like if you believe that we won't pick up many points away from home that's fair enough but I don't think it's reasonable to cite this season as evidence of that. *I think this all here hints at the bigger worry that we've got a severe lack of depth in certain areas and that might be our undoing if we do have one.

1) How do you feel about the performances from the team in the first 9 games of the season? Mixed but mostly positive. There are elements that have nagged in certain gamed around reckless pressing, poor positioning and ball retention. But critically it actually looks like we are working to address it. For the first time under we've seen performances under Warne that have made reasses who I thought he was as a coach and the best performances we've seen under him have likely come this season so far. 2) How happy are are you with the first 9 results? Given that set of 9 games, I don't think you can grumble at 12 points. 3) Thoughts on the summer signings so far? Mostly excellent. Kenzo and JWZ are the type of signings we've needed for an age. Jackson is a solid grafter with good movement. Yates is technically fantastic and I've no doubt he'll score plenty this season. Harness looked a really useful tidy winger but on evidence against QPR might actually be better than if at 10. Phillips has looked fine when called upon and I feel more comfortable with him as cover than Bradley. The Chirewa signing feels a touch out of place right now to me. And i think unfortunately Osborn has been largely poor. The only thing with the signings is it's left the squad a touch disjointed stuck a bit between formations. 4) Have the first 9 games changed your expectations for this season? Somewhat. I worried how tactically we'd adapt and it looks like we are somewhere between adapting fine and better than that. The signings we've made have given us quality to hang as well. I'd be a touch disappointed if we slip into really scrapping to avoid the drop as things stand right now. 5) With January fast approaching, is there a weakness in the squad that you would like to see addressed in the transfer window? We need to settle on broadly what is our plan and re-focus around that. For me that's settling on 433/4231. Key focuses need to be a DM, a winger and cover striker. If you were to really splash out on a player i think it should be a winger. I'd also be probably looking to convert Yates to a permanent role and maybe thinking about Harness similarly. 6) Any additional thoughts on Warne, back room staff or the team that don’t really fit in the first 5 questions? They are showing signs of evolving tactically that's really promising to see and we've actually played some excellent football at times. We shall see if it persists. The major outstanding black mark in my book revolves around i think that far more could be being done for creating a throughline from the academy and better developing academy talent.

I think the argument you are making here is disingenuous. All 5 losses have come from teams currently sat in the top 8 with 4 of those games being away from home. By most ways of cutting we've had a harder than average start and got a points return from it that is better than what would have been expected. We may yet slip back to the bottom six but on the evidence we've seen so far it looks unlikely barring something extremely disruptive.

A lot of really promising things on display against QPR. Was always going to be a test coming off the bounce of 3 losses and against a team we needed really to win against. Really pleased to see how much patience we were showing in the first half to work situations and honestly I think from the openings we had we could have easily been 2-3 up if properly capitalized upon. Tactically the introduction of Harness into midfield really worked well. In the last few games we've been really struggling to progress the ball reliably particularly through midfield. Having Harness gave us a link from midfield to attack meaning Kenzo could focus on being the primary instigator from deeper. The problem in other games is Kenzo has been expected to be both and couldn't reliably cycle through other midfielders. Harness at 10 I think made it easier on Adams in possession as well, as it easier to give him an easier pass short more often than not. On top of that Harness played well and looks a better 10 than a winger. Having someone being able to turn in the half spaces and either carry the ball or play someone in made a hell of a difference and I'm glad he got his goal. Whilst on that note I think our setup, selection and tactics lead to really good pressing at times. It was noticeable how we were able in a smart controlled fashion to be able to choke off space. The situation that lead to the goal had happened a few times already where between Kenzo, Harness, Jackson, Yates, Nyambe we'd effectively corral them into a left back space with little outs. I do think it gives weight to the thought I've had for a while that Osborn is a bit of a weak link unfortunately. And honestly right now I'd have him quite far down the selection order in midfield if everyone is fit. NML and Jackson both struggled a bit but it's the kind of game I think you'd expect them to a touch with QPR giving little room in behind to exploit. Whilst I've been complimentary tactically up to the second goal. There's a couple things after that have me scratching my head a touch. Firstly before the goals every goal kick is short, everyone is trying to play it out from the back and we are going long either when something is on or we absolutely have to from a clearance, after the goals we are suddenly going long a lot more (every goal kick) and trying to force things a lot more. It lead to a loss of control and gave QPR some foothold in a game we should have been trying to suffocate them out by just retaining the ball. I will say though this might not have been from the coaching staff, as there was one moment where we were setting to go long from the goal kick (I think) and the camera cut to Warne screaming to not do something. The second thing was some of the subs felt questionable. Wilson for NML was more or less fine, arguably though it should have been Blackett-Taylor on at this point. Phillips on as a defensive midfielder for Harness made little to no sense to me though. It disrupted a midfield working well when we had control and put a player very clearly out of position in there who looked positionally lost. Similarly to wilson -> NML, not much issue with Jackson -> CBT but why bring on Collins for Yates at that point. Yates was doing a good job keeping them occupied and providing that threat. If he's knackered out and you just need someone mobile to press then bring on Brown and give him much needed minutes. Whereas Collins again looks a bit lost at this level and defenders can ignore him to an extent. To end on a positive note; I'm going to stake a claim on a wild bet that Kenzo will prove to be the best signing the club has made in the past decade and is easily my favourite player to watch since Hughes left.

I think you can make the argument though that we'd be better of cancelling his loan and either bringing someone in who's genuinely competing for a starting place or someone around his age brought in permanently that we develop for ourselves. I think you need more from loanees than bit part cameos. Now with that said by January he may have started to show more.

I'm curious as to why you think that ? Because of having a more unified press ?

I'd been struggling to think of how we should line up come saturday but that looks reasonable to me. I have a feeling though that Osborn won't be dropped.

Does that apply to all signings under 21? What I'm more meaning with the academy comment is more in terms of just reducing the overall squad size slightly to allow for either the academy players to get minutes or for us to bring someone in who's going to develop. Oh I completely agree. It'd be too many all at once, it's more those are the areas I'd be considering. Given what the market is like in January and our financial position I'd want to go into with a degree of flexibility in terms of positions to target rather than rigidly going after positions. For example if the choice is between a striker who's just going to make numbers up versus an improvement at left back it might be worth taking the latter. My view at centre back is a bit different in no small part because I don't feel comfortable Bradley having more than the absolute bare minimum minutes at this level. Nelson is doing well but we can thinking about improving on him and Phillips isn't our player. We also really could do with a faster centre back with how we play. Especially if we can find someone who's young and content being an understudy for a little while. It'd not be my top priority but it's something that I think we should be thinking about. Pretty much agree with this that be more a position to have an eye of if an opportunity presents itself. That'd be my focus as well, and in that order roughly.

That's we need to really nail down by then. Right now the squad is caught between formations and that's part of what we've suffered from with Ozoh's injury. I do think 433 is what we should be looking as the primary goal. Discounting the amount of squad disruption with the amount of business it would take for one second, I'd be thinking of doing something like: Sell (roughly ordered by preference) Washington Bradley Collins Ward Barkhuizen Harness/Chirewa (loan termination for one of them) Buy (Ideally permanent, roughly ordered by preference) Defensive midfielder Striker Winger - Ideally left footed LB - Preferably someone younger Centre back - Preferably younger with pace I know that's one more going out than coming in but I'd leave that space open to give room for academy players or to sign someone young to develop in what the places currently occupied by a loanee.

I think with a home's team possession and their failure to score it's a bit self-fulfilling. Because they've not scored a team who's coming with a somewhat defensive mindset doesn't have to come out and play and are more likely to try to settle for a draw as the game goes on. Whereas if a home team scores early they probably will see a bit less of the ball as the opposition has to try to keep it for a bit at least. I do think though it's all a bit connected. There is truth to that the less of the ball you have the more defending you have to do, the more opportunities you will have to make mistakes and the more likely you are to tire faster. But I think the possession stat is more a symptom of the bigger issue of how easily we give up the ball which i think is the problem underlying a lot of problems we have.

I think he was completely shackled against Norwich by our own tactical choices.