RodleyRam

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Since Warne will stick with 3/5 at the back from now on:

Wildsmith

Rooney   Cashin   Fozzy 

NML   Knight   Bird   Roberts  

McGoldrick Sibley

Collins

Fair question. If he's really intent on 3 at the back then I guess you could go 3-4-2-1 as above to get my two no.10s in! Not a fan of it with the personnel we have though. I think it leaves the right hand side exposed defensively and lightweight in the middle where I genuinely think we need to play 3 as you have it in your 3-5-2. Personally, I don't see Sibley as a CM/no.8. The fact that you have question marks for most of the team tells it's own story for me! We really don't have a player at the club who you could call a wingback, so I don't really understand why we would shoehorn like this but I do understand it's PW's preference.

Alternative to the above is that Sibley plays LWB as per below but it wouldn't be my preference. 

Wildsmith

Rooney   Cashin   Fozzy 

NML   Knight   Bird   Houri  Sibley

Collins  McGoldrick

All this said, the performance against MK playing 3/5 was decent enough, so what the hell do I know! I would argue that their goal came from NML being asked to play at RWB and the lack of cutting edge could have been rectified by having Sibley on the pitch for longer but where he goes in a 3-5-2 is unclear. 

I just think we need to have a formation that suits the personnel and it would be nice to see a side with Bird, Sibley and Knight all in their most natural roles.

I accept I'm just playing football manager and the likelihood of Sibley, Knight and Bird all being here next season is remote, so we'll probably never know!

3 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I wouldn’t mind seeing that, the “Christmas tree” formation…. with Collins as our angelic tree topper 😂 

It means benching NML, Barkhuizen and Dobbin but then Warne would have the option to bring them on and change the shape to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with ease…if only we could get him to consider it! 
Who would you want the midfield and back four to be? 

Bird, Hourihane and Smith/Knight in the middle. Roberts, Cashin, Fozzy, Smith/Knight at the back. Preference for Smith in midfield and Knight at RB as I happen to think that's where they've played their best for us this season.

Having NML, Barks and Dobbin off the bench to stretch teams in the last 20 mins is also appealing to me.

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Again it looks to be about the balance or lack of in the squad. He played Sibley as the 10 in a 4-2-3-1 in those games behind Collins then when McGoldrick came back in Sibley dropped out. Wonder if he thinks they’re too similar, in terms of occupying the same space on the pitch. I’d like to see him start Sibley with McGoldrick on Saturday, give one of them clear instructions to play as the “9”, or alternate. 

I have said it elsewhere but would be inclined to try both Sibley and Didzy as 10s behind Collins and get width from the full backs, of which one could be Knight, with license to get forward.

4-3-2-1

They all have talent but I think we have to accept they haven't been as good as we hoped they would be. I don't think the situation at the club has helped and I don't think we've figured out how to get the best out of them. The way we have handled Sibley seems odd to me. He might not be as good all round as the other two but he has demonstrated the ability to influence results. In a season where we've lacked cutting edge and the manager has said that goals win matches, we have under used him in my book. Knight and Bird are both very capable but haven't reached the levels I would have expected. If they all stay next season and we are in League 1 again, I would hope to see them kick on and influence games much more than they have this season.

Definitely a good call not to strengthen the striking department in January...

And today's results prove that nothing is a given in the run in!

4 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

I don’t think many folk are actually writing us off anymore than those predicting 6th are writing Peterborough off. Simply expressing an opinion on where we think we will finish.

2 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

Of course they are. And when they start their posts with the words "we will or we won't" it makes them appear even crasser.

At least have the humility to acknowledge your post is merely your opinion not a nailed on certainly as some folks on here are peddling their predictions as. 

Maybe it's because they want us to fail. Weird. 

Yeah this is what I was really driving at. It's the absolutism I find most difficult to reconcile. With 3 teams on the same points and 'relatively' similar fixtures, I don't know how anyone can state anything with any certainty.

12 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

Agreed on the first point to be fair, we’ll see over the next few games whether the pattern continues.

McGoldrick has only started 23 league games. Not his fault of course, but not enough to be player of the season in my view, as brilliant as he’s been when fully fit.

For me, PotS is either about consistency over a lot of games or 'impact'.

I don't think we've had anyone who has been consistently good enough, maybe Wildsmith, so for me it boils down to impact. 

That's why I say Didzy and NML are the contenders. 

People writing us off when we're level on points with the team in 5th is bizarre.

It's a hugely unpredictable league. Anyone making predictions is simply guessing. Anyone can take points off anyone else and as Warne has said multiple times, it'll be about the tiniest margins. One could argue that we shouldn't be scrapping for 6th place but we are where we are. 

I'm glad we are still in the hunt and hope we can take it all the way to the last game (or, yes, ideally, have our spot guaranteed with a couple of games to spare!!)

A couple of our better players coming back into form in the last 6 games could make all the difference. Let's try to enjoy it.

Didzy is a joy to watch when he's on it. Different class.

Honourable shouts to NML, consistently exciting and involved in a lot of our best stuff. Wildsmith had been solid all season and exceptional in a spell during our unbeaten run.

Everyone else has been really good and fairly average for periods.

Can't see it going anywhere but McG to be honest.

Rams 1 - 0 New town roundabout shopping centre garden city

FRGS Didzy 

2 hours ago, Ambitious said:

If we don't finish in the play-off positions then he's had an absolute s****** in his first season in charge, let's be honest with ourselves here. He will have the opportunity at Derby next season with a full pre-season, allowing him to bring some of his own players into the club, so he will be able to properly put his own stamp on things. 

Next season he will have no excuses for not getting this team competing at the top end of the division and that will have to be the expectation. This season is a free hit, but missing out on the play-offs would be concerning considering how comfortable we were. Nine points in nine games for a Derby County side playing in the third division should be embarrassing to him as a coach and the players, honestly - essentially 20% of our season in relegation form AFTER going nearly going 20 unbeaten. 

I wonder if the fixtures had fallen differently and we had experienced less feast and famine, our perspectives on his overall performance would be a little more balanced. 

Like you, I'm not overly impressed but it's probably fair to look at the overall position once the season is done. It's easy to take strong point of view when things are going incredibly well or incredibly badly, when the net result of all that is that we are still in the hunt for the 2 final play off places. Most of us would have taken that at the start of the season.

In terms of my own general assessment, it's pointless but inevitable to draw direct comparisons and 'what ifs' with LR.

I really liked the direction LR was taking us, it felt like he wanted to build a football club on a sustainable foundation, embed best practice and consistency etc from the ground up. I liked the brand of football and felt results would have improved once fitness got better and we could increase the tempo etc. For me, that was exactly what I wanted and I was prepared to wait for the return.

In appointing PW and all the 'promotion guru' hyperbole that came with that, the timescales and expectations shifted. Regardless of the rhetoric from DC, it seemed like we were aiming for a quick promotion. The subsequent unbeaten run raised expectations. I think this meant that the massive dip in form from February felt a lot more painful and disappointing. As I say above, I think this will make any assessment right now imbalanced.

However, I'm going to wade into an assessment anyway! I can see some fundamental flaws in PW's approach to date.

The desire to play like a basketball team is great when you can net your 3 points but if you miss or they intercept you're exposed. The amount of times we've been caught on the break and persevered with the same headless chicken routine is concerning. 

February in any league is all about fitness, game management and grinding out results where necessary. The perseverance with chaos-ball with the age profile and unwillingness to rotate our squad has to be questioned.

The seeming inability to adapt or respond to the opposition and their tactics is also a little concerning.

PW sounds proud that we've used the fewest players and you could argue that we have a small squad, so it's inevitable. However, there are players who have had limited game time, Sibbo, Thompson, Rooney, Barks, Osula, Springett who could all have played more minutes without reducing the quality of the side too much and given other players a rest. The chickens have come home to roost on this in the last month as some of them look jaded to say the least.

I want him to be able to see these things and demonstrate he's doing something about it. The concern is that his solution to all of these issues is expecting the players to run about more.

All this said, I think we need to accept the circumstances and restraints on PW. Yes, I think he should be able to get this squad into the playoffs, and he still might.

However, if we don't make it, I don't think it's time to wield the axe. I genuinely think we have to give him next season and possibly until Christmas the following season to get the club where he wants it to be. Unless we are miles off challenging next season, I honestly don't think changing the manager is the right course of action.

He's a likeable guy and I want him to succeed.

On 01/04/2023 at 16:53, Diego said:

I’ve had enough of this.

Get this rut in the bin. 
 

All hail the second coming

1-1

FRGS Collins

5 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Surely no different to messing around with 3 at the back, which the squad don't play either!

Precisely, I never understood that, we clearly don't have any wingbacks. At least my fantasy suggestion would play most players in their preferred positions and get as many goalscoring options on the pitch as possible. NML would be the unfortunate casualty.

At the time I thought we were wasting his talent, I still do but recognise that Kinkladze probably wasn't bringing his best self to the equation. Still... expecting Todd and Gregory to get the best out of one of the most gifted players of his generation was probably unrealistic on my part.

It was a pleasure to watch him play regardless.

We can all play the Football Manager random formation generator but I do find the non-selection of players who have contributed goals odd, particularly when we're clearly struggling to find the net. He's also said how difficult is been to play against Ipswich and Plymouth because they play two no.10s.

We have two of the better no.10s in the league in Sibz and Didz why aren't we trying that and get them feeding off Collins' hold up play (or at least get them trying to predict which direction his first touch will bounce...)

You could have Knight and Roberts at full back giving some width and pace. Bird, Hourihane and Smith in the middle which would leave us much less open to losing control of the middle and rampant counter attacks. 

NML, Barks and Dobbin could all fulfill that no.10 type role too and/or adjust it slightly to have them playing a bit wider.

It's probably too late in the day to start messing about to this level but I can't help feel we're trying to fit the players we have into a system and a style of play rather than the other way around.

Can one of the youngsters try this out in the latest version of FM and report back how we get on?

For my money we need to get to 80 points to secure a playoff spot. Of the 5 teams going for the two final playoff spots we are in the worst form but, and it is a big but, our poor form has to come to an end at some point. If we get 7 points from the next 3 games, the confidence level changes and we are the ones coming into good form etc.

I get the disappointment from the last couple of months but those writing us off at this point are premature. There are tears and turns to come.

I expect it to go to the last day of the season.

On 01/04/2023 at 21:40, DiggerB said:

When I saw the replay on the concourse TV after my only thought was that Didzy had been pinged for offside and deemed “active” by being in the keepers eyeline. I was clearly clutching, but it was never a push!

Offside is the only thing I could see as well. He starts in front of the keeper and moves to the side. Probably would be classed as interfering with play but that's not what the decision was, so who knows!

It's astonishing how close he got to being our owner.

There is a fundamental issue with football club governance and finances about which the authorities seem completely oblivious/powerless/negligent*

A complete overhaul is required but no-one seems to have the cajones to do it.

Our situation and 'Kirchners' will keep happening unless someone properly gets to grips with things.

*Delete as appropriate

3 hours ago, kevinhectoring said:

Doesn’t tackle in a very polite way 

His tackle is more polite than NML...

6 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Knight has missed chances too. The post I replied to said Knight has scored as many as Dobbin. He hasn’t. As others have also pointed out.

This is a thread about Knight’s contract situation and yet people still feel the need to have tiresome digs at other players. It doesn’t always have to be an attack on other players you know? People can just talk about Knight’s strengths and attributes without bringing Dobbin or Bielik into it.
Knight is a talented young footballer who we’d all love to stay at the club for life, the reality is he probably won’t. If he doesn’t extend his contract with us the logical thing to do would be to sell him this summer for as much as we can get so he doesn’t walk away for free in 2024. No matter any of our personal opinions if people want to draw comparisons to certain other young players, Dobbin would probably fetch more of a fee as an attacking player from a premier league club’s academy, who has a longer contract than Knight who is a full international, currently playing in league one with a contract due to expire in just over a year purely because the market dictates the price of a player. And that’s regardlesss of what any of us think of the individual’s talent. You just have to look at the history of those types of transfers to see how it plays out sadly.
My personal opinion is Knight would be worth plenty if we had him tied down on a longer deal and will go on to have a good career, the reality of our situation means we’ll probably get something between £2-5 million. 

Agree with you on all this but he wouldn't walk away free at the end of his contract as we would be due some compensation (I think). The bottom end of your valuation is the most likely if we do sell him this summer based on his performances this season. I don't feel like he's quite got going after starting the season out of position.

Good player though, does a lot of stuff that will go unnoticed. I'd like to keep him regardless of what league we are in but have to accept he'll want to play a higher level if we stay in League 1.

Derby 2 - 1 Ipswich

FRGS Sibley

Return to form, promotion guaranteed...

I agree with the latter posts on this.

My observations so far are that PW is limited tactically. I've not seen him read the games and opposition tactics all that well to counter their threats or exploit their weaknesses, especially when they change up. I personally feel that we have the players to 'manage' games better but I don't think the tactics get the most out of their skillet.

At League 1 level I think this is less important generally speaking but this year there are some strong teams with very different tactical approaches to what you might expect in any other season. 

What PW is clearly very good at instilling the work ethic, fitness, building relationships, motivating people, knowing when to kick up the arse and when to give a cuddle etc.

Under normal circumstances the latter set of traits will make you an excellent manager at this level. This season and with the squad we have, it might not be enough.

I think he needs to work on the first element or make sure his team has an astute tactician who can lead on this. I'm not sure he has that in his team and not sure if he recognises the need for it. 

Nigel had similar flaws and a loyalty to his team that was admirable but ultimately limited him. I don't tend to think managers who take their entire backroom team wherever they go is always that healthy.

In saying that, he has a great track record and I liked him. I'm still optimistic and hope he can at least get us promotion at which point we should take stock and evaluate what we then need to kick on again. I'm not impatient about when that happens either, if it takes until the end of mbargo and the club is ultimately stronger and more sustainable for it, then so be it.

Impatient people have short memories, twas ever thus.

Posh 2 - 1 Rams

FRGS Dobbin