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On 17/06/2023 at 23:43, DCFC1388 said:

A right back done according to Nixon & it isnt Dabo...

 

Sorry, perhaps I've missed something and apologies if I have but where does it say Dabo isn't the Right Back we've done a deal for ?

My guess is Harding and a reserve keeper 

26 minutes ago, Big Trav said:

2 Signings tomorrow 🙂

Any clues Big Trav ? Or you not aware of the names ?

The challenge here for PW is to see if he can manage a club of our stature and fans expectations are very different to that of Rovrums 

I don’t think for one minute PW and his team think let’s copy the Rovrum ideals because he has more oppurtunity at DCFC to be backed and to have the opportunity to manage better players 

if he wasn’t ambitious he would have stayed at his safe place being Rovrum but instead he’s chosen to challenge himself and take an opportunity 

he’s not stupid enough to think that promotion followed by a relegation battle in the championship will be ok because I’m pretty sure he’s been told of our expectations 

for anyone thinking he will have the same mindset as managing a smallish club and it’s limitations that that brings are wide of the mark ….anyone getting a higher grade job with more expectations would be a total fool to think they haven’t got to rise and be better and Paul Warne doesn’t strike me as a fool 

he may get us out of this league but his real challenge then comes in the championship…what I do like from the interview is that he’s already looking ahead and wants players who will be able to play in the championship ….I’m not sure he had the luxury of being able to pick up those sort of players when at RUFC 

Some clearly don’t like Warne …no matter what …I’d hate to be sat anywhere near them though at a game …it’s bordering on a kind of hatred and I find that difficult to comprehend at times …

would you rather have someone managing our club who’s closed and unfriendly? How many managers would go and watch a player who’s left the club for his boyhood club? He’s a decent man even if he’s not a success he’s a decent bloke 

I thought Cocu was treated poorly by some fans and was embarrassing to hear at times …Cocu was a gentleman and our first ever foreign coach but some couldn’t wait to kick him like they enjoy it but when he left he left with dignity and didn’t seek big compensation nor did his team of coaches 

let’s give Warne a chance at least without looking into every angle and seeing a negative ffs 

12 hours ago, DCFC1388 said:

A right back done according to Nixon & it isnt Dabo...

 

Sorry, perhaps I've missed something and apologies if I have but where does it say Dabo isn't the Right Back we've done a deal for ?

So after listening to Warnes interview a few things come to mind 

a how can anyone seriously not like this man he’s friendlily polite and honest and …cares about this club and it’s fans and players 

He is trying his best to get a decent hard working group of good footballers together and I support him whole heartedly…he’s a decent man who means well and I think we’re lucky to have someone with his principles 

1 hour ago, David Graham Brown said:

My prayers 🙏🏻have been answered, bless you PP. PS. She is rather static however. 
Thank you.

The moving version was somewhat more appealing 😍 

god knows who she is but she's been on this forum quite a lot lol and always brightens up the day 👍

1 hour ago, Rev said:

Time will tell, but he was jobless before we appointed him. 

People who self describe themselves as an unemployed painter and decorator need to look in the mirror. 

You might as well show some ambition, and describe yourself as an unemployed astronaut, or academy director.

Unemployed because he chose to be …big difference 

10 minutes ago, Rev said:

I'm not sure how much of a coup signing an unemployed ex Southampton academy guy is, I suppose time will tell.

Massive 

8 hours ago, alram said:

you are right on the face of it

 

my concern comes from : 

 

a) we were completely reliant on him to score the bulk of our goals

b) our lack of freedom in the transfer market to actually replace him adequately

I bet you're fun at parties !! Jeeez.... chill out ...!

We have massive reasons to be optimistic, I thought Didzy was brilliant last season but I'd like to think we are not relying on just one player to score the bulk of our goals next season.

FWIW I actually think that if he stays Mcgoldrick might not get the game time he did last season if our recruitment is good

We have a caring owner who I think I'm right in saying the fans trust, more freedom in the market and also a weaker looking division next season 

It's an exciting time to be a Rams fan, I can't understand why you keep seeing the negatives when there are plenty of positives.

Did you think when we only had about 5 players on the books at one point last summer that this was the end and we could only field a 5 a side team ? ....We are supposedly in a better place financially this summer and able to have more freedom regarding recruitment, of course we are going to sign players.

Warne has already said the process has already started so chill out mate...nothing to worry about Mr Glass Half Empty 

We'd be lucky to get 250-300k for Sibley 

Bird needs to toughen up and we need more goals from Bird and Knight if they are to be regulars in Midfield 

Knights season was kinda summed up in second game at Charlton, made a great run got in a great position and then missed a fairly easy header which he should've scored with , he flattered to deceive this last season and we need more end product when hes in midfield for me but thats the same with Bird, who made a great reverse pass for someone to score away to I think it was Morecambe or one of the lower end sides but then is anonimous in some bigger games where we need our mids to be right at it , both not bad players and both come through the ranks as Sibley has ( who I just don't think will fill one of the 10 roles PW talks about , so where does he fit in exactly as he didn't impress when given the oppurtunities to start in a more attack minded role ) but we must have more goals and assists from our midfielders, Hourihane received criticism but scored some good goals and also assisted some but he's not come from our academy!

if we could generate the funds required to get a few players in who will make a significant improvement then letting Sibs,Bielik and Bird go won't be the end of the world , even though not bad players 

I can't think of many players we've let go over last few years that I'd have back  apart from Byrne ...so it won't be the end of the world to freshen it up 

Obviously a player has to do what's best for his own interests  I think most will have to accept that...but there's a right way and wrong way of doing everything.

The way his agent and KB are coming across is a bit disrespectful to Derby and its fans I'd say.....

Could've worded it much better and not looked so selfish , Derby County did after all pay him a large wage and was a fans favourite the few times he actually played 

I've not seen him as a Derby player now for some time or have thought he's part of our future  but he is still contracted to us, so perhaps a bit of decent PR it would still have given him the same outcome, a move away which is best for all parties.

4 hours ago, Blondest Goat said:

We lacked goals and created a lot of opportunities but you want us to steer clear of the leagues top scorer?  Not sure I follow this logic.

He would cost a lot and for me he’s not worth it …think we’d be better off finding our own ….no disrespect to Didzy but he scored more than he’s ever scored in a season …it’s league1 we don’t need to spend silly money there’s plenty that could get us 20 goals next season …exactly how much do you reckon posh would want for him? And have you seen him play much because I don’t rate him 

7 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

More  I T K information. Flint has always chipped in with goals which would help and at 6’ 6” would bring the average height up a bit. But at the age of 33 is he over the hill?

Imo yes …he didn’t impress me at SW end of season but I do think if the deal is good for both parties and doesn’t take up much of our budget he’s still a powerful strong CB and it’s a long season with a lot of games and the squad will count more than just the starting 11 

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Without knowing what our budget is I wouldn’t object to the bulk of it being spent on one or two “key” positions if they’re likely to be the difference makers, provided we can convince some free agents to join.
As an example, say we sold Bielik and had £1-2m to reinvest. Using the wages we’ve saved on him, Davies, Stearman, Chester to cover a number of free agent signings to bolster the wing backs and one centre back. Then spending that £1-2m on a goal scorer from this league or elsewhere (the Irish lad?) and a leader at the back in that ideal age bracket, would in theory leave us much stronger overall. 

Yes totally agree and could be the difference …I know there are some good players out there who are available on a free so to speak but if we spent most of actual transfer fee budget on a commanding CB at the right age and a couple of strikers I actually think it will be good enough …we lacked goals last season and we created lots of opportunities last season …if we take more of those chances we will be top two next season 

The 

12 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Where did you read/hear this? As in he’s apparently signed for us or Barnsley? 
Personally I was hoping we’d go for a different option to Flint. 

The Barnsley player Kitching would command a Barker type fee so i'm guessing the 1m mark which apparently is half of our transfer budget but Warne doesn't like idea of Cashin and Harding being 2 of 3 CB's as they are both not the tallest 

9 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Where did you read/hear this? As in he’s apparently signed for us or Barnsley? 
Personally I was hoping we’d go for a different option to Flint. 

I'm only going by another thread where someone who is apparently quite itk says that Flint is a done deal already signed on a free but couldn't be announced until after June 1st 

Regarding Clark Harris at Posh , every time I've watched him I've been seriously underwhelmed and thought he was terrible in the game at Hillsborough especially , didn't hold the ball up was guilty of giving the ball away cheaply including a crap clearance which ended in the equaliser....He will command a fee and I'd steer clear and try and find our own gems for small money..

I was impressed with Frankie Kent each time I've watched him and is really good on the ball and think he'd be a good signing 

For me our midfield requires not only assists but goals so if Max,Sibs,Knight etc cannot get 8-10 goals/assists next season I'd be looking at at least 1 or 2 to compete in that area as not saying those 3 are bad players but we do need more goal options and not just up top

The rumour from ol Trampie i hope is true as Kitching looks very good but don't know how feasible it would be for Barnsley to allow him to go but 1m does seem a lot  and with Flint apparently signed would give us a good physical presence when needed 

On 22/05/2023 at 14:17, jono said:

That sounds pretty sour to me. Luton are a small club but with fiercely loyal fans who have been through the biggest grinder ever being points deducted season after season and fighting their way back from none league. If the go up they will be the only club to have gone top to bottom to top. That isn’t “two bob” 

Yeah it is sour I guess tarnished maybe by the running battles in the streets outside kenilworth road back in the 80s after big Dave Swindlehurst scored a very late double to secure a 2-1 win we were second they were top 

ive never seen so many horrible nasty t**** as the blokes that day throwing milk bottles from peoples doorsteps in the terraced streets into groups of derby fans a lot of families and youngsters frightened for there life loads of blood on peoples faces that day that’s what I remember and before you say was ages ago blahdy blah not clubs fault yahdy yah ...it happened a few times as both home and away come out the same exit onto the terraced housed streets and although I loved the game I literally had to fight my way to the station and it was carnage and not nice ...big so called hard men picking on kids me included at 15.... nice 

it’s a s******* area and the ground is crap as are the fans and yeah they are two bob club and I couldn’t give a monkies about there loyal fans 

so yeah kinda sour I guess 

9 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

I'm really not sure why you're getting so hung up on the Wildsmith thing, it's basically just a turn of phrase. I could easily have picked kick-off as a point to talk about, for example.

I'm not saying do the same thing every time, and I'm not saying reading the situation doesn't matter.  I'm saying what do we want to happen.  What situations are we trying to engineer?  What are our best players good at and how can we get them doing more of it etc.  If you are saying we just send the players out and basically tell them to see what happens and make good decisions, then that's the very definition of not having a game-plan.

I'm not privvy to the tactics and or instructions but I can still say I'm certain Warne does not send them just to see what happens ....what i am saying is...that within a players roles and duties should be flexibility to adapt to whats actually happening on the pitch 

18 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

I'm saying exactly the opposite.  Get players doing things they're good at, and not doing the things they're bad at.  Stones in midfield works because Stones is good on the ball, and it also mitigates his tendency to make mistakes because they're less serious if they happen a bit further forward.  And it also plays into the overall structure that Guardiola is trying to set up, because it gives them another passing option in deep midfield, which prevents teams just sitting on your holding midfielder and stopping you playing out from the back through midfield.  Rosenior was doing something similar with Roberts earlier in the season and I praised him for that too.

The thing with Roberts and Knight at wingback is you're asking them to do stuff which they're not good at, while reducing their opportunities to do stuff they're good at.  No matter how much he adapts, Knight is not going to be dropping his shoulder, beating a man and whipping a cross in.  It's just not his skill set (and that's not meant to be a criticism of Knight, every player has things they're good and bad at).  Knight's best spell of the season with him playing in behind McGoldrick, because he was doing what he was good at, in a situation that was set up to support him (someone in front of him to play off, midfielders behind to cover, pace out wide to stretch teams etc).  I just don't see what Knight or Roberts offer at wingback, other than being warm bodies to fill out a formation.

Like I've said all along, I think we were mostly winning games because we had better players than the other team, not because we were getting the most out of what we had.  How many games did we work hard, defend well and then McGoldrick scored out of nothing, for example?  And I think that's a big reason why we did so well against the poorer teams, and struggled against the better ones.  And I know that happens to all teams to a degree, but it's rare to see it as starkly as it was with us.

I think you've misunderstood the point about Wildsmith.  It wasn't meant as a criticism of Wildsmith, but more of a "we're back at square one, what shall we do now?".  At that point, we have complete control over what happens next - do we want Wildsmith playing out to e.g. Cashin or Bird to play through midfield?  Do we want quick throws to the wingbacks to break?  Do we want direct balls to the forwards?  It's basically the point where it should be most obvious what we're setting out to do.

You see it as back at square one what do we do now ? I don't ....Same as when I see Ederson when he gets used like an outfield player which he does, If the keeper did exactly the same thing when he received the ball it would be too predictable hence why ederson sometimes goes long sometimes plays out...its reading the situation not being a robot, if the centre backs split( and usually the opposition play 2 forwards ) and the forwards go wide then a centre mid will usually drop into the hole and ask for the ball if the centre backs aren't tracked by the 2 forwards then that is your outball if the intention is to play out from the back, if the GK sees an oppurtunity to send it wide and long to NML or whoever is the other wide player than he may do that ...its decision making ...we are in the third tier of the english game and players don't always get it right at this level but please don't think that nothing is worked on in training and in the classroom because I've sat myself in some clubs match analysis videos and seen where players make errors or don't carry out what there supposed to do in certain situations

The game is not all about tactics its about intelligence of seeing a picture of whats happening on the pitch, once the players cross the line it is down to them, you seem to think Warne sends them out there without any game plan or thought...i very much doubt that 

14 minutes ago, Jubbs said:

Not sure what you're saying on this. 

Pep is one of the best tacticians of all time.

A team I would look at that "don't need tactics" is Real Madrid. Look what happened the other night... City played Real off the park tactically.

Agree what I think what he maybe alluding too is that the best teams I think are tactically aware

When I was doing my own coaching badges I remember someone who had worked with Arsene Wenger saying that the best teams/players also adapt and work it out, hence why you rarely saw Wenger saying much during the game 

Pep is totally unique to me and very different to anyone I've seen , I went to a City campions league  game with my lad who's at uni in Manchester and to be honest the movement,intelligence and hard work from up high in the stands  was quite awesome to watch

Yes they cost a lot of money but the hard work at 3-0 up was the same as 0-0 but players being intelligent enough and knowing the warning signs is also something that good coaching brings not just spending big money

Pep does get animated and kicks every ball so there is no blueprint in how to manage from the touchline but for me making players aware of there roles and the dangers as well as exploiting oppurtunities when they arise is too late sometimes to order from the touchline

You need the players to at least be aware of what to do in games then trust them to carry it out 

I saw plenty of good oppurtunities last season going forward that we didn't exploit through bad decisions in the finall third or poor execution of the right decisions

We relied far too heavily on Didzy who was fantastic for us last season but he was also guilty on occasions of trying too much or not making the correct decisions in the final third and I believe some of that was because I think he thought without him we wre probably not likely to score many 

A few more players need to be a threat , for me Bird , Sibley, Knight and Barks dont score enough we need 5-10 goals from players in there position to take the burden off of the strikers , then add 2 more potent forwards and all of a sudden we will go from nearly play offs to top 2 for me ......

29 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

That's a formation though, not a game-plan.  "Attacking intent" isn't a game-plan either.  And neither is "moments of incisive passing and movement".  Like I said earlier in the thread, we did a load of different things at different times, some of it was good and some of it was bad, but there seemed to be no plan in place to maximise us doing the good stuff and minimise us doing the bad stuff.  And there seemed to be no overall idea of what we actually wanted to do attacking-wise, other than some vague notion of working hard and getting the ball forwards quickly. 

You pick out Knight and Roberts out wide, and that just sums the whole thing up to me.  Roberts is (AFAIK) a centre half converted to a left back, he's a good defender and he's a decent passer, but he's not a progressive, attacking wingback because he's not quick, he's not a great dribbler and he's not a great crosser.  Jason Knight is a really good box-to-box midfielder, he's good at pressing high up the pitch, running off the ball and getting into goal-scoring positions, he's not really a dribbler or a crosser.  If you play both of those players as wingbacks you're actively stopping them doing what they're really good at, and asking them to do stuff they're not good at.

There are similar issues with the front 3 and midfield.  NML and Sibley are both players that you want running with the ball, committing defenders.  McGoldrick needs balls into his feet and people running off him.  But with only 2 midfielders in behind them, we were regularly outnumbered in there, and struggled to control games and give that front 3 the service they needed.  We had moments where we managed to get the ball into them and they did well with it, but the rest of the team wasn't set up to make that happen on a regular basis.

Serious question - do you think Guardiola is standing up in front of his Man City team and saying "433 today lads, and show a bit of attacking intent".  Or is he figuring out how to get the ball to De Bruyne's feet as much as possible, how to get as many crosses on Haaland's head as possible, how to get Grealish/Mahrez/whoever into as many one-on-one situations against isolated defenders as he can?

No but by your theory he wouldn't ask John Stones ( a CB ) to step into midfield creating an overload/pivot point because he's a defender.

You seem to argue that positions are important as if players cannot adapt but plenty of players can play different positions, in fact that is the modern way now , not a RB being a rigid  RB 

Warne actually made us look a lot better I thought with the changes he made going 3 at the back as 4 at the back wasn't working 

Plenty on here thought we had run our race and were maybe out of gas and our ageing thin squad was showing signs of fatigue

When Warne changed it it galvanised us and I think I remember Angieram saying the players she spoke to at a function at PP said they were enjoying the change

They did seem happier and more fluent to me , but you can argue your point i guess 

To say there was no plan and start to scrutinise what Wildsmith does with the ball is really nitpicking for me

The overall picture was we played more attacking and I've said this before but if we had 2 more really good finishers we'd be in the play offs now because we created lots of chances and didn't kill teams off especially in the first half of games 

Add a couple of strikers to that squad and we would've finished higher, next season I think we will be autos 

20 hours ago, duncanjwitham said:

I'm not sure we played that much good football at all towards the end of the season, and what we did play was in fits and starts.  The only extended period of good football we had was the couple of months at the end of 2022, while playing a 4231.  But again, that almost entirely coincides with playing poorer teams (and being less tired etc).

Ultimately, the way we set against Wednesday cost us.  Their goal came from a ball into the huge gap behind our wingback, Forsyth gets caught up field and Curtis gets exposed and makes a pair of mistakes (the back-pass and the foul).  If we're playing a flat back 4, then quite possibly none of that happens.  That system forced too many players into unfamiliar positions IMO, whereas the biggest factor in the unbeaten run (again IMO) was players being comfortable in what they were asked to do.

We totally outplayed Wednesday and I thought we set up well because they literally were not in the game until the unfortunate error from Curtis.But saying that I still don't think it was a penalty or a red card.

We played some good stuff it wasn't all long ball as some suggest, you clearly don't like Warne which is your opinion but to say we didn't have a plan and didn't play any good football suggests you're watching a different game to me