Zag zig

16 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

“If we lose Bird “? He’s gone . Gayle is the talking point now . Newcastle fans say - He has hamstrings like violin strings . We will have to be very careful with him or he will be joining the crew in the treatment room .

Don’t disagree but with Waggy and Wash (as Warne likes to call them), nearly ready for game time, it’s likely the next 3-4 weeks most critical, as I expect both those pair will come back and play a bigger part in the games towards the back end of next month and into April.

Daft as it sounds, they probably all could be good for 30 minutes in any game, but expecting 90 minutes might be pushing it until the last few matches.

1 hour ago, Comrade 86 said:

Really like this lad. Humble, eloquent, appreciative, super hard-working and an absolute beast on the pitch. We need to make him feel as welcome as we can, which in fairness, I think we are are. 

Never mind a striker, he should be top of any summer signing list, if at all possible. He just makes us massively more solid and breaks play so well. 
 

Nobody is running through our midfield anymore, like you say just a really likeable lad and he’s giving Bird much more freedom.

On 06/02/2024 at 22:17, sage said:

I've been today today that Burnley had a bid of £10m turned down for him and were quoted £21m !!

Always thought many in that PL2 team would be worth millions in the future.

We really did have some cream in our academy that year.

47 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

I’m on the same page as you. I’d have liked us to sign a striker for sure, but don’t think it’s as terrible as some are making out (whilst respecting their right to that opinion).

We’ve added a couple of players, have some to come back from injury. All I can do now is wait and see how the season unfolds. 

Yeah, keep the faith I’m an optimist though feeling other contenders, regardless of circumstance, have come out the window maybe a little better than us but…

47 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Let’s see what happens. 17 games to go, 51 points to play for.

Feels like a fingers crossed, hope it works out but hey, new midfielder, decent winger on paper, maybe Waggy and Wash back if it’s play offs, who knows 🤷‍♂️

One year our luck might be in, that’s why we keep believing 🐑 

29 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

Because we should be keeping our best players.

And part of doing that is creating a playing environment where they want to be.

(I quoted you but my comment isn't aimed at you but all those who seem to be happy to see Bird go)

Ok, for clarity, I’m not happy to see him go, if you read that comment 😉 

The dreamer in me would’ve liked to have seen him, Cashin, Sibley, even Knighty and Whittaker in a squad challenging for championship promotion; just like I had dreams of seeing Hughes, Hendrick and Bryson maybe others in a premiership team 🙂

2 hours ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Those making observations about Warne’s style of football and Bird could well be right, maybe he’ll tell us all in a book one day.

A thought that’s occurred to me is maybe he’s just decided it’s time to move on in the summer. He’s been at the club for years, and a lot of those years have been turbulent times, he stood by the club when others walked away or forced their way out, maybe he’s just ready for something else but wants to help towards promotion before he goes.  

I’m loathed to say anything as my lad has told me a few things he’s heard Max say, more so Sibbo. The pair of them were very proud to come through our academy, they are professionals and want the best career’s possible. One day many might hear a story, a younger Max wasn’t that complimentary about Cocu at one point “allegedly” I’ve heard, but he’s always sought to improve his game and why shouldn’t he want new challenges, maybe better money etc.

Some comments are so savage, like we’re entitled to own careers or gain promotions. The same kind of comments that wrote off Morgan Whittaker and said good riddance etc; yet it was clear he was still developing and now look. Just maybe Max needs to move to develop his game more too; after all plenty day he’s not suited to Warne’s style, similar to Hourihane, can’t play together you name it.

Why can’t people be happy we’ve developed a young lads career, enjoy what he gave and wish him well; more so if we made what the club feel is decent money!

His interview excites me, purely as he sounds like filling the gap left when Knighty went.

If he brings energy, can break play, he’s exactly what our midfield of Bird and Hourihane has lacked imo.

Cant wait to see him play myself.

That was just pure garbage, I’ve no idea what our tactics were tonight.

Afraid this was a step back, just struggling to find anything positive to say after watching that game, which has to go down as one of the poorest of the season.

Oh well onto Saturday.

37 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

Good opportunity for him, based on what we’ve seen he has a chance of doing really well at that level. 

Acts as a little crash course in men’s football to see how he handles it. 

They just freed up space in their squad by letting a lad I know well enough, move up to MK Dons. He was getting Player of the month awards. So Dajaune has a good benchmark for them to judge him on.

Much as I’d like to join the fun and take the proverbial out of Forest, the likelihood of it affecting them will be remote because I expect no more than a slap on the wrist.

The EFL were hell bent in punishing Mel one way or another, it’ll not be the same for the Red dogs. If they really wanted to clamp down, something would have been done about them and Watford’s ease of transferring assets but wasn’t.

My expectations are this will be a charade, with maybe a few quid going here and there in punishment. 

6 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Set up for the counter I guess. It does drive me nuts 

Me too. Scored a good 3rd goal but there was a chance when NML broke and he had no option but to shoot, even from a tight angle with defenders around him as nobody could keep up with him.

Just too defensive at times, but hey ho we got over the line.

11 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Never a free kick

That comment could be used several times over, ref been quite poor.

John Eustace right now must be

3 minutes ago, DRBee said:

Played further forward, as he has been recently, Bird doesn't cut it - he is indecisive when given a shooting chance but Hourihane, who Warne plays further back is much better at that ( though not necessarily having the energy now to this effectively ). The Max Bird  we knew with incisive passing has long disappeared.

Not disputing your comments but I’d say a likely reason is age and legs. He sees Bird more mobile, doesn’t mean Hourihane doesn’t join in at times; particularly set plays or when we’re camping in the opposition half.

Just generally I suspect Warne wants Bird to develop more into the player Hourihane was. Of course, could be talking utter tosh, but it’s often crossed my mind when the Bird/Hourihane sitting or playing further up around the box comes into discussion.

1 hour ago, Returning ram said:

Think you missed the irony 🤨

Yep guess I did🙈, still my comments were valid, given other mentions 😉

3 hours ago, jameso said:

Most over-rated since Morgan Whittaker? Maybe one day he'll be playing against us and he'll do something to change your view.

The same Morgan Whittaker that took this season’s tally to 13 in the championship today, think it’s half a dozen assists. 
 

Players need to be played to their strengths, sometimes they need others around them to compliment their talent. Just wish we didn’t judge youth too quickly, as whilst Cashin is getting plaudits of late, I’d be confident both Bird and Sibley will have good careers ahead of them; with or without us.
 

Neither are the finished product, exactly like Whittaker, who seems to be getting better with age and understanding of his team mates and manager. 

3 minutes ago, Kinder said:

Agreed. He looked tired to me and had his quietest game for a while. Understandable with the number of minutes he’s played recently.

Yep and a few around me actually thought Barks was unlucky to be subbed at half time, as he did more than NML because he looked fatigued.

No scapegoating, he was just a bit flat battery today.

7 minutes ago, Srg said:

Peterborough match up really well with us. We are an old, slow team and they’re anything but that. I credit Warne for making switches to try and stem the tide but it wasn’t going to work against that. We need players in who have pace and athleticism badly. 3rd match in quick succession with no lineup change likely a bridge too far.

My mine gripe was you don’t want to concede against a team like that from two high balls into the box. That is absolutely unforgivable. They’re killing us with their quick play, but to concede two seriously bad goals was really infuriating.

Overall, Peterborough best team (in possession) I’ve seen since we came down and we didn’t deserve a lot from it. Just frustrating it happened like that.

January important for us. We need to add that pace and athleticism in attacking areas. 

Ditto almost all of that.

Reading back the last few pages most people can see P’boro are a good attacking side; if anything they were a bit wasteful and let us off the hook until the last 10 minutes.

We rode our luck though, thought we were going to get something, but just switched off a bit. If anything we should’ve tested their back line with crosses more, we too lacked accuracy on delivery and looked a little shot shy. But I’ve no real complaints, we’ve done well to get 3 points off them and I wouldn’t fancy playing them in any play offs; particularly over 2 legs.

Fortunately, the biggest plus is Warne’s post match comments, we’re not looking to sell; though I think there was a big clue recruitment won’t be easy. We do need more pace though.

This team is still going to be up there end of the season, today didn’t change that for me.

2 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Oxford. Oxford embarrassed themselves this evening.

Agree but I’d say we embarrassed them, after gifting them a start, it almost feels after the game, like we were toying with them.
 

We completely forced them into giving the ball back most of the game; their embarrassment comes from our superiority - we were that good! 

22 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

A predictable outcome. We were due an off day.

We’ll bounce back on Monday.

Ain’t heard no fat lady singing yet.

3 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Been out running a couple of errands...so, it's not gone well?

Aside from giving the most stonewall penalty, constant fouls and half the team must be hung over, it’s not too bad really 🙄

Warne needs to sit them down at half time and tell a fair few to stop diving in and just play their game.

No way should we be 2 down.

1 minute ago, LincsRam said:

Can live with the penalty decision but the foul for the FK which they got the 2nd was a blatant dive right in front of the ref.... its such a bad decision.

Same as the pen though, don’t give the ref, the chance to play to the home crowd by going in when you don’t have to. The crowd and players appealed, as they would, it was an easy “home” decision to give.

Another that wouldn’t have minded seeing Warne depart after some of the earlier performances; although realistically I never believed it would happen anyway.

My issue with Warne was aside from P’boro away, we never played free flowing football that we’ve been spoilt with at times with others.

The main problem I had, was no obvious plan at times, other than seemingly lump crosses in, nor did he seem to react well to opposition tactical changes. The players just seem to be gelling more though and the football is becoming better, because the players are better than many others in this league. Warne has to get credit for that though, as it’s his team selection and tactics that are enabling it.

The recent run seems to have lifted pressure off him, he comes across far better in interviews. I’ll have to live with his quips, it’s obviously his psyche that he can’t but be jokey at times.

Vale and Wigan performances in particular though, are well and truly changing my mindset, where we’ve not only looked dominant football wise, but have shown real determination not to concede soft goals. Yesterday I’d have been happy to chant any pro Warne song. I’m back to being a full on happy clapper 🐑 

On 21/12/2023 at 06:16, IlsonDerby said:

Manus under 18s are a class above aren’t they this season? 
 

and we’ve pushed them all the way despite them poaching loads of our best players during admin who’d be in our under 18 side now. 
 

Very proud day for our under 18s

Just curious besides Scanlon, wasn’t there 2 others bought on the cheap? Are they also featuring for United?