Andrew3000

Proud day for me. I used to coach Harrison Foulkes at under six and seven level. He is still pals with my son. Looking forward to getting some tickets this year! ???⚽️

Could it be something other than effort/fitness?
Perhaps their shots aren't hitting the back of the net as often as they should, or passing/crossing is inaccurate... however on match day they're fantastic.
Blackman apparently had the opposite problem. He was dynamite in training but looked like a donkey on matchday.

Yes, it's a fascinating interview. He is scathing about the idea that players who perform on match day are judged on training. It's a tricky one that because you have to give incentive to train hard but then we've all heard managers talk about talented mavericks who needed managing differently. We know that artistic types for instance tend to be low on trait conscientiousness. So do you bin your best player if he doesn't train as hard as the rest? Very context dependent I imagine and as he says maybe at the elite level you cannot allow this. I'm not saying for one minute jack was our best player, but we were seeing a player who worked hard on the pitch and was scoring. We'll see what happens this year, but the accusation is that he was mismanaged and that seems right to me.

Yes, it's a fascinating interview. He is scathing about the idea that players who perform on match day are judged on training. It's a tricky one that because you have to give incentive to train hard but then we've all heard managers talk about talented mavericks who needed managing differently. We know that artistic types for instance tend to be low on trait conscientiousness. So do you bin your best player if he doesn't train as hard as the rest? Very context dependent I imagine and as he says maybe at the elite level you cannot allow this. I'm not saying for one minute jack was our best player, but we were seeing a player who worked hard on the pitch and was scoring. We'll see what happens this year, but the accusation is that he was mismanaged and that seems right to me.

Interesting points.
I feel that Marriott, in a similar way to Waghorn, is judged (rightly or wrongly) by his failings towards the end of his time at Derby. Sometimes I have to force myself to remember how much he contributed to that brilliant 18/19 season.
Let’s not forget, he scored in the games against Man United, Chelsea, Norwich and Leeds, just off the top of my head. Four brilliant, memorable games.

Yes, it's a fascinating interview. He is scathing about the idea that players who perform on match day are judged on training. It's a tricky one that because you have to give incentive to train hard but then we've all heard managers talk about talented mavericks who needed managing differently. We know that artistic types for instance tend to be low on trait conscientiousness. So do you bin your best player if he doesn't train as hard as the rest? Very context dependent I imagine and as he says maybe at the elite level you cannot allow this. I'm not saying for one minute jack was our best player, but we were seeing a player who worked hard on the pitch and was scoring. We'll see what happens this year, but the accusation is that he was mismanaged and that seems right to me.

That's......not the coughing emoji surely??
 

Probably not for a very long time. Was reading this morning that the NZ PM is going to keep the borders shut until next year, so the entire population can be vaccinated. Going to be in for a nasty shock when she discovers the vaccinated can still catch, spread and die from Covid.
Zero Covid is a myth.

He's not wrong. We should have played him in the final from the start and the team selection was mental

That picture sure is something

I think the nightmare start was because one team had clearly played together while the other one had not. Simples.    Ish! It left some with the mindset that we are awful and will really struggle this season. Well we will struggle, no doubt about that. But apart from the two mistakes we didn't perform badly. YEs Salford might have scored one or two more, but then we could have done the same! 
THE LADS DONE GOOD!
There seems to be two groups of people forming right now - those who have got it in for Joswiack, and those who are starting to have it in for Sibley. Joswiack got a load of flack on Saturday becaue his gaff in front of goal was what he was guilty of last season, so people are rightly annoyed that he doesn't appear to be learning from his mistakes, or to be developing. Last night his strengths of his defensive work and his play in midfield were there again, but last night he was looking to lay the ball off better on several occasions, so that is definite progress. Keep it up Kamil!
And Sibley - apart from his red mist tendency, many say that he is weak defensively. Yet for the first 20 minutes he was the one putting the challenges in. And later on, after our formation tweaks he found loads of pockets of space, and laid some terrific through balls on, parrticularly short ones through the defence. He was in line for man of the match until Ebosele's boots lit up.
There was another difference last night, especially for the opening stages. When Salford got the ball in defence they immediately shouted "Forwards", and off they went, transitioning through the phases really well. When we got the ball, we went all Chuckle Brothers, embarking on a series of about 20 passes sideways. "It's Cocu ball, Jim, but not as we know it" is apt, because it was just as turgid in terms of progress, but at least it was quicker than Cocu's offering. A second problem, which was highlighted earlier, was that while we were struggling to find a forward pass, Ebosele wa standing out on the wing totally unmarked, and with acres of space in front of him. Our response to this gift of an out ball was to turn and pass sideways to someone who was already marked, and it happened time and time and time and time again.
It wasn't helped by Louie Watson - he of the massive accolades. It seems he had been told how DMs play. Because of his desire for the forwards pass we all expected a George Thorne, but what we got was another Max Bird, maybe hinting that Max has been told to play like he does as well. The poor kids.
When Ravel Morrison went deeper it seemed to free our lad up, and suddenly the real Louie Watson started to play. Hence the accolades. And he never shirked or hid from the ball, instead standing with his arms aout wide saying "Pas it to me". Good lad!
The kids did really well - Hutchinson looks a potential star, Stretton looks like he knows what a striker should do, and if he had been given the ball in the right places, he almost certainly would have done well. As it happens he nearly scored from the only through ball he got to run on to. Well done, Mr Stretton! Williams looked good, and never gave up, despite Salford's seedier side being on display. How the defender wasn't booked I have no idea, apart from him not being a Derby player. Compare this with Ebosele's booking. Good grief. Sky described the foul on Williams as "It wasn't obstruction, it was the player simply getting in the way a bit". They forgot to mention that it was deliberate, with the intention of stopping Williams getting on the ball. Ie obstruction! The Sky pundits were at it again, blathering on about our penalty not being one, with the topic occupying them right up until Salford's non-penalty. They tried to show that there was no contact on Ebosele. The truth is that Ebosele's leg was moved by the contact, but the original camera view, from behind, shows the defender flicking his leg in between Ebosele's legs. It was deliberate, aimed at either putting him off balance, or even tripping him without it looking like a trip. Maybe if Salford concentrated on the football instead of the dark arts, maybe they wouldn't still be in League Two. 
What last night tells us is that although we might struggle his season, simply because of lack of squad depth, there is a terrific togetherness and never say die attitude amongst the players, and there are plenty of good signs for the future.
So, raise your glasses, everybody. Here's to a great future!

..........if you don't like it, you can get on your bike with the Salford Lads!
 

Yeah it’s only the league cup, yeah they’re only a league 2 side, yeah it was penalties....
but we really needed that.

Undefeated all season ?

Can we just go straight to penis every match? ?

Chuffed with that. A great experience for the young lads.

Well done you Lambs!! ? 

Well played lads. Real character. 

Lois Watson to win it. He does. Woohoo 

True, you can’t Polish a Teale.

Just as long as we don’t field a team of matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs.
We could be in for a reet cloggin’!

Morrison, Sibley, Lawrence, Jozwiak are all neat, tidy 'clever' players who flit around the periphery of the penalty area in an 'after you Claude' kind of fashion. 
Can we not, for once, have a player who is good at tearing into the box with the sole intention of smashing the ball into the flippin net? 
That's the kind of forward I want to see in the team, even if he misses a few. 

You lot are something else. ??
Appreciate all the messages, especially the one that said I’m young. Whilst I hear all the you have nothing to apologise for messages, I feel I did and couldn’t just swan back in here like nothing had happened.
Now I have addressed it and the football is back, hopefully we can all draw a line under this episode and move on.
This is a time when we all need to be together right now.

Without the X Factor sob story, it has been difficult and an ongoing situation which I will update.
(For those reading, this isn’t about me but a family member that I’m finding it difficult getting the support they need)
Not everybody is open about what they are dealing away from the computer screen which is why people should think about how they talk to people, not just me, online.