FKANorwichExile

After years of watching us pay through the nose for form players who inevitably disappoint, it'd be really refreshing for us to become a club who pick up outcasts, misfits and players who just haven't worked out and mould them into a team of winners.

Obviously that's a lot harder to do and requires top notch scouting and analytics, but doing a "Moneyball" and fitting the right players at the right time would be so satisfying. Especially when you think back to the Blackman and Anya signings *shudder*

I hope this means they'll do a run of the 1996/7 maroon away shirt again, seeing as they were the sponsor too. My first, and favourite, Rams shirt.

There aren't words in the English language for how much I fudging hate Wycombe. And they just comfortably outplayed us. Utterly pathetic.

2 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Been a few.  Asanovic and Osman come to mind.

Osman was the only one that came to mind for me. Him and Ian Taylor made a sensational partnership. Asa was my favourite player as a lad (I had a signed portrait on my wall that my dad found in the loft recently) but for me Stimac was the catalyst of the change in that team (although I was a wee lad at the time).

My Rams journey started in '94 and I've never seen a player come in and have such a massive influence on a team single handedly as Ebou Adams has. It's like Warneball just clicked when he came in, the mythical missing puzzle piece. Sign up The General immediately!

I'll take that all day. Good, solid away performance where either team could have claimed they deserved a winner. We definitely looked tired by the end, especially Collo who by all accounts should barely be able to stand let alone run around for 90 minutes. If Vickers is fit he might be able to stake a claim for a start next time out too.

Sibs absolutely smashing through the winger is a hell of a sight. He nearly broke him in half, proper tackle.

4 minutes ago, Papahet said:

Blackett-Taylor looking better with each game

Him and NML either side of a younger, more mobile Collins replacement next season is gonna be spicy.

What a game of football so far! We're hardly prime Barcelona, but both sides playing some decent stuff.

16 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

 

The "that's why I love this club" at the end warmed my cold, dead heart. What a man. We must sign him.

What a game. Proper blood and thunder stuff at times, but we also played some good stuff in brief spells. The whole back 4 were immense and Adams was a force of nature. He looked shattered by the end, same with Smith who did a good, professional job in getting a boot in and slowing things down when we needed it. We look so much better when not carrying Hourihane. CBT had an excellent first half and Washy gave a good account tooi. It was so good to see Collo again, just being a handful and a nuisance.

A word for the ref, too. I thought he had a really good game, which is probably the only time this season I've said that.

A point at Pompey please!

1 hour ago, Bluebazooka said:

You'll be hard pressed to find a pompey fan that thinks promotion is guaranteed this season. We're only two defeats away from blowing it. 

One of us... One of us...

I really wanted to like the guy because I'd heard so many good things about him but let's be honest, he's had maybe two good games since joining us and in the rest he's been poor at best.

He's huge, but he barely wins headers. He's muscled off the ball by any striker with physicality. He's got a bit of vision for a pass, but has made so many horrendous mistakes on the ball that you just can't trust him. 

If he, the marquee signing brought in to be a leader, has intentionally headbutted a guy during the most important run of games in the season, then he should never play for us again. A few players have built up a bit of good will and can be excused for emotional outbursts, but he's not one of them. It's beyond disgraceful.

2 hours ago, Dimmu said:

 

I remember posting a similar expectations-based post earlier where I expected Peterboro to do better than they did at the time and Stevenage to drop as their xG was all wrong. I can't be arsed to search what the situation was at the time, but Stevenage certainly has dropped since.

The automatic promotion battle will probably go to the wire, but the second place is ours to lose.

I've been saying for a while that if I was a betting man, I'd have good money on us and Posh going up automatically and Lincoln to cause an upset in the playoffs. I wasn't expecting Lincoln to score 16 goals in 3 games, mind. Barnsley aren't clinical enough, Bolton have weaknesses at the back and injuries everywhere else and Portsmouth have an awful run in. It just feels like experience will be the key factor here, and whoever hits the playoffs in form gets the third spot.

Oh, and B4 would have been so proud of all the scarves and flanges today. Reckon he's had a word or two upstairs! How much do you reckon he'd want for Wilson after today?

My Fitbit gave me a warning about my heart rate hitting 130 during the last few minutes, which says it all! God it was an ugly match, but last season we lose that 2 or 3 nil and I'm absolutely buzzing that we managed to bulldoze our way over the line.

What a player Sheehan looked for them, though. If we do get over the line, I'd love us to pick him up.

8 minutes ago, Scott129 said:

Can't believe opposition fans are still peddling this crap.

Yes, we have a good wage budget for the league, but 50% more than Bolton? Utter rubbish.

 

Also under-stating how many of our fans *still* want Warne gone...

But who is a big earner in our squad? I remember reading somewhere that Bird and Knight were on Champ-level contracts, and obvs Bielik was. But now? Maybe Hourihane and probably Bradley are well paid. Maybe Gayle, but that was out of necessity. We're hardly Barry Bannan'ing our way through the league.

CBT has all the hallmarks of being a summer signing that we were given the option of bringing in a bit early. We knew he wouldn't come in and instantly be up to Warnes idea of match fit, but if you're given the option to have one of the leagues most dangerous players as an impact sub while you prepare him for next season, you take it. We've laid it into Warne and staff for not having the options to change games from the bench, and now we do. He hasn't done it yet, but he'll come good. Barks hitting form just as he gets fit doesn't help either.

What's stood out to me is how he's got an eye for a pass that very few of our forwards have. There's been a couple of times that he's picked out NML in dangerous positions that caught me off guard and I genuinely believe next season him and Nate could be scary together.

Usual EA, the link doesn't work.

So, for my sins, I've gotten quite into EAFC Ultimate Team (formerly known as FIFA) and one of the mechanics they introduced this year to con us cash cows out of even more money was the occasional ability to "evolve" a player to add stats or traits. Essentially, you can make bang average players (of which our beloved club is crammed full) half decent.

So yeah, this is what I've come up with so far.

https://www.ea.com/ea-sports-fc/ultimate-team/web-app/?showoffId=kMfcAVpFgmOx:FFA24XSX

I've allowed myself a few ex players to make it less painful to use, so in come Ashley Cole, Rooney and Tomori to bring up the average rating a bit. Ward is the only player who is actually able to run, and Waghorn has become a (very slow) monster who doesn't miss and scores free kicks for fun.

Anyone else had a go?

5 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

We seem to be playing so much quicker than previously, it’s really good to watch comparitvely. The attacking wing backs genuinely help going forwards, we have a lot more creative players on the pitch.

Adams been a great signing, Gayle too. Ward is like a new signing and barkhuizen been excellent last three games. 

Great time of the season to be hitting form! Roll on Saturday!

Totally agree. It's like it has finally clicked and the players understand what's expected of them (whether that's a negative on the coaching or the players I'll leave up to the reader).

Admittedly, it does help when our opposition very kindly decide not to attack us for 80 minutes. Hopefully Bolton get that memo too.

Adams is the real deal, Gayle is pure class and the 3-4-3 formation finally seems to be making sense (especially to Sibs who looks like a new player). The ref was having a great game until he suddenly wasn't, but it's about time we got some decisions going our way.

Just 8 more cup finals to go, but we're hitting our stride at just the right time. I reckon we'll do it.

Barkhuizen may be the most frustrating player in the team. He can't finish to save his life then will bang in a twenty yarder, can't pass the guy next to him then sweeps a perfect ball cross field. He should have about 15 goals from the positions he finds himself in. Drives me up the wall.

Anyway, good win and good to see Ward finally show what he's capable of. Hope Ebou is ok, he's vital.

I'm confused about why the consensus seems to be that we should have gone 4-3-3 earlier because I feel like playing a 3/5 kept us in the game when they were pressing. Their front two and the supporting midfielder would have overrun a back 4 because, let's be honest, you'd be wanting the fullbacks to bomb on too, so it'd be 2v3 on the break. You can't go away to a form team and play that aggressively.

My problem with the formation was the frantic switching at the end where the players looked lost as to what they were supposed to be doing.

Overall, two poor teams today. I think we win that with a fit squad, but it is what it is.

I wasn't confident about this one before I saw the ref news, now I'm bricking it. I'de be delighted with a point from this.