FKANorwichExile

After all my humble pie eating on Collo, my only remaining criticism is that for a guy who's pretty good in the air, he never wins flick ons. The game we started with TJJ up top (can't remember which. Cheltenham maybe?), he flicked on a long goal kick which led to a goal. It was proper route one stuff, Vickers to JJ, flicked wide, crossed in, tapped home. You'd think a big lump like Collins would thrive on stuff like that, yet I don't remember him winning a single one. Otherwise I hope he's being wrapped up in cotton wool at every available opportunity. He's easily our most improved player and definitely in with NML, Cash and Nelson for player of the season.

It's been a bit of a nightmare window. I'd banked on us strengthening, Peterborough selling some of their assets (they didn't, and the one they did they loaned back) and the other top 6 scatter-gunning in some panic buys that weakened the overall team (ala Billy Davies promotion season).. Whatever happens this season, I think we'll see Warne forced to follow the Director of Football guys transfer strategy next season, because what we have done this year flat hasn't worked. Yes, freak injuries to Embleton and Ward haven't helped, but we shouldn't be surprised that old men and kids made of glass have fallen apart when we needed them.

I feel like Sibs could do a job as a striker, but he's not big or strong enough to do it in the system we're playing. Maybe Barks?

Huge. HUGE. Captain Cash.

Losing TJJ has got to be horrible for our negotiating position. Everyone knew we needed a striker, but now we're desperate. Queue every club we enquire at doing a Wednesday and asking for silly loan fees on top of wage contributions. We already had to pay the Derby tax because everyone either thinks we're loaded or about to go bust.

Is he actually any good, or are we just that desperate that even a rumour has gotten us all going?

This is about as uninspiring as it gets, but with the massive improvement in Collo recently we're not as desperate as we were. An experienced striker to drag us over the line doesn't sound quite as miserable as it would have done in summer.

As excited as I am that we're actually in the running for signing somebody, is he actually any good? I'm usually pretty up to scratch on L1/L2 players (thanks Football Manager) but I don't ever recall seeing him play, even though I know he's played against us.

I know it's bordering on tin foil hat, but I do wonder if there's any truth behind the rumours that he gets an extension upon reaching x amount of appearances and we're hoping to renegotiate. For me he's one of two or three that looked undroppable, and I've felt much less confident with Vickers (who hasn't made any mistakes in his defence, I just don't feel as safe).

I get the impression we weren't planning on signing Nyambe and that his wages will have cut into our planned Jan spendsies, but when we found ourselves down two starting right backs as well as your young option for a long stretch, he had to beg and borrow the money. In a way, he was our Jan budget unless we can free up a few quid elsewhere. I wouldn't be too shocked if Waggy retires, or mutually cancels his contract. The club seem very vague on what his injury is. That'd give us a few pennies to go bargain shopping.

The top-end that get European money might just survive League One, but the bottom end would be Conference north/south at best. It's a strange league, with occasional bits of quality and lots of classic lower league kick and hope

Don't mind me, just chowing down on some good old fashioned humble pie.

Bird and NML the difference, good shifts from Wilson and Collins (who continues to prove me wrong with every game). Looked a bit shaky at the back but they'll need time to bed in as a 3. Good results and some decent footy on show.

Fleetwood look decent going forward but you can see why they're struggling because the defending is abysmal. Would be good to fill our boots second half and build some momentum back up.

You could say the same for a lot of duos, but especially those when the manager had a more distinguished playing career (Rooney/Rosenior, Lampard with Morris and Given etc). Sometimes it's a good coach hitching his wagon to a bigger name so they can forge their own reputation, but more likely that modern managers are head coaches and work as part of a team. At the end of the day though, it'll still be the managers head on the block if it goes tits up.

I've done a complete 180 on Cash's pace (or lack of) this season. He's won so many recovery footraces, and made saving tackles, that I think it's unfair to say he's a bit lacking in speed, which I definitely used to spout. He's got a bit of that old school, do-or-die defender about him and at times he reminds me a bit of Paul McGrath (if he ends up half as good as McG then he'll be a superstar). I feel like we'll sell him, but I really hope we don't. We're not blowing teams away with 4 or 5 goals, we're grinding them slowly into submission with a brick wall backline and to sell the keystone doesn't get you promoted.

Poku and Mason Clarke gave us the run around today, but they are also probably the two best players we'll face all season. Otherwise I thought we looked OK. Definitely leggy and being penalised by not having the rotation options you'd want with an aging forward line (and TJJ being made of glass). Waggy coming on instead of, say, Sibs might have given us a bit more impetus up the pitch. Elder had his best performance for us and looked very solid defensively, so that's a plus as we can't rely on Fizzy forever sadly. I think a draw would have been a fair result, but I wasn't too unhappy at a loss here against a team that'll likely be picked apart over the transfer window. It's kinda what Peterborough do. My dad (a neutral because he was cursed with being a Spurs fan) watched on Sky for the first time in a couple of years and he was adamant that Cashin looked a class above and that Wildsmith commanded the area well. Then both come together for a last minute mess. Ah well.

He's a similar sort of player to Bird in that he's good technically but doesn't have as much influence on the game as you'd want from a single pivot defensive mid. If Reading are as deep in the doo as things seem to suggest and he's available for a low-ish fee then I wouldn't mind but I don't imagine him and Hourihane would make a particularly good pairing.

Warne got the changes spot on tonight, and I've got a lot of humble pie to eat. Right players at the right times and didn't they just make the difference?! Oxford looked very poor with the exception of Brannigan, but we didn't give them the chance to play out from the back and they dropped deeper and deeper as we crushed them with constant pressure. We weren't at our fluent best, but for 70 minutes we absolutely battered a top 6 team away from home and nobody can say we didn't deserve the win. Warne very much in!

I would switch sides for Eiran Cashin. What a man!

Well deserved! What a comeback, you absolute beautiful Rams!

Liam Thompson, target man! Get in!

@Owen87ITK gave us that one by dropping the knowledge bomb that Nelson "has got a big one on him". Move over NML!

Ward can't defend and Nyambe can't attack... Reckon we can squish them both into the same shirt? (The obvious answer is back 3 with Nyambe on the right with Cash and Nelson and Ward at rwb)

That's actually a really good point. He puts together good teams but doesn't quite have the tactical nous, maybe he's more of a technical director or director of football?