FKANorwichExile

He's won me over so much that I'm genuinely sad for him that he'll likely not play for us again. Don't get me wrong, he's frustrating as hell in his inconsistency in front of goal and I'm not sure he's won a flick on all season, but his fitness and work rate is the solid base we've been able to build the performances on.

Collos graft, NMLs magic and the brick wall of Cash and Nelson have been the spine of everything good we've done this year. So thank you, James Collins.

PS I'm sorry for calling you so many rude names, I am an idiot.

I'm refusing to let my hopes get up. We've had better, more technical loan players but for my money he's the most important single loan signing since... Maybe Osman?

If he's still got the legs to charge about and chase down, we should be on to a winner. Assuming it's a deal until the end of the season, any longer than that and we risk being stuck with another aging, expensive striker. But needs must, and we've got to gamble with Collins out and being 2nd. 

That's an enormous result. The tactical shift to bring on Smith won us that, so props to Warne.

That was the loudest I'd heard PP for some time! Top fans.

I'm probably alone in thinking promotion would actually suit Warneball. We're on for our best away form season ever, and part of that is that teams are forced into attacking us on their home patch. We have a strong core to the defence and can counter quickly. Where we struggle is breaking down teams doing exactly what we want to do; sitting deep and breaking quickly. Promotion would mean we were not the heavy favourites for every game and teams would be expecting to take points off us, so would attack more freely and play into our underdog gameplan.

Is it fun to watch? Heck no, it's dour and boring. But it's effective. 30% possession away at Exeter sounds abysmal untill you read their fans saying we played them off the park and showed a real quality difference.

Regardless of opinions, stats or feelings surely we can all agree that he is the best manager called Paul Warne who is currently at the club 🤷‍♂️

My ex-wife would love him, be absolutely loves doing the ugly things!

2 minutes ago, JPRamFan said:

I love Ebou Adams. What a signing so far.

I know you should never get too attatched to loan players, but if (when?) we go up, we HAVE to sign him. What an impact he's had.

I work on the basis that if I'm confused about all the positional changes from in front of my TV, the players must be absolutely baffled. Warne has won games with his subs recently, but he cost us two points today. Nobody seemed to know who they were marking or where they should be and it descended into primary school kick and chase at times.

Adams is fantastic though. Once he's fully match fit, he'll eat this league up. Perfect mix of nasty, ratty b****** and actual footballing brain (exactly what I thought Fornah would be).

I think he's a victim of just how good Cash and Nelson have been this year. They're probably two of the top 5 CB's in the league playing in a team who've only conceded 28 all season. He had a shocking start but he's not been anywhere near as bad as some fans seem to make out, which I think is probably more a reaction to not liking us playing a back 5.

Think we have to stick with it and name as close to the same team as we can. We need to get some confidence into Ward and Bradley and they had their best games for the club against Charlton. Adams should be a nailed-on inclusion too. Only change for me should be CBT for NML if he doesn't recover in time.

If NML is gonna miss games as well, I'd be ok with asking what Dean Sturridge and Deon Burton are up to, let alone Gayle. We're desperate, but people seem to think we can pick and choose! Get over yourselves!

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.

10 hours ago, Ram@Lincoln said:

How does the league level compare against the English leagues? Conference/league two? I don't know too much about the Irish system other than we seem to have good youth scouts over there. 

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.