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BaaLocks

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Everything posted by BaaLocks

  1. This one comes up again and again, it just feels like it has become the written history. To remind: - If you don't like the team Lampard picked on that day you don't like the team he picked in the SF (a) game (give or take - Marriott on the bench being the point I am making) vs Leeds. Given what happened there he'd have been equally slaughtered if he'd changed it. - That Villa team was a whole hill of beans better than us, objectively. They had Grealish, McGinn, Abraham, Mings and a couple more (inc. Hourihane back when he could influence a game), it was about as good a Championship team as I can recall - I know we had Tomori, Wilson and Mount but still we had a few players who were well beyond their last hurrah (Huddlestone, Cole, Johnson). If we played that game the other way round, a half dozen times over, I'd reckon we'd lose more times than we won (let's not forget they had beaten us 7-0 on aggregate in the league that season). Yes, it all went up a gear when Marriott came on but those rear view mirrors are great things that football managers do not possess in real time. Not to say I didn't have my issues with Lampard but it is lazy memory (imho) to think it was all about the starting line up. We went in as heavy underdogs and we lost, as we were expected to.
  2. Well thanks a million for bringing that memory back - that's Monday ruined.
  3. OK - fair point. Either a dopey comment or that person wasn't around watching Peter Taylor's 1980s side, Paul Jewell's car crash or possibly a couple of others sides since (Pearson springs to mind).
  4. That's coz it was Rangers he was claiming to be being tapped up for (tbf that's what I remember but I can't vouch I am completely correct 🙂). What is amusing is that Billy is still at it, just last year he 'offered his services' to manage Rangers and has given a litany of interviews down the years about how he was approached (at an undefined time) to be Rangers boss but declined. He really is a very strange person in many ways. As for his time at Derby, many are right in that the winning was fun and it was often late and close. Memories are strongly tainted by what happened after but even at the time I clearly remember it being a bit 'grind it out'. Ultimately, you'll get forgiven if you are winning but it was far from the most flowing of football, lots of hunkering down on 1-0 leads and those late wins, great though they were, came from us having stifled much of the match to that point. Ultimately, it worked - and if Warne does the same he will be remembered as the guy who got us promoted. If he doesn't he'll end up pretty mid-table on the OP list in the memories.
  5. Go on, show one comment where someone actually says 'this is the worst football I've ever seen' or even words to that effect. People have issues with it, style or entertainment, but I don't see anyone calling it out as being the worst they've ever seen. It helps frame the discussion if your view of the alternate, or aligned, view is grounded in some sort of reality and not just swayed to extremes to give you something to rail against (Heavens forbid that happens in todays society).
  6. I don't think I unfairly reserve my vitriol, I fairly believe Conor Hourihane is not delivering for this team. Is he played out of position or in the wrong format? Well if I hire a plumber to do my electrics it doesn't matter, the fact is my electrics will be sub-standard and the plumber gets judged on that, not how good they are at plumbing. Limited choices btw? We have a bigger squad than Peterborough, Bolton, Stevenage or Blackpool and definitely towards the top end in the division. So you think we just clap every pass, even those that are intercepted, 'get behind the lads' (especially those that are prisoners) and then just go 'oh well, we gave it a go' when we come up short? BTW - we agree there is much to play for, which is why it makes no sense to pile on Warne at this time. If he fails, that time will come. Before that, given we have to make the best of the playing squad we have, I see no issue raising concern if one of those players is not performing to a level needed.
  7. It's certainly not a good idea to point vitriol at our manager when there is still much to play for. That's just barmy. But we can be clear on what we think success looks like and what we would expect to happen if that success was not achieved. That's not vitriol either, that's expectation. For me, he has to get us up this season - if that doesn't happen then my expectation would be he is not our manager at the start of next season.
  8. They're nonsense and silly? Damn them facts eh, always making points you might not agree with. As for Hourihane getting six assists, even five goals, for a player that takes many of the corners and set pieces for a club at the top end of the table I'd say that is hardly an astounding return. In conclusion, I hope it all gets turned around, I certainly don't want us firing Warne and would be delighted to see him take us up and then consolidate in the Championship. For a club of our size, our support and our resource it really is the least he can be expected to do.
  9. We've taken one point in two games against two teams that have managed a combined 7 points out of 24 before they played us We've failed to score in three of our last four games, we didn't even manage a shot on goal in our last match We've lost leading positions in two of the last nine games, ones where we had points on the board until the 94th and 98th minute As for Hourihane creating chances, besides jumping on one late one against Burton he is a complete liability. Not since Gary Teale have I seen a Derby player so unable to justify his position in a starting line up. Not sure what pay off that means Warne has agreed to, but it isn't one I feel comfortable accepting without comment.
  10. Don't worry, I can take it. It's just an online forum after all - you've not insulted my mother or anything like that. You will note I haven't suggest 'Warne out' or that we need to go and buy Chris Martin. I'm saying that we have obvious failings in our team and they are the same issues we had last year. Our midfield lacks bite, the ability to out think other teams is not there. And as for comments on the squad - of course Nyambe, Elder, Nelson and Wilson are good, you would expect them to be. We are one of the big draws in the lower leagues and we should have the ability to attract better players. But they are not better than Knight, Roberts, Davies, McGoldrick, Ebosele or Kazim-Richards. They just aren't. And that is the point - our manager is here to turn us around, to improve us as a club and he isn't doing that at the moment. And the signings he has been allowed to bring in haven't done that. And he still doesn't see that our midfield is powder puff. And he still doesn't see that Hourihane is a scandal to be an automatic name on that team sheet. Should he go? No, not now. But if we don't go up this season he should.
  11. I will quote @Gee SCREAMER !! from a few weeks back - Hourihane is stealing a living in this team. Absolutely stealing one.... For a player that was supposed to be our linchpin he has been woeful in all but two or three games. Sibley is still living off that Milwall hat-trick (if ever there was an example of lucking out that was it, I'd be surprised if he scores three more goals in the rest of his career) and Bird just seems to get muscled off the ball too easily. Some say Bird gets himself about but that is for naught if you can't control and distribute the ball when you win it back. To not score against either Lincoln or Reading and to not even have a shot on goal when a win would have taken us top shows just how poor this side actually is. And while we can point blame at Hourihane, Bird and Sibley it is also true that time and again, it's the summer signings that have been the undoing of us, there is simply no quality in nearly all of what was brought in. Nothing to even suggest we can change a game when things aren't going our way. Ward, Bradley, Washington etc. have just been bang average. Nelson, Elder, Nyambe, Wilson have replaced what was there before (Davies, Roberts etc) but besides that this team is not better than the one of loans and favours we cobbled together last season. As for Warne, I'm not sure you can blame him as much for the footballing ideas and general intent but if you don't have bite in the centre of the park you can shout and wail all you want to get it out wide. Not much point though if you can't keep the ball for more than ten seconds or find a man in space when you do. What I will say is that tactically Warne doesn't seem to do his homework - mate of mine is a Reading fan, tells me before the game that Azeez is the main threat. So what happens, we let him run free for the first half before we work it out? Surely someone, somewhere watched a video and had a think about what they were going up against? Depressingly poor performance against a team that we should have cantered to a win against.
  12. And, all a bit of a hassle to run the hoover round - or pay someone else to do it. To quote Fight Club (which I know you're not supposed to do) "the things you own end up owning you"
  13. France tried something like this, pretty much a tax that was at a rate of something like 80% over €1m of earnings. It never got through, to my recollection. I've always wondered for film stars, entrepreneurs and the like there must just come a day where they wake up and think "this has all just gone mad". So few of them manage to remain grounded (Keanu being an example). I think they all just decide they need more 'stuff' - extra telly, then new watch, then new car, then extra house, then two houses, then five cars, then on and on it goes. The problem for many of us as well is comparative wealth - I've heard it said that one of the better measures of contentedness is that you earn more than your friends. I also remember hearing a story that Roman Abramovich scrapped / sold a new yacht because he realised that one of the other oligarchs had gone and bought one bigger. My point? It's not about wealth, relative wealth or desired wealth. It's about being contented with your own position in life - my Mum was anything but a millionaire (anything but!). But she was also always happy with her lot and I can assure you she lived a far happier life than many 'successful' businessmen. And her pot of ashes looks just the same as theirs.
  14. I went to a midnight auction with a friend, because we couldn't sleep, and I bought Ronnie Barker's duvet for £5. My mate then bought Ronnie Corbett's for £3, so it was a good night for me and a good night for him.
  15. Yeah, i said when they booed the Star Spangled Banner it was bad form, only for them to boo GTSK even louder.
  16. I think Mikaela Mayer can consider herself hard done to there. Spent most of the fight on the front foot, clearly landed the bigger shots but came up short. Not going out on a limb and saying she was robbed, it was a close, close fight and you have to clearly win it when you are fighting the champ on their own turf. But she will fly home feeling she did enough - again!
  17. If she's useless at remembering special occassions just tell her Valentine's Day is October 8th, by the time you get there she may well have forgotten.
  18. In my experience that logic works 364 days a year
  19. Back on topic - I can't stand Valentine's Day when you are in a relationship. In years gone by you sent a secret card to someone you had a crush on, or to be a little more grown up wanted to show affection. It was anonymous and there was an aura to it. Now you have to not only buy your wife a card but also flowers, chocolates, out for a meal. It's another example where "they" put pressure on us to spend money and act in a certain manner, which as an ageing punk rockers (without multicoloured Doc Martens) goes right against my core. Then we're asked to do it again on March 8th now (international women's day), anniversary, Christmas, birthday, Easter, Summer Solstice and about five more in the year. Don't get me wrong, love my wife and happy to show it. Just get a little riled when someone in a marketing department tells me "you have to do it in this way, on this date or else you are a failure".
  20. You know Fox hunting is banned in these parts? I think they do a thing called drag hunting now, where you get to chase the scent of the Fox across a few fields. I think,or it might be chasing someone like this?
  21. Not a Caves explorer then
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