trappatoni

His goals suggest he's still good enough for this level - maybe not mobile enough for a Warne team but I could see him playing the width of the 18 yard box holding the ball up, getting on the end of crosses and of course buying foul. If he's talking to ColUs he can't be asking for more than a few grand a week.

Maybe ask about how our first team recruitment works - who identifies targets and does Warne have final say.

Surely a pointless comment - he has more experience than any of us so why bother reading this forum? There is a difference between being able to manage a professional football club and being able to recognise when someone isn't making a great job of it.

I thought we underperformed last season - top 6 should have been the minimum and I think Rosenior would have achieved that given he barely had McGoldrick available. This year the league does feel weaker - hard to compare but if anything our best seems below last year's level even though we sit higher than how we finished the last. My worry us we seem very short term, unimaginative and reactive with a lot of our signings. Nyambe only really came in when the back 5 idea was proving a disaster. Waghorn was a panic buy. Smith would be another Warne knows from Rotherham. Part of this may be down to EFL restrictions but it all seems like fire fighting rather than building with a coherent philosophy. If we don't go up I couldn't say we are further along than Summer of 2022 and given Bird and Cashin will leave and I can't imagine Hourihane, Collins, Sibley or Smith will be offered equivalent deals we'll effectively be starting from scratch. Now Warne may welcome that but for me where would the evidence be he should lead that rebuild?

Yes I can see that happening but how much help will any of that front 4 give a midfield 2 - then people will say Hourihane and Bird aren't good enough because they get played through too easily. Seems the tactics are just too basic - stick loads of attack minded players on. If we have wilson or CBT on one side maybe Ward or even Thompson on the other provides better balance even at the expense of leaving out a "better" player .

I only watch the academy highlights but the standard looks miles off senior football. There's just no physicality and I can't see these lads going from that straight into league 1.

He's only 32 - ok nearly 33 but people have been levelling this accusation at him for at least a year. I don't believe physiologically a 32 year old has lost much - at least not due to age - a few percent most. He should be able to cope physically - the athleticism of league 1 players is typically less than the higher levels.

He's a chartered accountant who has worked in insolvency and gone into academia - been a Principal Lecturer and is now at a Russell Group uni teaching accountancy. You are at liberty to disagree with him but by any reasonable standards his experience qualifies him as an expert. It's not like he's covering the Business Studies class at the local FE college.

Seems high - I mean if we player wages are averaging £500k a year (including all costs - bit of a guess but I've tried to go on the high side) that's 14 players. That basically means our income covers costs so long as we don't pay the first team.

Nyambe can play there too.

Try getting a 10 stone athlete to push you in the back and kick your legs from under you and see if you can keep control of a football. It was a blatant foul and the weight of Seddon is irrelevant.

People saying NML lost the ball - it's a blatant foul he get's pushed and the guy kicks through his legs. Now unless we are telling players to never stay on the ball under pressure how is he at fault?

??? I'm commenting on the style of play not how effective it is. Why would we spend money on getting a perfect pitch when it gives us no advantage at all? We don't get points for best kept surface. Obviously if you keep the ball on the deck more than the opposition you want a good pitch but that's not what we do. As I said it's not hoof ball but it's not tika taka.

I wouldn't have dropped him - it just seems an unnecessary risk - some blamed him for the P'boro goals which I thought was very harsh. If that us the standard he's judged by Vickers could have done better with both Burton goals.

Why would it matter - in the Championship we are probably going to have less of the ball. Now if Rosenior was manager it'd be different but with Warne whilst we may not just hoof it we aren't playing tika taka.

Bird - I like him. Think he can play in a midfield 2 - Warne said he topped the running stats in pre-season, but when so many other teams play a 3 unless you have Kante x 2 in there you are going to have to accept sometimes their numbers will tell. I would like to see him run beyond a bit more but possibly the rest of the midfield 4 don't offer enough protection. Elder - by no means am I writing him off but offered nothing going forwards and the error was calamitous. Now if Sibley has a game like that he's instantly dropped. John Jules - yes did nothing wrong but didn't do enough. I actually do think we need to stick with him because you can tell he has the quality and physicality to succeed he just had a quiet game as all players do.

Whatever the reason I don't really care and wouldn't if we had the worst pitch in the EFL. Same for both sides, we aren't a keep it on the floor possession side so no point in wasting money on maintaining the pitch beyond the minimum standard.

ATG 31Vickers. 5. 2Wilson. 7.5 35Nelson 7.5 (lost half a mark for backing off too far for their first) 6Cashin. 7.5 20Elder. 4. 17Sibley. 7 11Méndez-Laing 8 8Bird. 7.5 4Hourihane. 7 7Barkhuizen. 6. 5Bradley. 6 19John-Jules. 5. 16Thompson. 6 9Collins. 7.5

Yes I think it was still that way to an extent into the 80s. Even if you weren't a football hooligan it was seen as part of the excitement. I don't remember it being frowned upon at all - it probably was by older fans I guess.

Apparently that is what happened - didn't want to move her so had to wait for the ambulance. Im not sure how long you can delay a game.

To be fair my first thought on seeing it had been abandoned was why would you abandon a match because of an injury - I just didn't want it to come across as a Bartonesque comment. I've only seen one match abandoned due to injury - an open fracture in the Leicester Sunday league - and even then my thought was why abandon the game it's not going to fix his leg.

Yes it was very noticeable their wide attackers, FBs and midfield had some well rehearsed patterns of play and it was hard not to conclude we'd been out coached. That said we are pretty much level with Peterborough so some other teams must combat their way of playing better than we did. We are quite an attacking team - I think that played into their hands - in hindsight if we'd set more of a low block their runners would just be running into traffic and I thought their defence looked susceptible.

I don't think Collins gets much stick now - last season yes but he's scored 11 league goals in 25 this season compared to 11 in 40+ last year. He doesn't get many assists so as a 9 he needs to be scoring. Also think his all round game looks better especially his pressing. He looks fitter and less angry at the world.

I don't remember Eranio playing many games centre mid.

If you listen to that radio/podcast series following Warne at Rotherham he states himself Barker is far more into the tactical side of things. I think he probably is more influential in making in game changes and that's why we see him busier on the touchline. Warne seems more the macro manager when it comes to how we play and more hands on with the man management. Ultimately it's what works - Martin O'Neil was meant to only show up at the training ground a couple of days a week but he won trophies doing that.