Jram

I distinctly recall not that long ago that certain forum members were bemoaning the fact that Oxford were top of the league yet their playing squad was no better than ours.........

I felt like that when I saw the team but thinking about it afterwards we didn't have a game Saturday so he needed to give them a run out

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

Saying “I just prefer standing at a football match” is a real red flag for me. Sit down, my knees hurt 

Horses for concourses, I suppose 

I’m 77 and have had three knee replacements (no I haven’t got three knees) so there’s no way I could stand for a whole match

Perfect subs, perfect time, perfect goal, perfect result, perfect 3 points, perfect short story.
 

I meant in terms of that being the start of the academy really being used. It wasn’t until Rooney/Rosenior where we were giving 5-10 debuts a season. More out of necessity though, I suppose.
 
It definitely shows that we should use it more that so many that we blooded very early have gone on to be key players here or elsewhere 

It’s always been my biggest gripe with Warne. If we’re not giving the academy lads a chance in this league, we’re hardly likely to risk them against better sides in the championship 
Perhaps we’ve been spoilt the last few years with 5-10 academy players debuting every season. It started the Lampard season tbf when he gave Bogle and Bird a proper go. 
 

Warne's approach is out of touch with how every other Cat 1 club operates, especially those not in the PL. Warne's "truly ready" is when they're top half L1 standard and is extremely unlikely to use them, even for a handful of minutes at the end of games.
Even youngsters on the fringe of the first team don't get in the side until we have a mini injury crisis.
Thompson - barely used last season. Was in fantastic form in pre-season, but was only used when season proper began, then only given a start when we were down to just 2 other CMs (Bird injured and before Fornah/Embleton signed)
Rooney - Not even used in the League Cup, only started when both RWBs were injured, Bradley was in the worst form of his career, and before we signed Nyambe.
Then there are our best U21 prospects such as DRobinson who aren't even used in the cups or brought on when 2 or 3 goals up with a few mins to play.
EFL Trophy  - left on the bench for the 2-0 win over Lincoln
League Cup - left on the bench in a dismal performance against Blackpool
FA Cup - not used in either tie
Carlisle - 2-0
Barnsley - 3-0
Same for Weston. After scoring and assisted on his debut, he was an unused sub in the following 2 games before dropping out of the squad completely. 3-0 up vs Barnsley is a good opportunity to gain some experience and certainly better than watching from the bench. 3-1 down to Crewe was another chance for him to help the team get something from the game.

How about you listen to, and quote, the whole clip instead of cherry picking this one phrase:
 
”WE give the ball away for their second goal”
”For the next 70 minutes WE didn’t lay a glove on them”
“WE didn’t create enough goal scoring opportunities”

Kind of a lose-lose though- he fields a strong team, as he did, and if we lose there's cries of ''where's the youth?''; alternatively, he fields a team of youngsters and if they get slaughtered he'd be called out for not protecting them enough. Would people really be happier if we played some kids but conceded an extra 2/3 goals as a result?
It's only the cup, we can take learnings from it, and i'm glad such a lethargic performance wasn't in the league. Really isn't the end of the world. 

I'd much rather have beat Barnsley and lost to Crewe than the other way round. We were never going to win the cup, and is our squad strong enough for a cup run anyway? I honestly couldn't care less about this result, and I think the result at the weekend means far more.
It does feel a little bit like the anti-Warne brigade are just waiting for a poor result to set out their usual stall, and the results between don't factor into their thinking- maybe this is harsh? Any mention of ''luck'' or ''results in spite of the manager'' are getting dismissed outright as that's daft, you can't only credit the manager with the negatives and expect to be taken seriously... 

This entire thread makes me laugh out loud 😂

I am impressed with how quickly the academy is taking shape again.  Some quality work being done there, for sure.

Fair enough. I do actually think that the football hasn’t been that bad even before Saturday 

Anyone else still willing to give this time? Don’t seem to be many on the forum.
I don’t think we’ve been that bad (albeit I wasn’t there yesterday). Sounded like we had some good spells in the game though and we’ve had some brilliant performances (Peterborough, Blackpool)
 
Big squad turnover in the summer so willing to give it chance to come together. We’ve had some bad luck with injuries and decisions which will hopefully turn. 
 
I think some of the anti-warne sentiment is the immediate anger of losing to so-called lesser clubs but, unfortunately, we were always going to lose games across a 46 game season so no need to panic 

Our style of football has not changed. Warne goofball is a figment of the imagination of those who want him out and others have just jumped on the bandwagon. It’s just the players are passing the ball better, moving into spaces to receive passes and are playing with more confidence. Of course injuries have also had a dramatic affect, anyone who doesn’t believe so, in my opinion is deluded.

I think what is happening is exactly what some sensible forum members have been saying for weeks- injury crisis over and we’ve started to get some luck and take chances and now, shock horror, we’re winning games 
I don’t doubt we’ll go on another bad run at some point this season which is why Warne says he never gets too up or down after a win/defeat 

Would love to see Weston et Al get a chance