Jram

I half remember an horrific stat after Waghorn left: Derby released 8 players on a free since 2018 who they signed for a fee with a combined loss of (around) 40 million quid 
Blackman, Johnson, butters, waggy, jozefzoon off the top of my head and that’s over 20 mill 
Shows we weren’t the smartest buyers, certainly pre Clowes 

The list of left backs seen off by Fozzy is absolutely mental.

TJJ is a talented young player who is rebuilding his career. Yes, he gets bundled over. Yes, he’s had a poor injury record. But so has Waghorn, Washington etc and they’re not going to get any better as players whereas this guy will.
He fashions chances with his touch and awareness. We haven’t seen him start, yet he’s already scored a couple and had other efforts well saved like on Saturday (he looked devastated not to score).
In a squad devoid of good finishers, he is a valuable asset. He’s exactly the type of ‘gamble’ we should take.

Former West Ham midfielder scoring for fun in League 2, while on loan at Swindon. Has now been recalled by MK Dons. Lots of talk that the reason for this is because we're in for him. Such as:
 
 

Anyone know what the Peterborough players’ celebration was about for the third goal. Really incited the crowd and they definitely seemed like they had a bone to pick. 
 
Behaving like that has a way of biting you 

Bring him home 

Getting Joe Wilkinson in as a free-kick specialist. Heard it yesterday at Moor Farm 
 

Rooney coming back as tactics coach.

Bring him home 

Bring him home 

Bring him home 

Bring him home 

Bring him home 

Whatever it was, it was absolutely dreadful.

Haven't read all the thread but the last few pages seem pretty realistic and fair.
On the way home we all agreed that aside from the result/last minute, we much preferred watching that game than the Lincoln game.
Really was a great game to watch I felt. Lots of goals, decent spirit, end to end, effort, tackles, chances, saves...
Credit to P'Boro ...they look a team of young athletes. Just over ran our midfield first half especially at times. Even their centre backs were decent on the ball but relatively quick. Looked like an academy team almost.
Cashin was my MoTM but he looked at fault for the goal at the end. Wilson was a real threat at times. Thompson worked his backside off. Collins never stopped,  unbelievable engine today.
Hourihane and Bird looked really pedestrian and out matched at times.  Niambe struggled manfully in a real tough game.
NML looked shattered and lacking in zip. Barkhuizen looks a bit lost at times,  I'm not sure what he brought to us after the first 2mins. Elder was quality and Sibley worked hard but couldn't get into the game going forward, likewise JJ.
No shame in yesterday,  just gutting to throw away all 3 points to them. Good atmosphere,  end to end football. Need to move on quickly.

For me, to say promotion or no promotion is too binary and many other factors probably need to taken into account.
If we somehow make the play off final then the difference between promotion and not could be very fine. Are you saying, for example, that if we won the play off final on penalties you’d be “convinced” but if we lost it on penalties you wouldn’t be? If we finished 3rd on goal difference behind the team in 2nd but narrowly lost the play off final would that also be a no for you?
For me, I’d be happy to stick with PW provided a) the recent improvement in performances (not just results) is maintained for most games (there is bound to be an occasional blip) and b) we make a pretty good fist at gaining promotion. That would probably mean gaining promotion, performing well but just falling short in the play offs or even performing well but just falling short of reaching the play offs. If we’re playing well but just miss out on the play offs on goal difference or a point or two then I don’t really see there would be anything to be gained by getting rid.

Technically, I think Bird is one of the best players in the squad. He does seem to lack ambition though on the pitch. I think, with his ability, he’s never going to be far from getting really good numbers but it just keeps not happening. Reminds me of Hughes a bit. 

Granted I missed the first 15 minutes due to streaming issues, but from what I saw, it was a good contest.
We all know midfield can be a problem area and Bird and Hourihane are not the long term answer but at the moment, they are our most reliable options. Naturally they cannot match such a midfield for pace, energy and intensity.
NML and Wilson provided our pace, trickery and movement. The problem was that they couldn’t play for 90 minutes and their replacements were not as effective.
I am not saying Peterborough weren’t good, but in my view, it was a tight game decided on mistakes.
Look at two of the three goals conceded. One from a short corner that Cashin and Nelson would ordinarily deal with 9 times out of 10. Similarly, with the winner, a situation that one of Wildsmith, Cashin or Nelson deals with. Maybe a cameo from Bradley was missed.
I don’t feel like Peterborough blew us away. They kept the ball well and played in the right way. They had spells on top, but so did we.

Bird is still a good player at this level - really don’t get the hate from an (admittedly small) group of supporters for him. He very rarely makes mistakes, which is something that can’t be said for many of our players. 
I think you’d be lucky to get £3m for Bird in League One with 6 months left on his contract. You wouldn’t get a better player (in the same age bracket) for that money in my view. 

Unproven? Think he has had a few cracks at it before and it’s not going particularly well a lot of the time. 
Saying that, I think he has Rotherham in the top 6 when he left them for us?

Fair play to you.  I don’t think it’s anything to do with Warne changing anything though. I genuinely think it’s just that 15 games or so was never going to be enough to judge the squad. I think they’re now much fitter and more accustomed to the style so the football is better. I also think we had some rotten luck/decisions in early season and that has started to turn. We’ve also got a lot of fit players- Bird, Hourihane, Thompson, Barks, Wilson are all arguably key players who missed chunks of our inconsistent start through injury 
 
I don’t doubt for a second we will have a poor run between now and May so I’m not going to be smug and say anyone is right or wrong- they might still finish 7th yet

I love how smug this thread has become 👏👏 let’s enjoy it now before going 9 without a win in Feb/March 😂

Fair play to you.  I don’t think it’s anything to do with Warne changing anything though. I genuinely think it’s just that 15 games or so was never going to be enough to judge the squad. I think they’re now much fitter and more accustomed to the style so the football is better. I also think we had some rotten luck/decisions in early season and that has started to turn. We’ve also got a lot of fit players- Bird, Hourihane, Thompson, Barks, Wilson are all arguably key players who missed chunks of our inconsistent start through injury 
 
I don’t doubt for a second we will have a poor run between now and May so I’m not going to be smug and say anyone is right or wrong- they might still finish 7th yet

Fair play to you.  I don’t think it’s anything to do with Warne changing anything though. I genuinely think it’s just that 15 games or so was never going to be enough to judge the squad. I think they’re now much fitter and more accustomed to the style so the football is better. I also think we had some rotten luck/decisions in early season and that has started to turn. We’ve also got a lot of fit players- Bird, Hourihane, Thompson, Barks, Wilson are all arguably key players who missed chunks of our inconsistent start through injury 
 
I don’t doubt for a second we will have a poor run between now and May so I’m not going to be smug and say anyone is right or wrong- they might still finish 7th yet

Fair play to you.  I don’t think it’s anything to do with Warne changing anything though. I genuinely think it’s just that 15 games or so was never going to be enough to judge the squad. I think they’re now much fitter and more accustomed to the style so the football is better. I also think we had some rotten luck/decisions in early season and that has started to turn. We’ve also got a lot of fit players- Bird, Hourihane, Thompson, Barks, Wilson are all arguably key players who missed chunks of our inconsistent start through injury 
 
I don’t doubt for a second we will have a poor run between now and May so I’m not going to be smug and say anyone is right or wrong- they might still finish 7th yet