kevinhectoring

This would be a great return but we ALSO need to win most of the 6 pointers, when they come along.

As soon as the points were docked, there was talk of the possible ‘miracle’ of Rooney keeping us up. Rooney himself got that talk going (I said at the time that was foolish but hey). If you think, against that background, he could walk away without damaging himself, I disagree. And so evidently did his advisers. What he did do was get very public with the ‘Mel Morris is a $hit’ line. Lots of people said that of Morris of course. But it sat very poorly in Rooney’s mouth because despite Rooney’s lack of coaching badges, experience and ability, Morris (what a fool) had sacked Cocu then demoted LR to give Rooney the honour of learning his trade as our manager. It was shabby by Rooney to stick the boot in, just as shabby as his hotel room antics and his bell ringer bullying. He should just have put his nose to the grindstone and tried to do his job better. He was awful, here, at DC and at Birmingham.

Come to think of it, Saudi is most likely his next and last managerial appointment. I don’t think he’d cope with China

Longer we linger at this level, less likelihood the lads lift us to loftier leagues

He did that. He did that not out of the goodness of his heart but because the plan was to secure for Rooney a berth as our manager for evermore under the good offices of Mr Kirchner. It may also have been joint ownership with Kirchner. We had a lucky escape. Oh and his (the agent’s) version was that the advance was a loan to Kirchner

It’s a sad story really. Rooney is in the thrall of toe rags most notably his toxic agent who has forced him through 3 managerial nightmares all for the sake of the money (which the agent shares). Rooney was a brilliant instinctive footballer but - as we saw - he doesn’t have the temperament or the acumen for management. Not does he have the acumen for punditry. Same thing happened in a rather different way to Bobby Charlton but it was much easier for him to find a place for himself in the world of retired football icons. No idea what Rooney should do now. perhaps buy a flock of sheep and drive them down Irongate?

Well with players coming back from injury, I’m not sure Sibley will get a start. Whatever the stats might say

With Fozzy and Hourihane both on the pitch after all the football we’ve played, we were bound to be pummelled (as you put it). The miracle was Collins’ ability to play so well and to cover so much ground after the recent schedule. It was a massive effort by him

You suggest that avoiding relegation with that squad and no points deduction would be an achievement. It was a squad that would ordinarily have been challenging for promotion. A good manager would have given us a decent chance of avoiding relegation even with the points deduction.

I’d miss his class. Loved to watch him alongside Shinnie

Id say we have at least 3 players who’d be comfortable in the championship and one good enough for the PL

Was surprised Sibley came on when he did. Would rather have seen Ward at that stage. Or Fornah, wherever he is. Less said about their second goal the better …

Best way to avoid conceding silly goals like those is to have your best, most experienced, respected and professional defender at CB. ( That’s Fozzy. )

So we CAN match them for energy. It’s just a matter of getting the right players on

We’re dangerously underpowered out of possession. Neither Bird nor Hourihane seems to know what the other is doing. Would like to see any or all of Ward, Fornah and Tommo. on the plus side , excellent work from Wilson and we’ve probably seen the best two headers ever from Collins Thank goodness we stuck with Wildsmith

Puzzling thread particularly given all the admiration from Oxford and Wigan fans at the depth and quality of our squad. If Warne continues to have us playing decent football on the floor, as he has for the last 1.5 games, we should go up. If he doesn’t we won’t and won’t deserve to

I wonder how different it would look if you took out Cashin’s cross field long balls to the RW.

Bird has been played higher up the pitch for most of this season, true. He’s a good enough footballer to manage there but imo he’s more effective sitting deep. He reads the game superbly and much of his contribution is immaculate positional play and goes unnoticed. He thinks quickly in possession and passes quickly for good transition. Instead we have Hourihane sitting deep, precisely because he lacks speed and stamina. That’s not a winning formula no matter how good he is with a dead ball

More than a few based on the numbers hectoring Warne at PP in October ?

Bradley’s commentating I described as flawless and any fule knows he has limited control over subject matter of all interviews. So there’s no criticism of him, only praise, except to say I’d like him to push Warne and the PR team harder. So it’s a shame you’ve distorted my post to attack me. Why don’t you just ignore it, if you don’t want to be civil or constructive ?

Of course we must leave those decisions to the management team. And of course there needs to be a mix of personal vs football chat in Warne’s interviews. But the approach in these interviews has been damaging to Warne imo because the overwhelming focus on chirpy banter has not done him credit: it has left fans with the impression he has insufficient command of the technical issues or that decisions (eg re formation) have not been made for good reason. Every once in a blue moon he has been drawn into a thoughtful response on a football related issue and it allows him to demonstrate what he knows and that his job is not simple. Warne should look to use the interviews to explain - selectively, within reason - why a particular decision was made, to thoughtfully outline the pros and cons and to outline what is and isn’t working and why. When this does not happen at all, it leads too often to him giving the impression the players have let him down and that is dangerous ground if we have a couple of bad results. Overall I think his relationship with the fan base would be improved if he offered more insight into the football thinking. Within reason of course. If it’s done in a controlled (not live) setting, there is no risk.

Well it’d be interesting to hear Warne’s comments on the issue of rotation and depth of squad. Also his team’s views on how the training regime should differ for OAPs vs spring chickens; and how it should differ for players who are out there every minute and those who are in the dugout week in week out. @Owen87ITKmay be a flawless ‘home team’ commentator but he lets Warne and the club muzzle him to the extent the manager interviews are mind blowingly dull. These are the sort of points of substance Warne could discuss without then having to shoot people. And - unlike the segments on coffee, bobble hats and Xmas presents (who cares?) - it would give some footballing insight into the behind the scenes

I think he needs to focus more on reducing minutes for NML, Fozzy and Hourihane. Playing them at this current rate risks injury as the season progresses. The likes of Tommo and Fornah will likely improve if used more, and he needs to keep his injury cover (eg Bradley) sharp. Sure too much rotation is disruptive but last season there was not enough and we know how that finished

When he first joined, it was literally the only thing he said for weeks. ‘gas out’ …. ‘gas out’… Derby County - dcfcofficial Work, press, win your one v ones, gas out from the first whistle to the last That's been the message to the players and Paul Warne says…

JJ for Collins yes please. Imo Wilson, Warne and Barkhuizen all need to start