eddielewis

Matt Le Tissier also said the war in Ukraine was being staged by actors, and he sounded as ridiculous then as you do now.

Elder has had a poor game today. Poor with his positioning, always late with overlaps and most frustratingly poor with his passing especially for how much ball time wing backs have in Warnes system.

Not so much him starting over Elder at LB but him not in the XI at all is a bit surprising. I would had him in the midfield for a bit more drive/bite and he's more adaptable to change should the system not be working early on i.e. Shrewsbury

Looking like this?
 
                                      Wildsmith 
                  Nelson        Bradley           Cashin 
Nyambe                                                             Elder 
                                 Adams    Bird 
 
        Wilson                  NML                        Barks

Out for the season :(

Great Win! If we consider both tonight and Saturday that's maintaining the 2 points per game average we need to keep in order stay in the top two.

Great Win! If we consider both tonight and Saturday that's maintaining the 2 points per game average we need to keep in order stay in the top two.

Great Win! If we consider both tonight and Saturday that's maintaining the 2 points per game average we need to keep in order stay in the top two.

Bolton 1-1

Bolton 1-1

Bolton 1-1

Interesting how that 3 is positioned is it just a simple swap with Nyambe at LCB or does everyone shift one across with Nyambe at RCB? 

Interesting how that 3 is positioned is it just a simple swap with Nyambe at LCB or does everyone shift one across with Nyambe at RCB? 

This is what is worrying that with this introduction of the Blue card it will eventually result in the match clock being stopped as a way of making it work. Largely the problems we have seen with discipline in (professional) football has been due to the lack of communication and discipline from referees and a obsession towards a sterilisation of the game fuelled in part by the gambling industry. These half baked ideas only add to the whinging stress that is putting people off the game in my view.
Referees are now hooked up to a constant group chat with 4 people in their ear whilst trying to keep up with athletes at full pace. It's so prone to more error than before and due to this referee's are constantly unsure of decisions and in the top leagues so reliant on VAR to make their minds up. You can see that some refs take more priority communicating to their assistants than the players. The biggest bug bare with VAR is why refs wait on hold with customer services trying to listen in to VAR for 2 or so minutes before they are then asked to view the monitor. Infuriating!
The talk we have not seen is why we need to 'clean' up the game and where this need has come from? I understood the need for goal line technology which has been a success. I understood the need for offside technology to some degree as long as the rule is clear but for everything else it's odd. I do question if there is a connection between the need to 'clean' up the game with the rise in specific betting markets in football.

Taking a look on the Transfermrkt form table of the last 16 games of League 1 over the past 10 seasons (forgetting 19/20 season) the average form of the top two teams is 10 wins 4 draws 2 losses. Anything slightly less than that and it's sketchy. Only Ipswich last year and Sheff Utd in 16/17 were unbeaten over this last stretch of the season.

One thing which is quite odd in my eyes alongside all of the above points is that football is played to a clock that's continuous and time is added on to relieve stoppages. If a player was to receive a blue card when does the 10 minutes start? From exactly the moment the card is given or when the player has left the field? If it's the former a player who has been given the card could waste some of that time just complaining to the ref for a minute or so like we see when a player has received a contentious red. If it's the latter that's still more stoppage time to be added. God forbid how much time is wasted if these cards are reviewable by VAR!
Another aspect how does the sin bin end? As we see when a player leaves the field due to an cut to the head or needs treatment it's up to the referee's discretion of when that player returns to the field of play. If a players 10 minutes is up and the referee is refusing the player to come back on until the next break in play and it ends up in the opposition scoring that would cause huge controversy.

One of the most ridiculous ideas I've come across in football.
If someone goes in the sin bin, the team with ten men are going to clearly sit in with everyone behind the ball, making that 10 minutes completely boring. This isn't Rugby.
Make it simple, cynical foul is a yellow card. Dissent is a red card. It's going to cause even more confusion. The referees can't get VAR to a good standard.

We could do with the 2006/7 Oldham player of year for a bit of depth.
 

I really do hope that we give some match experience to the younger boys over the next few months. Even if it's just being involved in the match day squad, like Brown had for the last month or so. Then building up to 10-15 minutes here and there when we're in firm control of games.

Got to hope they take points off Portsmouth and Bolton before we play them again at the end of the month

Mike Bassett Christmas pudding 3-5-1-1 formation with Hourihane as the sixpence 

Mike Bassett Christmas pudding 3-5-1-1 formation with Hourihane as the sixpence 

This Bird has flown...

Exactly my thoughts. He stayed during relegation when he didn't have to, and has plodded through 1 1/2 seasons being utilised quite badly in what must be a frustrating tactic for him to play. He's not going to develop his game at Derby, let's face facts.
It speaks volumes that he's been constantly slated this season by some but he'll be at a Championship club next season on bigger wages, and with more chance of being spotted by a top division club.
 

So frustrating reading some 'fans' opinions on Birds move,

The bloke stayed with us throughout everything whilst others jumped ship, he's moved on to a solid championship club, something that we can't offer at the moment,

Short memories on here, the unbeaten run of last season ended when he got injured - we're a worse team without him in it.

Exactly. If Thompson had been given opportunities last season, we wouldn't have needed to sign White last January. It may have been a factor in not needing to use up some of the budget on Fornah in the summer too. Same applies for Robinson.
I( think back to Cashin's introduction to the first team. Honestly, I wouldn't have put him above L2 standard at the time, which is where I feel Brown is at now. Would Warne have started him, when we still had Davies, Forsyth and Bielik as the other options at CB? 
Would have have given Plange his debut when we still had Jozwiak and Stearman on the bench?
Would he have played Williams at LWB and Forsyth CB and leave Stearman on the bench?
Put simply, Warne's mentality is wrong for this club. Wilson's the youngest player he's permanently signed for us and he's 23. Out of his Rotherham signings who joined at a younger age, 
22/23:
None used. A 21 yo keeper played 45 mins under the following manager and has been a free agent since the summer
21/22:
None used, but signed a keeper who has since retired
20/21:
20 yo keeper who has been a regular starter
19/20:
20 yo LB who featured for 622 mins in all competitions over 2 seasons before being moved on
19 yo LW who got 176 mins
22 year old Ogbene who was as squad player in his first season, then got just 606 mins in the Championship the following season before being a regualr starter in L1 aged 24.
21 year old Olusunde who was as squad player for 2 years and has only set foot on a football field 3 times since.
18/19:
None signed
17/18:
22 yo CM who got 1832 mins in all competitions over 2 seasons before being moved on
20 yo CB who got 180 mins before being shipped out to non-league sides.
22 yo winger who got 242 in all competitions over 2 seasons before being moved on
16/17:
19 yo LB who got 1756 mins in all competitions over 2 seasons before being moved on
That's only 1 succesful young signing!!!