v Burton Albion (A) Match Thread

[Mucker1884]

On 09/08/2023 at 22:04, alram said:

this is a very big game in our modern history

 

I had that feeling before and after the QPR Final.  Similar but less emphatically for the Villa final.

Inexcusably, I also often have that feeling for most Forest games at home.

Bur Burton away... 2nd game of a third division season... with neither the league table nor the recent form having had chance to settle?

Nah.  Not even close to being a very big game, and certainly not one that will shape our history.
It's no more than a bread and butter game.  It'll neither define our history, or the season.
I suspect most of us will have forgotten the match details/stats by Christmas 2024... if not 2023!

 

[Ghost of Clough]

17 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

It has been something he has been working hard to address, at least from interviews, which is why I find links to Godden, Sharp, Rhodes, etc, a little strange as he's saying one thing and then doing another. 

We will never know, but sounds like we've fallen short again of landing targets with his 'getting excited too early' comment - it would be great to know who and why. I'm always curious when it comes to recruitment, who were we looking at and why weren't they signed. I think that interests me just as much as those that did sign. 

You look back through our player rumours page and some of the names are crazy: Andrew Robertson, Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney, Nathan Ake, Demarai Gray, Joe Gomez, Ben Chilwell, Ademola Lookman plus loads more. I'd be fascinated how real our interest was and how close we got to any of them.

You've got me started now...

Danny Welbeck, 09/10, went to Preston on loan
David McGoldrick, 09/10, joined Forest for £1m
Charlie Austin, 09/10, only just joined Swindon, joined Burnley 13 months later for £1.2m
Kasper Schmeichel, 10/11, joined Leicester on a free
Chris Wood, 10/11, went to Barnsley on loan
Aaron Cresswell, 11/12, joined Ipswich instead
John Egan, 12/13, joined Bradford on loan
Conor Coady, 12/13, stayed at Liverpool for the season but joined Sheff Utd on loan the following season
Matthew Ryan, 12/13, joined Club Brugge in the following summer
Shane Duffy, 13/14, joined Yeovil on loan (Clough was sacked 2 days after the rumour emerged)
Marc Albrighton, 13/14, joined Wigan on loan
Raheem Sterling, 13/14
Callum McGregor, 13/14
Sam Johnstone, 14/15, joined Doncaster on loan
Lukasz Fabianski, 14/15 , joined Swansea on a free
Shane Duffy (again), 14/15, joined Blackburn for £400k
James McClean, 14/15, joined West Brom a year later for £1.5m
Nathan Ake, 14/15, joined Reading on loan
Chris Wood (again), 14/15, joined Ipswich on loan
Marco Motta, 14/15, joined Watford in February on a free
Demarai Gray, 14/15, joined Leicester for £3.7m in January 2016
David McGoldrick (again), 15/16, stayed at Ipswich for 3 more seasons
Joe Gomez, 15/16, signed by liverpool for £3.5m
Andre Gray, 15/16, joined Burnley for £6m
Conor Chaplin, 15/16, stayed at Portsmouth for 3.5 seasons
Michail Antonio, 15/16, bid £5m, joined West Ham for £7m
Dwight Gayle, 15/16, joined Newcastle the following summer for £12m
Jack Grealish, 15/16
Ben Godfrey, 15/16, moved from York to Norwich for £3m
Andy Robertson, 15/16
Oli Watkins, 16/17, joined Brentford for £1.8m a year later
Lewis Dunk, 16/17
Calum Chambers, 16/17, joined Boro on loan
Harrison Reed, 16/17
Martin Caceres, joined Southampton on a free
Tyrone Mings, 16/17
Krystian Bielik, 17/18, loaned to Walsall but never played (due to injury?)
Cameron Brannagan, 17/18, joined Oxford for £200k
Che Adams, 17/18
Ryan Kent, 17/18, joined Bristol City on loan
Ademola Lookman, 17/18, joined Leipzig on loan
Oliver McBurnie, 18/19, joined Sheff Utd for £17.5m 12 months later
Martin Odegaard, 18/19, joined Vitesse on loan
John McGinn, 18/19, joined Villa for £3m instead
Ethan Ampadu, 18/19, joined Leipzig on loan instead
Tyrone Mings (again), 18/19, joined Villa on loan instead
Grady Diangana, 19/20, joined West Brom on loan
Ivan Toney, 19/20, joined Brentford for £5m the following summer
Joel Piroe, 19/20, joined Swansea for £1m the following summer

[RoyMac5]

 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Opening snippets highlighted before it just goes onto 'tactical talk' via youtube text talk for those who don't want to listen, but obvs there is no punctuation:

"Q:Paul I don't necessarily think we need to go over old ground in terms of
Tuesday you may be very clear after that but has it been a case of not
necessarily sweeping it under the carpet but learning from it and trying to focus
ahead for Saturday"
"A:Yeah I mean obviously I may have a little bit of regrets on my
post-match but um I'm asked an opinion I've got to be
honest how I see the game and where I see it went wrong and I stick by what I
said but uh our first half performance was hugely disappointing so we made the
tactical change we put Tomo on to go on to the sitter uh he done really well
stopping the sitter playing and we were better second half but the performance
was disappointing however um Blackpool were very good and I think
it's been a good eye-opener for everybody we played the two teams that
have come down that like no team's gonna come or home or away is going to be like
at all like we're Derby County this would be an easy day there's no such
game and I think the two games have proven that we've obviously made
mistakes within the game and maybe Tuesday night you know we had
not four deputants but it was only their second game for two of them it was their
start we just weren't um as smooth as I would like it's probably the nicest way to put it and In
fairness I didn't use the game as a get fit game but it was uh look let's you
know change a couple of things we obviously put Josh in put um
change the two Wing backs sorry Kane and Callum and at times we're probably a
little bit too high too early which didn't allow the 10 that and it sort of
causes a few problems really so we tried to address it at half time and we tried
to address it since training there's no like um you know massive disaster but
apart from the fact of um you know you want to win football
matches so we've done some good work with them last couple of days so
hopefully the the lads who play Saturday are a little bit clearer we've took a
little bit of gray out of it so uh yeah so hopefully we can perform at a level
to uh come out with a positive result"
Q: in terms of what you've seen on the training ground and in the meeting so far have you seen the reaction and sort
of response that you've wanted to see from from the group "A:yeah a little bit I

mean it's difficult straight after going because everyone's really emotional so
if I spoke to you after the game and said look you should have done this your
natural defense is as it always is why I'm gonna say he didn't do that he
didn't do that so the whole idea of and this is the thing with teams sport it's
easy to manage a team winning every week it's a piece of cake in it but
um but after the games you you speak briefly then you watch the game back so
like me and my staff the coaching staff we didn't as you well know leave till
very late we watched the game back straight after the game picked up some
really good things which we really liked but there would have been better things
if the the movements were right and everything like that so we helped a lot
with that but then we'd have to show the team where we see it so look this is
fine you've decided to do that I don't want you to do that I want you
to do this I've asked you to do this and the reason I've asked you to do this is
because he's doing that at that time he's doing that it was just a little bit
there was too many uh off-the-cuff decisions possibly which made us which
made Blackpool have a real confidence like in fairness the first time they
cross it it goes in that shouldn't happen against us so that was
disappointing and then it's sort of like we had a massive wobble that's the
honest truth we just didn't play with any confidence so the idea of Team
meetings and uh then we had um The Defenders had a meeting the
Midfielders had a meeting is just to make the points of look these are why
we're asking you to do this you know because this happens when you do it so
then you just reinforce good clips say look this is why we do this movement
this is why we try and play this way on this side of the pitch
um and obviously the lads um take it in you think they take it in
I mean I'm going to do a test with them now in the team meeting to make sure
everyone's fully listening to what we want but that's always the way with the
team we with any team any sport you're only as strong as your leaker's weakest
link so if someone's out of position and you can't do the switch because of it
then it causes a problem or if you're not brave enough to throw it forward and
get hold of it up top um that's a problem so it's about this
week really about showing the lads where we went wrong collectively I'm part of
it obviously and reinfor reinfirming really the the positives of the play
because we had five or six brilliant bits of play but five or six ohm isn't
enough you should have 20. but reaffirming them and like if you do this
is why this is why we're really hard to play against that's why we're really
good so that's what the the whole reason for the meetings are not to embarrass
people but to just show them look you know we need to get these bits right if
not you're not giving yourself a big enough chance to win and against lesser
opposition you might get away with it but so far we've made
probably five big mistakes in two games and we've been punished brutally with
three of them so um we need to obviously eradicate mistakes like every team does
um but we also need to just tighten up on a few things Q: does that in some way
give you a bit of comfort that you're not being ripped apart is the fact that
it's those sort of individual errors at the moment which is cost you
A: "yeah a little bit I mean I'm disappointed because I you know no one
wants to uh um lose back-to-back games that's an absolute no-no so I'm disappointed on
that uh I the Wigan game was palatable because I thought we played well and the
goal at the end was uh one all I honestly believe there was only one team
that got to win it it was the first time they came into our box so it was it was
a shock that is palatable disappointing we have to drive performances you can't
we don't coach players to you know necessarily miss a one-on-one or you
know so so as a group I think we were disappointed but we could see good
things I think it was more disappointing against Blackpool because
um for three four minutes we didn't get a kick man at home that should never
happen against any team even if it's respectfully man united you shouldn't
not get the ball however what I will say is when I watched the game back and there isn't
any crowd noise or anything to affect you because it does affect you as humans
in a good way and a bad way at times when you're watching it in a neutral
environment and the lads have said this it wasn't as bad as it felt and there
will be times in a game where the opposition have the ball and you can't
press and you just have to like teams do against us pretty successfully mid block
and just say look for a minute we can't have it we can't have the ball every
minute so if we're gonna press we just have to press from a good shape and only
when you can affect the play so um that was harder for us as a group I
mean all of us in the building that you know I thought that we got a bit
embarrassed first half I'm not saying we did second half but we did first half so
the players that came on at half time done really well had a positive effect
um but it was just disappointing first half so in a very long answer to your
question I was disappointed with the result I was disappointed with the
performance first half but the other three halves apply I haven't been
disappointed with but I would much rather score 10 goals and win
comfortably obviously but uh so that's what we've been trying to work with the
largest trying to show them but also you know you just gotta you've got to keep
the lands confident and and um because like we've had like one out
of 46 League games so it's just got to be put into context a little bit 
and the beauty of it all is you've got a game again to put it right at the weekend
sun's out short trip for you to Burton how much are you looking forward to that
"uh yeah well you just want the next game to um put it right really so you just
want a a really good performance and you want a positive result so uh last season
we went there we didn't have uh we had a pretty good performance and we just lost
our man on one set piece and we threw away two points at home I thought it was
a really tight game I think if I remember rightly birdie won as a penalty
and that was uh you know there wasn't much between the teams they've recruited
well this summer they look organized and fit obviously I saw him
against Leicester they don't give up much of the ball they don't give up many
opportunities sorry they defend really well so it's going to be a really tough
game but League one is really tough so but the sad reality is we've come off
the back of uh two defeats so we need uh we always need a really good performance
but uh possibly even more so because it's a local Derby because obviously
both teams are up for it both teams have lost both games both you know
everything's you know it's sort of like it feels like a cup final already and
it's uh Saturday number two so um I won't make it out as it is that
game but we do need to you know get better because we need to collect points"
you mentioned that the Burton have recruited quite well in the summer
they've done quite a lot of Maintenance to the squad how different a proposition
do you see them and in terms of their qualities compared to last year
"they've probably got a lot more strength in depth they've got a lot more experience
I think um so in that respect I mean I know a few of their players very well so
um that's sort of how I see it I you know the the team should represent
the manager really I think that in eventually that happens you know after
um window or two and I think they represent him uh very well and I thought
against Leicester against like you know arguably the best team in the champ
um they've done well to reduce them to very few goal scoring opportunities I
know Lester had loads of the ball but um they had a really good shape they
all were very well coached so and yeah he has added good players there so um I
think he's recruited well and like I said it will be as hard if not harder
game than last time we went there

Q: and just lastly in terms of the squad similar group to the last couple of games to pick from

A: yeah there's no nothing nothing exciting really apart from the fact I think uh well on the
exciting front uh Tom and Sib should be back uh in training on Monday which is
good obviously we've got Nat back in which is good we just because I feel
currently um respectfully of the squad we just lack pace like proper pace and Sibs Tom
and Nat probably our speed boats so it'd be nice to have them back because you know
there's different ways to win a football match but no one likes playing against
pace and hence why we're still trying to recruit and still need a a couple of three players
which the last couple of days have been pretty good on but um you know I've got excited too early
too soon on money uh so uh yeah so hopefully next week we get a couple of
even our old players back who are very good uh to have a more competitive squad
because we've got another big week next week perfect thank you"

 

 

There's the problem right there.  My sources have advised we sent a memo out to all clubs asking if they had any speedboats.  It's only just come light that someone wrote tugboats in error.

 

[Chris_Martin]

2 hours ago, DCFC Kicks said:

Vickers was good vs Blackpool. But it doesn't really matter.

I know you seem to hate Collins but he's still our best striker who had a good pre-season 

by best you mean only ?

[alram]

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

I had that feeling before and after the QPR Final.  Similar but less emphatically for the Villa final.

Inexcusably, I also often have that feeling for most Forest games at home.

Bur Burton away... 2nd game of a third division season... with neither the league table nor the recent form having had chance to settle?

Nah.  Not even close to being a very big game, and certainly not one that will shape our history.
It's no more than a bread and butter game.  It'll neither define our history, or the season.
I suspect most of us will have forgotten the match details/stats by Christmas 2024... if not 2023!

 

each to their own i suppose, I think it will set the tone going forward if we lose this one.

 

i did say modern history so i suppose youi can judge that over which time period you want but for me the crowd is close to turning on warne a loss at burton wont help his cause. there are sliding doors games which only have 3 points on them but can set the tone going forward, i just think this is one of them

Edited August 11, 2023 by alram

[DCFC Kicks]

4 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

by best you mean only ?

Yes. It's either him, Waghorn or Washington, and I don't think the latter two can play as a lone striker.

[RoyMac5]

 

[Nuwtfly]

Cannot wait to absolutely smash this lot, put the last week behind us, and get this season going 🐏

C’mon Paul!

[kevinhectoring]

9 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Opening snippets highlighted before it just goes onto 'tactical talk' via youtube text talk for those who don't want to listen, but obvs there is no punctuation:

"Q:Paul I don't necessarily think we need to go over old ground in terms of
Tuesday you may be very clear after that but has it been a case of not
necessarily sweeping it under the carpet but learning from it and trying to focus
ahead for Saturday"
"A:Yeah I mean obviously I may have a little bit of regrets on my
post-match but um I'm asked an opinion I've got to be
honest how I see the game and where I see it went wrong and I stick by what I
said but uh our first half performance was hugely disappointing so we made the
tactical change we put Tomo on to go on to the sitter uh he done really well
stopping the sitter playing and we were better second half but the performance
was disappointing however um Blackpool were very good and I think
it's been a good eye-opener for everybody we played the two teams that
have come down that like no team's gonna come or home or away is going to be like
at all like we're Derby County this would be an easy day there's no such
game and I think the two games have proven that we've obviously made
mistakes within the game and maybe Tuesday night you know we had
not four deputants but it was only their second game for two of them it was their
start we just weren't um as smooth as I would like it's probably the nicest way to put it and In
fairness I didn't use the game as a get fit game but it was uh look let's you
know change a couple of things we obviously put Josh in put um
change the two Wing backs sorry Kane and Callum and at times we're probably a
little bit too high too early which didn't allow the 10 that and it sort of
causes a few problems really so we tried to address it at half time and we tried
to address it since training there's no like um you know massive disaster but
apart from the fact of um you know you want to win football
matches so we've done some good work with them last couple of days so
hopefully the the lads who play Saturday are a little bit clearer we've took a
little bit of gray out of it so uh yeah so hopefully we can perform at a level
to uh come out with a positive result"
Q: in terms of what you've seen on the training ground and in the meeting so far have you seen the reaction and sort
of response that you've wanted to see from from the group "A:yeah a little bit I

mean it's difficult straight after going because everyone's really emotional so
if I spoke to you after the game and said look you should have done this your
natural defense is as it always is why I'm gonna say he didn't do that he
didn't do that so the whole idea of and this is the thing with teams sport it's
easy to manage a team winning every week it's a piece of cake in it but
um but after the games you you speak briefly then you watch the game back so
like me and my staff the coaching staff we didn't as you well know leave till
very late we watched the game back straight after the game picked up some
really good things which we really liked but there would have been better things
if the the movements were right and everything like that so we helped a lot
with that but then we'd have to show the team where we see it so look this is
fine you've decided to do that I don't want you to do that I want you
to do this I've asked you to do this and the reason I've asked you to do this is
because he's doing that at that time he's doing that it was just a little bit
there was too many uh off-the-cuff decisions possibly which made us which
made Blackpool have a real confidence like in fairness the first time they
cross it it goes in that shouldn't happen against us so that was
disappointing and then it's sort of like we had a massive wobble that's the
honest truth we just didn't play with any confidence so the idea of Team
meetings and uh then we had um The Defenders had a meeting the
Midfielders had a meeting is just to make the points of look these are why
we're asking you to do this you know because this happens when you do it so
then you just reinforce good clips say look this is why we do this movement
this is why we try and play this way on this side of the pitch
um and obviously the lads um take it in you think they take it in
I mean I'm going to do a test with them now in the team meeting to make sure
everyone's fully listening to what we want but that's always the way with the
team we with any team any sport you're only as strong as your leaker's weakest
link so if someone's out of position and you can't do the switch because of it
then it causes a problem or if you're not brave enough to throw it forward and
get hold of it up top um that's a problem so it's about this
week really about showing the lads where we went wrong collectively I'm part of
it obviously and reinfor reinfirming really the the positives of the play
because we had five or six brilliant bits of play but five or six ohm isn't
enough you should have 20. but reaffirming them and like if you do this
is why this is why we're really hard to play against that's why we're really
good so that's what the the whole reason for the meetings are not to embarrass
people but to just show them look you know we need to get these bits right if
not you're not giving yourself a big enough chance to win and against lesser
opposition you might get away with it but so far we've made
probably five big mistakes in two games and we've been punished brutally with
three of them so um we need to obviously eradicate mistakes like every team does
um but we also need to just tighten up on a few things Q: does that in some way
give you a bit of comfort that you're not being ripped apart is the fact that
it's those sort of individual errors at the moment which is cost you
A: "yeah a little bit I mean I'm disappointed because I you know no one
wants to uh um lose back-to-back games that's an absolute no-no so I'm disappointed on
that uh I the Wigan game was palatable because I thought we played well and the
goal at the end was uh one all I honestly believe there was only one team
that got to win it it was the first time they came into our box so it was it was
a shock that is palatable disappointing we have to drive performances you can't
we don't coach players to you know necessarily miss a one-on-one or you
know so so as a group I think we were disappointed but we could see good
things I think it was more disappointing against Blackpool because
um for three four minutes we didn't get a kick man at home that should never
happen against any team even if it's respectfully man united you shouldn't
not get the ball however what I will say is when I watched the game back and there isn't
any crowd noise or anything to affect you because it does affect you as humans
in a good way and a bad way at times when you're watching it in a neutral
environment and the lads have said this it wasn't as bad as it felt and there
will be times in a game where the opposition have the ball and you can't
press and you just have to like teams do against us pretty successfully mid block
and just say look for a minute we can't have it we can't have the ball every
minute so if we're gonna press we just have to press from a good shape and only
when you can affect the play so um that was harder for us as a group I
mean all of us in the building that you know I thought that we got a bit
embarrassed first half I'm not saying we did second half but we did first half so
the players that came on at half time done really well had a positive effect
um but it was just disappointing first half so in a very long answer to your
question I was disappointed with the result I was disappointed with the
performance first half but the other three halves apply I haven't been
disappointed with but I would much rather score 10 goals and win
comfortably obviously but uh so that's what we've been trying to work with the
largest trying to show them but also you know you just gotta you've got to keep
the lands confident and and um because like we've had like one out
of 46 League games so it's just got to be put into context a little bit 
and the beauty of it all is you've got a game again to put it right at the weekend
sun's out short trip for you to Burton how much are you looking forward to that
"uh yeah well you just want the next game to um put it right really so you just
want a a really good performance and you want a positive result so uh last season
we went there we didn't have uh we had a pretty good performance and we just lost
our man on one set piece and we threw away two points at home I thought it was
a really tight game I think if I remember rightly birdie won as a penalty
and that was uh you know there wasn't much between the teams they've recruited
well this summer they look organized and fit obviously I saw him
against Leicester they don't give up much of the ball they don't give up many
opportunities sorry they defend really well so it's going to be a really tough
game but League one is really tough so but the sad reality is we've come off
the back of uh two defeats so we need uh we always need a really good performance
but uh possibly even more so because it's a local Derby because obviously
both teams are up for it both teams have lost both games both you know
everything's you know it's sort of like it feels like a cup final already and
it's uh Saturday number two so um I won't make it out as it is that
game but we do need to you know get better because we need to collect points"
you mentioned that the Burton have recruited quite well in the summer
they've done quite a lot of Maintenance to the squad how different a proposition
do you see them and in terms of their qualities compared to last year
"they've probably got a lot more strength in depth they've got a lot more experience
I think um so in that respect I mean I know a few of their players very well so
um that's sort of how I see it I you know the the team should represent
the manager really I think that in eventually that happens you know after
um window or two and I think they represent him uh very well and I thought
against Leicester against like you know arguably the best team in the champ
um they've done well to reduce them to very few goal scoring opportunities I
know Lester had loads of the ball but um they had a really good shape they
all were very well coached so and yeah he has added good players there so um I
think he's recruited well and like I said it will be as hard if not harder
game than last time we went there

Q: and just lastly in terms of the squad similar group to the last couple of games to pick from

A: yeah there's no nothing nothing exciting really apart from the fact I think uh well on the
exciting front uh Tom and Sib should be back uh in training on Monday which is
good obviously we've got Nat back in which is good we just because I feel
currently um respectfully of the squad we just lack pace like proper pace and Sibs Tom
and Nat probably our speed boats so it'd be nice to have them back because you know
there's different ways to win a football match but no one likes playing against
pace and hence why we're still trying to recruit and still need a a couple of three players
which the last couple of days have been pretty good on but um you know I've got excited too early
too soon on money uh so uh yeah so hopefully next week we get a couple of
even our old players back who are very good uh to have a more competitive squad
because we've got another big week next week perfect thank you"

 

 

well good he’s realised he needs not to upset players in these interviews   

[Anag Ram]

Shows where we are as a fan base when it’s Saturday and we’re playing our local rivals and no one has posted on the match day thread for eleven hours!

[MaltRam]

Logic is out the window. Perspective has evaporated. I've got horrors that we'll be over-run and beaten. I need medication.

[ariotofmyown]

18 hours ago, alram said:

but for me the crowd is close to turning on warne

Thankfully, your posts are never representive of the majority of views on here, so probably fairly safe to assume you are wrong. If the crowd were all like you, they would be ridiculed up and down the land.

[RoyMac5]

 

[Yoxoram]

On the train heading for Burton now. Weather holding but forecast suggests showers. Come on you Rams.

[Caerphilly Ram]

Looking forward to an improved performance from the players, the staff and Warne today.
I think he’ll stick with largely the same side that played at Wigan, there’s arguments for and against doing so, but it’s what I think he’ll do. What I hope he does do (having commented about removing grey areas pre match) is simplify the instructions if not the shape. Stop the overlapping cb’s for now, back 3 of Cashin, Bradley and Nelson with their primary job being to defend. Wing backs (Elder and Ward) provide width and work up and down the pitch with Forsyth and Wilson able to deputise as the game goes on (ideally subs before the 73rd minute please Paul), but the wb’s to be one method of attacking rather than the only method. We saw second half against Blackpool a bit of play through the lines centrally which led to Waghorn and Washington’s chances, more of that mixed in with the wing play.
Perhaps a tweak to the midfield with Bird either sitting deeper alongside Smith and Hourihane or Thompson in there for one of the older heads to provide a bit more mobility and energy.

Then an industrious front two of Collins with Washington or Waghorn. I know it lacks pace but with NML missing Tuesday with hamstring tightness I think he’s a sensible option off the bench. Collins to stay central, Washington or Waggy to play a little freer and do some of the running for Collins.

Something like this;

                     Wildsmith

          Nelson   Bradley  Cashin

   Ward     Smith   Thompson     Elder

                       Bird

          Collins           Washington

[sage]

3 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Looking forward to an improved performance from the players, the staff and Warne today.
I think he’ll stick with largely the same side that played at Wigan, there’s arguments for and against doing so, but it’s what I think he’ll do. What I hope he does do (having commented about removing grey areas pre match) is simplify the instructions if not the shape. Stop the overlapping cb’s for now, back 3 of Cashin, Bradley and Nelson with their primary job being to defend. Wing backs (Elder and Ward) provide width and work up and down the pitch with Forsyth and Wilson able to deputise as the game goes on (ideally subs before the 73rd minute please Paul), but the wb’s to be one method of attacking rather than the only method. We saw second half against Blackpool a bit of play through the lines centrally which led to Waghorn and Washington’s chances, more of that mixed in with the wing play.
Perhaps a tweak to the midfield with Bird either sitting deeper alongside Smith and Hourihane or Thompson in there for one of the older heads to provide a bit more mobility and energy.

Then an industrious front two of Collins with Washington or Waghorn. I know it lacks pace but with NML missing Tuesday with hamstring tightness I think he’s a sensible option off the bench. Collins to stay central, Washington or Waggy to play a little freer and do some of the running for Collins.

Something like this;

                     Wildsmith

          Nelson   Bradley  Cashin

   Ward     Smith   Thompson     Elder

                       Bird

          Collins           Washington

Fozzy has to start and in whatever position he wants.

He gets into that side in 3 different positions.

 

[i-Ram]

1 minute ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

Looking forward to an improved performance from the players, the staff and Warne today.
I think he’ll stick with largely the same side that played at Wigan, there’s arguments for and against doing so, but it’s what I think he’ll do. What I hope he does do (having commented about removing grey areas pre match) is simplify the instructions if not the shape. Stop the overlapping cb’s for now, back 3 of Cashin, Bradley and Nelson with their primary job being to defend. Wing backs (Elder and Ward) provide width and work up and down the pitch with Forsyth and Wilson able to deputise as the game goes on (ideally subs before the 73rd minute please Paul), but the wb’s to be one method of attacking rather than the only method. We saw second half against Blackpool a bit of play through the lines centrally which led to Waghorn and Washington’s chances, more of that mixed in with the wing play.
Perhaps a tweak to the midfield with Bird either sitting deeper alongside Smith and Hourihane or Thompson in there for one of the older heads to provide a bit more mobility and energy.

Then an industrious front two of Collins with Washington or Waghorn. I know it lacks pace but with NML missing Tuesday with hamstring tightness I think he’s a sensible option off the bench. Collins to stay central, Washington or Waggy to play a little freer and do some of the running for Collins.

Something like this;

                     Wildsmith

          Nelson   Bradley  Cashin

   Ward     Smith   Thompson     Elder

                       Bird

          Collins           Washington

Mmmmh. So, 9 days and 2 games after letting your team pick a captain, you think Warne is going to drop him. I suppose Warne could ask the team to have another vote on the bus today?

[Caerphilly Ram]

3 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Mmmmh. So, 9 days and 2 games after letting your team pick a captain, you think Warne is going to drop him. I suppose Warne could ask the team to have another vote on the bus today?

That’s not exactly what I said, I suggested a tweak to the midfield with Bird sitting deeper alongside Hourihane and Smith OR Thompson in there for one of the older heads. I started the post by saying I think Warne will play largely the same side. The rest was more my rambling thoughts to try and have a more positive dialogue around today. Perhaps that’s a misjudgment on my part with the mood on here still seemingly partisan 😞 

[Caerphilly Ram]

6 minutes ago, sage said:

Fozzy has to start and in whatever position he wants.

He gets into that side in 3 different positions.

 

He could be in there for any of Cashin, Bradley or Elder, agreed. Was just expressing my thoughts on how it could be today. I’m probably wrong. I’ll stay quiet