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Thread | MOM today
at 19:54 24 Feb 2024
Going to be a tough one for Clive.
It's between Colback, Dunne and Willock for me.
Willock scored the winner, great through ball for Smyth's equaliser, good defensive work and great on the ball.
Dunne was immense at right back, both defensively, going forwards and at set pieces. So pleased for him as someone who always tries his best and never cries off injured, is he our No1 right back now?
I thought Colback was brilliant today. He got our tempo going, he tracked back so often to help others out, sprinting at 94 minutes like it was the first minute, used the ball well (mostly), all over the pitch and hugely influencial. |
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Thread | Saturday's games
at 12:37 21 Feb 2024
Of the teams above us within 3 points, all are playing away:
Southampton (4th) v Millwall
Watford (11th) v Hudderfield
Cardiff (14th) v Stoke
Of the teams above us within 6 points of us, only Blackburn at home:
Sunderland (10th) v Swansea
Middlesborough (13th) v Plymouth
Blackburn v Norwich (8th)
Ipswich v Birmingham (3rd)
Obviously we have Rotherham. Sheffield Weds have Bristol City (12th) at home.
We know they never do, but the table would look so amazingly different if results went the way of current league positions and you'd have an incredible of teams just of the last relegation spot - more so of Sheffield Wednesday win.
If we thought winning at Stoke was a great chance to change the table, this weekend really is, which makes the Rotherham game even more terrifying as we know how these things go.
Psychologically for us and other teams, this could be huge, if we can get out and other teams get pulled into the mix further.
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Thread | Didn't deserve to lose that
at 14:08 14 Jan 2024
I know it's about achieving etc as Marti says, but you know what, we played well today.
Our Achilles heal of not being able to score / take chances bit us again.
Plenty of positives from today, not the result of course
This is miles away from getting beaten and playing terribly. [Post edited 14 Jan 14:09]
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Thread | nm
at 22:20 5 Jan 2024
nm
[Post edited 5 Jan 22:34]
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Thread | Dykes play last night
at 16:14 2 Dec 2023
Chair, JCS and others will rightly get a lot of plaudits for last night - it was a great team performance keeping them at bay most of the game.
I don't know if it was the confidence of two goals midweek, the new way we are playing, but Lyndon looked to me like he had a different energy about him last night. He'll always put a shift in, but just seemed to have that little bit extra last tight competing - I thought he had a great game, linking play and leading the line and hope this is the start of something new for him again.
There are so many more options for him now to lay the ball off, and he seems to be trying to control it on his chest then pass it, more than flick it on with his head - not sure if that is him re-ajusting or how we are passing it to him but it was good to see.
I'm not his harshest critic and neither his biggest fan, but hoping we've found a way to utilise him to his best ability.
Lucky boy to stay on the pitch though....
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Thread | What would you choose - great tactical manager or great striker
at 15:15 26 Oct 2023
It appears we currently have neither.
However it did occur to me that there was a period when Warburton was in charge, with Dykes as our main striker, when we were struggling (not to this extent of course), but some wanted him gone. Anyway, we signed Austin and suddenly all was well with the world again.
Obviously you want both, but if we can only have one, what would you choose / which would do better? I suspect FFP, lack of finances / scouting means we can only opt for option b whatever we want, best case, and we may not get that.
a) So same manager with a lethal, maybe speedy striker or
b) Same team, with a tactical genius in charge. |
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Thread | Trickle down bad decisions - time to start again - from the top
at 23:21 21 Oct 2023
People are calling for Ainsworth to go, understandably.
Before (and if) that happens, our most important decision is to appoint some who knows about how to manage a football club, not financially but in terms of how to run the footballing side. Can be a CEO, DOF whatever we want to call them - they should be what we are spending all our money on right now as otherwise we are wasting money time and time again with bad signings and managerial appointments and will never get out of the spiral without getting lucky.
Once that person is in, they either then appoint others as they see fit (DOF, Analytics, Scouting etc). Then:
1. Decide on playing style / structure etc we want for the next 5-10 years (roughly, obviously things change)
2. Evaluate manager, coaches, academy and playing staff - which ones work with this, which don't. Replicate structure across all teams U23s and below.
3. Manager leaves / stays
4. Players leave / stay / are not renewed
5. Identify players to sign and potential future managers.
Managers and players can change, but core structure stays meaning less disruption when players leave.
This sounds a lot easier than I am sure it is, and infairness under Warburton / Les we were not far off it I think.
We now have an unbalanced side, with some players who want it on the ground, some who want to hoof it, an unproven manager (which can be fine) who has played direct football in a squad with no-one who can hold the ball up or / or win it in the air and our best player by far Chair who wants it on the ground.
I'd assume we want to have a plan to make money from player sales - so selling when players are on form, and having as ready as possible replacements. Fulham, Brentford, Brighton can manage - no reason we can't, but it won't be quick.
Whether we go down or stay up we need a change at the top otherwise the board are just playing Championship Manager on their laptops with predictable results.
The next few years are likely to be painful, but we need a plan to see us come out of it - there just doesn't seem to be one right now. |
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Thread | Car help
at 20:10 19 Oct 2023
Our car stopped working a few weeks ago. Clutch went when I was driving home. Our 2015 Citroen C4 Picassa needs to declutch to start the car. I couldn't start it, AA managed to so could drive it to garage.
Local garage looked at it but also couldn't start it, did some checks but said needed to go to dealers. Lead time 6 weeks! Found one an hour away with 2 week lead time.
Went to Dealers yesterday, got quote back for repairs today £5.5k!!!! We need to decide by tomorrow what we do. That does include some a service for nearly £400, but the cluth bits inc labour are £4k - is this reasonable? I can't believe it.
Car is worth £4-6k I think.
I am sure we are being fleeced. Going to speal to local garage again tomorrow to see if they can try (but will need recovery truck to get it there - it's an hour away now). If they say no really not sure what to do (I know nothing about cars).
I'm not really sure what I'm asking, we will probably need to scrap it at this rate and get something new - if anyone has any ideas I'm open to them! [Post edited 19 Oct 2023 20:12]
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Thread | Off topic - TV v Smart TVs v Boxes etc
at 22:44 9 Sep 2023
Hello
We have finally managed to upgrade our broadband from around 15Mb to 900Mb (down).
We currently use a Chromecast with our fairly old non smart TV, which we'd like to upgrade to improve the picture quality. We don't have Sky etc or any boxes.
Basically just want a crisp TV and no buffering - will a smart TV do that or are you better off with a box that can process the connection better into a 4k / HD TV? Should I look for a minimum processor / refresh rate etc? Or what to look for/ think about? Is their much difference between HD and 4K in reality?
Or should I just get anything reasonably priced and it should be ok and ignore the marketing?
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Thread | First game in a while - hmmm.
at 00:49 15 Feb 2023
So I've not been to a game since before Christmas. Some things that struck:
1. Ethan Laird. I'm not sure if this was a one-off, if he's under the weather but a shocking transformation from a full on attacking full back to someone more interested in going backwards. Delighted Kakay came on the replace him at half-time, the difference in commitment and intent was striking.
2. Shape / formation / team selection / movement.
I didn't understand what we were attempting. We had Dozzell (who I like) picking up the ball at the back Ray Wilking style. This was great apart from the fact there was virtually no movement in front of him.
We decided Field was best placed out wide on the right of midfield - as an attempt to starve Martin of service this worked beautifully.
The team as a whole just seemed lethargic, and part of me wonders if this was down to selection / tactics.
3. Subs.
As I said I thought taking off Laird at HT was much needed. It was almost criminal to wait til 75 minutes to make any further changes though. If we want crosses into Martin why was Adomah not on and filed moved infield where we were overun anyway, taking Tim off who has also gone way off the boil.
4. Rub of the green.
We deserved to lose, make no bones about it...but we gifted them the first and missed a great chance for an equaliser. When it's not going for you, it's not going for you.
5. Possession football
I don't mind possession football and passing it backwards if passing it forwards means you will lose it.
However, passing it out to a centre back, who then passes it to the left back / right back, who then passes it back to the centre back, to the other centre back, to the other left back / right back is not only beyond dull leading to no atmosphere, but gets you nowhere. We need to drive it forward, and faster. It was so slow at times.
Overall a thoroughly deflating experience, devoid of any real excitement or hope. Some players are clearly lacking confidence, I just can't believe where we are now compared to where we were just a few months ago.
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Thread | Can't but tickets for tomorrow?
at 21:34 13 Feb 2023
A bit late I know, but just tried to login to buy tickets for tomorrow and it's saying they are no longer on sale - this can't be right surely?
Can anyone else see this?
*edit to add if you click on info it says this event is in the past, so I guess something has gone wrong in a database somewhere. I'll email themn and hopefully it can be fixed tomorrow.
Looks like you can't but Blackburn tickets either. [Post edited 13 Feb 2023 21:36]
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Thread | Kakay
at 00:01 3 Jan 2023
I'm so pleased for him. What a great game he had tonight. He was also great pre-season and the first game he played. I really wasn't sure if he could make it but I really think he could cut it at this level now.
He's also been a total pro, throughout the Todd Kane nonsense and being dropped at the start of this season. Seems very likeable as well.
Lots of positives tonight - what a difference a few days makes! |
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Thread | Does Chair play deeper when Willock is not playing
at 10:32 16 Oct 2022
I'm not sure if I am seeing things, but does Chair tend to play much deeper when Willock is not playing? My feeling is he ends up picking the ball up much deeper and spends less time where you'd ideally want him, though I remember Beale saying early on he thought he could play him differently. |
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Thread | Can you buy memberships yet?
at 10:47 29 Jun 2022
Hello, I know most people here look at ST, but I need 3 memberships but can't see them for sale on the site, can anyone else? |
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Thread | Feeling excited about next season
at 11:39 19 Jun 2022
I was going to title this feeling positive but I think excited is the better word. We still have players to sign in various positions, we have a coach 'light' on 1st team experience etc etc but we have the prospect of attractive football around a good group of key young players, who still have room to improve themselves (Dieng, Dickie, Dunne, Field, Chair, Willock).
The way we are seemingly going to recruit players generally unknown to me but scouted for positions we need, with the prospect of players getting better with us fills me with hope, and reminds me of my favourite time late 80s / early 90s when we would buy relative unknowns who would become International class with us (I accept that was the Premier League but concept is the same) - when we got Seaman, Parker, Bardsley, Sinton, Ferdinand etc.
Call it nostalgia, or exitement at what's coming, or maybe it's the unknown but that tingle of excitement is there. |
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Thread | Sunderland and us last night.
at 15:06 27 Oct 2021
I thought they were very good, both individually and as a team.
Their press was one of the best we've seen, we often had every player marked which affected our passing out from the back, and they were good on the ball also, nice quick, sharp passing with some very good individuals, their number 7 looked very good.
I felt from about 30 mins in we needed to take a striker off (Gray last night) and get another midfielder on, we needed the spare / extra man in midfield to pass out but also to stop them.
The other thing another midfielder eg Dom Ball would have done, would have been to allow Chair to play much further upfield and closer to Willock. So much of our good play this year has come from Chair and Willock overloading one side, normally the left, and using the whoever is left back at the time - I can't believe we decided to change this.
The goal we 'didn't score' appear completely out of order, but I've not seen it back yet, but the lino did not put his flag up and I checked before celebrating, but that apart I still feel we got it wrong tactically, not to take anything away from Sunderland who I thought played very well. We'll never know if a change of tactics would have helped, I'm just gutted we didn't try.
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