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Reply | Injury hit, on the beach and checked out, QPR soundly beaten – Report
at 19:24 31 Mar 2025
As bad as that performance was on Saturday , that match report was as magnificent.
The worse we play , the better Clive’s writing is and the more I laugh.
Something in that isn’t right , but they are mightily enjoyable anyway.
“I said there was the faint whiff of Mykonos on the breeze of this side’s recent phoned in effort against a similarly out of form, injury hit and nervous Middlesbrough side. Here, against the worst Stoke side in 25 years, there was a tanned Greek lad in tight trunks handing out olives.”
Complete gold.
I’m sorry we have to be that turgid to produce such an account. |
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Reply | That one is on Marti
at 21:15 30 Mar 2025
Completely agree.
Bloated staff all round , most (not all) connected in some way previously to the CEO.
Only got to watch us do the previously mentioned pre match horsesh*t in our warm up and see the amount of coaches standing around on the pitch slapping each other on the back whilst we walk through the most basic nonsense ever put into a ‘drill’.
None of which are Marti or Xavi. |
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Reply | That one is on Marti
at 20:06 30 Mar 2025
Yes this is the bit I’m struggling with .
Hence my previous rants about sports science and ‘managing the load’ etc .
If he’s fit then play him . If he ain’t then leave him at home ready for next Saturday .
He looked ok to me for a half .
As I said on a different thread , the whole sports science thing I can’t help feel is people trying to justify their existence half the time .
And (I’m sorry in advance Ned) worth remembering that the whole ‘sports science’ team plus Ben Williams and the team he bought in , are all part of Christian Nourry’s past company and its sister companies . So is the new stadium manager , Box office manager etc etc etc .
And people had the nerve to say ‘jobs for the boys’ to Les .
They might all work and be great . But it’s dangerous ground I think . |
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Reply | That one is on Marti
at 10:50 30 Mar 2025
Oh absolutely no need to apologise mate, especially to me.
Been one of Madsen’s biggest critics probably . Agreed totally with the post , not sure if it was yourself or someone else , who said that when you watch him , he seems to deliberately find places on the pitch where he can’t receive the ball . I’ve seen him do exactly that.
Just thought that yesterday’s nonsense went a lot further than Madsen. So much wrong by the time he came on that I’m not sure what he was supposed to do change the flow of the match .
I actually would love him to turn his QPR career around , I really would.
I’m not even sure it’s his fault. I just think he’s not suited to this division and this style of football.
Which then takes us full circle back to Clive’s snd your point I guess . |
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Reply | That one is on Marti
at 08:36 30 Mar 2025
Not quite sure why this thread has turned on Madsen for yesterday’s debacle .
I get he is symbolic of the sketchy recruitment over the passed …….oh god knows how long actually, but he wasn’t any worse than anybody else really. And he only played half of the game.
In the cold light of day , yesterday was a shambles and Marti must take his share of responsibility.
But, a lot of what we saw yesterday was dictated by the sports science team and the more I think about it , the more I think these people are stealing a living to justify their existence in such numbers at our (any) club.
It used to be that the physios would try and persuade you that you were fit to play .
Now it seems they try and persuade the player and the coaching staff they are NOT fit to play .
This gives the players huge excuses to spend long periods of time on the sidelines, when really they could get out there and deal with a little discomfort or pain for 90 mins. This won’t always be the case . Cook was clearly playing with an injury . But our clubs’ cloak of relative invisibility regarding injuries ( see Varane recently..anyone really know why he was missing?) gives players another curtain to hide behind on info fed to them from sports science malingerers.
A cynical view this morning admittedly , but sometimes fed up with how our club and football in general is going . |
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Reply | That one is on Marti
at 20:34 29 Mar 2025
You make a couple of good points Brian but ultimately, with the aptitude and desire as a team today we would have got beaten no matter how MC set us up.
We don’t have the strength in depth , quality or desire .
And Marti must take his fair share of blame for motivation, plans of action etc. no where near it .
See Fox in an interview just now telling the fans to “stick with us”
We will of course, but all very well in 7 games time when you are off, and us poor sods are watching whoever remains of this carcass in league 1.
The club is a shambles. |
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Reply | Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers- match thread hi
at 20:01 29 Mar 2025
Yeah is it me or is the whole sports science thing given players massive excuses these days?
We used to play through the pain , quarter zone injections, painkillers etc.
Maybe I’m just an old dinosaur but if they are fit , bloody play them . If they ain’t, leave them at home . |
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Reply | Gaffer on today's defeat
at 19:27 29 Mar 2025
Well he is rightly, in his words , fuming.
But how many times is he going to say we ‘showed up late’ , meaning we don’t start actually playing until the last 20 mins or so?
That isn’t just down to the players , but down to him too. You have to have them prepared , in every way , right from the off. It’s unacceptable.
He did say that bad decisions are on him .
Fair enough .
Injuries and players missing aren’t an excuse, they are a fact . Sick of the injuries and the players not available continuously at this poxy club.
And sick of the players that do decide to grace us with their presence churning out crap like that . |
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Reply | Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers- match thread hi
at 18:03 29 Mar 2025
Difficult to explain that 3rd goal especially.
That ball was rolled in between 3 QPR players who all turned like milk..especially Fox who I thought was moving in slow motion. It just can’t be and shouldn’t be that easy .
Paal got embarrassed for the 1st goal . Lead a dance for about 90 yards and didn’t get close once .
Pathetic frankly. I promise you Mr Elbow, It’s not an agenda . He just doesn’t do his job well enough far too often.
But he ain’t helped . Andersen in front of him was a recipe for disaster. He jogged about like he was playing on the beach with his shirt off . Unacceptable, but Marti has to do better than that .
We are missing players and I know there has been a flu bug in the camp where Morgan and Frey among others have been struck down , but we have to be set up better . We have to be drilled better and we have to show some heart and desire to win a poxy football match . It’s like we have tossed off the remaining away games . Unacceptable…from all concerned .
Except the fans . Tremendous as usual . |
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Reply | Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers- match thread hi
at 15:57 29 Mar 2025
Ainsworth levels of dogsh*t
About as bad as anything for a while .
It shows you that when 4 or 5 are missing this squad is weak , timid, slow , lopsided and simply not good enough . If by chance we do stay up (with performances like this we could well go ) good luck trusting the same people to assemble another complete squad .
Half of this lot have thrown the towel in , the other half are simply out of their depth.
Only Edwards again with any modicum of respect which is a huge worry .
Reactionary and OTT maybe .
But that 1st half deserves it.
Get it together Marti for god sake. [Post edited 29 Mar 16:00]
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Reply | The home straight – Preview
at 22:36 28 Mar 2025
As well as the injury crisis , the grapevine is suggesting a flu bug has taken hold .
Going to need whoever is available to step up tomorrow
Sorry , great report Clive [Post edited 28 Mar 22:37]
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 18:49 28 Mar 2025
I actually agree .
I just think the CEO will look to gain income anywhere he can.
Ain’t nobody else going to catch the eye at the moment . Kolli perhaps for I dunno… £750k?
Maybe a little more if we get lucky .
But I actually agree, we have been desperate for so long for decent bloody striker . |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 17:39 28 Mar 2025
I don’t think we SHOULD get rid.
But with almost no other sellable option , I think we will.
Although I just read his contract is up in January so who knows.
We just don’t have anybody right now to realistically gain money from. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 13:57 28 Mar 2025
Completely agree.
I just think that with our lack of sellable assets he is fast becoming our most likely , no matter how small that might be . |
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Reply | Gaffer on Stoke game
at 13:03 28 Mar 2025
With so many players still out of contract and in addition a fair few of the remaining players being injury prone , I can’t see many queuing for this job without a very decent wage offered.
There will be a few of course, but anybody of note will baulk at the above.
The squad is in need of a complete overhaul unless Cook, Colback, Frey, Andersen, Fox take a fair old pay cut and even then are they really good enough? Some are some aren’t. Jimmy will want a pay rise for sure which will almost certainly rule him out.
But they have experience and if we do survive which I fully expect us to do , then I’m not sure I trust the people in place to get in the correct players to balance this lopsided sided squad and replace that experience. Tiny 10 fetish and left back phobia doesn’t help.
We don’t have the money to go full beans in the transfer window and there are no options to make money except now for the possible £1 - £1.5m for Kelman . We will have to sell him now as there is simply no one else to make money from.
I worry about next season I really do .
But anyway let’s get this season completed first .
If we limp home with more defeats than decent results , then Marti like his players has to take some of the rap.
But replacing him with someone else will be a very risky move .
By the same token , we can’t keep going ok these bad runs no matter who is the coach as sooner or later we’ll get what we deserve.
The fact that it’s happened with several coaches / managers simply tells you where the main issues lie. |
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Reply | Introduction to the demon drink
at 13:21 23 Mar 2025
Never had a proper drink until I was 16 . Then introduced to Shepherd Neame beer Hurlimann in a Ramsgate pub …holy hell I was poorly . And the next time ..and the time after that . Such a strong lager but it felt different from other beers . The Swiss always claimed that the sugars in it numbed the brain. Not sure about that, but it certainly worked 🤣.
Set me and the band up for the next 30 years of being ‘renowned’ heavy drinkers but that tag got boring very quickly.
I don’t drink now accept the very odd half a bottle of beer or Guinness at a celebration or something . Just can’t do it anymore [Post edited 23 Mar 13:38]
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Reply | Good luck son of pugwash
at 15:02 22 Mar 2025
What terribly sad news to read .
Thoughts and condolences to his family and friends |
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Reply | Development side .
at 13:28 20 Mar 2025
Pretty healthy crowd here to be fair
Edit : ‘size’ crowd [Post edited 20 Mar 13:35]
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