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Thread | Most Uplifting Sight in a Long While
at 22:55 11 Dec 2024
Jonathan Varane after the lap of the pitch on the final whistle went over to the fans in the East Paddock sat on the billboards just chatting with random fans, taking selfies, having a laugh,
Seems to really love what he does, with the likes of Dunne, Field, Varane we seem to have a core group of really good lads, who love what they do and really treat our fans with the respect they deserve,
Superb on & off the pitch, those small things mean so much. |
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Thread | Ben Doak - Cifuentes Tactics & Team Set Up
at 09:26 16 Nov 2024
This is not intended to dig-out Cifuentes,
More so to highlight how Cifuentes seems to me to be of the Arsene Wenger school of ..we'll play & impose our game..and not the Mourinho school of..we'll set our tactics out according to the opposition..
I get this is quite a broad statement but having seen Doak give a £ 77m valued Left Back the run around last night, how did Cifuentes not see what we all knew was coming & set up the team accordingly against Doak's Middlesbrough?
When I was playing Saturday afternoon football, and you knew from previous season the opposition's Right Winger was their go-to star man, you made sure you stiffened up your Left Side to support your Left Back, basics,
Cifuentes could have put Field, Saito or Smyth in front of Santos, rather than Chair who is coming back to match fitness and has never been the most defensively disciplined left-sided attacker, but Cifuentes chose to play an inexperienced Right Back as Left Back and still did'nt change it when everyone in the ground could see what was coming,
Too often we're told it's our players who throw our Managers under the Bus (and I'd agree Austin & Gray did to Warburton) but with Cifuentes, Ainsworth & Critchley I've too often thought WTF are you doing.
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Thread | Smyth, Half Turn, Cut Back and Subbed Off!
at 22:31 22 Oct 2024
Smyth finally does what we've been asking,
Opens his body on the Half Turn so when he receives the ball he can go forward and not just backwards and...
Gets a yard on his man, ahead of the support and finally cuts it back rather than whack it across the line 10 yards ahead of the support and.....
Marti subs him off, brings on a Right Back and we lost our pace, threat and all momentum to go on and win the game.
Marti always has and continues to make some very odd decisions!
Much better all round tho. |
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Thread | Never a straight Red Card
at 09:16 29 Sep 2024
Varane was trying to flick the ball away with the outside of his foot no way planting his foot on their player,
Both players went in equally strong and the Blackburn player hammed it up but the theatrics of their no 27 was a disgrace, worst I've seen, hope he gets dogs abuse in return fixture at ours,
Their players especially the no 27 conned the Ref and he naively bought it. [Post edited 29 Sep 9:20]
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Thread | Adrian Duthams 92 - Loftus Road is No1
at 07:03 25 Sep 2024
Above article appeared on my Google feed this morning,
Durham completed the 92 and listed his Top 10,
Loftus Road is his No1 favourite ground, great write up, really gets it,
Appreciate if someone could post link as not sure how to. |
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Thread | Smyth as our 2nd Striker when we go 3-5-2
at 15:48 7 Apr 2024
Given we now have 4 quality 10's and Smyth's crossing is inaccurate, would he be better used as a 2nd striker when we go to 3-5-2.
Always lively, quick, can beat a man and just seems to have a footballers instinct which is lacking amongst our forwards.
My preference is to starts Dykes (just ignore that bit if you don't agree)) to get some control of the game but if I'm Manager and I want to go 2 upfront they have to play close together and Smyth is the better option for me,
Armstrong (needs L1/L2 football to develop like Smyth) or Frey (too immobile and needs a pre-season before I make the dreaded Conor Washington call on him) just not doing it for me right now. |
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Thread | Chair in the Middle - Last Hope of Staying Up
at 13:20 29 Jan 2024
I think most would agree that Smyth, Armstrong or Willock are worthy of a starting position in the wide positions,
I think most would agree we struggle to transition the ball out of defence, either via the Full-Backs or the two CDM's,
I think most would agree Chair was our most effective player on Sunday with two superb early crosses, one on his left foot and one from wide right (showing the benefit of early balls before defenders have time to get their body-shape right Ilias!),
I think most would agree we saw the best of Chair & Willock when they play narrow and close to each other with their very effective quick interchange of short passes,
So, why, why, why is Chair not playing in the middle as the 10, behind Dykes (ignore that bit) with Smyth on the right, Willock on the Left and Armstrong coming on for last 30 (ignore that bit as this post is about Chair)
Northern maybe rightly thinks this is moving the last few chairs on the Titanic whereas I think there always time to keep looking for the last life-jacket. If we don't make this change, this team is relegated. |
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Thread | Bannan, Livermore, Chair
at 07:50 15 Jan 2024
A few times now we have been undone by the best individual player in the opposition's team.
Livermore sat deep yesterday but as the game wore on and we crucially dropped too deep mid-point in the 2nd Half he stepped up into the space and won the game.
Chair can do this for us, leaving him wide left where he can be easily managed like yesterday (as doesn't like to use his left foot or possess real pace to hurt the opposition) just doesn't make sense.
Football's a simple game, the more ball your best player has the more effective your team will be.
Now Marti has realised we don't have the players for a 4-3-3 and has reverted to a 4-2-3-1 which suits his players better, play Chair in the middle.
We'll have an out-ball from defence,
We'll have a player who can half turn + pass forward,
We'll have a player who can run with the ball,
We'll have a shooting threat from outside the box,
Seeing Smyth + Armstrong step up yesterday and offer more goal threat than Chair shows me they are ready to start either side of Chair and we can now get our best player in space to run the game and not isolated on the left touch-line.
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Thread | www & ebi / positives from today / still hope
at 15:05 14 Jan 2024
WWW - Positives - A fair few today:
1) Defending - Set pieces - three markers - Field / Dunne / Dykes - much improved
2) Tactics - eg Dykes dropping back to track Livermore, see below
3) Chances - created more chances today than of late
4) Armstrong - much improved and definitely a role as a 30 minute impact sub
5) Dozzell - benched, competed much better in Midfield, bar Willock being a weak link
6) Dunne - even when went up top was dropping deep to show for the ball, never hides
EBI - Negatives - A few to address:
1) Fitness - noticed our energy drop before goal, Dykes gave Livermore too much space
2) Substitutions - see above, need to do early as too many players not match-fit
3) Set Pieces - beyond comment, beyond dreadful
4) Finishing - Colbacks was the chance for 1-1, Armstrongs & Dunnes were good saves
5) Chair & Willock - have to player closer together, Willock not fit enough to cover flank so has to be him in the middle in a 4-2-3-1 with Armstrong on Right, Chair on Left and Dykes with back to goal.
Much improved, a worldy 1st goal undid us, well done to fans for their backing today, there's still hope!
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Thread | Vocal Support Tomorrow
at 18:41 13 Jan 2024
Tomorrow really is a must win + we need to be noisey as to give our team that extra few percent.
Midday games usually means a flat atmosphere but all attending really must be positive and make our support heard.
Local for Watford and likely a decent away following so we need to do our bit. |
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Thread | Hiding in Plain Sight - Andre Dozzell
at 11:14 2 Jan 2024
This post is not about finding another scapegoat as in Dykes, Dunne & Kakay I reckon its easier for the majority of our fans to focus on just those three.
This post has been prompted by what went catastrophically wrong with our team performance at Millwall, the improvement at Ipswich and the reversion to type yesterday.
After the Millwall game I've taken to watching Mr Dozzell closely as thought his contribution, or complete lack of in the Millwall game, meant we were never in the game as seemed to be playing with a man short.
Undeniably returning to his ex-club at Ipswich he had a point to prove and for the first half he actually got involved in the game and in the 2nd half managed to overlap and run into space to put a cross into the box. So low is the bar with this lad, I was genuinely shocked when he did this.
Yesterday Mr Dozzell reverted to his preferred role of hiding in plain sight. Seemed more than happy to let Jimmy Dunne become our main creative spark as he sauntered from one marker to the next.
Again I was pleasantly surprised (so low is the bar with this lad) when he made an ambitious forward pass mid-way through the 2nd Half, which was his sole contribution, apart from pointing to where the Centre Backs should pass the ball (never to him mind) or when he did decide he could'nt hide any longer, he engaged in a a bit of fromyoutomebacktoyou which is his primary contribution in any game.
Until we find a formation that returns this lad to his rightful place on the bench we will continue on a downward trajectory (presume with SJ's demise he somehow became a 1st team starter) as we will be relying on our main creative midfielder to contribute his usual 1 Goal but more tellingly 1 Assist Per Season.
Every player tried their best yesterday, bar Dozzell. I have not given up hope but the longer he remains a starter in a 4-4-3 formation that hope will diminish.
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