| 10 games in.... 21:59 - Oct 4 with 6569 views | GVJack |
Thoughts? |  | | |  |
| 10 games in.... on 10:56 - Oct 5 with 1079 views | raynor94 |
| 10 games in.... on 10:50 - Oct 5 by EagleEye |
Worse possible start against some pretty poor to mediocre Championship sides. All the pre-season hype of new signings quickly dipped when we saw some of them played out of position.
No shape, no spirit, no shape, no real teamwork or confidence shown by players in the manager or his methods. A formation being used that didn’t suit the players initially.
A few lucky breaks getting soft penalties & scoring first in the last 4, forced formation change & suddenly we look a different outfit. New signings & established squad members starting to gel & believe. Green shoots of a decent squad/ team in there somewhere. Hopefully Duff will play to our strengths & not take as long as Martin to see them.
We haven’t really played any of the better sides in the division (except Norwich) yet but hey ho onwards & upwards we go. I never really bought in to Duff’s slow start at every club he has been at syndrome, certainly hope he carries on to prove me wrong about that |
You can hardly call Preston Baggies an Coventry pretty poor to mediocre |  |
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| 10 games in.... on 11:07 - Oct 5 with 1061 views | jack247 |
| 10 games in.... on 10:47 - Oct 5 by Dr_Winston |
Yep.
It takes time for any players to adjust. Part of the problem early doors IMO was trying to kick Grimes out of the habit of tedious possession recycling. If your midfield isn't supporting the forward line then huge gaps will appear and often the longer ball remains your only option to relieve the pressure.
You can't just flip a switch and players will magically stop doing what they've spent four years doing. It does take a few games. Usually about 8-10 looking at Duff's track record. |
There’s logic to that, but there hasn’t been a transition, unless you count the first half of the Wednesday game.
We were embarrassed at Cardiff, outplayed by a very poor QPR side and probably shaded the first half against a shambolic Wednesday.
Then we suddenly start playing Paterson in a key role and passing it with far more attacking intent and purpose than we ever did under Martin.
As for Grimes, he’s playing like he did when he had space from Dan James forcing teams to defend deep and Oli McBurnie dropping into midfield and taking shackles away from him. | | | |
| 10 games in.... on 13:45 - Oct 5 with 1002 views | cadleigh |
There's no way that the first matches under Duff's management (including the pre-season outings) represented some form of game plan that didn't work so Duff abandoned it and has now found a winning formula. Look at Darling's long balls to no one at Oxford. Utterly mystified me at the time, now he is getting them on target every time. The recipients are still learning how to control them (and Darling probably has to keep adjusting to give them more of a chance to make something of the opportunity) but Duff's logic is becoming clear. It's taking a while for the players to adjust. I for one thought that some players, like Grimes and Paterson, didn't have it in them. Well thank God Duff is the manager not me, hey.
On a related note, did Duff actually say 'I am not shifting from a 3 CBs and 2 WBs formation' after the Cardiff game or did he say 'I’ll get my head down and stick to my values. I won’t come off from what I believe in'? Because the latter could mean a world of things to do with style of play, work rate etc and very little to do with who plays where. | |
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| 10 games in.... on 14:14 - Oct 5 with 986 views | Dr_Winston |
From memory Duff specifically stated that he wasn't wedded to any particular defensive setup. It would appear that his ideal would be a back three, but the last four games suggested that he doesn't have a problem changing that if it's not working.
There have been definite bits of what we're currently seeing since early pre-season, particularly with regards to the interplay in the final third. [Post edited 5 Oct 2023 14:18]
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| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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| 10 games in.... on 07:37 - Oct 6 with 861 views | SgorioFruit |
| 10 games in.... on 22:15 - Oct 4 by cadleigh |
I am starting to realise that Duff has been setting up a chessboard all this time. Respect. |
it took him 6 games to remove the chessboard from its packaging |  |
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| 10 games in.... on 11:03 - Oct 6 with 805 views | onehunglow |
| 10 games in.... on 13:45 - Oct 5 by cadleigh |
There's no way that the first matches under Duff's management (including the pre-season outings) represented some form of game plan that didn't work so Duff abandoned it and has now found a winning formula. Look at Darling's long balls to no one at Oxford. Utterly mystified me at the time, now he is getting them on target every time. The recipients are still learning how to control them (and Darling probably has to keep adjusting to give them more of a chance to make something of the opportunity) but Duff's logic is becoming clear. It's taking a while for the players to adjust. I for one thought that some players, like Grimes and Paterson, didn't have it in them. Well thank God Duff is the manager not me, hey.
On a related note, did Duff actually say 'I am not shifting from a 3 CBs and 2 WBs formation' after the Cardiff game or did he say 'I’ll get my head down and stick to my values. I won’t come off from what I believe in'? Because the latter could mean a world of things to do with style of play, work rate etc and very little to do with who plays where. |
For me,it is clear Duff will learn from mistakes in a way Rusty never would.
I’ve never really rated Pato but he’s a different player under Duff as is Grimes,previously one who simply slowed everything down . He can play,he can shoot. It’s possibly this year we will see how good Grimes can be .
Look at Cabango now. Solid,strong and committed and playing where he should . The boy was misused badly previously .
Duff clearly faced a huge challenge to get over the damage caused by MRtin . | |
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| 10 games in.... on 13:56 - Oct 6 with 747 views | magicdaps10 |
We are seeing improvements after the worse football I had seen for many a year.
Big respect to Duff, he seems to have got his head around things and is now showing signs that I feel allows him to be given time.....its going to be another rebuild so again patience is now needed given you can now see he has a plan.
I just hope we dont see unrealistic expectations labelled with Duff and the team. |  |
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