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Bob , are we seeing the affect of transfer windows ?
What club is going to risk their first eleven in the League Cup in August knowing they can’t sign a replacement if any of them gets injured until January?
Also having to name a static 25 man squad before 10th August means that we now have 7 or 8 players who will now just be watching from the stand until January not even having the opportunity to go on loan to keep them match fit in competitive games in Championship
Last night showed that our second string is not even up to Championship standard so I fear the outcome if we experience a lot of injuries in the Premier league.
You make some fair points, but what annoys me is that you can apply most of that to the sides, who were all weaker than us when you consider league position, and yet their reserves and fringe players, who were getting a rare first team chance, were able to rise to the challenge in a way ours barely ever do.Originally Posted by billy.ronson
I don’t know Bobif this recent performance was in the minority for Cup performances then you would have to say it’s that what the coaches are paid to do BUT seeing we have had this kind of performance before ( it didn’t harm our promotion last season) and under different coaches then I guess it just down to the players ???
These were fringe players playing in a new formation in front of a tiny crowd. They'd probably improve over time, but to have them all click and for it to work right out of the gates was a big ask.
It's also true to say that this isn't just a Neil Warnock thing - there was Northampton and Macclesfield with Mackay at the helm, I can remember us losing at home to Championship side Wigan in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup when we were in the Premier League under Ole, we were shocking against a second string Bournemouth under Scott/Gabbidon, dreadful against Reading and Shrewsbury in the FA Cup when Slade was manager and beaten at Bristol Rovers with Trollope as boss. Therefore, you're right, it probably is down to the players.I don’t know Bob
But Norwich did and so did the likes of Shrewsbury, Bristol Rovers and Wigan who all fielded "below strength" teams against us.
Exactly.
The club will need to pay me to attend any future cup matches at least until the clubs attitude towards cup competitions change. I like a good cup run but it seems the club see one as a hindrance.
Good blog on the game and I agree with the points made.
I only decided to go on the day and really hoped our fringe players would step up and play some football to put themselves in contention plus without the pressure of league points at stake. How wrong I was and I think the word "embarrassment" used in the write up is spot on.
Off topic really but I'll stick it here. What's the long term plan for the club in terms of playing style, if we have one? Last night was bizarre. The fact that you thought Richards was playing wing back was telling. Not just that but Kadeem Harris, having started brightly enough, seemed determined to track back whenever possible (presumably to impress Warnock) so that he almost ended up as a wing back too so we more or less had a back six, at home.
Warnock's way worked for us last season, and he may well make it effective again yet, but when I posted the pass-and-move Academy lads' table in the DVP thread (top with 3 wins out of 3) it made me wonder whats going to happen when a lot of those boys 'graduate' at the end of this season. Are we going to expect them to buy into the type of football we saw last night or is there going to be a move towards a playing style that will accommodate that kind of player? Even if the club have intentions of the latter, how will this come about? If Warnock keeps us up then it will justify his methods, if we go down then who better to get us back up?
I know we've knocked this around for ever in the other thread but it looks like the club might finally have to make a decision at the end of this season. We still don't seem in any hurry to bring Spence through, if he ends up as the central figure in a successful season at that level then it's going to be a big call to make on how we move on.
I think the first team deserves a little more time yet to show us what is on offer this season. While I was disappointed with what I thought was an overly cautious approach at Huddersfield for the first hour or so, the sending off robbed us of the chance to show whether there was a plan in place whereby more ambitious substitutions would have seen us attacking more in the game's final third. Put this on the back of the Newcastle game where we had more possession and more completed passes than our opponents and we might have a recognition by our manager and coaching staff that we are going to need something a bit more sophisticated than we saw last season is we are to survive in the Premier League.
I believe the Under 18s do play in a somewhat more direct manner than they did, but i'd agree that, essentially, they are a passing team and I think they'll stay that way - my own view has always been that it's best to have players who are used to having a lot of the ball, like the Under 18s are, and coach them into the changes they would need to make in the more direct first team than the alternative of playing like the first team throughout our youth programme where it sometimes looks as if possession of the ball is almost discouraged.
Cheers TOBW, another great read , please keep the blog going, it's brillant, bloddy WOL can't hold a candle to your reporting and views.
Bloody cup games they seem to be an issue every year .
I get the feeling NW won't be too alarmed or worried about the loss , as we have a very small squad , we can't afford injuries to those who maybe bench players, and needed to see a game out in the final 15.
We have to hope we get things right in the next few games ,or stay on the same track of draws , 3 points will, do me for September .
I can't say I was overwhelmed by the sophistication on show against Norwich. It's what confused me I think because I agree with your point. The bulk of the money we've spent went on, what looks like, two good footballers plus Arter and Camarasa haven't come from teams I associate with kicking away possession so its almost as though we can be set up to play a different way but Tuesday was very much back to basics when the chance was there to try something different.
Youngsters are more flexible than senior pros, yes, and, of course, the short term is the main issue for now but its still a bit of a concern that Project Warnock and Project Bellamy are light years apart. If the long term plan is some kind of seamless transition from one to the other, I'll be interested to see how it goes.
I'd say Camarasa struggled to cope on Tuesday with opponents who had an extra man in central midfield and a team mate in Darmour, who, after playing a prominent part in the period of 17/18 when we were playing our best football of that season, has become someone who eptomises our midfield on one of its bad days.
Stick Camarasa alongside Ralls and Arter and there was evidence, albeit more limited at Huddersfield, in our previous two league games that we can be more effective in that area despite the higher standards of the Premier League.
I'm prepared to believe we reverted to what you call basics because that's what happens when a team is struggling as much as we were on Tuesday - the worrying thing is that you wouldn't have expected the team selected to struggle like that against a Norwich team equally full of fringe players (heaven forbid, they even had some youngsters in their line up!) as we were.
It's a difficult one to judge or make any long term assumptions on , it's sad though ,the win prize of getting a big day out at Wycombe is tempting .
One stat I'd like to see is how other clubs cope in cup games when promoted to Premiership ,in thier first season ?
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