Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

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Snowflake Royal
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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Snowflake Royal » 27 Apr 2021 08:38

linkenholtroyal
Snowflake Royal Wisdom the LB?

He impressed me the other day, one game obvs. Composed and solid in defence, tidy on the ball. Could do much worse while seeing how Bristow develops.

RB/CB but when Esteves goes back it is a position we could do with another in. LB are few and far between Amiri’i Bell is the only one who has played games this year that could be an option OOC.


Cool.

Not really interested in a RB unless we can shift Yiadom or Araruna is done for. Or Moore or Morrison goes.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Stranded » 27 Apr 2021 09:21

Snowflake Royal
linkenholtroyal
Snowflake Royal Wisdom the LB?

He impressed me the other day, one game obvs. Composed and solid in defence, tidy on the ball. Could do much worse while seeing how Bristow develops.

RB/CB but when Esteves goes back it is a position we could do with another in. LB are few and far between Amiri’i Bell is the only one who has played games this year that could be an option OOC.


Cool.

Not really interested in a RB unless we can shift Yiadom or Araruna is done for. Or Moore or Morrison goes.


Yeah RB is fine assuming Araruna comes back fit next year - we have seen Holmes can cover there if really needed.

We need a LB and I'd like to think we are looking at bargains from L1 - someone like Cameron Burgess or Josh Ruffels could be decent at Champ level.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Hendo » 27 Apr 2021 09:22

Josh Ruffels is a great name, and a great crisp!

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Greatwesternline » 27 Apr 2021 09:22

To anyone saying we dont have proper wingers, we have coaches who could presumably coach players into being wingers.

Aluko is capable of running down the wing and crossing, as should be Olise. Ejaria is capable of doing it. You work with the players you've got.

You tell them what to do in a game, and if they dont do it, you drop them, explain why you've done it, and play someone who will follow your instructions.

The fact that Ejaria stops running forwards everytime he has a one on one because he likes to take it inside and show he can try to out trick 2/3 people in a crowded space doesnt help a team much. it might be great in drills in training, or on a 5-a-side pitch, but on a big pitch with 10 outfield players you need to be able to make progress down said pitch.

Either Ejaria is uncoachable, in which case he's not actually a very good professional footballer, or the coaching staff arent good at coaching.

The season fell apart in two stages. When it first started to unfold we were playing well but dropping points, at times when we could have expected to be given some penalties.

In response to when it was going ok Pauno decided to break up the Laurent Rhino partnership. It took a few games for him to realise this was madness.

Then for a short amount of time this was fixed and we started picking up more points again, but then Joao started missing penalties.
Joao mentally was shot after missing two penalties, he should never have been offered a third chance to miss. Poor management. he scored some penalties through sheer luck, weak ones where the keeper got a hand to them. Weak management not to take him off pens.

Without those misses his confidence may have stayed high, and the season may have finished differently. But after that we werent playing well and occasionally picked up points.

I think the lack of minutes for Aluko was strange given how impotent we looked creatively for long periods of the last third of the season.

Having siad all this, if Swift had been fit i personally think we would have been in the hunt for automatic promotion. So, who knows.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Snowflake Royal » 27 Apr 2021 10:19

Greatwesternline To anyone saying we dont have proper wingers, we have coaches who could presumably coach players into being wingers.

Aluko is capable of running down the wing and crossing, as should be Olise. Ejaria is capable of doing it. You work with the players you've got.

You tell them what to do in a game, and if they dont do it, you drop them, explain why you've done it, and play someone who will follow your instructions.

The fact that Ejaria stops running forwards everytime he has a one on one because he likes to take it inside and show he can try to out trick 2/3 people in a crowded space doesnt help a team much. it might be great in drills in training, or on a 5-a-side pitch, but on a big pitch with 10 outfield players you need to be able to make progress down said pitch.

Either Ejaria is uncoachable, in which case he's not actually a very good professional footballer, or the coaching staff arent good at coaching.

The season fell apart in two stages. When it first started to unfold we were playing well but dropping points, at times when we could have expected to be given some penalties.

In response to when it was going ok Pauno decided to break up the Laurent Rhino partnership. It took a few games for him to realise this was madness.

Then for a short amount of time this was fixed and we started picking up more points again, but then Joao started missing penalties.
Joao mentally was shot after missing two penalties, he should never have been offered a third chance to miss. Poor management. he scored some penalties through sheer luck, weak ones where the keeper got a hand to them. Weak management not to take him off pens.

Without those misses his confidence may have stayed high, and the season may have finished differently. But after that we werent playing well and occasionally picked up points.

I think the lack of minutes for Aluko was strange given how impotent we looked creatively for long periods of the last third of the season.

Having siad all this, if Swift had been fit i personally think we would have been in the hunt for automatic promotion. So, who knows.

Great post.


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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by morganb » 27 Apr 2021 10:30

So, when can we approach free agents? Looks like the transfer window slams open on 9th June so guess nothing will happen before this date. Am I right in thinking we can not have a pre-contract agreement with players at English clubs before the end of the season, but this works differently with foreign clubs? how does Brexit affect EU players?

Also, when does the club find out officially about FFP and Covid, embargoes, points deductions, etc?

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Millsy » 27 Apr 2021 10:30

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Millsy £3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.



Sorry but you lost credability at the Baldock comment, scored 11 goal in 71 games for us and none in 20games this season.


I hear that, but he was one of a list of examples. I have called him "toothless Baldock" several times myself. The point is that EVEN Baldock when used properly has been extremely important to us. So many of us were orgasming over Long at a point when he'd scored ZERO goals in 18 games because of other aspects he brought to the game. Baldock's acceleration, reading of the game and great cross lead to Meite's equaliser the other day and the lad was only on the pitch 2mins. Was it last season or the season before where he was in excellent form scoring some very important goals in the fight against relegation, when he was used properly. The point is he's not a total dud, there's a reason he cost 3 times more than our beloved Lita. There are ways of getting something out of him. Chucking him aimlessly up front in a Joao shaped hole isn't one of them.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Millsy » 27 Apr 2021 10:45

morganb
Millsy
Taffster Yeah I do think it's a tad harsh on Pauno to be judged on a "plan b" given that we have had very few games when we have had a full squad to pick from and the two senior players who have been available have been Aluko and Baldock. That being said I don't really know why Aluko was hardly used between Jan - Apr given he had played reasonably well in the first part of the season.


Sorry but that's what a manager is paid to do. Any fool can say "oh that worked months ago let's keep trying that - oh look a coupel of players are injured, my hands are tied now".

Every team has had the same congestion, every team has had injuries.

We've had an embarrassment of talent in many ways, when we have £7million Aluko on the bench who is not shit anymore - impressed generally whenever he's been on. £3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.

Play those guys in a Joao based system and you're putting round pegs into square holes, so I'm sorry I don't buy that at all.

Managers are paid to make use of what they have, and I can't accept we've had total BS players because we haven't. I refuse to believe the likes of Warnock, Coppell, McCarthy, Pardew etc etc etc etc would not be able to make better use of the talent we had available.

If the narrative of Paunophiles is that the 8 games weren't a lucky honeymoon period where everything clicked but it was his amazing ability as a manager to get the best from our players and devise a system that suits... , then how does that explain how he's been utterly incapable of doing the same for the rest of the season? Isn't his post8 record not too dissimilar to Bowen's?


I have to say that I've read all the Pauno in/Pauno out threads and the poster who has made the most convincing points has been Millsy.

Pauno doesn't adapt, whether it is before the game due to injuries or to rest players, or during the game based on how it is going.

He has had Aluko and Baldock available all season but hasn't used them. I guess they can't knock on the manager's door and demand a transfer as they are on big bucks and are OOC at the end of the season. They looked up for the fight against Cardiff but were benched again for the next game rather than performing well enough to gain a starting place.

Until recently he seemed to have favourites (Semedo and an out of form João) and an aversion to bringing youth (or anyone) off the bench.

I'm probably sounding pretty anti-Pauno but it is just presenting it how I see it. If the owners see it the same way then he could be in trouble. If the owner's don't follow the nuances of football but just look at the position and points they probably won't be happy either.


Thank you Morgan, and yes good points from you too.

The thing is people on HNA (and life generally) feel they have to pick a side and defend it to the death. Brexiteer/Remainer, Tory/Labour etc etc You have to be either Pauno IN and therefore defend his every move, his every breath, treat him like deity, or Pauno OUT and knock him at every opportunity. If you ever say anything that is pro or against then you are instantly put in a certain camp.

I'm neither. Overall I'm Pauno in, in that I feel he absolutely has done more than enough to be given a chance again, and considering other factors (who do we get in? chopping and changing too much isn't ideal beyond initial honeymoon gain etc) but I'm not a blind Paunophile who will pretend there aren't SERIOUS question marks over his ability. I'd like him in, for now, but I'd be very mindful of the question marks and have a low threshold for getting rid of him by Xmas if those concerns aren't quickly allayed.

I'll say it again - 7 points clear of 2nd, to 8 points (possibly more - we have 2 more to play) OFF the playoffs. Let that sink in, unquestioning Paunophiles.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Stranded » 27 Apr 2021 11:07

Millsy
Taffster
Millsy £3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.



Sorry but you lost credability at the Baldock comment, scored 11 goal in 71 games for us and none in 20games this season.


I hear that, but he was one of a list of examples. I have called him "toothless Baldock" several times myself. The point is that EVEN Baldock when used properly has been extremely important to us. So many of us were orgasming over Long at a point when he'd scored ZERO goals in 18 games because of other aspects he brought to the game. Baldock's acceleration, reading of the game and great cross lead to Meite's equaliser the other day and the lad was only on the pitch 2mins. Was it last season or the season before where he was in excellent form scoring some very important goals in the fight against relegation, when he was used properly. The point is he's not a total dud, there's a reason he cost 3 times more than our beloved Lita. There are ways of getting something out of him. Chucking him aimlessly up front in a Joao shaped hole isn't one of them.


It's mainly the 12 or 13 years between the two signings but yes, I've never had a problem with Baldock - he has always been effective at this level but he was rarely used in a way where he could be at his most effective but his off ball intelligence has often been underestimated.


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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by URZZZZ » 27 Apr 2021 11:59

Greatwesternline To anyone saying we dont have proper wingers, we have coaches who could presumably coach players into being wingers.

Aluko is capable of running down the wing and crossing, as should be Olise. Ejaria is capable of doing it. You work with the players you've got.

You tell them what to do in a game, and if they dont do it, you drop them, explain why you've done it, and play someone who will follow your instructions.

The fact that Ejaria stops running forwards everytime he has a one on one because he likes to take it inside and show he can try to out trick 2/3 people in a crowded space doesnt help a team much. it might be great in drills in training, or on a 5-a-side pitch, but on a big pitch with 10 outfield players you need to be able to make progress down said pitch.

Either Ejaria is uncoachable, in which case he's not actually a very good professional footballer, or the coaching staff arent good at coaching.

The season fell apart in two stages. When it first started to unfold we were playing well but dropping points, at times when we could have expected to be given some penalties.

In response to when it was going ok Pauno decided to break up the Laurent Rhino partnership. It took a few games for him to realise this was madness.

Then for a short amount of time this was fixed and we started picking up more points again, but then Joao started missing penalties.
Joao mentally was shot after missing two penalties, he should never have been offered a third chance to miss. Poor management. he scored some penalties through sheer luck, weak ones where the keeper got a hand to them. Weak management not to take him off pens.

Without those misses his confidence may have stayed high, and the season may have finished differently. But after that we werent playing well and occasionally picked up points.

I think the lack of minutes for Aluko was strange given how impotent we looked creatively for long periods of the last third of the season.

Having siad all this, if Swift had been fit i personally think we would have been in the hunt for automatic promotion. So, who knows.


Agree with most of that but I don’t think Ejaria is capable of doing that (I.e running down the wing and crossing it in)

The idea of his position is to suck in their FB and create space for the LB to bomb on. This worked really well last year for a period under Bowen, recall Blackett getting a number of assists in succession doing that exact thing and it really brought out the best in Ejaria too

To an extent, Richards was doing this in the first half of the season too and they’d formed a decent relationship. For some reason, those two weren’t working very well together in the last few months

Whilst Ejaria takes a fair amount of flak for his lack of real contribution, I can’t help but feel he’s also been fairly hung out to dry. I still think he’s got major flaws in his game which he hasn’t improved upon too much from the moment he joined but it also hasn’t helped him how much Richards’ form dropped too

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Greatwesternline » 27 Apr 2021 12:12

URZZZZ Agree with most of that but I don’t think Ejaria is capable of doing that (I.e running down the wing and crossing it in)

The idea of his position is to suck in their FB and create space for the LB to bomb on. This worked really well last year for a period under Bowen, recall Blackett getting a number of assists in succession doing that exact thing and it really brought out the best in Ejaria too

To an extent, Richards was doing this in the first half of the season too and they’d formed a decent relationship. For some reason, those two weren’t working very well together in the last few months

Whilst Ejaria takes a fair amount of flak for his lack of real contribution, I can’t help but feel he’s also been fairly hung out to dry. I still think he’s got major flaws in his game which he hasn’t improved upon too much from the moment he joined but it also hasn’t helped him how much Richards’ form dropped too


That's true, early in the season Richards was a very big threat. I guess his form tailed off when he signed a contract in January, or, the opposition doubled up on the right hand side defensively.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Snowball » 27 Apr 2021 12:28

Greatwesternline
URZZZZ Agree with most of that but I don’t think Ejaria is capable of doing that (I.e running down the wing and crossing it in)

The idea of his position is to suck in their FB and create space for the LB to bomb on. This worked really well last year for a period under Bowen, recall Blackett getting a number of assists in succession doing that exact thing and it really brought out the best in Ejaria too

To an extent, Richards was doing this in the first half of the season too and they’d formed a decent relationship. For some reason, those two weren’t working very well together in the last few months

Whilst Ejaria takes a fair amount of flak for his lack of real contribution, I can’t help but feel he’s also been fairly hung out to dry. I still think he’s got major flaws in his game which he hasn’t improved upon too much from the moment he joined but it also hasn’t helped him how much Richards’ form dropped too


That's true, early in the season Richards was a very big threat. I guess his form tailed off when he signed a contract in January, or, the opposition doubled up on the right hand side defensively.




Which raises an interesting question

How much of Richards' current rating is due to Ejaria?

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by URZZZZ » 27 Apr 2021 15:44

Snowball
Greatwesternline
URZZZZ Agree with most of that but I don’t think Ejaria is capable of doing that (I.e running down the wing and crossing it in)

The idea of his position is to suck in their FB and create space for the LB to bomb on. This worked really well last year for a period under Bowen, recall Blackett getting a number of assists in succession doing that exact thing and it really brought out the best in Ejaria too

To an extent, Richards was doing this in the first half of the season too and they’d formed a decent relationship. For some reason, those two weren’t working very well together in the last few months

Whilst Ejaria takes a fair amount of flak for his lack of real contribution, I can’t help but feel he’s also been fairly hung out to dry. I still think he’s got major flaws in his game which he hasn’t improved upon too much from the moment he joined but it also hasn’t helped him how much Richards’ form dropped too


That's true, early in the season Richards was a very big threat. I guess his form tailed off when he signed a contract in January, or, the opposition doubled up on the right hand side defensively.




Which raises an interesting question

How much of Richards' current rating is due to Ejaria?


Partly, yeah

Relationship between a FB and "winger" is a really important one, requires good levels of communication and co-operation in both an offensive and defensive sense

Gunter, for example, always worked better with McCleary, and vice versa as they knew each other's games well - each other's strengths and limitations - and as already mentioned, Blackett and Ejaria were another good pair

Will always defend Esteves to an extent as the majority of games in which he got a run in the team were with Aluko ahead of him. IMO two "headless chickens" on the same side don't work - too often they'd both be attracted to the ball rather than the man - neither had particularly strong disciplinary levels. It's not a coincidence IMO that on the few occasions Esteves was paired with others on the right side - he looked better for it


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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Once upon a time . » 27 Apr 2021 18:06

Problem with the summer transfer window is , although there will be a lot of useful players available , ———- when has RFC reacted quickly , we always wait till the last day !

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Once upon a time . » 27 Apr 2021 18:07

Problem with the summer transfer window is , although there will be a lot of useful players available , ———- when has RFC reacted quickly , we always wait till the last day !

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Elm Park Kid » 27 Apr 2021 19:07

If there is a desperate need to get our annual losses down then can we really sign anyone, even on a free?

I mean, even with creative accounting and selling players and such, we probably need to reduce our wage bill by £10-15m right?

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by linkenholtroyal » 27 Apr 2021 21:55

Elm Park Kid If there is a desperate need to get our annual losses down then can we really sign anyone, even on a free?

I mean, even with creative accounting and selling players and such, we probably need to reduce our wage bill by £10-15m right?

Playing the U18s next season then.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by Snowflake Royal » 27 Apr 2021 22:12

Elm Park Kid If there is a desperate need to get our annual losses down then can we really sign anyone, even on a free?

I mean, even with creative accounting and selling players and such, we probably need to reduce our wage bill by £10-15m right?

For the last 5 years. And we've been moving in the right direction for a couple and still signing players.

Total freeze would just see us screwed further by losing valuable assets and dropping like a stone with just the shite left.

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by morganb » 03 May 2021 10:54

I'm sure that last season we'd been linked with Laurent for quite some time before he joined.

Have we actually been linked with anyone this year? Guess this may be because we didn't know if we'd still be in the Championship until recently (and of course FFP).

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Re: Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

by mikey0406 » 03 May 2021 19:02

Cash in on:
Rafael
Moore
Swift
Joao

Might not have a choice with Olise but let’s see.

Combine transfer income of around £20 million for those players, without Olise. Then include the wages being saved with those out of contract and are not retained.

If there was some money available, strengthen positions with players out of contract, replacements would be on at least half of what players on that list are earning.

We need to save/cost cut where possible and remain as competitive as can be

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