Vs Mansfield

[SayitagainSam]

From Famine to Feast:

Surplus of players shortly, vying for starting spots.

*Hird and Brough playing much better, with confidence, now Platt is dominating the centre.
Can hardly drop either for J. Jones, Zouma, Ntlhe when they are fit. All good players.

*Once Hardcastle is fit, expect he'll replace M. Jones.
Can hardly drop J. Taylor as a starter.

*Once Quigley is fit, expect he'll replace Angus.
Can hardly drop James as a starter.
So new signings Reid and Dimitri likely won't start.

Means a strong bench, including C. Taylor, Brown.

Youngster Gribbin will hardly get a look in.

Just my take, others will have differing views.

There will always be fresh injuries, so a surplus is good.

[JammyBluebird]

From Famine to Feast:

Surplus of players shortly, vying for starting spots.

*Hird and Brough playing much better, with confidence, now Platt is dominating the centre.
Can hardly drop either for J. Jones, Zouma, Ntlhe when they are fit. All good players.

*Once Hardcastle is fit, expect he'll replace M. Jones.
Can hardly drop J. Taylor as a starter.

*Once Quigley is fit, expect he'll replace Angus.
Can hardly drop James as a starter.
So new signings Reid and Dimitri likely won't start.

Means a strong bench, including C. Taylor, Brown.

Youngster Gribbin will hardly get a look in.

Just my take, others will have differing views.

There will always be fresh injuries, so a surplus is good.

Don't think Dior or Mike Jones deserve to be dropped on last nights performance.
Thought both were excellent.

[mickmike wilson]

Need to stop conceding

We will start conceding less, Platty will be close to being fully match fit & he is already marshalling those around him & we have competitive lads in NG, Jones & Zouma to return so now as we have solved the scoring problem we can begin tightening up.

[Adam29]

From Famine to Feast:

Surplus of players shortly, vying for starting spots.

*Hird and Brough playing much better, with confidence, now Platt is dominating the centre.
Can hardly drop either for J. Jones, Zouma, Ntlhe when they are fit. All good players.

*Once Hardcastle is fit, expect he'll replace M. Jones.
Can hardly drop J. Taylor as a starter.

*Once Quigley is fit, expect he'll replace Angus.
Can hardly drop James as a starter.
So new signings Reid and Dimitri likely won't start.

Means a strong bench, including C. Taylor, Brown.

Youngster Gribbin will hardly get a look in.

Just my take, others will have differing views.

There will always be fresh injuries, so a surplus is good.

Don't think Dior or Mike Jones deserve to be dropped on last nights performance.
Thought both were excellent.

None of them do
The current XI have the shirt in my eyes
Two very good performances against Walsall and Mansfield so it’s up to the chasing pack to put the pressure on when they get the opportunity and yes that does include Scott Quigley

It’s a lovely position to be in though having players of that quality waiting in the wings

[Il Metronomo]

Rotation will be important as the season progresses. If we have the same 11 playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for too long there's a danger of running them into the ground. Thankfully it looks like we have a really strong, competitive squad now, especially once a few more get back to full fitness.

Resting Barry and Kay may be a problem as they are the only natural wing-backs we have - plenty of options everywhere else on the pitch though.

[blue nige]

just watched the highlights whoever decided the tactics is a genius he played james deeper playing to his strengths his performance reminded me of Peter Beardsley coming deep and then going at defenders an absolute nightmare for them with taylor coming back in midfield he adds a presence and allows biggins to knit everything together as I said previous he hadn't played for ages and needed time Angus looked good again didn't play him as a target man that's not his game we just need to get our act together at the back and we'll be ok and I must say NONE of these lads should be replaced for Saturday they don't deserve it credit where credits due !

[mickmike wilson]

Rotation will be important as the season progresses. If we have the same 11 playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for too long there's a danger of running them into the ground. Thankfully it looks like we have a really strong, competitive squad now, especially once a few more get back to full fitness.

Resting Barry and Kay may be a problem as they are the only natural wing-backs we have - plenty of options everywhere else on the pitch though.

This ^^^ Remember P Cox’s side, realistically he only had around 14 proper 1st teamers & a few squad players who wernt good enough, Ran them into the ground......This time we have around 20/22 proper players & I think you’ll find Gribbin will get better & begin to flourish in a side playing better possession based footy just as Biggins is showing now, Rotation will be important this term.

[xerxes]

Just wondered, have the right back and left back ever scored the first two goals in a game ?

Yes - although it was the opposition. For some reason this has always stuck in my memory.

Screenshot from 2020-10-28 12-08-45.png (104.24 KiB) Viewed 3645 times

[Mike]

Great win.

Can’t be a coincidence that it was the first time we’ve named an unchanged side this season. All the injuries we’ve had were bound to unsettle the team.

Great to see James looking like the player he was last time round - making things happen and being a thorn in the side for defenders.

Some of our players were getting written off by posters on here after so little game time - like Biggins. Like most loan players, he’s here for game time so he was never going to be firing on all cylinders from the start. Looks like he’s getting sharper by the game and settling into the side.

[sambino]

Anyone else think the Bolton game was a bit of a watershed for us? Seems like that game truly was the closing of the Evatt era for the players and since that game the shackles of last season and his departure seem to be removed and we are now playing much better for it

[Jim]

Great win.

Can’t be a coincidence that it was the first time we’ve named an unchanged side this season. All the injuries we’ve had were bound to unsettle the team.

Also possibly significant that most of the team were the 'old guard' from last season - enhanced by on-form Jones, Biggins and James last night.

[saltcellar]

Rotation will be important as the season progresses. If we have the same 11 playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday for too long there's a danger of running them into the ground. Thankfully it looks like we have a really strong, competitive squad now, especially once a few more get back to full fitness.

Resting Barry and Kay may be a problem as they are the only natural wing-backs we have - plenty of options everywhere else on the pitch though.

And Josh Kay is only 1 booking away from suspension.
Brad Barry is 2 cautions away from suspension as are Mike Jones and Tom Beadling.
10 games to play yet before the cut off point so we can probably expect to lose all these players for a game.

[behind the goals]

Mike Jones is on 4 bookings but 1 was against Derby so might not count for league bookings. Also brown on 4 but also booked v Derby and Leeds so again it might only be league bookings that count.

[Moribund]

Don't think Dior or Mike Jones deserve to be dropped on last nights performance.
Thought both were excellent.

None of them do
The current XI have the shirt in my eyes
Two very good performances against Walsall and Mansfield so it’s up to the chasing pack to put the pressure on when they get the opportunity and yes that does include Scott Quigley

It’s a lovely position to be in though having players of that quality waiting in the wings

Was pleasantly surprised by Biggins last night as he's mostly been poor up to now - but Hardcastle takes his place every time, if he's fit. Also can't see Dunn leaving a fully fit Quigley on the bench.

Said it before the season, we may not have improved the first XI dramatically since promotion, but the squad players seem much better.

[Il Metronomo]

Yes - although it was the opposition. For some reason this has always stuck in my memory.

Unbelievable how you remembered that! Very impressive.