26 minutes ago, Will said:

Can I just say that using a green arrow on a green football pitch may be the most evil thing you have ever done. That or I'm just now realising I'm colour blind.

the ones in the first picture are even harder to see

2 hours ago, Humpty said:

Not sure I agree with that in its entirety. Bring in Forss and you're leaving out Jones. Bring in Lenihan and you're leaving out McNair. Bring back McGree and you're leaving out Greenwood. All players that have arguably played a major part in our turnaround in form. 

But Greenwood isn't particularly good on the left. McGree is much better there. From what I've seen Greenwood seems to be a lot more effective in the centre of the pitch, so he'd be battling with Crooks for the spot. I also think McGree offers more defensive cover down the wing. 

But the problem is during the matches when a player like Jones is tiring or just isn't effective we don't have someone with the same quality like Forss to bring on. 

53 minutes ago, Rob said:

the ones in the first picture are even harder to see

Yeah I looked for 10mins Too

On 11/7/2023 at 9:37 AM, AnglianRed said:

To be honest I don't think we should be getting our hopes up too much right now.

Carrick still has a lot to learn about management - all aspects of it, from the technical and tactical side, to player psychology. I think its one thing to be aware of these things and even understanding them as a player, but applying them to a specific group of players when you're managing your own team is a very different matter.

Also, we don't have the strongest team in the league. We have some pretty decent attacking players, but are weak and disorganised defensively. The squad as a whole is fairly young and most of our players have capacity to develop / improve. Obviously a lot depends on the manager and coaches there.

At best I'd say Boro are a decent team with the potential to become a good one. At the moment we're closer to the start of that journey than the end. 

I thought JW sorted the defending side?

12 hours ago, JCWamma said:

On the midfield and defensive issues, I know it's not this simple but I ran the numbers on Howson in the Championship this season:

He's played 62% of our total minutes.

In that time we've scored 68% of our total goals...

...and conceded 83% of our total shipped.

How much of that is coincidence of our uptick in form being mostly while he was out injured, I don't know. But it would be nice to see either him return to the form of the old Howson or have Barlaser given a chance in that spot again. And either way I'd love to see O'Brien there when he gets back from injury.

Honestly I think we looked much better with Hackney and Barlaser once they started to build up a bit of an understanding

1 hour ago, Borodane said:

But Greenwood isn't particularly good on the left. McGree is much better there. From what I've seen Greenwood seems to be a lot more effective in the centre of the pitch, so he'd be battling with Crooks for the spot. I also think McGree offers more defensive cover down the wing. 

But the problem is during the matches when a player like Jones is tiring or just isn't effective we don't have someone with the same quality like Forss to bring on. 

It doesn't matter if you think he's better in the centre or not, he's scored three important goals which was my point to DS. I'd rather have McGree over Greenwood there myself but DS said we're not the same without those players, when it was their replacements that brought the turnaround in our form.

I do think McGree and Smith (and probably a fit O'Brien) would improve the side that started on Saturday.

4 hours ago, Humpty said:

Not sure I agree with that in its entirety. Bring in Forss and you're leaving out Jones. Bring in Lenihan and you're leaving out McNair. Bring back McGree and you're leaving out Greenwood. All players that have arguably played a major part in our turnaround in form. 

That's ok I know you like arguing Matt🤫

3 minutes ago, Humpty said:

It doesn't matter if you think he's better in the centre or not, he's scored three important goals which was my point to DS. I'd rather have McGree over Greenwood there myself but DS said we're not the same without those players, when it was their replacements that brought the turnaround in our form.

I do think McGree and Smith (and probably a fit O'Brien) would improve the side that started on Saturday.

Ah but I did say quite and at the same time Matt

19 minutes ago, Downsouth said:

That's ok I know you like arguing Matt🤫

I like discussion. 

1 hour ago, OldManGravz said:

Honestly I think we looked much better with Hackney and Barlaser once they started to build up a bit of an understanding

plus we had a right back at right back too

23 hours ago, LinoJo3 said:

The thing with our defence is as individuals they are all good enough, you can’t point to one player and say replace him and we’re fine. It’s a coaching thing, we’re just a lazy team when it comes to defending and the only way we will improve by bringing players in is if we get the defensive equivalent of archer, I.e someone who is to good for the league and carries the defence.

Not sure about that logic.

If you're saying our defence needs a leader who can marshal the back line...tell them when to push up, get back, mark an attacker etc. then that suggests they all lack the ability to read games. While they might be able to head, tackle etc. they lack game awareness.

Obviously any defence would benefit from a player like that, but it would be nice (or take some of the workload off one individual) if we had a few players with that ability. Because when that one player gets injured / suspended, we really suffer without them.

3 hours ago, Barnaby said:

I thought JW sorted the defending side?

Clearly not!

Which goes back to my earlier complaints about the apparent lack of coaching (early in the season when we were *** everywhere...not just in defence). 

Edited November 8, 20232 yr by AnglianRed

2 hours ago, Humpty said:

I like discussion. 

That's what I meant it was a typo mistake!