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Comment | Blues to Face Slovakian Side in Friendly in Austria
at 19:11:41
A game in my back yard ( hopefully- as Austria is quite long from east to west). Looking forward very much,. Probably going to go with my Slovakian friends. The Slovak team have to be better than my local Austrian Bundesliga team, which makes League 1 play look like Champions League at times. |
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Comment | McKenna: Posh a Really Difficult and Dangerous Opponent
at 22:53:59
This is going to sound very anoraky sad, but here goes. I have trawled all the world professional leagues, form league tables and we sit third in the world. Celtic in the Scottish Premiership understandably have won all their last 10 games and have a 26 goal difference. That shows how uncompetitive that league is! In second spot is Devonport City playing in the Tasmania NPL league. Same points but 1 better goal difference. We edge Red Star Belgrade in their league by a 3 Goal difference.
None of which mean a whole hill of beans, except that in the world's major leagues ( I wont count the Tasmanian Northern Premier League as its only semi-professional, and well, its Tasmania) we are only bettered by Celtic as the best of the best over the last 10 games.
If we can't go into Saturday's game without feeling supremely confident we probably never will. But, it also probably shows how psychologically scarred we all were by the terrible Evans' years; that the nerves of the supporters are jangling so.
We should probably just enjoy this time for what it is. The best football since the Robson days, once the Dutch boys had arrived. |
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Comment | McKenna: Proud of the Players, Proud of the Spirit
at 12:36:34
If you look at the stats for the last 20 seasons, there hasn't been one Div 3 season where there more than 2 teams going into final weeks with equivalent of 2 points a game. The strong strong likelihood is one of the top 3 will drop away. I bet it won't include us. Chin ups those folks who see jeopardy everywhere, we're doing what is required. Just have to stay ahead of the 2 point curve through a tough December and January. Some extra midfield sinew might be required to give Morsey a freer role. He's a little more restrained alongside Humphreys ( who is doing excellently well Btw, just needs to do few training sessions with Fabio in the gym.)
Thoroughly enjoying watching a McKenna team on the telly and the odd visit to Portman Rud.
He is a top banana.
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Comment | Walton: Frustrating, But Just One of Those Games
at 11:21:38
This is an unusual league this year. Looking at the last 20 plus years, 2 points absolutely guarantees promotion. There are already 4 teams running at that rate. That wont last. At least 1 if not 2 will fall away. We can lose 7 to 9 games in a season and still happily go up, particularly if points are being shared around the top 4. It does mean we shouldn't lose against these 4. We're only 1 loss down so far. Which is OK. I think we will hold our own against footballing teams. But, there will be losses against park the bus teams, like we saw here with Lincoln. It is how play against them in February like conditions, which will determine if we go up automatically. Some extra steel and some invention/skill will be very important, particularly where patterns break down.
For invention I would promote Dom Ball a bit more. The reason we didn't get going on Saturday was a lot to do with Evans' tentative play, and picking up the first ball when the centre backs could have done that. Dom Ball is more likely to force the play from what I have seen. Evans likes it when the other team are on the run or dropping back. His invention apart from his great crossfield balls can be limited. Not a bad player at all but sometimes more courage and close ball skills would unlock the midfield especially where our numbers 10s are swamped by close markers. |
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Comment | Cook: Trust Can Only Come When Results Stay Consistent
at 17:38:37
I have to admit I didn't think I would get such a well reasoned argument from you Monkey Blue. Thanks, I appreciate it.
You're right about the more level playing field of the 70s, but ITFC still outperformed because I think the Cobbolds believed in continuity and patience. If money were everything why is Sunderland still in this division?. Why is Brentford doing good stuff even on small budgets? Taking the former, I think they aren't succeeding until this year because they change horses or managers too often. 7 in 4 years and no success can't be a coincidence. Brentford on the other hand have a philosophy- outthink the opposition by using data effectively and sticking with it: consistency over 6 years has got them where they are now.
Until the new owners came in, we as a club under Evans, had neither a consistent approach to football nor a real philosophy of how a club can build a future. Evans thought he could buy a trip back to the Premier League, quickly effortlessly and without putting too much skin in the game. We saw what 10 years of abysmal board management can do to a club.
And, that is where we find ourselves. Starting from a very fractured base. But, we do have a proven manager who has consistently delivered at this level jn the past.
I can only speak for myself and say I am happy to give the man the time to turn the ship around and find that consistently winning team. To throw him out now and think only money will take us up is a trip down the wrong road. Only deluded Derby fans are thinking, if only our board had just given Frank that little bit more money, we wouldn't be in this mess.
Money cannot guarantee success at whatever level you play at. The recipe for success are all those things Cook talks about, where all the ingredients must marry well before success arrives. Let the board and their Cook do some proper cooking before we look to burn the restaurant down, and start again. |
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Comment | Cook: Trust Can Only Come When Results Stay Consistent
at 14:14:09
It really concerns me that there is a vocal minority of supporters, 3 or 4 of which have an undue influence on all thoughts ITFC, because of their constant harping and barracking of this latest management team.
Let's put a little perspective on the situation. Paul Cook has been here for all of 9 months. The football has improved. Even Ray Charles would say its a better watch than at any time since 2007. My question is do you really see a future for a club like ours sitting in a lower league seeking to change managers every 10-12 months, because the results haven't been stellar?
I remember the football in the 77-78 season. Results were pretty average, jn fact we didn't win more than 2 games on the trot all season. And before May 1978, Sir BR hadn't won a serious trophy with ItFC in his first 10 years of managing us. Patience of course was rewarded. But for seriously long stretches the results didn't match the football being developed.
So, I ask the teenies and bedsit keyboard warriors, to just give it a rest for a little bit and see where the rest of the season takes us. You never know your blood pressure might improve as a result. Try and enjoy the ride and not get your knickers all in a twist when the inevitable happens and we lose a game.
Up a towen! |
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Comment | Dozzell Deal Done
at 15:04:59
Excuse the Freudian slip. Caught somewhere between Dozy and Dozzell. Sorry Andre. |
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Comment | Dozzell Deal Done
at 14:59:37
Personally this sale is the litmus test for me of whether I think we are on the right track or not. Dozell is potentially a very talented player, but there are lots of things not right with his game. One of which is his positioning, knowing when to go and when to hold, not having the oomph to get into dangerous positions sometimes when he obviously can. we've seen him stride forward with the ball and take players on, it shouldn't always be about the killer pass. Am I'm afraid he's no Arnold Muhren to get off tackling duty. Who knows he might become the next Stan Bowles, and good luck to him in a different set up. But, he doesn't suit our new Manager, and Cook doesn't see how he can be trained to his more robust way of thinking. So this is good business and makes me feel very content with where we are right now. |
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Comment | Brentford Join Blackburn and QPR in Chase For Dozzell
at 07:45:49
Surely we want to build a team which can get us out of this league, and so far a lot of our great potential hasn't shown any ability or desire to put the work in and get us up. That very much includes twinkle toes Dozzell. I suspect Cook thinks he is too lightweight for this division. Witness the way he tackles, always a side-on toe in, with very little commitment and if that doesn't work a sneaky tug back with an arm. It's lazy, often leads to yellow cards and obviously wrongly coached. Bring on folks who can do a job in this division and get us up. Rebuild as we go along. |
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