Dejected

[BillyStubbsTears]

  I am no happier than anyone else, but four games is not a season and this squad has more in it than it has shown at the moment.
   Both the next two games are big games against teams not many would give us any chance at all against, but, football is not like that and things can change quickly, with simple things like a change of formation and a little luck making the difference.
   Ten to fifteen games is the time to really take a teams position in, hopefully by then we have stumbled onto what is our best team and a bit of form, here's hoping but if things are no better by then major surgery will be required.

How do you do major surgery after 15 games?

I mean, you can chop bits off, for sure, but how do you replace bits?

[dickos1]

Sorry can't see it all pre season to gel and there's I think 4 shots on target
Producing ,3 goals in the games absolutely scandalous I accept your optimism but looking at McCann I know like he thinks it need an injection of summat but you can't get blood out of a stone

Pre season is all about getting players fit, we’ve performed well against Wednesday, port vale, hull, bit against harrogate and Mansfield.
There’s enough there to make me Optimistic we will end up around the playoffs

[sedwardsdrfc]

You can be dejected but understand it’s still very early and a lot can change. That’s where I’m at.

I was just excited to get past last season and maybe get the feeling of playing well again. But it’s been more of the same.

I’m not throwing any toys out or anything like that. Imo the club has done what it should have, got a good manager and backed him.

One thing I think we have to do this season is stick with McCann. If it turns out we’ve signed a load of rubbish again we need to replace the recruitment team (probably long overdue) we know McCann can get a team playing so it’s not a Schofield situation.

[drfchound]

You can be dejected but understand it’s still very early and a lot can change. That’s where I’m at.

I was just excited to get past last season and maybe get the feeling of playing well again. But it’s been more of the same.

I’m not throwing any toys out or anything like that. Imo the club has done what it should have, got a good manager and backed him.

One thing I think we have to do this season is stick with McCann. If it turns out we’ve signed a load of rubbish again we need to replace the recruitment team (probably long overdue) we know McCann can get a team playing so it’s not a Schofield situation.

Exactly.
Anyone who says we are no better than last season is probably looking to start an argument.

[ravenrover]

Surgery at what level?

[GazLaz]

Sorry can't see it all pre season to gel and there's I think 4 shots on target
Producing ,3 goals in the games absolutely scandalous I accept your optimism but looking at McCann I know like he thinks it need an injection of summat but you can't get blood out of a stone

Pre season is all about getting players fit, we’ve performed well against Wednesday, port vale, hull, bit against harrogate and Mansfield.
There’s enough there to make me Optimistic we will end up around the playoffs

Surely it’s more than getting players fit. They should come back fit. It’s not 1985. It should be about shape, patterns of play, working on systems etc. Especially with new players and a new gaffer. The players aren’t fit either so pre season didn’t go great did it. We were the worst team on L2 over the last quarter of last season and we’ve been the worst team at the start of this. We’ve got to improve hugely to be considered a top 8 team. You’d like to think (and I really hoped) that improvement would start in pre season, it didn’t.

[sedwardsdrfc]

We signed pretty much all new players before the start of preseason too. It’s not like they’ve only just met.

[DearneValleyRover]

The fitness part is more than worrying it’s a basic part of the job so who’s supposed to be monitoring it and why are players not being held to account? At the very least they should be made to stay and do extra fitness sessions as they can’t be trusted to do it themselves

[steve@dcfd]

Wasn’t there on Saturday but the dejection for me is the injuries we have all ready
Sterry Anderson, Close, Biggins, Hurst, Taylor  Miller, whether all would be in starting lineup is irrelevant we haven’t got their services. 6 out of those 7 have injury records from last season if not longer. We are paying their wages therefore bringing replacements might not viable economically

[Chris Black come back]

All gone very quiet on Taylor, unless I have missed an update. Usually not a good sign.

[Batleyred]

All gone very quiet on Taylor, unless I have missed an update. Usually not a good sign.

He's going for a second opinion for a scan again.

[ForsolongaRover]

It’s a question of faith. If you believe McCann can turn it around there is hope.

I lost hope in Schofield and unfortunately also in Wellens when he tried to shift the blame, but McCann takes responsibility and has never really failed as a manager. I can’t see anyone doing any better. It’s going to take longer than a lot of us hoped, but I still expect him to turn things around.

[colincramb]

Who’s our fitness coach these days? It’s not really McCann’s responsibility to get players fit, that lies with conditioning team. He will just tell them what he wants from the players to play the style he’s after.

Wonder if this will coincide with the ‘investigation’ into the reoccurring injuries?

[Chris Black come back]

It would be a decent bet that the last few years our highest earners have been Anderson, Close and Taylor. If you look at their availability it is pretty low and therefore a decent proportion of our budget has been sat on the treatment table.

Anderson
24 starts in 22/23
19 in 21/22

Close
34
14

Taylor
2
2

[GazLaz]

It would be a decent bet that the last few years our highest earners have been Anderson, Close and Taylor. If you look at their availability it is pretty low and therefore a decent proportion of our budget has been sat on the treatment table.

Anderson
24 starts in 22/23
19 in 21/22

Close
34
14

Taylor
2
2

We have Taylor three years and Anderson got an extension to his contract. Decisions like that are the reason we are where we are. Really basic errors. Until we have someone heading up the football department, over the medium to long term, that knows the time of day, it’s going to be difficult to improve.

[dickos1]

Sorry can't see it all pre season to gel and there's I think 4 shots on target
Producing ,3 goals in the games absolutely scandalous I accept your optimism but looking at McCann I know like he thinks it need an injection of summat but you can't get blood out of a stone

Pre season is all about getting players fit, we’ve performed well against Wednesday, port vale, hull, bit against harrogate and Mansfield.
There’s enough there to make me Optimistic we will end up around the playoffs

Surely it’s more than getting players fit. They should come back fit. It’s not 1985. It should be about shape, patterns of play, working on systems etc. Especially with new players and a new gaffer. The players aren’t fit either so pre season didn’t go great did it. We were the worst team on L2 over the last quarter of last season and we’ve been the worst team at the start of this. We’ve got to improve hugely to be considered a top 8 team. You’d like to think (and I really hoped) that improvement would start in pre season, it didn’t.

When you completely overhaul the whole starting 11 then you’ve got to allow some time for it to gel. Patterns of play don’t just happen over a few pre season games, it takes weeks to build relationships to understand how each other play. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Look how long it took sod to get his team working how he wanted it to, plenty of other examples too.
If you want a manager to come in and get a quick improvement over a few weeks you get a Warnock or some other manager that Excels in man management.

We’ve definitely seen improvement if you’re including pre season, we wouldn’t have beaten Wednesday port vale or hull last season.
The performance at hull hasn’t been seen for 3/4 years so that’s enough for me to show it’s going to improve and he just needs time to work on systems, patterns of play etc etc
It’s just daft to think that would all fall into place over a few friendlies

[BillyStubbsTears]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

[dickos1]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

Ah I thought there’d be a reason, I thought it would be down to hull.

That’s how hull play every week, they played a very strong team and we beat them.
I know you can’t handle giving any sort of praise to a team you’re supposed to support which in itself is baffling

[ncRover]

To be fair to Anderson you can’t blame his recent injury on fitness / injury proneness.

He looked good v Hull.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Said on another thread that we had everyone pretty much fit till we play a competitive game. Then they drop like flies.

[BillyStubbsTears]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

Ah I thought there’d be a reason, I thought it would be down to hull.

That’s how hull play every week, they played a very strong team and we beat them.
I know you can’t handle giving any sort of praise to a team you’re supposed to support which in itself is baffling

If you grow up a little bit and pipe down, you might remember that I was very generous in my praise of our performance against Hull.

But it doesn't change the fundamental fact that in every League game so far we have come up against a very different challenge, and one that was easy to predict after seeing this division last season. It's a challenge that requires us to cope with fast closing down of our players and fast movement from the opposition. And in every match we have been second best, Harrogate included, where if you remember, Lawlor was most people's MoM because he kept out several very good efforts on goal from a side that WILL be in a relegation scrap.

I admire your optimism. But it needs to be tempered with the reality that we are going to struggle in this division unless we find an extra two yards on mental and physical pace. And friendly and EFL Cup performances won't change that fact.

[pib]

Perhaps naively I thought/hoped the Notts Co. game would pan out like the Hull game, with them being a footballing side.

Unfortunately, unlike at Hull, we gave them far too much space at key moments, didn't get in their faces (see the crosses for the goals), and didn't defend our box well at all.

I think at Hull we showed that energy but haven't replicated it in the league, though the tactical challenge from most L2 teams will be much different.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hull played a bizarre system that was like track cycling sprints where the riders stay stationary waiting for the other one to lose concentration. It required extreme discipline to counter it, but it didn't need a lot of extreme exertion. We handled that very well.

Notts County moved and passed way faster and we looked like a group of fat, slow Toms trying to figure out where half a dozen Jerries were zipping about  behind their backs.

[ravenrover]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

Ah I thought there’d be a reason, I thought it would be down to hull.

That’s how hull play every week, they played a very strong team and we beat them.
I know you can’t handle giving any sort of praise to a team you’re supposed to support which in itself is baffling

If you grow up a little bit and pipe down, you might remember that I was very generous in my praise of our performance against Hull.

But it doesn't change the fundamental fact that in every League game so far we have come up against a very different challenge, and one that was easy to predict after seeing this division last season. It's a challenge that requires us to cope with fast closing down of our players and fast movement from the opposition. And in every match we have been second best, Harrogate included, where if you remember, Lawlor was most people's MoM because he kept out several very good efforts on goal from a side that WILL be in a relegation scrap.

I admire your optimism. But it needs to be tempered with the reality that we are going to struggle in this division unless we find an extra two yards on mental and physical pace. And friendly and EFL Cup performances won't change that fact.

But Billy he was talking about a particular game v Hull not our current league form

[Lesonthewest]

Sorry can't see it all pre season to gel and there's I think 4 shots on target
Producing ,3 goals in the games absolutely scandalous I accept your optimism but looking at McCann I know like he thinks it need an injection of summat but you can't get blood out of a stone

Pre season is all about getting players fit, we’ve performed well against Wednesday, port vale, hull, bit against harrogate and Mansfield.
There’s enough there to make me Optimistic we will end up around the playoffs

Surely it’s more than getting players fit. They should come back fit. It’s not 1985. It should be about shape, patterns of play, working on systems etc. Especially with new players and a new gaffer. The players aren’t fit either so pre season didn’t go great did it. We were the worst team on L2 over the last quarter of last season and we’ve been the worst team at the start of this. We’ve got to improve hugely to be considered a top 8 team. You’d like to think (and I really hoped) that improvement would start in pre season, it didn’t.

When you completely overhaul the whole starting 11 then you’ve got to allow some time for it to gel. Patterns of play don’t just happen over a few pre season games, it takes weeks to build relationships to understand how each other play. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Look how long it took sod to get his team working how he wanted it to, plenty of other examples too.
If you want a manager to come in and get a quick improvement over a few weeks you get a Warnock or some other manager that Excels in man management.

We’ve definitely seen improvement if you’re including pre season, we wouldn’t have beaten Wednesday port vale or hull last season.
The performance at hull hasn’t been seen for 3/4 years so that’s enough for me to show it’s going to improve and he just needs time to work on systems, patterns of play etc etc
It’s just daft to think that would all fall into place over a few friendlies

Thought SOD would have been thrown in there somewhere, lol.

[BillyStubbsTears]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

Ah I thought there’d be a reason, I thought it would be down to hull.

That’s how hull play every week, they played a very strong team and we beat them.
I know you can’t handle giving any sort of praise to a team you’re supposed to support which in itself is baffling

If you grow up a little bit and pipe down, you might remember that I was very generous in my praise of our performance against Hull.

But it doesn't change the fundamental fact that in every League game so far we have come up against a very different challenge, and one that was easy to predict after seeing this division last season. It's a challenge that requires us to cope with fast closing down of our players and fast movement from the opposition. And in every match we have been second best, Harrogate included, where if you remember, Lawlor was most people's MoM because he kept out several very good efforts on goal from a side that WILL be in a relegation scrap.

I admire your optimism. But it needs to be tempered with the reality that we are going to struggle in this division unless we find an extra two yards on mental and physical pace. And friendly and EFL Cup performances won't change that fact.

But Billy he was talking about a particular game v Hull not our current league form

He's said several times that because we played well against Hull, there's every reason to assume we'll be alright in the League.

My point is that the challenge we face every week in the league bears very little resemblance to the very strange challenge we handled very well at Hull.

[dickos1]

If only we were playing a Hull team trying out an experiment in Walking Football every Saturday, we'd be fine.

Ah I thought there’d be a reason, I thought it would be down to hull.

That’s how hull play every week, they played a very strong team and we beat them.
I know you can’t handle giving any sort of praise to a team you’re supposed to support which in itself is baffling

If you grow up a little bit and pipe down, you might remember that I was very generous in my praise of our performance against Hull.

But it doesn't change the fundamental fact that in every League game so far we have come up against a very different challenge, and one that was easy to predict after seeing this division last season. It's a challenge that requires us to cope with fast closing down of our players and fast movement from the opposition. And in every match we have been second best, Harrogate included, where if you remember, Lawlor was most people's MoM because he kept out several very good efforts on goal from a side that WILL be in a relegation scrap.

I admire your optimism. But it needs to be tempered with the reality that we are going to struggle in this division unless we find an extra two yards on mental and physical pace. And friendly and EFL Cup performances won't change that fact.

But Billy he was talking about a particular game v Hull not our current league form

He's said several times that because we played well against Hull, there's every reason to assume we'll be alright in the League.

My point is that the challenge we face every week in the league bears very little resemblance to the very strange challenge we handled very well at Hull.

Categorically not what I’ve said

What I’ve said is there’s been enough to show in patches against hull, Wednesday, port vale, Mansfield, harrogate to know that we’re going to be a much better side than we were last season. And the performance we saw at hull is the best performance we’ve seen for at least a couple of years.
But you’ve done what a lot of negative folk do on here and put that down to how poor the opposition were rather than anything we’ve done

[ncRover]

Bring back Schofield Billy? You enjoyed sticking up for him because it allowed you to argue on here. Now all of a sudden you’re negative to allow you to do the same again.

Championship (Hull) players are vastly physically superior to to league 2 players. The difference is in the mindset and the ability to control a game rather than thinking about countering what the opposition do.