That's about a 60% availability rate. That's really not good at all. It's definitely injury prone especially when you consider it's lots of little injuries rather than one long layoff. A huge positive from a crap result. Surprised as thought the lad had lost his way. Here's hoping he can start to reach some of the potential he showed. You can always with effort find better quality. Certainly as a mid table championship club. Takes work and nous mind. Whether we have enough of that is another debate but the potential is always there to improve. Mind you when the guy is missing so many games it's not hard to improve on not being on the pitch.

I think part of our frustration is that he's clearly not at the level the club are pitching him to be at, whether that's our number 1 strike target, £5 million of talent, or even potential, or even just championship ready. I know it was a few years ago but Gally cost £5 million. I don't think Gally is all that but he is streets ahead of Hirst. Comparatively even taking inflation into account, it shows we could, no should, do much better than Hirst for £5 million.

Maybe your star striker's Thailand trip is an excuse? Perhaps he is questioning your managerial ability, if you think Hirst is up to a cameo appearance? 😉 Seriously though not sure of any redeeming features of the lad and I worry for anyone in the club who thinks he can be one of our strikers.

A few ideas: 1) Loans - the right loan can make a player, look at Wharton. 2) Gradual introduction - if they are expected to be stepping up immediately to fill places like a seasoned pro that's a lot of pressure and expectation. In many cases too it can be unrealistic. I think introducing them slowly with less pressure and expectation, where less is dependant on them will help ease them in more. 3) Don't do it all at once. My biggest gripe with our youth is all of them are expected to step up at once. That's never going to happen and adds more pressure to the youngsters and more demands as they are all trying to adjust at the same time. I'd just try blooding in a couple each half season. Otherwise you are making it way more difficult for them. We have to use youth. It's out biggest USP imo. However I think it's equally vital we have to do it correctly.

Agree. Ruins the game when the team best at cheating wins. Sure Messi is amazing but a big part of their win is their cheating ways. Gutted.

It's an odd one. You don't get 3rd after 20+ games by fluke. That just doesn't happen. And even if it's a false position/fortuitous it won't be wildly inaccurate, we'd probably be looking top 6 or 8. That said the amount of wallopings we have had isn't a fluke either. That's not a bad day at the office, that's a repeated pattern of woeful performances. That cannot be ignored either. So where does that leave us? A bit like concentrated Mowbray imo, we've gone from inconsistent WDL to more WLWL. Same stubbornness as well, albeit to play a certain style of suicidal football as oppose to the tombola and players out of position. Without the league 1 promotion and with the defeats being bigger it seems to put this in a more painful light. My big worries are that it's more likely the fine margins of the wins leave before the hammerings change to draws (or even wins). Add in any team can get a fluke goal and we haven't come back from going behind once and I feel if the margins are to swing, they are going to swing negatively for us. Factor in as well the squad is still worryingly thin and over reliant on youth and you feel the wheels could come off very quickly. Time will tell and 3rd earns JDT enough time to rectify things but I feel we may be seeing a repeat of TMs possession football season, only this time with a much weaker squad. Like last time it'll probably end with mid table and regrets over what might have been.

Get new owners and the rest will sort itself out by shaping up or shipping out.

Chaddy you can't just ignore evidence that contradicts your points! It's poor etiquette. Also you are contradicting yourself as part of your championing of Southgate was him getting us to the finals of the Euros! It looks a bit daft to have the Euros count as part of your pro Southgate stance, but not for the Lionesses. Also whilst the answer to your question is no, a foreign coach has won the Euros in the men's with Greece. Edit - Fwiw I think there is an interesting point in there. Most success has come from countries having managers of the same nationality. Of course that has to be balanced out with most of the times the winners are the best footballing nations and therefore have the best players and managers available but it's food for thought. Maybe we should be looking at how weaker nations do with foreign coaches va same nation? There's an interesting discussion here, so no need to ignore the other side of it 🙂

It's the lack of consistency that gets me. VAR have given softer penalties than that this tournament. When there's no consistency it's a pointless exercise having it.

That is utterly appalling and simply shouldn't happen. Speaks volumes about the team and manager.

On the warm weather training debate, we just got back from NZ today and my word I've never been so cold. It's been a heck of a contrast shifting from sun to snow/sleet. Makes me think that probably the cold is noticed more when you've had a very recent contrast. As for the game itself it's the batterings when we lose that worry me. Fine margins can swing either way but when you are battered each time you lose, that's a very challenging one to turn around. We are as a team a one trick pony, which is only going to get increasingly found out. I'm worried too how often we lose when we go behind. Haven't got the stats but general recollection tells me they are pretty appalling. This suggests we lack mental resiliance as well as anything remotely resembling plan B. A couple of other random thoughts: Is Brittan.an injury prone player? He seems to be out a lot of is that just my random assumption. Secondly I think we have too many points already on the board combined with a very tight league meaning that we are safe regardless of JDTs aversion to alternative plans.

And struggling for trophies. Only bit of prestige manure and spurs will get for starters. And Arsenal.havent had much either of late, although that might change this year.

I did wonder this. Had it not been 6-1 I do wonder would it have been looked at.

It's a consistency thing. How on earth that's a penalty but the first one isn't is beyond me. I don't mind what the standard is as long as it consistent. Honestly not sure how VAR officials can look people in the eye. Terrible decisions.

Maguire lost his man for the goal. Goodness knows what he will be like against better opposition. Team has looked pretty bright going forward. Can only beat what's Infront of you.

I feel like the goalposts are moving again. I wasn't saying whether he was any good I think he's crap, you think he's decent(?) but that's not the point I was making. The point I was making is just because the club do something, it doesn't automatically mean their judgement was correct, or that they were right to do so. Loads of examples of this from swapping Raya for Walton, thinking Darren Peacock was a defender, paying 5 million for Dailly, sticking Johnson up front to name a few. My point was the club can and does get it wrong. They all do. We can question their decisions.

I remember the first football computer game I got - which ironically was a European Super League game - on the Amiga. The teams in said competition included Malmö, Bordeaux, Benfica - so much has changed since the champions league was invented.

Whilst the post is definitely fantasy land (as you say) the bit in bold isn't. It's a very real problem we have had. We have constantly been patching up, chopping and changing, overly relying on loans, having unbalanced squads, year in, year out. And in fairness whilst there will always be change in a championship team, given there has been no continuity in style it means there hasn't even been a cohesive style of play, like for like replacements or any consistency for those who have stayed. For all the talk of projects there was no consistency or build whatsoever, just tearing it up and starting again every year. It's made it infinitely harder for ourselves and needs to stop.

Again, to reiterate, what's the point if nothing is reported or done about it?!

Why on earth do they bother? They don't care what we think, they (Venkys and Rovers) don't run the club properly or make good decisions, so what is the point?

It's not the loss which hurts the most - although that's painful. It's not even the fact we put in an appalling performance - although that was a disgrace in itself. No what hurts the most is it was so sodding avoidable. We'd done this in so many other away games. The tippy tappy limpness hasn't worked 8 times before so it's no surprise it didn't work Vs Burnley. And if that wasn't a whopping big clue as to what style to play Sheff Utd and others gave us a blooming big hint as well. It was just so obvious that wouldn't work as it hasn't so many other times away from home. It required a millisecond of thought to know that this tippy tappy limpness wouldn't work, and yet we persist with it all game. The other two, painful as they are, might be excusable. Certainly losing was, and if the performance was a one off it would be spectacularly disappointing but perhaps a case of a bad day at the office or overawed by the occasion. But given all the warning signs and knowing what we needed to do and more importantly not do, to rock up with those tactics and that performance is criminal.

You do realise that doesn't automatically mean Vale is any good right? Unless you are saying JDT and Rovers are infallible?

Not in a satisfactory manner, no. He's been crap. Saying I hope he gets better isn't a defence, it's an admission he's been crap. And it's not based on anything. I could now hope for a career as a footballer - no basis in fact. Hirst coming good is only marginally more likely. Ahem my question is why do you repeatedly persist with plan A when we go behind and it clearly isn't working?

Handy to exclude the other play off place for not fitting the narrative. Also it's 9 games having gone behind not one disappointing day. And chased out is a tad overdramatic too. Most people on here are just expressing concerns about losing a derby but more importantly the same stupid mistakes being repeated. Mind you that doesn't fit the narrative

Two utterly criminal errors from Rovers which really should have been avoided. 1) No plan B. Look I get why he set up as he did with the team that he did. I understand the thinking. Mola.a big lad with presence, another defensive mid. On paper it's worth a shot. But when the team and the tactics aren't working, clearly aren't working, to persist with both for the full.game.is idiocy. It wasn't working. Everyone could see that yet we continued to pass it round the back like a kick about in the park. It's not that hard to have a Plan B. It's not that difficult to see when Plan A isn't working. So why don't we? And this is the most frustrating thing about it - no team in the history of football hasn't had to revert to plan B at times. No team has solely had success through plan A, so why do we think we are different? Secondly we are massively reliant on youngsters stepping up to the plate. Again no team in the history of football has had all their youngsters ready to just slot in as squad players. So again, why do we think we are different? Some of them are ready at this level, some will be but aren't there yet, and others won't. History tells us this is the case. And yet so many positions we are relying on youngsters in their first season stepping up to the level required. That will never happen with them all so why are we wildly hoping it will? This is what bothers me, because these are issues that are utterly avoidable and completely known to us. Today our refusal to recognise reality cost us very dearly indeed.