Tyrone Shoelaces

As far as I can see he's back playing where he was playing in those videos of his time at Forest. It's taken whilst now to get him into a position were he can make a contribution. Up until Dack's injury he was never going to play there anyway. Maybe he was brought with a view to replacing Dack when he was sold ?

If we'd have spent that £7million on an established goalscorer at the time we might not still be bumping around the middle of the championship hoping one day we might get our money back.

That's a tough ask. That puts their achievement on a higher level.

For games like that do they travel down on the day ?

I was just thinking of Metcalfe last night when I was watching the Donny game. How many times did you see opponents have him going round in circles trying to keep the ball on his right foot ? He usually still came away with the ball but he wasn't always going in the right direction with it ! Metcalfe liked to run with ball, Whiteman prefers to make the ball do the work.

I expected Luton to be in and around the bottom third of of the league.

I'd like to see him do it when we're up against good teams who are on top in the game. He strikes me as another one of these players who can cause problems when the team he's playing in is on top but will never get you on top. I'm waiting to see him being the best player in a losing team, not just the best player in a winning team. When we've lost games previously he's been more or less anonymous. He's not the only one though.

I think young centre halves being poor headers of the ball is a sign of the times. Back in the day it was one of the two things you had to be able to do to play there. Given the recent concerns regarding dementia etc I can see heading being outlawed at some point in the future.

I've mixed views about that. I couldn't see him playing up front on his own at top level. His all round game isn't at that point yet, I'm not sure it ever will be. I could see him playing alongside one of the stumps they have at the Dingledome and being very successful. They're one of the few teams that play with two up front. Would we sell him to a rival in this league ? How many could afford him ?

They got beat 2-0 incidentally.

Samuel scored two yesterday for his new club incidentally. Magloire was in a losing Hartlepool side, they lost 2-0 aet.

I was surprised to see that Luton are higher in the table than we are.

Yes, I would agree with that. Somebody at a higher level will give him a go. If we didn't have Buckley coming through who should aspire to being a similar player I'd be hoping we'd sign him. Good playmakers at bargain prices are not easy to come by. He needs to be working on that left side passing though, one footed players always give you more of a chance as a defender.

I'd be surprised if we sign any more defenders now we've got Ayala and Douglas to be honest.

He probably been having finishing lessons off Jason Roberts, he could shin the ball harder than I could kick it ! Remember Bolton away ?

I do like the look of him, he's what I was expecting Buckley to play like. The lad can play alright. I can't see Donny holding on to him. Do we need another midfield player now we've signed Downing though ?

Yeah, best player on the pitch for me. I'd like to see him against a better class of opposition though. He strolled through that game. He can see a pass early both short and long, rarely gets caught in possession and he's got a good engine for a big guy. Although not a ball winner he knew enough to take that guy out late on in the game. I thought that was a yellow card, if the game had have been a normal game it would have been. Having said all that I can see why teams haven't come in for him so far. He's all right foot and not blessed with great pace. The sort of player that can run the game when his team is on top but I don't think he's the sort of player that can get you on top.

Jimmy Greaves for me, if he was through on a one on one the opposition could get ready to kick off again. He had the lot, shots placed past the keeper or a dribble round him, it didn't matter to Jimmy.

There's a very interesting article about Nigel Pearson in my paper today. He's recovered from the Covid he caught early this year but it's revealed some heart problems. He lives in Devon now so wether he'd fancy a move up North is in doubt. The article sounds like he'd like to be back in football though.

I'd rather have John Stead any day than the two non striking strikers we have now. I see he's still playing at Harrogate !

Me too, that's an absolutely pointless loan. What is he going to learn there other than the wind off the North Sea is bloody cold ! We all know all three of our first choice centre backs are partial to a spell on the treatment table.

There's an interesting article in my paper today regarding OGS at Utd. - " The job of a manager isn't simply to send a team out and hope for the best but to devise and drill a culture where good decisions become second nature, where individual talents conceive of their role within a collective framework. The worlds best coaches improve players by encouraging them to see the game differently: to anticipate, to spot patterns of play and sense danger ". I don't think we've ever had a real " team identity " in Mowbray's time, or before that to be honest.

I agree that the treatment room usually fills up when things aren't right behind the scenes. Each time we've been relegated in my lifetime that's been the case.

I think we've more chance of going down than we have of going up unfortunately.

Totally inexplicable signing for me. By time he's fit to play most of the guys missing now will be back. You let your fitness levels slide at that age and you won't ever get 100% of it back. Not at pro level anyway.