revolution saint

If Alan Ball was manager would we play Ballball?

That's one hell of a restrictive transfer policy.

Probably would have happened to Nixon had he not been pardoned.

He's fucking mustard on Football Manager and I've got him in my Armenian Fantasy Football Team. Not sure what happened to him as was highly rated at some stage. Forest also in for him and doubt we could afford his wages but certainly one to keep an eye on. Cheers fella.

This is effing boring isn't it? Somebody make some shit up about an obscure but decent striker so we can all pretend we've followed the Armenian league avidly.

Yeah, that's pretty much it and ,yes, I watched the film as well. If we started buying ancient over the hill players, or journeymen, or players that might be good at one particular thing and nowt else for next to nothing and then had formations and styles of play that emphasised those strengths and tried as far as possible to negate the weaknesses then that's moneyball. You use the statistical analysis to identify those players that are being overlooked and find the hidden value. You can argue that buying younger players whilst they're cheap and then flogging them later once they've had developed is a form of moneyball I guess but it's not quite the same thing. If we went full on moneyball then I'd expect the forum to explode every time we signed a player. To be honest, I don't think it's something that really translates to football that well. Baseball roles are far more easily defined and the actions are limited. Football has too many variables and positions.

Exactly. Purely buying young players on the basis we'll recoup more down the line isn't moneyball per se.

Let's not forget the flip side of this argument. We get the scouting wrong and we get worse than Che. Course you can shrug and say no great loss but it's the only thing we have going for us at the moment.

Actually, yeah, I think for 15M Adams has been a success and I think he could get better as well. There's also a bit of context around this as well, which is whether you think it's a good move to sell your best striker and gamble on two new ones. If you think we can get better then fair play to you, appears as if SR agree with you. At this stage I'm doubtful but I guess we'll see.

Sshhh! Don't tell whoever wants to buy Che as they'll be wanting to do that instead.......

Possibly. This extends to the back end of last season and suggests to me that for whatever reason Ralph doesn't rate him. Only thing I would say is that Che might not be the most clinical striker around but I've never seen him give a performance lacking in effort. All managers fall out with players - it happens. A good manager will realise when they don't have much option than to play the player though. There's really no excuse to recognise that it wasn't working out with Armstrong but refuse to play Adams.

Don't know about training but doesn't feel like he's had anywhere near as much time as Armstrong during pre-season games. I watched all of them and Adams looked like he usually does - nothing better, nothing worse either though. I thought it was a bit shit of Ralph to claim Armstrong had impressed during pre-season but Che hadn't when most of the chances to impress went to Armstrong.

Seems mental to me that we're even considering selling Adams. If he plays he's probably nailed on for 8-10 goals - it isn't great but the best we've got. All transfers are risks but strikers especially so because they're far more reliant on how the rest of the team plays. If we go young and/or we go foreign then there's other risks you can chuck in on top of that. It's a big risk. About the only thing you can say is that it appears SR aren't afraid to back themselves on the direction they want to go. If it comes off then it's very impressive - I wouldn't do it but if we end up with two new strikers that are better than Adams and Broja then I'll congratulate them.

Not disagreeing, just pointing out that not playing him is nothing new and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s because of an imminent transfer. I’d play him as would most who have watched us but I think it’s something Ralph has against him than anything else.

I think it’s more to do with Ralph freezing him out for some reason. He didn’t play him anywhere near enough at the end of last season either so leaving him out isn’t anything new except that this time around it stands out more cos we have fuck all else.

Nmecha seems to have played out wide on the left a fair bit for the city kids. For the sake of speculation might not be a bad move if we were still looking at another striker as well.

I don't think our players are useless, I think the problems are more on the tactical side of things. There's a few glaring problems with the squad - striker, number 10s or wide players and full back are the obvious ones but even those areas could be mitigated by better use of the players we do have. Like playing Adams who everyone agrees is the best striker at the club currently. The three at the back has been rubbish all pre-season - that didn't need to happen against Spurs. The lack of being able to set up a team to defend properly - I don't think that's 100% the fault of the players (I'll admit they don't always help themselves though). There's no quick movement up front, we're too ponderous and slow at moving the ball forward. I think a new coach could instantly bring about a change in mentality and boost confidence which is something that Ralph is struggling with at the moment. Just my opinion but I think changing the manager would make a big difference.

Looks a very good player. Similar kind of player to Broja - wouldn't imagine the physicality of the premier league would be a problem. Think Leeds and Arsenal have also been linked too.

I think it would be the new assistant on a caretaker basis and see how it goes. Would imagine when they were looking for assistants they had half an eye on whether they thought whoever was appointed could do the job if and when required.

Have backed Ralph until this pre-season but just can't do it anymore. He doesn't get many excuses now - these are his mistakes and I'll be surprised if he's here very much longer.

Sounds like we're getting Timo Werner mate. Not sure how we'll pay his wages but MLG reckons it's got the green light and is full steam ahead. So not all bad news. Between Che and Werner I think that's a pretty good strikeforce.

I doubt he'll score more than that but I like the cut of your jib. Bravo!

No worries, we all have these moments of unbridled optimism especially just before the season kicks off. You make a change from all the doom and gloom mongers around. Fingers crossed eh?

I like Che, he's a good striker, but I'm not sure how you can claim he's going to score 15 goals. It's a bit of a stretch but I hope you're right!

Not that I really care but sounds as if the Sunak thing is a case of wilfully misrepresenting either what he said or what he meant. I think both candidates have enough ammunition to beat the other so there's not any need to do that kind of thing. Still, if they want to make the contest even more of a nasty affair then it would be churlish to stop them. I'm still not voting for Truss even if she did promise the Queens head on a stick.