S-Clarke

Count me surprised if it ever happens. They won't see any deductions. It would have happened by now if it was going to.

Jelert could be a good shout there, he's a full back capable of playing both sides so is comfortable on both feet. We need to phase ourselves away from the Downes/Mannings, as they are literally conditioned to be slow and ponderous.

We're too slow when we're on the ball, so those pockets get filled quite quickly. That's our biggest problem, certainly in the first half. Half the time I have no idea WTF we're waiting for when we're on the ball. We have footballers who don't act quickly with the ball, they favour retaining it and standing on it for a bit, and thus the chance slides away. We've got to move it quicker and with zip to really make the most of players like Azaz/Fellows/Archer etc. It's not just CM which is the problem, our CB's and Manning in particular are particularly guilty of it. In terms of CM Charles is probably the more athletic and stronger of the 2 I'd say, so if we partner him with someone who is more capable of moving the ball quickly then we may start to get some positive outcomes.

A club without a plan. They always default back to him when they realise they should have kept him. If I was Wilder I'd say thanks, but no thanks. But he probably fancies the $$$.

Jander seemed quite willing to play between the lines when he came on, it's Downes and Charles who are pretty much robotic 6's and crab players. You only need 1 of those in a side.

The next block of games up until the International Break is where we need to see the impact of new additions. Today in many ways was a weird game to judge anything, as Derby's are always odd games which never really play to the strengths of the 'better side'. But we should have been better. If we're still 16th or wherever come the October International break then it's all gone catastrophically wrong and we're out of the race before it even started. But I don't think that will be the case. I think we've got good players for this level and the cream will rise once things settle down a bit. We could have done with the Derby a few months in tbh.

Thankfully we brought in Jander, otherwise we'd have been screwed for options. I think we're still 1 light in there if I'm totally honest.

What I noticed is that we bypassed him quite a lot in the first half, we didn't play into him at all. Like you, I always noticed him in between the lines in pockets of space but we never found him. Second half we did start to find him, and getting him in space between the lines is where he comes good. He's not going to chase back into CM, or tackle to win the ball back, we need to get the ball to him - preferably on the flaming ground. Maybe like you say he was a bit passive in the first half and was 'waiting' for it, rather than demanding it, but that will probably come with games and more familiarity with his team mates. But at the end of the day, if we keep lofting the ball into the strikers or out wide onto the flanks, he's never going to get into the game.

Yeah Kingsland South - I was block 30 or 29 i think, one of those two. For a block right 'next' to the aways, it felt pretty flat. Probably better Northam end, but I just grabbed whatever ticket I could!

The last 30 was about as good as it got, the rest was levels below that - if possible.

I'm glad it's not just me who felt the atmosphere was so passive. It felt like a normal league game where I was sat, everyone sat in silence. It was infuriating. Couple started to get something going a row or 2 below, with your standard chants, but were told to shh and sit down by fans around because of the naughty words they said. Everything about today was absolutely fucking shit. Fans included.

Definitely agree with that central midfield - not 100% sure on Fraser though, Robinson has to come in for me - or Leo. Fraser works hard, but he's so limited and it's painful trying to watch him play football these days. Archer up top on his own only works if the wide players get close, and feed his spins in behind. If we resort to lumping it up to him then we might as well shut up and go home. It doesn't feel as if the season has started yet, much in the same way that last season never really started, so this needs to be a 'bookmark' game for us I feel.

It's a seriously sad state of affairs if we want Stewart starting. The bloke barely resembles a footballer tbh.

He doesn't have Martin's style to hide his deficiencies anymore. He's now expected to move the ball forward and drive a little more, but he's as passive as he ever was. It shows up more because he's alongside a sitter, he's not the 'sitter' himself anymore. We need a CM to drive forward. Last season Stu and to a degree Aribo did that, but Charles and Downes together is just pure nothingness. It's one of the other, and I'm sorry to say Flynn, it's not you. Take 10-15m in Jan and be done with him.

Downes should be sweating for his place now. I think Charles and Downes are too similar, they get in each others way and do the same things. Charles does the same things better though, so it's a no brainer for me. In the other role, Jander at least wanted to drive forward and get in and around the box. I have very little time for Downes these days, he's a Martin cry-baby.

Move it quick, much, much quicker. Stretch the play, much, much quicker. We played into their press by being so passive on the ball. I had more fun on the way back home in the rain.

That was horrific, truly horrific. One of the worst games of football we'll ever have to sit through. It was hyped up as expected, but it was as flat as a pancake. Passive Tepid Timid. Everything about it was summed up in those 3 words, both atmosphere wise and performance on the pitch. It was an entirley waste of 90 mins, they've just wasted a game of football really. We didn't move it quick enough, we didn't move forward quickly enough, we didn't use the width, we didn't have shots, we didn't win anything in the air. There was nothing good about us. The second half had to be a bit better as it simply couldn't have been worse, but even that's stretching. There's really nothing much to say on the performance as there simply wasn't one, not from any player on the pitch. It was the biggest non-game you'll ever get to see in your life. We might as well have spent it at home watching paint dry.

Yeah he's screwed. I thought it was the most bizarre appointment in the summer as it was. They finished on 90 points (i think) and sacked Wilder. He was the guy who instilled a bit of respectability in their prem season, and pushed them into 90 points last. Another club with a really, really odd ownership model. They won't be competing for a long time, they're nowhere near.

That's an amazing post Rivers, I'm sorry for what you're going through. Thank you for taking the time and effort to share that, even though it must have been hard. It was so beautifully articulated and should find it's way to club figures.

If he's off to Belgium it has to be soon, as their window closes on Monday. Other than that it's Turkey or Saudi I guess, but their windows close next week too.

Shea Charles scored for NI tonight. Good goal too. They're 3-1 up on Luxemburg atm.

He was never the owner, just a front for ENIC as the CEO of the football club. (Joe Lewis). I wonder if a takeover is brewing.

Or a year, as was the case with Salisu. The weirdest slow introduction into the team ever.

Even if they're not 100% accurate, the point still stands to be fair. We've saved a fortune on the wage bill which is going to stand us in great stead in future windows.

Who knew, we signed the player just for Aston Villa at home (tm). It's a shame it never worked out, but I don't think we scoped him out well enough. I think the PL was just a little too quick for him, he needed time on the ball - as he got in Serie A and the Champ with Boro, but was often bullied off the ball at PL level.