As I have said many times on here, FARKE should share the workload a bit from time to time so we don’t run the legs off everyone. Think I was proved right over Xmas as we saw some tired football and got beat a couple of times. He doesn’t even put Charlie on the bench even when everyone can see Rodon is one head or nose injury away from being carried off. He puts everything into winning everything but he cannot carry on doing it in every game.
For me Charlie should knuckle down and show both patience and commitment to the club, if he's good enough then his time will come.
I always try to keep tabs on our young loan players. Cresswell was one I really followed last year and watched Millwall when I could and took an interest in plater ratings and watched extended highlights when he (and Shack) played. It was a common consensus that he was very enthusiastic at the start of his season but made a few rash decisions as he made a few starts due to injury. When Hutchinson was fit again then Charlie was dropped to the bench for a decent length of time. However, the new year came around and he forced his way back in and was absolutely flying until a facial injury ruled him out at the end. I don't like comparisons to other players but his playing style was similar to Vidic who used to play alongside Ferdinand at scum. He's very aggressive, good in the air, strong and puts his body on the line. He can play a bit too. Very good at defending and attacking at set pieces and as Doc says is a fantastic leader for someone so young. He'll organise a defence no problem and he's very vocal. He's not the quickest but partnered with someone with pace it wouldn't be a problem. I liked alot of what he did at Millwall, especially the way he learned from his early season mistakes and made sure they weren't repeated. It would be a mistake to let him go permanently. I'd send him out on loan either somewhere in Europe or even up in the pub league in Scotland to get some games and experience. I don't want to see him at a rival club in the Championship and he's too good to be bottom end of this league. His learning curve was steep last season and he probably hasn't hit his ceiling yet.
Totally agree with that assessment. Cooper's return to fitness plus Farke feeling he only needs one centre half on the bench has seen Charlie drop out of the match day squad. However that will change with injuries such as the one Struijk is currently suffering with. Keep him this season 100% but he has to want to stay which is what Farke has been alluding to.
I thought it was Shackleton that Antonia turned to score a last minute winner to win 2-1 at Elland Road, but Cresswell did make his league debut for us in that game. Hjelde made his starting debut in the f A cup game where Lanzini and Bowen scored. The Lanzini goal was the controversial one where Bowen challenged for the ball from an offside position during a goal mouth scramble. So not sure if you mean either of those 2 games Doc, or if you have another one in mind
Nope mate, I was at that game. He definitely did not have Antonio in his pocket. He played well enough but Antonio rolled him for fun because he was too tight / impetuous. Declan Rice led a quick breakaway that led to their winner, nothing to do with CC being too close, we were just swamped and you could see it coming (as I told Robin Koch afterwards).
Unfortunate that both kids got to play against WHU in different games. The Cresswell Antonia game was deffo the one I meant as Charlie had him in his pocket most of the night and remember someone getting turned and as Cresswell was basically on him all night assumed it was him. The point was though that Cresswell played really well for a young kid keeping an experienced bully quiet
We'd be mad to let Cresswell leave, he's a leader, gets stuck in and doesn't take any **** for a young lad, he can play a bit and will get even better in my opinion
Was neither agreeing or disagreeing with your point Doc, just wanted clarification on which game you meant, given both had made their first team debuts against the same club, or even if you were referring to a totally different game, that my failing memory was unable to recall. Now I know which game you meant, I would agree that overall he did well considering this was the first time he had been selected in the starting line up. Obviously I've not seen him play very much, so it would be unfair to give an assessment upon seeing him play so few times for ourselves. Although, given that he spent last season playing at this level last season, I probably expected him to play more often than he has done for us this season. On the sharing the workload around and rotating the players more than he appears to, from a personal point of view, I would tend to agree with you. As always whenever I have an opinion that can be factually checked, I like to see if the stats check out with what I believe or whether I am being selective in my belief. The data range is small to make it statistically meaningless, so I am just putting this up here for comparison to our record when we won the Championship last, and also again just included Leicester's figures this season for comparison. Edit - The second to last column should be 50% games or more, not 23 games or more (forgot to change the heading and can't be bothered to repost the table ) The anomaly that we have this season, is that both Leicester and Ipswich got off to great starts, whilst our club was still in the summer turmoil. The team this season have 4 points less than the team that we won the Championship with Bielsa had after 26 games. It just so happened that that season 52 points was enough to have us joint top with WBA, where as this season, those 52 points would have us in 3rd place, so we would all still be feeling nervous and frustrated, every time a result didn't go our way. The stats below aren't meant to support an argument or point, just one of the numerous little facts that I record that I have decided to share regarding our form over Christmas and New Year. Not included the last 2 EPL seasons, as due to both the world cup/covid and the weather, the Christmas period fixtures for those 2 seasons were messed up Hope anyone who is having a sleepless night , is soon cured whilst reading this
I asked the other day IF Philips had a sell on clause for us to benefit from? Citeh won’t let him go on the cheap, anyone know?
Looks like Gerrard may get the sack and yet again his No2 has walked out on him. This time another bloke not heard of has taken the Plymouth job and would imagine leaving a nice salary and lifestyle in the sun (Saudi) Gerrard must be really crap if he can’t get results in the desert
He's 21, he needs to be playing week in, week out, the same as dozens of other 21 year olds in the Championship that are nowhere near as good as him. Let's remember last season, he was one of Millwall's best players, and he's improved since then.
Hearing that Postacoglu at Spurs is very angry at Leeds for terminating Spence loan deal. However they have no plans for him at Spurs and have put him up for transfer, so must have been aware of some issues with him. Dont believe the “shocked” headline of his return.
Hadn't realised Plymouth had lost their manager, just read that he went to Stoke, that must have passed me by. The guy who has taken over I saw play for Chester when I moved back from the Isle of Man in 2002, although his opportunities were limited as the other two strikers, Daryl Clare and Darren Stamp, got 50 goals between them that season.
Last 2 or 3 seasons Plymouth have turned the corner. Bought by an English guy who made a shed load in financial services in USA. He brought in a different ethos based around young good coach and sound business data driven. Not trying to be Chelsea but slow anual improvement. Doing well so his coach gets poached by Preston and that coaches No2 takes over. He’s now gone to Stoke so the cucke starts again. Think the owner flogged a load of shares to either his own US company or got another US Hedge fund involved. But it’s a sound business model seemingly
He's just before Warnock, who I also didn't include However as you asked ever so nicely Wakey, here you go
Leicester 3-2 up at Millwall. Ipswich 3-1 up at Wimbledon. Got to be good for us if they both have cup runs Edit; Saints play Walsall at home 3pm today.
