The season 2020 - 2021.

I know things have progressed and today’s football is more scientific and thus more sanitised. When I get a half-time pie and pint I just get a half time pie and pint, I don’t ask to analyse the ingredients and analyse the cooking or brewing process.

 

In an interview Farke was asked about bringing Drmic back in and he said technically it could happen - he still rates Drmic - but he hasn’t even met Skipp or Placheta(!) and would need 3-4 weeks to settle back into the squad. Farke said that’s as much or more time than Hugill needs.

I assume the same applies with Leitner (though Farke spoke in less glowing terms...) but we are, marginally, better off in midfield in terms of numbers.

 

I take it then that you are neither a pie maker nor a brewer OCF! Talking of pints ..........

 

Bure Budgie gave me this link, it gives you the rough expected time the player will be back. I suspect it will get updated on Monday:
https://www.sportsgambler.com/football/injuries-suspensions/england-championship/

 

Rupp not on that list so where was he yesterday?

 

Read on Pink un site that Drmic is not injured,but frozen out by DF.
Anyone else read anything?
Seems strange if true

 

Thanks for that ZK, but if true we're in deep trouble if we have to wait 3 weeks until any striker is available and 5 weeks for Krul, given that we'll have 2 games a week until then. Stiepi is a good player, but he's no striker. McGovern is an experienced keeper, but it's just that Krul has achieved such a high level. A plus is that Buendia will make a difference against Luton and onwards and Rupp may be available as well.

The question remains about why we've had so many more injuries than other teams both last year and this season. Bristol City are the nearest with 7, but Bournemouth has 1, Watford has 4 with 3 of those 'early December' and Brentford have 3, with 2 of those 'late November'. Are we pushing too hard in training given the number of matches? Are our players more susceptible to injury? Should we have learned from this and not sent so many out on loan? It would be very useful to have Sinani available as a striker or AM, or any recognised FB available as backup now. Thinking long term is good, but not if it means this sort of dire situation in the here and now.

 

DF says it's because he's not match fit and he hasn't trained with the others, but he could do a job from the bench. Once again there seems to be an unwillingness to bend from the long-term view, like last season when we failed to bring in a replacement for Klose.

 

Didn't DF say that Drmic was a possibility but ruled out short-term because of quarantine rules for returnees from Switzerland?

 

Paddy Davitt Tweet regarding Lukas Rupp

 

Can’t see Farke taking the FA Cup seriously this season. With the list of injuries and his main aim being promotion he will not want additional games.

 

A wonderfully revealing slip in use of language there by Cromer:
"simple" df. "uncomplicated"
"simplistic" df. "treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are, as in "simplistic solutions"."
Football is not a simple game; thinking that it is is simplistic.

 

Yes thanks ZK, good find.

That makes for ugly reading - we are basically going to struggle with numbers until the end of December. Quintilla coming back in will help a little.

Farke said Drmic hasn’t met enough of the squad. I think he might end up having to bring Drmic back in anyway, out of sheer pressure - we only need an injury to another midfielder and we’ve not got a starting line up.

Plus, with the intensity of matches, I think we have to expect more injuries - or at least by the time we get to the end of the December the players who have played will be knackered and need resting.

That’s six/seven matches we have to get through. Big ask on the squad. I think we have to target staying in the playoff positions by the beginning of January because realistically I do not see us winning many matches with this paper thin squad.

 

So, to recap on those players returning from injury or suspension before the end of the year:

Buendia: back mid-week for Luton game?

Pukki: mid December

Quintilla: late November so could be available for Luton game?

Hugill: late December

Cantwell: late December

Krul: late December

Hernandez: late December

Possible Luton starting side; McGovern, Aarons? Gibson, Hanley, Quintilla? Skipp, Rupp? Buendia, Steipermann, Martin, Placheta
bench: Zimmermann, Sorensen, Vrancic, Tettey +?

it will be remarkable if we are in top 2 by the end of the year. In the circumstances, being in the top 6 will be an achievement.

 

Let’s take it easy on each other

I like the stats and I don’t believe it’s just me and Robbie. Might be. But I think horses for courses. It certainly generates debate on here and adds a new angle, as long as everyone agrees we shouldn’t be slaves to the stats.

If you or others don’t like them, that’s completely fair enough - the game has lots of different things to like - but maybe we each just quietly ignore posts we are not interested in?

After all we support the same team and we might lose posters if they get picked on. Even more boring than stats would be a forum of three posters who all agree IMO

 

Snap!

I think it would be harsh to drop Sorensen even if Quintilla is fit - I think he’s likely to be one of the players who is least fatigued. So I’d like to see him moved into the middle as he has a great eye for a pass.

So we could have Buendia out left, Sorensen and Rupp in the middle and Martin out on the right, Skipp just in front of the CBs and Stiepermann up front. Placheta could get a rest and be brought on c.60 minutes against a turning opposition.

 

I concur

There's no malice to RobbieBB posts and this incessant demand to keep threads on topic is a bit silly .
The more content the better.

The moderation team do a good job on this board letting us post freely without resorting to locking threads or banning posters.

As you say if you don't like other people's views you don't need to get wound up just simply put the poster on ignore .

This is one of the busiest harmonious boards and we have lost good posters over the years through silly arguments and resulting flounce offs.

Most of us have differing political views and that can be toxic but for the best part we all get behind the team and want the best for our club .

 

If you look at the average player positions yesterday, in Pukki's absence Coventry held a very high line and kept 5 players in advanced positions in our half. Good pre-game analysis and choice of tactics by Mark Robins, likely to be noted by others. Stiepermann is wasted up front so maybe the thing to do would be to play Placheta there, with Martin, Stiepermann and Buendia behind him. Placheta is no Pukki when it comes to finishing, but it's the threat of pace which makes defensive lines drop back.

 

This is a genuine question, not looking to incite stat violence!

I have always wondered how the calculations take into account chances in the same move for example yesterday within about 20 seconds their keeper made 2 or 3 saves. If we had have scored the first we wouldn't have created the other two, making our conversion rate higher, but the actual chances we create lower. Are multiple chances created in the same move taken into account on any of the calculations?

 

I was once told that both politics and religion were banned as topics between the Fellows of Cambridge colleges when dining together. The result of which was that some of the brainiest academics in the land spent the entire meal discussing the best way of getting from one place to another by car!