So. Do we have a decent squad?

F

Facefuzz

Well-known member
I think tonight showed us, if they perform like that, that we look a lot better than we thought we did.
The talk after watford was that team was the 11 and barring injury it would probably stay like that.
Engel, Greenwood, Barlaser all had good games tonight. Greenwood motm for me.
Forss looked a handful and I’ve said all along that latte has goals in him.
Keeper is a hell of a signing.
Paddy (who I always slag off) has had 2 really good games at centre back.
VDB no in tonight but will play a lot of minutes.
Jonny had a rest.
Lenihan, obrien, dijksteel and Clarke to come in.
Jones is causing problems and looked to get doubled up on again tonight, like when he first came on the scene.
There’ll always be space for crooks because like him or loathe him, he gets important goals or assists. He is as honest as they come aswell.
McGree regularly looks a cut above the opposition.

On the whole I think we have a better bunch than we thought, they’re finding the mojo and Carrick is getting a great tune from them.
UTB.
 
Facefuzz said:
I think tonight showed us, if they perform like that, that we look a lot better than we thought we did.
The talk after watford was that team was the 11 and barring injury it would probably stay like that.
Engel, Greenwood, Barlaser all had good games tonight. Greenwood motm for me.
Forss looked a handful and I’ve said all along that latte has goals in him.
Keeper is a hell of a signing.
Paddy (who I always slag off) has had 2 really good games at centre back.
VDB no in tonight but will play a lot of minutes.
Jonny had a rest.
Lenihan, obrien, dijksteel and Clarke to come in.
Jones is causing problems and looked to get doubled up on again tonight, like when he first came on the scene.
There’ll always be space for crooks because like him or loathe him, he gets important goals or assists. He is as honest as they come aswell.
McGree regularly looks a cut above the opposition.

On the whole I think we have a better bunch than we thought, they’re finding the mojo and Carrick is getting a great tune from them.
UTB.
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See this is the thing. The folk who said our squad was terrible were saying it’s all Scott’s fault, and none of it Carrick’s. But now the team’s doing better, who do you give credit to?

This is why we shouldn’t overreact, or put spells like that purely down to one thing/person.
 
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I thought we looked so bereft versus sheff wed that I couldn’t watch it and switched off after 15 minutes
To get us back to where we are now really is a fantastic effort by Carrick and his team
They have steadily built up confidence and tonight, especially 2nd half really looked so much better and more solid.
Not sure what to make of Cardiff, they were decent but not anywhere close to very good, our close passing was excellent.
I’m expecting a much tougher test versus Sunderland.
I think I’d take a draw away from home
 
Greenwood was OK, Engel nearly dropped a couple of bollox but was good overall, Barlaser was very good first half

The rest of the team were good also, particularly Hackney - seen or unseen . A very solid performance all round. Not outstanding but Cardiff were on a bit of roll, so it's a very competent performance and result to keep the momentum up. Hugely important we didn't lose that game
 
We will be competitive mid table side no more imo, we controlled the game tonight. Greenwood looked very tricky and with a bit of end product he will be a right player
 
Ex Footy Legs said:
I thought we looked so bereft versus sheff wed that I couldn’t watch it and switched off after 15 minutes
To get us back to where we are now really is a fantastic effort by Carrick and his team
They have steadily built up confidence and tonight, especially 2nd half really looked so much better and more solid.
Not sure what to make of Cardiff, they were decent but not anywhere close to very good, our close passing was excellent.
I’m expecting a much tougher test versus Sunderland.
I think I’d take a draw away from home
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I'd bite your hands off for a draw if it was offered now.
 
Borokian1876 said:
We will be competitive mid table side no more imo, we controlled the game tonight. Greenwood looked very tricky and with a bit of end product he will be a right player
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5 points off 4th (who we play next). If we were sat here at 40 games with the same gap we’d be saying “we have a chance of going up” etc.

I’m not really into predictions but what is pretty clear is that the squad has its mojo back and anything can happen in this league.
 
We don't play teams as poor as that very ofte.

Good to see Dijksteel and Bangura back on the bench, Clarke still to come. It's getting some strength back
 
I feel our earlier form was largely down to poor management from Carrick to be honest. It was naive of him to think he could throw the new lads in together, keep playing them and it would eventually click, especially when you consider some of them are development players.

In hindsight, from the first game, either Forss or Coburn should have been leading the line, with Jones and McGree out wide. Rogers and Silvera should have been on the bench.

I'm not going to criticise him for playing Coulson and Engel at LB though, as he didn't really have any other options.

I think Carrick has learned from his mistakes and clearly, taking Engel, Rogers and Lath out of the firing line has really helped them. I think there will be more to come from Silvera and Greenwood as the season progresses as well. Exciting times may be ahead.
 
Not many teams without PP will bring on quality like ELL and Forss from the bench imo.

I think we're at a fairly consistent level across the squad at the moment. Not too many "undroppable" players.
 
I said at Sheff Weds Engel was positive in showing for the ball going forward, defensively against pace he was caught out. Defensively he was caught yesterday too on a couple of occasion. His overall performance was to some degree helped by players passing to him whereas at Sheffield they weren’t. Carrick has handled his situation well so far.

Lath looked better against tired legs and that may be the best to get his confidence up on goal for now. Greenwood was busy, and had a positive first half in particular. There were some signs of improvement. Cardiff sat back in the main and didn’t threaten much mind.

I have kept referring to the squad ‘at present’, game by game and it hasn’t been great but shoots are appearing but you can’t say a corner has been turned yet with the summer signings, but the coaching staff have instilled some shape and organisation clearly, results are what matters first and foremost and Carrick is turning things around. Saturday will be a much bigger test and will likely tell us more. We all thought that Rogers and Silvera were the two most likely but they have rightly been taken out of the firing line. Hopefully Carrick can work on their situations like he appers to have with Engel, if he plays Saturday he will be tested far more defensively and will show if it was coaching or otherwise, I would think Bangura may start though.
 
parmoboy said:
I feel our earlier form was largely down to poor management from Carrick to be honest. It was naive of him to think he could throw the new lads in together, keep playing them and it would eventually click, especially when you consider some of them are development players.

In hindsight, from the first game, either Forss or Coburn should have been leading the line, with Jones and McGree out wide. Rogers and Silvera should have been on the bench.

I'm not going to criticise him for playing Coulson and Engel at LB though, as he didn't really have any other options.

I think Carrick has learned from his mistakes and clearly, taking Engel, Rogers and Lath out of the firing line has really helped them. I think there will be more to come from Silvera and Greenwood as the season progresses as well. Exciting times may be ahead.
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Nail on head.
I thought carrick needed to shoulder responsibility. Rogers at 10 every game wasn’t working either.
He has recognised what was happening and tweaked it slightly.
 
coluka said:
I said at Sheff Weds Engel was positive in showing for the ball going forward, defensively against pace he was caught out. Defensively he was caught yesterday too on a couple of occasion. His overall performance was to some degree helped by players passing to him whereas at Sheffield they weren’t. Carrick has handled his situation well so far.

Lath looked better against tired legs and that may be the best to get his confidence up on goal for now. Greenwood was busy, and had a positive first half in particular. There were some signs of improvement. Cardiff sat back in the main and didn’t threaten much mind.

I have kept referring to the squad ‘at present’, game by game and it hasn’t been great but shoots are appearing but you can’t say a corner has been turned yet with the summer signings, but the coaching staff have instilled some shape and organisation clearly, results are what matters first and foremost and Carrick is turning things around. Saturday will be a much bigger test and will likely tell us more. We all thought that Rogers and Silvera were the two most likely but they have rightly been taken out of the firing line. Hopefully Carrick can work on their situations like he appers to have with Engel, if he plays Saturday he will be tested far more defensively and will show if it was coaching or otherwise, I would think Bangura may start though.
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Because of how we retain the ball, most teams will come to the Riverside and play this way so patience is very important from fans and players.
 
Facefuzz said:
Scott must have had a big input. That’s his job isn’t it.
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No, its not.

From Monday`s media conference:

Carrick and his staff pick the team.

"Everyone cant play at the same time [Wry smile]. Its why we`ve got the squad you know. I`ve said it all along – just because someone`s not in the team for this game or the next game doesn’t mean, they`re discarded or anything like that. You know, we`ve got to obviously pick teams for certain games, or certain times of the season. At certain points everyone will have a big part to play. Its getting the boys up to speed, finding the best form and who`s in the best momernt. It comes around at times. Sometimes someone has a really good patch and someone else all of a sudden sparks to life a little bit more. As I say, that`s why we have the options we have….and its up to us [wry smile] to obviously make decisions."
Complete transcript here:
fmttmboro.com

Carrick v Cardiff [Media Conference Full Transcript] "Knocks, niggles, bumps and bruises".

* Sometimes Carrick gets the same questions more than once from different reporters. Today there was one reporter who appeared to be wanting a strap-line out of every question. He was especially interested in asking questions about Josh Coburn. I deliberately dont lump all the same questions...
fmttmboro.com fmttmboro.com

I can post the whole season`s transcripts if people want to make their own assessments?
 
r00fie1 said:
No, its not.

From Monday`s media conference:

Carrick and his staff pick the team.

"Everyone cant play at the same time [Wry smile]. Its why we`ve got the squad you know. I`ve said it all along – just because someone`s not in the team for this game or the next game doesn’t mean, they`re discarded or anything like that. You know, we`ve got to obviously pick teams for certain games, or certain times of the season. At certain points everyone will have a big part to play. Its getting the boys up to speed, finding the best form and who`s in the best momernt. It comes around at times. Sometimes someone has a really good patch and someone else all of a sudden sparks to life a little bit more. As I say, that`s why we have the options we have….and its up to us [wry smile] to obviously make decisions."
Complete transcript here:
fmttmboro.com

Carrick v Cardiff [Media Conference Full Transcript] "Knocks, niggles, bumps and bruises".

* Sometimes Carrick gets the same questions more than once from different reporters. Today there was one reporter who appeared to be wanting a strap-line out of every question. He was especially interested in asking questions about Josh Coburn. I deliberately dont lump all the same questions...
fmttmboro.com fmttmboro.com

I can post the whole season`s transcripts if people want to make their own assessments?
Click to expand...
I meant with regard to the signing of the players.
Carrick is starting to get a tune from the players he was given though.
 
Facefuzz said:
I meant with regard to the signing of the players.
Carrick is starting to get a tune from the players he was given though.
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Apologies, misinterpreted your comment.
His office is next door to Carrick`s and they have constant discussions and regular meetings.
I believe recruitment is more about consensus, but ultimately Scott collects the data and does the donkey work (y)
 
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