ianofcleveleys

The question about 'who would you have signed then with the budget available' isn't realistic to answer as, unless I'm wrong, none of us have access to what that budget was and the full list of available or potentially available players at the time. Yes we might know about who'd been released over Summer but we wouldn't know about all the players we might have been able to sign for money or get on loan. Its still reasonable, I'd have thought, to be able to come on here and say you're not convinced by a signing without being asked to produce a list of alternatives. At the end of the day it's down to Evatt's quite specific requirements of a player. We might all want a player, say a LWB, to be able to do certain things (like defend a bit), if that's not what Evatt wants he won't sign him. It's down then to whether Evatt subsequently sees it's not working and has a rethink about a position or the wider shape and structure. All the talk about Stockton never came to anything, maybe because of money, more likely Evatt didn't see him as his kind of striker (neither did I for what it's worth). Similar with Clarke-Harris, good at what he does if you're prepared to construct the team to feed him while he trundles around the box at jogging pace but not Evatt's type.

It's a long old season in L1, the stop start nature of the first half doesn't help, along with us having so many out at minute, including two new lads. I'm not seeing much evidence yet of our summer outs and ins and our pre season work adding up to improvement on where and how we ended last season but, to be fair, it may not be worth forming any big judgements till we're getting towards Xmas, with about 20 games done. That'll give us a strong sense of what's going to be needed in Jan window and how badly. Easy to get on a big roll from Feb to the end, as we've seen before.

It's not ideal that CMG and Maghoma have got injured at same time early in season, think you're right about them being brought in to offer more of that carrying and driving ability. The way it's going it's going to be near Xmas before we can really judge their impact. Where Pep's evolved but we haven't really had been going longer and over the top more with Haaland. They can put 30 passes together if they want but can also rob opponents and quickly have opposing centre halves turning and chasing with a long ball down a channel or over / beyond them. If we're guilty of anything it's when we get it back wanting to get back into another spell of passing rather than shifting it forward quickly.

Evatt goes on about flexibility and interchangeability but that's only within one system and one only. We've not had an actual left back, who defends first but can still get forward, since he arrived. Jury very much out on a number of recent signings but in Williams case verdict reached, a bad one.

I was trying to be a bit charitable I suppose. Had his hands full with that winger, did manage to make one or two tackles though you're right in that he kept showing him the side he wanted to cross it from and the moment near the end when he let it roll out was baffling.

I did say, maybe in another post, against better opposition, we got away with it first three games against two lots of relegation fodder and a Lincoln that had an off day When Iredale was playing LWB last season he looked short of pace on the turn at times, even more exposed in a 3. Toal, Forrester, Santos the best we've got and can't be on the pitch together soon enough.

If your two wing backs play as high as Evatt wants them too, because he sees them as 'wing forwards' more than 'wing backs' the two wide centre backs have to have space and quick reactions to cover the spaces behind them. Iredale and Jones are liabilities in those positions

The thing is, I don't think we're a particularly ill disciplined, temperamental or nasty team. Most of our bookings, in my eye, are because we're naive and weak defensively and expose ourselves to making desperate tackles, when players are getting away from them. Iredale's yellow yesterday was down to his slow reaction to a situation and not having the pace to get there first. Jones's red similar, exposed again out wide, done for pace, desperate tackle. JDC dived in on a similar one for his, Dempsey's a cynical one when it looked like they might break on us late on. The 3-5-2 shape, against good teams with quick, physical wide men was killing us last season and is again this. As has been said, they exposed it yesterday as Wigan did and, last season, Ipswich, Port Vale and others. We did indeed look steadier with a man short late on when in a 4. We aren't going to have all Evatt's favoured personnel for his system back and on the grass at once for weeks yet, maybe time to ditch the stubbornness in adversity and be more pragmatic.

Going forward I didn't think we were too bad first half, some sharp bits of play that caused them problems. I also didn't miss Santos and his standstill football out from back, we moved it out and forward a bit quicker today and looked better for it. Problem with the wing backs is we rightly want them to get forward and provide assists (JDC usually good at that, Williams got no change out of the lad on his side) but if they're too far forward when we lose it Iredale and Jones lack of pace against their wide men is exposed and the desperate tackles follow. Williams is piss weak as a defender but stuck at a difficult task pretty well second half.

Clarke Harris did alright, outjumped us to knock a header in and took a few good positions up but didn't exactly terrorise us, even against our lightweight, makeshift back line. Going to be another Stockton, every time we don't play well or our strikers misfire we should have signed him. Obviously had some big numbers in L1 last couple of seasons but only got into double figures once in Champ, not at age where he's going to get better so £800k+ for someone arguably just to score enough to help get us up wouldn't be good business for me.

A fine effort second half, with the lightest-weight defence I can recall for many a day. A few showed they care a bit about not conceding and can actually defend a bit. Jones's red (was nailed on for me) was symptomatic of our defensive issues recently. Neither him or Iredale have the pace to deal with quick wide lads who can carry it well or get onto balls played over / beyond them. When we lose it we're not quick enough to turn 3-5-2 into 5-3-2, with Williams/JDC dropping back closer to Jones / Iredale to lessen their exposure, the spaces around them are big and inviting. We're too easily crossed against, too easy for heading chances to be created, as per their goal. Forrester was really sound, maybe not the most physical but defended well, blocked, intercepted and organised. JDB and Dan contributed lots and we actually looked like nicking it when they were on. Sometimes simple physicality and a bit of guile is enough to unsettle L1 defenders, not just running ragged pressing. A point we'd have snatched hands off for at HT

I sit looking down on that touchline in West Upper. JDB looked properly fed up going through the motions of warming up, watching Nlundulu get on before him (he did a bit better today, to be fair). JDB has game nouse and experience, more than most in our side. We need him on the pitch more. The only way he'll play himself into fitness is to get gradually more minutes, not 10-15 mins here and there. Surely he must be fit enough now, two months into the season, to manage half an hour.

I think you're right about other factors being at play at Reading and us being likely to see fewer issues today. Toal for one wasn't at it last week but had traipsed to Kazakhstan in the week, Charles the same, regardless of the shoulder issue. Others who stayed behind might have ended up doing lighter work We shouldn't probably underestimate the challenge of what any club's trying to do in pre season. I basically get around 3 months of winter training to put 9 months in the tank, they're trying to put almost 10 months work into them in about 6-7 weeks. They do it full time of course, compared to my 3 x 2 hour sessions a week, so at much greater intensity, but that striving to get enough done for 10 months of Evatt's style in that timescale, maybe with not enough mobility / flexibility work included may be behind some of the early season pulls and strains. As you say, some of the lads physical composition may be able to stand it better than others. Other factors to maybe consider could be a shorter rest because we had the two play off semis and playing on our pitch last winter in the state it was in. Fair to say too that other clubs are also either playing a similar way to us now or knowing they have to deal with those that do and upping their levels accordingly. Hopefully we get through today, play well, win and gradually get a full squad back to push on into winter all firing and imposing our game on the opposition.

Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs both promoted the benefits of Pilates in extending their careers

Thanks, I thought my post had fallen off the thread the other day, maybe too long and boring! The ones I look after are heptathlete/decathlete so have to be able to withstand the high speed impact of events like hurdles, long jump, high jump etc but it's fair to say there are specific stresses put on footballers, mixtures of types of running, jumping, turning and twisting. The S&C programme will aim to cover all that and mitigate against weaknesses in any individual where they show up. That post about Big Sam's days shows you can have bad runs anytime in the season, we've had others since. I suppose my general point was if the speed endurance has been put in the tank in pre season it ought not to be running out in September, more something to expect in March / April when some players are getting into the red zone. There's maybe a bit of it also about turnover of players and in Evatt seeking individuals who can offer different skills to the team mix he may be losing some of the robustness in their profile so they may not be as able to hack the training regime. When Klopp and Pochettino had success at Liverpool and Spurs with the 'heavy metal football' approach it was with a group that were all of a similar profile and ability to buy into it. Gradually, as both clubs evolved their squads and styles, both came off that intensity and couldn't sustain it long term. If the pressing from the front, quick ball recovery, bombing wing backs style is what Evatt's committed to, and the training regime is tailored wholly to that, the profile of any new players brought in has to match it if the model is to continue to succeed. We look to have too many in the current squad who may not be suited to what they're being asked to do in training and games. Maybe a tweak to the playing style might be necessary in the short term Sorry, another load of dreary bollocks on a Friday night, I need to get out more!

Suppose he's more likely to get chances and space away, where home teams are a bit busier trying to win and leave the back door open a bit. He had a lot of frustrating days last year watching us pass it backwards and sideways in front of a massed defence. Having said that, if he doesn't play he won't contribute in those other ways that enable others to score

Posh probably the hardest game to predict out of any, you never know what you're going to get from them. Could be 3-0 or 0-3. If Charles isn't fit I don't see where our goals will come from, bar a set piece or a blunder by them

We're all looking at the start of a new season for signs of evolution, where shortfalls are acknowledged and look like they've been addressed. It's early days but I'm not seeing much evidence. We still look flaky mentally, still lack physicality, still only have one way of playing that is easily disrupted and still have too few scoring options (bad luck with CMG noted, might have become one). The comments about fatigue and tiredness are concerning. We faded well before the end of the last regular season and were as flat as a pancake in the play off. If Evatt is huffing and puffing about it already there is a real issue either with the robustness of players he's recruiting or the intensity of the physical work in training

I want every player who comes into our club to do well, and I get the sense Nlundulu's still in that stage where most folk are willing him to do something good and maybe get on a roll. If he does, great for him and great for the team, what we all want, though I'm not really seeing a likelihood of it happening soon.

JDC's arguably enjoying the same honeymoon period Bradley had first couple of months of last season, they might work out how to stifle him too but for now he looks a good find, lots to like about his quick feet, pace, control and crossing ability

I've been ID'ing talent for the athletics group I run for years, I do ok, we've produced some age group internationals, but I don't get it right every time by any means and the reasons can be many. Evatt's not got this one right, that lads not enough of a footballer to even make a decent contribution to to getting us up, never mind operating a level above. Time's not on his side either, long term athlete development models say that by the time they get to mid-20s if key balance, co-ordination and technical skills aren't there the chances of them being embedded are limited, no matter how good the coaches think they are

Thanks for that re the coach, will bear it in mind, gradually getting to know more local Whites the longer I'm living here (only Bern over about 5 years). Catch up for a pint sometime if you're about 👍🍺

Indeed, now nearly a year overdue 🙄 I'm on border of Cleveleys and Fleetwood, opposite Rossall School. Nice place to live, shouldn't gripe too much 😄

It's a pain in the arse this season and was back end of last. Bigger crowds a factor of course, numbers up around what we were getting in Prem days. I'm back parking off Chorley New Rd but it's a tedious 20 minute chug through Adlington and Chorley to get on M61 for home. Then another painful half hour once off the M55 through the unending roadworks from Windy Harbour. Over an hour last night to do 30 miles. Plenty of time to reflect on the game though before joining the conversation!

Two former Wanderers on the mark in six minutes for Hibs this aft at Aberdeen, Alf and Doidge