Scored a great header and then……nothing.

There have been two recurring themes in conversation about him:

1. He isn’t getting the right kind of service. Well I’m still not convinced he’s that lethal when he does, although TBF his opportunities have been few and far between but it has to be a very specific kind of service as he’s not very mobile.

2. Get him on to hold the ball up when we need an outlet. From what I’ve seen he has the touch of a rapist and the ball just bounces off him or he misplaces the lay off. And he is slow  getting to the ball in the first place compared to Burstow. If Burstow is knackered and we’re under the cosh, wouldn’t we be better off sticking someone quick and annoying like ACD to chase down clearances into space rather than have Dalby get into a wrestling match on the few occasions the clearance actually comes in his direction? Or a combo player with a bit a pace and strength when required like Taylor?
 

There was a moment during McAtee’s cameo yesterday when we were defending our box and McAtee brought the ball down with an incredible touch, slipped it to Dalby and ran into space for the return - and Sam passed what should have been a routine ball straight to a Luton player. Frustrating.

So what’s the story? Do we change the way we play to suit him better? Does he need to improve his fitness, speed and touch to fit the way we play? Is he carrying an injury? Or do we write him off as a poor signing and move on?

On 30/11/2025 at 11:42, L/H White said:

Hopefully he comes good, but he's a cart horse unfortunately 

Bummer

I was praying for Ryan Hardie.

The shit injured cunt has barely kicked a ball this season, meanwhile Dalby played a prime Kevin Davies yesterday.

That layup for ACD was as good as his goal.

We all know fuck all.

(Apart from @Zog1oobviously)

On 30/11/2025 at 17:37, only1swanny said:

Stats wise 

Dalby has a goal for us every 210 mins of football, 

Burstow has a goal every 200 mins of football

When you consider that Dalby hasn't had a run he's doing OK. He's not had the chance to establish himself in the team.  

Called it 😛

 

13 goals, 7 assists.. Boom! 

46 minutes ago, Spider said:

Bummer

stand by it at the time of the post, remarkable turnaround from a slow start

made up for him

Reminds me so much of SKD (I know he did it for 9 years in the prem) he’s everything you want from an old fashioned CF, a class act. If there was VAR in league 1 I’m sure we would get a pen a game. Hes literally assaulted every match, there’s one TV angle that shows yesterday’s goal and the CH is all over him. Our main man for me 

Edited May 25May 25 by royal white

44 minutes ago, royal white said:

Reminds me so much of SKD (I know he did it for 9 years in the prem) he’s everything you want from an old fashioned CF, a class act. If there was VAR in league 1 I’m sure we would get a pen a game. Hes literally assaulted every match, there’s one TV angle that shows yesterday’s goal and the CH is all over him. Our main man for me 

In one of the interviews Dalby looks like he’s got a proper scratch around his throat. Reckon it’s from his goal 

11 hours ago, bwfc87 said:

In one of the interviews Dalby looks like he’s got a proper scratch around his throat. Reckon it’s from his goal 

Yep.

My thoughts exactly. 

@DazBob anything to add? 

On 25/05/2026 at 20:40, L/H White said:

stand by it at the time of the post, remarkable turnaround from a slow start

made up for him

Yes, its valid to make comments on players before Christmas.

We all get it wrong sometimes.  The esteem we held Simons in for eg.  SS thinking Apter was the answer and that Taylor was our next left sided CB.  If we know nothing, we aren't alone.

We're all saying we should have given Dalby, Cissoko and Tutu half a season before judging them, does that mean we bring Apter back because he's only had a few starts?

Course not, its OK to comment on players after a few games, we're football fans, and if the players improve that's great, it doesn't mean initial comments were invalid at the time.  

A year ago folk were saying we'd only be able to sign TSL for this season if we got promoted.

Thank god we went up, we can join the queue of clubs hoping to get him back.  Or did SS get that one wrong too?  We all do it, fans and managers.

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Yes, its valid to make comments on players before Christmas.

We all get it wrong sometimes.  The esteem we held Simons in for eg.  SS thinking Apter was the answer and that Taylor was our next left sided CB.  If we know nothing, we aren't alone.

We're all saying we should have given Dalby, Cissoko and Tutu half a season before judging them, does that mean we bring Apter back because he's only had a few starts?

Course not, its OK to comment on players after a few games, we're football fans, and if the players improve that's great, it doesn't mean initial comments were invalid at the time.  

A year ago folk were saying we'd only be able to sign TSL for this season if we got promoted.

Thank god we went up, we can join the queue of clubs hoping to get him back.  Or did SS get that one wrong too?  We all do it, fans and managers.

Apart from Zog1 😁

7 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Yes, its valid to make comments on players before Christmas.

We all get it wrong sometimes.  The esteem we held Simons in for eg.  SS thinking Apter was the answer and that Taylor was our next left sided CB.  If we know nothing, we aren't alone.

We're all saying we should have given Dalby, Cissoko and Tutu half a season before judging them, does that mean we bring Apter back because he's only had a few starts?

Course not, its OK to comment on players after a few games, we're football fans, and if the players improve that's great, it doesn't mean initial comments were invalid at the time.  

A year ago folk were saying we'd only be able to sign TSL for this season if we got promoted.

Thank god we went up, we can join the queue of clubs hoping to get him back.  Or did SS get that one wrong too?  We all do it, fans and managers.

Wondering if SS didn’t rate Jonno and was hoping Taylor would step up and take his position? 🤷‍♂️

3 hours ago, Ros Coe said:

Wondering if SS didn’t rate Jonno and was hoping Taylor would step up and take his position? 🤷‍♂️

SS said several times he signed Taylor for left back.

9 hours ago, Ros Coe said:

Wondering if SS didn’t rate Jonno and was hoping Taylor would step up and take his position? 🤷‍♂️

He always said Taylor was signed as a left back.

As above! 😀

Edited May 27May 27 by Tonge moor green jacket

Aye left back who could slot in at CB if needed. The combination of him being a bit shit and off field family issues (iirc) meant that never came to pass.

16 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

Aye left back who could slot in at CB if needed. The combination of him being a bit shit and off field family issues (iirc) meant that never came to pass.

looked ace pre-season. Thought we'd got a belter.

easy to do as when we play preseason we are playing really shit teams normally.