4 hours ago, gonzo said:

Hes pretty much had instant success tbf

Hes been in management 4 seasons and hes been promoted in 2 of em. 

I don’t think he would survive the previous poor starts. Great windows yes but patience isn’t in existence higher up 

5 minutes ago, kent_white said:

I'd fancy us against anyone in the play offs. 

Totally agree was thinking last week no chance with Bod getting injured and Baka and Dapo going but the players IE as signed I am of the opinion whoever we play we will be in the championship next season.

30 minutes ago, kent_white said:

I'd fancy us against anyone in the play offs. 

Fighting talk!

Bring on the bastards 😁

1 hour ago, Biggish Dave said:

I was talking to Sharon on fixture release day, she was saying the amount of time Evatt/Markham spend on analysing players before submitting bids for them is incredible. No knee jerk reactions

 

That's exactly what I'd expect from a Moneyball approach and which has to be the sensible way forward in our position even though it has it's flaws as the Oakland Athletics eventually found out, but for us fans it gives us the reassurance that the club isn't going to piss away money we haven't got on reputations and bad deals.

When someone like Williams comes into the club and doesn't perform great for the first few games it doesn't necessarily mean we've been sold a pup because statistically he should produce the goods sooner or later as he obviously has done in the past and although rigorous analysis doesn't guarantee anything, it at least means the club has done everything it can to minimise the risk.

Sure we have to gamble a bit to progress but providing Evatt and Markham don't stretch it beyond their own parameters they are giving us the best opportunity within our budget. We just have to hope that the numbers don't lie

1 hour ago, kent_white said:

I'd fancy us against anyone in the play offs. 

Wouldn't fancy Derby over two legs 

39 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

That's exactly what I'd expect from a Moneyball approach and which has to be the sensible way forward in our position even though it has it's flaws as the Oakland Athletics eventually found out, but for us fans it gives us the reassurance that the club isn't going to piss away money we haven't got on reputations and bad deals.

When someone like Williams comes into the club and doesn't perform great for the first few games it doesn't necessarily mean we've been sold a pup because statistically he should produce the goods sooner or later as he obviously has done in the past and although rigorous analysis doesn't guarantee anything, it at least means the club has done everything it can to minimise the risk.

Sure we have to gamble a bit to progress but providing Evatt and Markham don't stretch it beyond their own parameters they are giving us the best opportunity within our budget. We just have to hope that the numbers don't lie

It's going to be interesting to see how they replace Aimson. It felt like that deal came out of the blue but had to be done because of the cash offer with the lad being a few months from the end of his deal with us. 

They may keep an ongoing moneyball style analysis on likely candidates for signings in all positions on a long term basis. If so they'll already have some central defenders in mind to chase tomorrow and/or Tuesday. If not they may well go down the loan route. They may go down that route if the people on our list aren't available at the right price etc. 

Either way with Aimson gone its a real chance to upgrade our central defence. Aimson did a great job but he was only a good standard League 1 sort. Onward and upward with the job of building back to Championship standard football. Interesting times.

2 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Wouldn't fancy Derby over two legs 

Not with last weeks squad, this weeks squad a different kettle of fish… I don’t rate them… they’re typical Warne team, do the basics right, nowt spectacular,we can beat them. 

1 minute ago, Mounts Kipper said:

Not with last weeks squad, this weeks squad a different kettle of fish… I don’t rate them… they’re typical Warne team, do the basics right, nowt spectacular,we can beat them. 

And what usually happens with a Warne team?

12 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

And what usually happens with a Warne team?

Good chance we put record straight if we face them. I’m not worried about them if we have full squad available. 

I'm not worried about Derby because I think they're going up automatically

21 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Wouldn't fancy Derby over two legs 

Derby and Wednesdays are the ones I’d fear of the current top eight. They’re really the only two bigger clubs. OK, Ipswich have the bigger crowds too but they’re in  a one-club area. Ipswich or nobody for miles. The rest of them hold no fear at all.

2 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I'm not worried about Derby because I think they're going up automatically

Not sure as I don't see Plymouth or Sheff Weds dropping the points 

1 minute ago, MickyD said:

Derby and Wednesdays are the ones I’d fear of the current top eight. They’re really the only two bigger clubs. OK, Ipswich have the bigger crowds too but they’re in  a one-club area. Ipswich or nobody for miles. The rest of them hold no fear at all.

What's Ipswich catchment area got to do with anything?

Club size. Do keep up. 

I remember listening to an interview with Warne a while back. Fascinating character and a good listen.

Whether he can get his teams to evolve into playing better football, time will tell, but he got Rotherham up and Derby looking good for it too.

5 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Not sure as I don't see Plymouth or Sheff Weds dropping the points 

It'd be a big achievement but I think they're probably the best team in the league, have an excellent manager who knows how to manage a team to promotion from this league, and are on a roll.

They haven't lost since October.

4 hours ago, Zico said:

Could do with not losing to Posh and Wycombe in our next two aways

TBH our next 5 aways look tough - add the other 3 at Pompey (a bit of a bogey ground), in form Morecambe, Sheff Wed.  Any wins in those 5, assuming it stays 11 aside, will be very well earned although the same is true of the opponents, tought games for them too.  But a nice run of 3 very winnable home games.

Here is the run in for the current top 6 

Am sure there will be a few twists and turns  

Just keep winning our home games. Pick up the odd win and draw here and there away, we'll get play offs.

Start winning a few more away and who knows

3 hours ago, JimmyRiddle said:

This is it for me, a few weeks ago I dreaded the thought of the play-offs as felt collectively we were weak and would struggle with potentially 3 big high pressure games.

Thankfully so did IE and seems to have addressed it. So is a tall ask to go up automatically but if we don't, I just want us to be resilient, nasty and hard to beat for the rest of the season.

If so, I will go into the play-offs in a far better frame of mind than I would have been otherwise!!

Agree with that sentiment.  I would feel slightly happier on the "nasty and hard to beat" front if we had Iredale available as cover/competition for John.  Its an odd thing to say but I feel like John has gone from total outcast to a player I would least like to lose now, I feel like there's adequate cover for every other outfield position.

10 minutes ago, Biggish Dave said:

Just keep winning our home games. Pick up the odd win and draw here and there away, we'll get play offs.

Start winning a few more away and who knows

Entirely doable

This season has been an improvement and we are going in the right direction.

In Sharons lover we trust.

As I suspected, most of the teams above us have to play others (including Barnsley) 4 times. We've only 2.

Opportunity there to gain points.

41 minutes ago, Benny The Ball said:

Here is the run in for the current top 6 

Am sure there will be a few twists and turns  

so we only play the top 6 teams twice more this season, whereas the rest are playing each other 3-5 times.

Sheff Weds playing midweek-Sat for 5 weeks in a row is going to catch up with them. They have a cup replay and possibly another match if they win.

Bit mad that we have 2 weeks off after a busy spell where others have 2-3 games in that time. Should see us well rested for the final few matches.

Edited January 29, 20233 yr by jmjhb