Any news on the injury front?

[frogmiller]

I'm improving thanks.

The ankle has fused properly so they're talking about removing the metal parts maybe next year.

Unfortunately I'm as far away from the first team as I've ever been.

[Brin]

Clark Robertson played for around 65mins for the reserves yesterday and looked good alongside Manny Onariase who also had a decent game. Alex Bray played most of the game as well.
Richard Wood should be fit for Saturday, they may decide to give Proctor a little longer with two away games coming up after Bolton.
Barring any late injuries Williams and Vassell will play wide with Smith on his own up top.

Casper, you quote 'they may decide to give Proctor a little longer with two away games coming up'. Why bother, we only play one up front at most games and Smiffy will carry the burden of this on his shoulders, such is our poor set up away from home.

I still can't fathom why Warne refuses to change this all because we got a spanking on our opening game at Brentford.
That defeat was because he used the Wembley winning team instead of setting up correctly for the match in hand.The scoreline has obviously scarred him but he simply has to forget it and move on. He knows why the scoreline was 5-1 and simply has to set up more bravely as if we were at home.

If he put all that behind him, and set up correctly to go at teams away from home we may just may start to get a point or even three!

[Brin]

I'm improving thanks.

The ankle has fused properly so they're talking about removing the metal parts maybe next year.

Unfortunately I'm as far away from the first team as I've ever been.

Glad to hear this Froglet. Good luck going forward.

[CASPER-64-FRANK]

Casper, you quote 'they may decide to give Proctor a little longer with two away games coming up'. Why bother, we only play one up front at most games and Smiffy will carry the burden of this on his shoulders, such is our poor set up away from home.

I still can't fathom why Warne refuses to change this all because we got a spanking on our opening game at Brentford.
That defeat was because he used the Wembley winning team instead of setting up correctly for the match in hand.The scoreline has obviously scarred him but he simply has to forget it and move on. He knows why the scoreline was 5-1 and simply has to set up more bravely as if we were at home.

If he put all that behind him, and set up correctly to go at teams away from home we may just may start to get a point or even three!

If they fetch Proctor back too early and he breaks down with the same injury he will be out for longer, Proctor is back in training.
Smith has also been carrying an injury so the International break will have helped.

PW won't play 2 up front because he's afraid of conceding midfield and being overrun.
One up front is fine if midfield get forward quick to help Smith. It's sometimes awful to watch the ball being banged up to a Centre - Forward knowing the opposition are going to come straight back at us. Try holding onto the ball a little longer even if it means playing across midfield, passing to a red shirt would help.

They could play 3 up front, it won't make a difference, some of them are not taking the chances that come their way.

EDIT : Forgot to add we don't have the quality of wide men we've had in the past, Barry Lyons, Chris Sedgewick, Tony Towner, Ian Butler, John Buckley or Alan Crawford.
Try getting to the bye-line and put a quality cross in, it seems to help other teams.

[CASPER-64-FRANK]

I'm improving thanks.

The ankle has fused properly so they're talking about removing the metal parts maybe next year.

Unfortunately I'm as far away from the first team as I've ever been.

That's good to hear.......

You could have three legs and be quicker than Usain Bolt however you won't make the first team.....or the bench.

[PerigordMiller]

Good to see you back on here Caspy.

Are you off to Boro next week?

I'll be there with Mrs P who thinks she's on a short break to the seaside.

[Lolmorgan]

Good to see you back on here Caspy.

Are you off to Boro next week?

I'll be there with Mrs P who thinks she's on a short break to the seaside.

Well Whitbys not that far away,best fish & chips in England & they all like a bit of cod mate.

[PerigordMiller]

Yes Lol, Whitbys on the agenda for a couple of nights.

[CASPER-64-FRANK]

Good to see you back on here Caspy.
Are you off to Boro next week?
I'll be there with Mrs P who thinks she's on a short break to the seaside.

Just got back from the Costa-del-Sol...needed respite from some of the O/T threads on here lol.
Whilst in Spain one of our ' mob ' was taken into Rotherham Hospice and has passed away. Our' mob ' is decreasing as every season passes.

Just trying to sort transport out for Middlesbrough, we may decide to drive up. Doubtful there will be more than 250 away supporters on Tuesday so you should be easy to spot. Will buy you a Bovril if we meet up.
If you've not been to the Riverside it's a nice ground, they usually put away supporters in the corner near the big screen so we can see all the goals Middlesbrough score.
Last time was a night match and we lost lol.

[monty_rhodes]

Try getting to the bye-line and put a quality cross in, it seems to help other teams.

I often agree broadly with Casper's views on games but here he raises an interesting point. Spielverlagerung.de (other people have done similar work) in an article entitled An Ineffective Tool? examined the effectiveness of open crosses in four European leagues. They found that in the Bundesliga 80.24 crosses were required per goal. In the Premier League it was 67.46 and adding in La Liga and Serie A the average number of crosses (from open play) per goal was 71.97.
Looking only at the Prem they found that "...teams with a higher frequency of crossing have a lower conversion rate inside the penalty area..." The research was published in 2012 but so far as I'm aware no subsequent studies seriously dispute the conclusions.
The most consistent source of goals remains the dead ball situation and the engineering of corners and free kicks around the penalty area is likely to be the most effective approach for most teams.