Players?

[countygump]

Liam Noble is one of the last players I would put in the "little rat" category. He was lightweight and wasn't capable of getting stuck in to a tackle. Most of his cards were for petulance rather than crunching tackles.

Agreed, apart from the odd worldy goal, he was useless. Massive sigh from me when we re-signed him. Ravenhill and Bishop? Were they our last effective, 'little rats'. ?

[Glad2BeAPie]

Nolan made some poor signings as it's proved to be

[Carlton_Pie]

Liam Noble is one of the last players I would put in the "little rat" category. He was lightweight and wasn't capable of getting stuck in to a tackle. Most of his cards were for petulance rather than crunching tackles.

A little rat that can't or doesn't want to tackle.

Little weasel would be a better description

[Elite_Pie]

A little rat that can't or doesn't want to tackle.

Little weasel would be a better description

Putting a 'p' in front of rat might be more accurate.

[optipez]

Getting rid of Milsom and O'Connor was a massive mistake. Milsom went from player of the season to out in the cold despite our form dramatically tailing off after Yates loan expired and still not get a game.
Nolan's man management at times was terrible. I've absolutely no information about how the dressing room was, but looking from afar he froze out Milsom, Fitz to the point he nearly wrecked his career and Jon Forte. He also sent Allessandra backwards from Hartlepool top scorer and player of the year to a hard working but limited footballer.
Results aren't great because the squad is imbalanced and not great. Kewell needs time and a reshaped squad.
None of the shouts for his head come from people offering a better alternative, indeed, the big plan is always to sack the current "idiot" and get the next idiot in pronto despite everyone wanting stability and all the evidence suggests that stability gets you further than constant churn.

[jackal2]

Liam Noble is one of the last players I would put in the "little rat" category. He was lightweight and wasn't capable of getting stuck in to a tackle. Most of his cards were for petulance rather than crunching tackles.

Agreed. I think he fancied himself more as a 'fancy dan' creative midfielder, but he was nowhere near good enough at that side of the game or the tackling side to be any real use. There was no way we should ever have brought him back.

Ricky Ravenhill was the archetypal little rat.

Another one of my favourites in years gone by, even though he never played for us, was Andy Hessenthaler.

[Wedgie_pie]

Why did we have 3 CB on the bench And what has happened to Osbourne, motm against Newcastle and not seen since. And where are Jones, Kellett and Hawkridge..Surely these are better options than having 3 crap defenders on the bench..

Durham, Ozzie is a friend of a friend he's out injured...

[durhampie]

Durham, Ozzie is a friend of a friend he's out injured...

Thanks for that Wedgie..

[tarquinbeech]

Durham, Ozzie is a friend of a friend he's out injured...

That's another pet hate of mine.....why, when we are only 30 odd % the way through a season, are so many players getting injured?

So far, we've had

Toots (foot for 2 or 3 games, then taken off precautionary v Swindon which cost us the game IMO), Stead yesterday (no idea why), Duffers (strapped up like an Egyptian mummy), Dennis (injured before the season started and has never looked fit, or capable)...now Ozzie (played 1 part game, so did he get injured in training or in a reserve game?)....have I missed anyone?

I thought we had one of the best "fitness and backroom staff....with state-of-the-art facilities"?

It's lucky we've got a huge squad.

[Carlton_Pie]

Getting rid of Milsom and O'Connor was a massive mistake. Milsom went from player of the season to out in the cold despite our form dramatically tailing off after Yates loan expired and still not get a game.
Nolan's man management at times was terrible. I've absolutely no information about how the dressing room was, but looking from afar he froze out Milsom, Fitz to the point he nearly wrecked his career and Jon Forte. He also sent Allessandra backwards from Hartlepool top scorer and player of the year to a hard working but limited footballer.
Results aren't great because the squad is imbalanced and not great. Kewell needs time and a reshaped squad.
None of the shouts for his head come from people offering a better alternative, indeed, the big plan is always to sack the current "idiot" and get the next idiot in pronto despite everyone wanting stability and all the evidence suggests that stability gets you further than constant churn.

Or the one that is currently doing the rounds again..."we need an experienced manager" yawn....

I personally like HK doing it a different way or trying to play football. Watched Derby play a few times this season and what a breath of fresh air they are ,young, hungry, fit, good on the ball and stick to the managers plan and philosophy at all times. Hk knows what he needs to do but this current squad is unfit, lazy, unbalanced and lacks fight. What they have got though is quality in attacking positions, so not all is lost