⚽Match Thread vs. Forest Green Rovers 23.09.09 [EFL L2]

[Proactive not Reactive]

I was surprised we gave Rawlinson a new contract in the summer and nothing I’ve seen this season has made me think it was a good decision.

Rawlinson probably isn’t on much money and was kept on as a squad player to step in for physical games etc - he’s probably played more so far than LW would have envisaged but it is what it is.
He’s a decent honest defender that Notts style doesn’t really suit and is far better than a player we would sign for the money he is on plus knows the club and system

[BigFatPie]

Rawlinson probably isn’t on much money and was kept on as a squad player to step in for physical games etc - he’s probably played more so far than LW would have envisaged but it is what it is.
He’s a decent honest defender that Notts style doesn’t really suit and is far better than a player we would sign for the money he is on plus knows the club and system

I hope they’re not the reasons we kept him because if they are they’re not very good ones. I hope they kept him because they thought he was good enough. A big call if so because our best defender is made out of cardboard, Brindley and Cameron got bullied yesterday and LW clearly doesn’t rate the two lads on loan.

Big tests to come over the next few weeks. I suspect our defenders are going come under a bit pressure than they have so far, notwithstanding our magnificent start to the season.

[Elite_Pie]

LW clearly doesn’t rate the two lads on loan.

A bit early to be saying that, I'm still hoping both have a part to play.

[nw6pie]

A bit early to be saying that, I'm still hoping both have a part to play.

I hope you’re right, but at the moment neither is even able to make the bench, never mind the starting XI. It seems they’re not currently regarded as better than what we already have - which seems like a waste of a loan signing (aka “the Matty Wolfe syndrome”) to me.

[matt_magpie]

I hope you’re right, but at the moment neither is even able to make the bench, never mind the starting XI. It seems they’re not currently regarded as better than what we already have - which seems like a waste of a loan signing (aka “the Matty Wolfe syndrome”) to me.

Well everyone’s fit at the moment. I would also say there hasn’t been anyone totally off it game in game out.
As much as Carmeron is getting pelters from some quarters, who here would replace him with an inexperienced youth player at the moment.
I think the strategy will be to build them up in men’s training for 2 months and then if there’s injuries or bad form then bring them in. I doubt their costing us much, the bigger question is probably are their parent clubs happy with this at least in the short term.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

He might not be far off in that opinion its hard to call.

Now England have better forwards than back then for sure.

Scholes Lampard Gerrard piss all over most of CMs they have now.

Take a look at CBs then to now its a complete no contest.

Joe Cole the left forward who won several titles and CL played week in week out by elite coaches Mourinho & Ancellotti ????

The standard of int footy now is ****e imo most top PL sides would hammer them too.

A midfield three of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard would get walked all over as not one of them had the ability to defend. Bellingham even at his young age is a more complete midfielder than any of those mentioned, he's young though so lacks a bit of consistency, with experience, he will be right up there, remember he isn't even 20 yet is he? Pair that with Foden who is a fantastic attacking threat and Rice who is a proper defensive midfielder, I'd take those three every day if the week over Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes, the the current three aren't even near their peak either!

Defensively, I'd argue we now have better ball playing defenders now, Terry, Campbell and Ferdinand (although banned in 2004) didn't have the ball playing abilities of say Stones and Tomori although they were arguably better at defending set pieces.

Joe Cole the left winger kept out the Chelsea team by Damian Duff, that one

[legs77]

A midfield three of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard would get walked all over as not one of them had the ability to defend. Bellingham even at his young age is a more complete midfielder than any of those mentioned, he's young though so lacks a bit of consistency, with experience, he will be right up there, remember he isn't even 20 yet is he? Pair that with Foden who is a fantastic attacking threat and Rice who is a proper defensive midfielder, I'd take those three every day if the week over Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes, the the current three aren't even near their peak either!

Defensively, I'd argue we now have better ball playing defenders now, Terry, Campbell and Ferdinand (although banned in 2004) didn't have the ball playing abilities of say Stones and Tomori although they were arguably better at defending set pieces.

Joe Cole the left winger kept out the Chelsea team by Damian Duff, that one

Never said that 3 would play you just getting giddy at England getting to a SF/Final.

Gerrard was a beast at 20 too he was bossing Germany away in the 5-1.

You dont win much with poor/averages defenders and Southgates picks Macguire !! Campbell Terry Ferdinand all of them are MILES better than anything England have now.

I think Cole Drogba Robben played most weeks Duff/SWP may have got the odd game...Cole wasnt a winger really more of a creative wide player like Grealish.

[TSANHO]

A midfield three of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard would get walked all over as not one of them had the ability to defend. Bellingham even at his young age is a more complete midfielder than any of those mentioned, he's young though so lacks a bit of consistency, with experience, he will be right up there, remember he isn't even 20 yet is he? Pair that with Foden who is a fantastic attacking threat and Rice who is a proper defensive midfielder, I'd take those three every day if the week over Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes, the the current three aren't even near their peak either!

Defensively, I'd argue we now have better ball playing defenders now, Terry, Campbell and Ferdinand (although banned in 2004) didn't have the ball playing abilities of say Stones and Tomori although they were arguably better at defending set pieces.

Joe Cole the left winger kept out the Chelsea team by Damian Duff, that one

Rice, Foden and Bellingham are a better midfield three than Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard? Scholes and Gerrard would get in pretty much any midfield in the world. Gerrard especially was world class and could do any job across the midfield. They piss all over the current midfield imo.

If we had a decent manager who would’ve played them in a 4-3-3 we’d have gone much closer to winning something.

[Proactive not Reactive]

I hope they’re not the reasons we kept him because if they are they’re not very good ones. I hope they kept him because they thought he was good enough. A big call if so because our best defender is made out of cardboard, Brindley and Cameron got bullied yesterday and LW clearly doesn’t rate the two lads on loan.

Big tests to come over the next few weeks. I suspect our defenders are going come under a bit pressure than they have so far, notwithstanding our magnificent start to the season.

I think you would be surprised of how little we have paid squad players,I don’t think we have the biggest budget and we are still losing a lot of money per annum so there will be those sort of reasons why we keep players.
I would imagine the likes of McGoldrick,Bostock,Macca,Jones and Crowley are above the average wages for the club so you have to have some squad fillers.
There will be tests over the coming weeks and we may not be up to it defensively but like yesterday hopefully our attacking abilities will see us through.
I would still imagine we will sign the Irish lad in November when the Irish season finishes and he is a free agent because considering he only had a few months to go they were asking silly money so I was told.
I’m sure if LW was asked honestly if he was happy with the defensive players we currently have he would say no ..but I don’t think it was through lack of effort we didn’t sign any in August,there’s no point him moaning about it though in public or that destroys the players confidence which he needs to build up and with coaching hopefully makes them better.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Never said that 3 would play you just getting giddy at England getting to a SF/Final.

Gerrard was a beast at 20 too he was bossing Germany away in the 5-1.

You dont win much with poor/averages defenders and Southgates picks Macguire !! Campbell Terry Ferdinand all of them are MILES better than anything England have now.

I think Cole Drogba Robben played most weeks Duff/SWP may have got the odd game...Cole wasnt a winger really more of a creative wide player like Grealish.

A 5-1 win where even Heskey scored? That Germany team was an abomination, how they got to the world cup final I will never know, probably helped by having Miroslav Klose but the team that played in the 5-1 had Carsten Jancker leading the line, it was not a classic German team. Gerrard was also only hyped in England, Bellingham has already been sold to Dortmund and now Real Madrid, lots of different leagues and football culture. Also, all three were played, that is exactly why I mentioned all three. It wasn't until Owen Hargreaves popped up in 2006 that we broke up the monopoly of those three (Scholes retired in 2004).

You mention Maguire, there are far better players, if a proper manager was in charge you'd have Stones and Tomori probably backed up by Dunk. Those defenders are not "average", Tomori doesn't get the credit as he's over in Italy.

And no, not giddy over a final, furious that the talent available to us is wasted by Southgate. A decent manager would have had a world cup final appearance at least and a Euro win. The so called "Golden Generation" got to a couple of quarter finals and failed to even qualify for one tournament