dubai_phil

Posted elsewhere - I was worried we used our pre-season time in ball skills, and may have neglected teh stamina work. Hard to know whether kids will develop it as they get used to playing or whether we need to change our approach. I'm sure opposition managers will note this, sit back and let us play for an hour then run us ragged in the last third of the game.

Ah the Alan Bennet school of player assessment. First game in a new team without having done pre-season.... hmmm good call

OMG another one - Scooby is called as a witness in a French murder trial. This planet is going to the dogs! http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080911/twl-murder-trial-calls-dog-as-witness-3fd0ae9.html Scooby will give evidence as he is believed to have been with his 59-year-old owner when she was found hanging from the ceiling of her Paris flat. Police believe the death was suicide, but her family cry murder - and the only witness to see the alleged crime is on four legs.

Interestingly, although there have been many figures mentioned for salaries for the likes of Euell, Dyer, BWP et al, but we signed Davies who was a PL player.......... I can't believe we would be able to do that by giving them a 50% pay cut, so just how much money was he on? Seems odd there have been no leaks that's all, and I get the feeling that is more likely the case than the "wanting away/clause in contract" stuff

I wonder....... Whether our first real chicken may be coming home to roost borne out of enthusiasm but inexperience. The reserve & academy teams play 25/30 games a year. The first team 50+ Most of us can remember back to the days of WGS with the incredible amount of work done in the pre-season period - stories of players having to run up sand dunes until they vomitted, then doing it again and again. In that season we played hard, fast and pressing football and were probably the fittest team in the PL. During THIS close season our coaching staff - did not have actual Football League experience, and as I recall from reading many of the articles we pre-season started early and it was all about pace and movement, and playing matches. Now I am not a sports coach, but I seem to recall that there are some differences between stamina training and speed training. With kids suddenly playing 2 or 3 games a week, I actually wonder whether they are suddenly feeling the strain mentally and physically, did they build enough stamina training pre-season? To me mental tiredness is as big a problem as inexperience. Gillett covered miles in his first few games, now Lallana is doing that = Gillett seems to have burnt out, how long can Lallana keep going. I'll not judge anything yet, but trends are appearing. I wonder if only 4 changes on Saturday will be enough and whether the Rotheram game is time for some to have a rest

Didn't you just cut and paste that from a Luton forum last season....... Think Perry needs a big man alongside him Where's Lucketti?

I remember When it wasn't Ramadan with stupid traffic and the clubs were open and you could drink until 3am

TBH I think the tables are ok for another month or so What would worry me is the loan window closing. We seem to know what the problems are on the pitch as well as off the pitch. But it is clear that unless the on pitch problems with the defence are sorted the off pitch becomes irrelevant. So for me it is about bringing in full back(s) and PDQ I wonder if the Ian Harte opportunity isn't one we'll miss. Centuries ago in good old Salisbury & District Sunday League 3 I was a right sided midfielder with inches of pace, but I kept getting put at full back and hated it. I wonder if the same is not true of Drew (except he's on the left I know!)

yep but did it WORK? from the commentary it seemed to help get the goal but then we seemed to lose all control of the ball and resort to hoofball into nowhere and a succession of OMG defending techniques

It sounds like the youngsters are feeling the pace. They are used to only playing 20-30 games a year and here they are 2 in 3 days and Sunday an hour with 10 men. The concerns about their "physical and mental strength" seem to be coming home to roost. Gillett WAS getting rave reviews but now seems to be burning out, similarly James is possibly in need of a break. Of course the perfect way would be to rotate them, but in defence we seem short of spare bodies, losing Holmes without Pulis or Gasmi being ready also seems a tad unlucky BUT should have been forseen. Sounds a little like Drew is having similar problems, so leaves us hoping Killer is fit for Saturday, somebody has a BIG word with Rudi or Fish comes in and Cork at RB The worry is with SJ bombing tonight when we needed him whether the same issue may not be why we haven't seen Rudi, personally I'd have played Peckhart from the start as he had a run on Sunday and brought SJ on for 30 mins to start to get up to speed possibly for Barnsley Now we're sort of back to square one. Maybe SJ out on loan to free up some money for loan/Bosman fullbacks But THAT needs JP to have a rethink - he sounded REALLY down on the radio in the interview. arrrrrrghh

Ah the old Saga on loan and plays well trick. Nice juicy contract in January and ....... I have an inkling that it was not so much that we wanted him to go out on loan, more we decided to keep the last man standing when the merry-go-round stopped and we got left with SJ

No, not Bates But it does prove that there is SOME intelligence out there in Redneck land http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2967435/Dog-dials-911-to-save-owners-life.html Now if he's THAT smart maybe he could sort out our defence....

hmmm Pekhart believes we should have won and the team is upset....... eek

Well, without being happy clappy I think I detect something unusual here.... We held on for a lucky draw. Again we held on for a lucky draw Now how many times in the last couple of seasons has this happened. Unlucky draws, unlucky defeats.... No I ain't happy but.... maybe it's a start Loanee time though chappies. have txt'd my mate who blagged in to the Directors box to make the point, he sent back something about - slloo mush leer poo dlink - so don't think the message got through..... again - damn

Well it's a point, from being under the cosh. Sort of a grind out draws when not playing well .... not Big lump center half - sort of a Sami Hyppia type before Saturday please and SJ is a real worry, we counted on him doing the old head biz and he sounded like he wasn't at the races

phew

4 mins added Time for a WOOT And what's the weather like in your part of the world tonight?

everytime Surman gets the ball we give it away

arrrgggghhhh Well first there was this Apple and this snake.........

jeez corner Ipswich good time for one on the break

Where the fook have Wotton and Spiderman vanished to?

worrying we're under the cosh a bit at the mo

oops type lesbies

eek that was close to KD's goal

ooh it's all Soooooooo exciting these days, hooray for the revolution..... :-)