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Reply | Keepers going short, refs walking tall – Analysis
at 22:58 1 Apr 2025
My (totally unscientific) theory about playing out from the back is that you have more chance of success if you are on a big pitch. A big pitch means it's easier for your teammates to find space and forces the opposition to do more running if they want to close you down.
I remember the Brighton game in pre season where we just couldn't get into their half.
So maybe our small pitch is a factor in our inability to move the ball up the park.
The other factor is how to beat the opposition press. One option that can work is to just play the long ball into the space behind them. But for that to work you need pace up front and we simply haven't had much of that in recent years.
All of which might explain why we struggle to play out from the back and our results pick up when we try to be a bit more direct. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 14:12 1 Apr 2025
Not The Top 20 certainly didn't pull any punches:
“It’s eight defeats in their last 11 or five in their last six,” said Not The Top 20’s Ali Maxwell in this week's podcast. “It’s very, very ugly. The starting XI looks an absolute mess. I just think for whatever reason for the last few years, however they try to shape their squad, they just end up with so little depth. I don’t really back the depth that QPR have when Steve Cook is out, Ilias Chair is out, Michael Frey is out. All of a sudden, the team looks like the worst starting XI in the league and it’s reflected in a poor performance.”
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stoke-city-qpr-cham |
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Reply | Injury hit, on the beach and checked out, QPR soundly beaten – Report
at 14:08 1 Apr 2025
Agree with all of that.
Although I think it's fair to say that falling out with people behind the scenes seems to be a constant feature of Warburton's career. But I guess if he didn't have that character flaw then he wouldn't have been here in the first place. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 13:00 1 Apr 2025
"He's only 23 though mate"
Clive Allen and Adel Taarabt were both younger than that when they were tearing up the second tier for us.
OK, they were exceptional talents and no one expects Kelman to reach their level.
But the game really has gone soft if we're giving players a free pass up until the age of 23.
Most players peak before they're 30. Gary Lineker and Michael Owen were both retired at 32.
I'm being slightly tongue in cheek.
.
I think the real problem is the way we have been developing our younger players in recent years.
I see a lot of reports about Kelman saying he has bulked up this season and looks stronger. Was that our decision or did Orient do that? And if it was us then why didn't we do it sooner?
Kelman deserves a lot of credit for going out on loan and working hard to make that chance work for him. I hope he gets the chance to show what he can do for us and I hope he takes it. |
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Reply | Injury hit, on the beach and checked out, QPR soundly beaten – Report
at 12:42 1 Apr 2025
We went through all this on a previous thread.
To summarise:
- Modern sports science believes that soft tissue injuries are totally preventable and shouldn't happen.
- Modern sports science data shows that soft tissue injuries are a greatly increasing problem in the game.
It's a problem for the whole game, not just us.
Either the science is wrong or we need to look at the demands that the modern game places on the players. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 10:42 1 Apr 2025
"No one can say with 100% certainty that he "struggles in the Championship" as he's hardly played."
On that logic we might as well bring Niko Hamalainen back. He averaged less than four league games a season in his eight years here!
We signed Kelman in 2020. Five different managers looked at him and decided he wasn't the answer to our chronic goalscoring problem.
I think he has done enough this season to deserve another chance to show he can do it in the Championship (assuming we're still in the Championship next season.) But we really need him to hit the ground running. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 19:31 28 Mar 2025
I'm not writing him off.
He has certainly done enough this season to deserve a chance in the first team next season.
But he isn't quick, he's not particularly tall, and his career strike rate is nothing special.
If he gets judged just on his data he might not be given a chance next season. Particularly not if we get any offers for him.
I hope I'm wrong and he gets the chance next season and takes it. But he still has a lot to prove at this level. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 14:25 28 Mar 2025
That's a fair point.
When we signed him it was because he was supposed to be a great finisher.
Reports this season suggest he is physically stronger and has developed a hold up game. In which case he might be a useful backup or replacement for Frey, and might fit our one up top style.
But it's a big jump from League 1 to the Championship and he still needs to show that he can do it at this level. |
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Reply | This season......your thoughts.
at 10:08 28 Mar 2025
People forget that Curbishley didn't do a great deal after leaving Charlton. Perhaps he and they were the right fit for each other but had taken each other as far as they could. Perhaps like Ainsworth and Wycombe!
Nourry's background was in recruitment and Hoos has credited him with bringing in Marti (even though Marti was on the radar when we were trying to replace Warburton).
My theory is that Nourry might be good at filling a key post such as a new manager, but he had never before attempted to rebuild a whole squad which is what he took on last season.
Give him a key post to fill and maybe he will do a good job. But give him a squad sheet with eight or nine empty spots and it becomes a much bigger problem.
I'm hopeful he will have some sort of succession plan for if/when Marti leaves. I'm less convinced about his ability to build a squad of players. |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 09:45 28 Mar 2025
That's a fair point.
But how many of our young players have flourished since Ferdinand and Ramsey left the club?
Also, Kelman seems to have put on some muscle this season. Was this under the direction of Ben Williams? Or had we just written Kelman off and allowed Orient to do what they wanted with his development? |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 09:37 28 Mar 2025
The downside being that if he does kick on then he will be in the last year of his contract and holding all the cards in any contract negotiation.
Would be interesting to know if Marti was at the game last night or has watched him at all this season. |
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Reply | View from the outside – Column
at 11:47 27 Mar 2025
"I feel we’re closer and perhaps more likely to become an Ipswich, who shuffled around this league for f*cking ages under McCarthy going nowhere before eventually dropping down."
I think there's quite a few teams who seem to be stuck at this level and we are definitely one of them.
Kieran Maguire on Price of Football has often referred to parachute payments as becoming like "trampoline payments" because it gives relegated teams such a head start at this level (although Luton have torn up that script and wiped their arse with it!)
Last season is generally considered to be a really strong Championship with four teams head and shoulders above the rest. But the three who went up have been nowhere near good enough for the Premier League and seem certain to come back down. Which makes it look like the gap between us and the Premier League is just getting bigger.
Last season also saw Birmingham drop to League 1 after 13 seasons at this level including several relegation near misses.
It will be interesting to see how the returning clubs get on next season.
Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton will all be expecting to at least make the playoffs. And Birmingham with their new money behind them will at the very least expect to be well clear of relegation.
For the rest of us it's probably more of the same. |
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Reply | Points,required for safety
at 11:26 27 Mar 2025
"I think we have a 95% chance of staying up, but this is Rangers we're talking about, so I am very nervous."
I would say I'm slightly nervous rather than very nervous.
Strange to think that just a few games ago we were talking about the playoffs.
It's a crazy league this one. |
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Reply | Gareth Ainsworth
at 13:03 25 Mar 2025
Two consecutive failures speaks for itself. He won't get another chance if he fails again at Gillingham.
Bit harsh comparing him to Beale.
Ainsworth put in ten solid years at Wycombe and had them punching well above their weight. Even Martin O'Neill never got them to the Championship.
Beale walked in with no managerial experience and from day 1 thought he was too good for us.
Ainsworth really wanted to be here but was found wanting.
Beale really wanted to be in Glasgow and was also found wanting.
So fair enough perhaps they do have something in common. |
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Reply | Points,required for safety
at 12:53 25 Mar 2025
50 points should be enough.
Still nine teams beneath us and they'll be taking points off each other somewhere along the way.
Luton and Derby finding some form has certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons. |
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Reply | Vinícius Júnior buying Rangers?
at 16:30 21 Mar 2025
He'd do it if there was a medal in it for someone else. Just as long as he could wear his kit! |
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