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This was insane by the way, he hid behind one of Top's men whispering advice. His literal job is to be in front of anyone senior at the club during these moments

Yeah agreed wasn't wanting to see either of them!!

Having a decent enough series against Bangladesh. Opens in one day games, bats 4th in T20's and is the T20 captain which is perhaps more down to how inexperienced the NZ T20 side is than anything else.

Don't forget someone rolling a pallet of rattling items across a solid marble floor throughout the entirety of the video....

Someone being on camera for a change would be nice. McCarron used to do it all the time at Lommel. Seen the commercial director doing bits for Wolves on camera too. I don't want to read another AI statement.

One of the greatest games ever and I’m having to listen to Rooney and Seedorf moan about a lack of defending

Naaaa whoever ends up in the final against one of these will be on the receiving end of a mauling like last year.

You’re more syllables out than we’ve got ****ing points this season!

Fair, but I think a pressing system is evident even against much fitter sides. You're still going to see a team try and engage even if they get played through. Just saw us stand off for the entirety of the rest of his time here

Maybe if it was the old style European football, smaller groups, tougher draws etc. But the way Europa/Conference League is structured now there's every chance you make it through to a knockout phase. I just can't see it

Yeah he's building up his career nicely, lower dutch leagues, moved up, surely like you say the next move is an Ajax or German league move. Fair play to him if he backs himself to build here though!

Yeah pretty much 2 goals a game wherever he's coached

How exactly are we planning to attract a coach from European Football to league one?

There's a wider point i've wanted to raise here for a while. We've now had Ruud, Marti and Rowett who arguably had very encouraging first games/first few games. We got battered by West Ham, but there was a new style of play used by Ruud and it got us quick goals which meant we were comfortable before they started to have chances. That was never to be seen again, the quick releases to Vardy vanished and the box midfield was gone. We pressed Fiorentina to death under Marti. Never to be seen again. We started Monga and had Mukasa looking like a wonderkid in a 4-4-1-1 against Stoke and Boro and played direct, quick attacking football..... pretty much never to be seen again. It all just fades back into bland, plodding 4-2-3-1. With predictable line ups. I know we joke about managers being told what to do, but genuinely what the **** is happening after a managers first game or two with us?

They've probably torn up the contract and destroyed all evidence by placing it in the sole of that Kenyan fella's shoe on Sunday....

I don’t think keeping him will be difficult. Hes back in Notts and happily sailing his way to retirement, and gets a chance to help us rebuild and seems the sort of character that would like that.

A lot of other 'traditional' sports have managed issues like this without damaging the integrity. Snooker and tennis with shot clocks for example. I wonder if there's something around maximum overs per innings, or forced declarations for teams above a certain score. Would encourage slightly more aggression over the 4 days too. We got 586 from 169 overs, they got 440 from 142, 3.4 an over vs 3 an over. If teams know they've got 130 overs max an innings (basically a new ball and a half?) then we'd probably get higher run rates and more results! You're right though, given the brilliant weather we've had at the start of the season it's frustrating to see so many draws!

Don't forget the Canine XI!!

Very Stoke though isn't it, still working with MS Paint, Clip Art and Crayons over that way.... the ones they haven't eaten that is.

Do the U12's play on Friday as i'm quite looking forward to seeing a few of them get a chance against Blackburn if not.

@SemperEadem could you please ask your question again and be sure to use the correct phrasing of "Elite Development Squad" rather than "the youth team" many thanks.

Agreed, but that did appear to be the final “I need to go away for a couple of years and learn” moment. Who knows, I’m just laying the groundwork for a predictable appointment

Again, I don't like the bloke, but his stats (particularly in League one) are sound. Play off promotion with Barnsley, Play off loss with Sunderland. No dramas with Bristol City and a cup run or two. He's also gone away after Hibs and tried to build up an education, City Group, FC Coppenhagen etc.

Yeah, I don't particularly like the bloke, personality wise. But you don't get selected by City Group to run an entire pre season for elite development squad players across the group (at the Man City academy) if you're useless. He also went on from that to be selected for Lommel. Both of those jobs will have been given to him by McCarron, I know we don't ALWAYS go with convenience, but it all feels a little too obvious, particularly with LJ's agent stating he'd like to return to the UK sooner rather than later.

Yeah, thought that was pretty obvious we've barely let the U21's have a chance we're not about to field a team from the 18s!