Warren

An overall perspective is that the Jan 2024 window has been a quiet one nationally. The top clubs have done little business. This has not allowed a kick off of trades lower down. So, it is difficult to assess what PV has done well or not well because of an inherently stagnant market.

I made a spelling error with Wilson earlier in the day. Called him Wilkinson. This is what happens when I do two things at once! You can check through all the games this season if you wish. It will be indeterminant because a fit Wilson will likely give way to a fresh striker from say 70 mins on if starting. Wiki has him involved in 23 games. He's played about half the minutes of Smith, but defenders are less likely to be taken off. My point is that he's got a full game in him right now if needs be. He is therefore very fit.

Wilson played the full game v Orient on Tuesday and then 83 mins on Saturday v Stevenage. He went off at half time v Fleetwood, but clearly the manager circumstances and player responses in that changing room are in question. So, I assert he's very fit but history shows he's injury prone. However, being fully fit makes injury risk lower. Could do with him becoming prolific in the box.

Have to remember that Liverpool will be trying to win the PL and CL next season. Those who have been to Anfield on a CL night will appreciate how good you have to be to get near a top side. My last game there pre covid was PSG. Their front three was Mbappe, Neymar and Cavani. That's the level Liverpool have to match on the pitch.

They need to replace Thiago. However, given the whole of Liverpool's football management side are leaving at the end of the season I'm not clear who will do what then. I guess they are more prepared than I'm making out. The big issue next Summer is where Mbappe will or won't go. Liverpool are second favourites behind Real Madrid. Real Madrid do not necessarily need him because they have Vinicius Junior. If Real Madrid drop out, then he is likely to come to Liverpool or stay at PSG accepting lower wages than he might have got at Real Madrid. Where am I going with this? Well, if Liverpool really do get Mbappe they will be looking for an affordable replacement for Thiago and then maybe Arblaster or similar comes into play as the clever signing.

Is Gore fit? I thought he struggled on debut. He wanted to show he's Paul Scholes. But he isn't and he got massacred by good L1 opposition.

Our formation makes me annoyed for all sorts of reasons. But setting that aside it's the practices of the players in it which cause more problems than the formation itself. So I think he can get a 5-10% improvement by telling them how to do things properly. Doing something significant, like 433 at Cheltenham, is a big change for a big game in a small amount of time. He'd need a lot of confidence it would work to do that. But above suggests he does have the confidence to go for it.

No, the pills will thin my blood enough already without creating a bleed!

Read the apology above!!!!!!!!

Wilson, sorry, mind on chemist prescription.

Need to sort the stupid formation out. If we are going to keep playing it, learn from Bayer Leverkusan.

Well put it this way. DM needs to get more output from what we have.

Sorry, Wilson. I was in the chemist collecting my prescription!

Strikers are highly paid and a big risk. I thought we had a good set of attacking players until Uche and Garrirty got injured. Still have Dipepa, Loft, Chislett and Wilkinson. I think Chislett is trying to do too much, Wilkinson is not getting the service, Loft is a powerful box presence but our useless wingback system gives no service. Depepa needs his chance now signed on. Basically we have replaced the manager because he couldn't cut the mustard.

Our strikers / forwards need to play in the correct zone. I don't want to keep seeing Chislett dribbling out from the back. Wilson needs to be given the ball in dangerous areas and not have to wander round looking for it 50 yards from goal. Loft when playing needs to be occupying the defence as well and not be a target man out on the wing. Hopefully DM will sort out formation issues.

The goals we concede generally have three forms. The hopeless way of playing wingback where teams get in behind wide and can almost dribble up to our goal. Not defending freekicks and corners well enough Big mistakes including giving the ball away in exposed positions, falling over and leaving attackers unmarked. I'd expect Darren Moore first of all to try and make the defence tighter. If the opposition get nil you have a chance.

We have now got a front two of Own Goal and Fantasy Goal. We should be safe in L1 with those two up front and especially if Ripley can lead a charmed life in goal. .

We are in a tough position. There are three reasons for this. Crosby cost us a shed load of points despite having access to what I thought was a squad good enough to be well into mid table. He couldn't get his wing back formation to work, we didn't defend well and didn't attack well. Basically, he was out of his depth. The loan system, and also an injury of course, has meant we have needed to change young players. This is a club strategy and fair enough, but just at the moment we look weakened. Injury has stripped us of players and particularly top scorer Garrity. Uche was just getting going and now he's out. So we look short of players. The most important thing for me is to build a rock solid defence and create a team that stays in games and can win games 1-0. We do have some good attacking players still, but they are not scoring enough goals. My view is that under Crosby we didn't have good corner and freekick routines. Also Chislett and Wilson are not staying enough in the goal scoring areas. Chislett in particular pops up all over the place and uses up energy. Wilson drifts round not getting enough ball in good positions. There is enough to work with if further injuries can be avoided. But we now have critical games. In the end we must win and then use our games in hand to climb further. Stop conceding too many goals is a priority for me.

There is a cup final tonight. Stoke City v QPR. Could further the possibility of Stoke coming down to L1. Maybe Crewe can come up to L1 and PV remain in L1. Then 2024/25 would be very interesting. But could Stoke fans be educated in the proper use of toilets.

Copenhagen going to try play Man City in the Champions League coming back off a two month Winter break.

There is a need to the independent official present to inspect and call it off. Plus the monsoon nature might shock. It's a customer care issue though certainly. No plastic pitches though!

There is a need to get the independent official present to inspect and call it off. Plus the monsoon nature might shock. It's a customer care issue though certainly. No plastic pitches though!

Sorry for fans inconvenienced. But this is a good postponement. Critical game on Saturday and Chetenham are playing tonight.

Brian says lots of sensible stuff on here.

We play Peterborough on Tuesday. They have lost their last 3 games. That is a difficult fixture but I feel we have more of a chance than expected when I did my research. Obviously coming up this month are Cheltenham, Reading and Fleetwood. The euthimistic 6 pointers. We play Lincoln at Vale Park. Nothing easy but points to be had. Some confidence returned to the team yesterday. We did alright against a side where I could see why they are top 6-8. But Ojo has to stay fit and playing because he is running midfield. Yesterday we were better at corner routines. Can see efforts gone in on the training ground. We had more strength on the bench, but Lopata is possibly a big loss if he's out a few games. This wing back system drives me bananas now. On the train home yesterday I looked at the Premier League games. It's a minority system in the Premier League with most playing 4 at the back. The new in thing is the 4 becoming 3 in possession with the right back stepping into central midfield. That is what the the top two teams do with John Stones and Alexander Arnold. To be fair they have top level players comfortable on the ball and Alexander Aronold has a better cross field wang than Jones! I don't know which way our season will go, but I am worried about midfield. Ojo is the man. Weir did better. Massey good going forward. Stevenage targeted Grant at LWB second half because he was too isolated and I might conclude this system is particularly vulnerable on big pitches.