RedRock

Agree. What a waste of resources, what a massive opportunity lost for the Club. Those responsible for signing/player development should hang their collective heads in shame. Only issues with that list… Dasilva might work in the midfield somewhere. Jesz he can’t be worse than anyone there at present. Pretty much sussed by all the opposition now at the back, due to his lack of height. Wells, as the last throw of the dice, play central for a couple of games with someone, anyone, who can play a decent ball in front of him.

Undoubtedly, we will go down with this squad. We just haven’t the physical or mental strength to compete for a mid table position. Was rather hoping the fitness and injury issues would be resolved. They haven’t been and I rather suspect they can’t be due to our collection of injury-prone and past it players. Confidence inevitably has drained from our half dozen Championship-level players, who have now been dragged down to our non-performers standards. The only hope is action early in the January window. We’ve just got to scrape as many points out of the next two months as possible. I’d go one up front now and just pack the midfield, hope for the best and try to scrape some dull 0-0’s together. Depressing.

Yep, he’s competent. He’s not in Jeff Stelling’s league though. If he was, Jeff would have gone a few years back. Sky has a massive problem - they need to keep the USP which separates them from the BBC and BT Sport. Jeff was that - he’s not just competent as a football anchor - he’s Jeff. Humorous, spontaneous, liked and respected by all. Even footballers with their massive egos have respect for the man and treat him as one of their own. Almost impossible shoes to fill. You do wonder - unless they have an absolute belter up their sleeves - whether it would be best to totally revamp the show’s format.

I’d say the same as Cardiff and bigger than Swansea having followed for the same 50+ years.

Yep, agree with the OP. The last two of Barnsley’s chances - the one that hit the post/angle, the other Cole’s miss - just demonstrates how far we are off a cohesive unit. It was schoolboy defending. Just awful. Opposition players left unmarked and in loads of space on the edge of the 6 yard box, a ‘rush’ keeper, four players going for one opponent. Nah, that’s totally shambolic. The problem is the entire team look like a bunch of strangers. Midfield is AWOL. Attacking play just bewilders me. I’m still behind NP. Increasingly though, I think he is dependent on having excellent coaches to deliver his ideas and players with a certain DNA. He has at the moment got neither and, boy, is that not reflected in the performances on the pitch. It was an absolute shambles of a Club that Nige inherited. This is why he is being given time by most to sort it. We need some signs of progress soon and I remain optimistic that it will happen.

Still at the top of his game, an absolute legend. Makes, a very difficult role, look easy. Knowledgable, humorous and engaging. The end of an era … and now likely to follow their morning show on a slow, lingering death.

Think your first sentence accurately describes how City have ‘scouted’ over the last 5 years! Even I would put myself forward of having a greater knowledge and a likely better hit rate than either Steve and Mark Ashton. Remember, these men actually extended CODs contract by 4 years! Not suggesting thousands of scouts, just a pool of 20 or so spread around the Country under a network of 2-3 professional scouts. This concept of ‘closed professional shops’ is largely a load of tosh. Many professions - bar the most technical - that are closed by virtue of examination or ‘who you know’ can be tackled to a reasonable level of competence by a man off the street. Struth, I spent 4 years and another 2 qualifying for membership of a professional institute. The Government then 20 years later actively encouraged Joe Public to take on our work with the minimum of training…and there are a lot of examples where they’ve done pretty well Ollie Watkins ability was also well known but he didn’t sign for City … perhaps some pretty forceful scouting reports may have convinced the powers that be at The Gate to have made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Interesting. I think some of us mentioned Alex Russell, then at Torquay, on here. Now, whether coincidence or not, that summer he was signed ( think it was the time that Tinman was a follower of OTIB). Ok, Alex had a couple of injury issues with us but a decent enough signing. Personally, I don’t see an issue with fan involvement, as long as they’re knowledgable about football, key player attributes and have an eye for a player, what’s the risk/cost? Pity some of us in Devon who have watched Exeter City didn’t have the ear of the decision makers at The Gate over the last few years.

Nope. Certainly been saying that for ages, together with a need for a network of scouts. Others likewise. Wasn't rocket science frankly. We know why it fell of deaf ears don’t we.

Think a lot of us were banging on about the appointment of a Director of Football under the last couple of regimes. Pity Steve didn’t listen to us, he could have saved himself a few £million, a lot of unnecessary anguish for him and us fans.

For a Club with a strategy like ours, not investing in the very best scouting network of knowledgeable talent spotters, with an experienced Head of Scouting is near criminal. Been saying it for years. We seem to focus almost all our development resources on the Academy. So Tins, can we have some oven-ready strikers, wingers and a couple of Gerry Gow like midfielders please? Like, now. Isn’t going to happen.

No excuses. Disappointing that our CEO gave the players a real-made excuse this week about WBA and the likes. just shows how weak the mentality of our squad is in my opinion. Fed up of reading opposition fans saying we’re the worst team they’ve played all season, particularly galling when they say we have no plan or identity… didn’t come to attack or defend…just offered nothing. That’s brutal and worrying in equal measure.

Just don’t think a chance of manager will help. Confidence is key, but we all know from experience of this lot that they are so brittle confidence-wise that any improvement triggered by the arrival of a new manager will be a blip and they will just revert back to type. What Big Nige says about this squad is spot on. A smaller size required with quality not quantity, not constantly sending young players out on loans, massive improvements in physical and mental strength needed etc. The thought of a new manager having to ‘learn’ about our players weaknesses all over again, with the likes of CoD being given his 150th chance, fills me with dread. No, I’m a stick, even though some of Nige’s decisions have both surprised and disappointed me. In for the long haul, but it could be a relegation I fear before any bounce back. Depressingly bad.

Personally, thought Forest made us look like mugs as well. Hmmm….. ‘faster, fitter, stronger’? I think we’ve failed at what should be achieving an easy ‘win’ with any squad. Maybe we should start working now at the ‘smarter’ instead. Forget this ‘High Performance Centre’ stuff send them back to the classroom and teach them about winning mentality, being resolute and covering each others backs.

I get this. In six months there should be a tangible improvement in fitness levels. Britton, may have started under Nige massively unfit (why, academy coaches?). He should now at least be capable of sustaining 10 minutes of Championship level football. So, there should have been a choice between putting CoD on or Britton off the bench for the last 10. Not a difficult one is it, particularly when you constantly play the ‘hit and hope’ high balls. …although that’s another debate. Why the hell we didn’t tap into the loan market or just get someone out of contract for free is beyond me. Martin is being flogged to a standstill, literally. If Nige is playing the ‘high ball, hold it up’ game then you need a second big bloke up front to alternate with Martin.

The result was bad, more alarming was our inability to pass/head to another red shirt and our ‘hit and hope’ long ball tactics. We are also nowhere near the level of fitness, strength, speed required. There’s no pattern, no partnerships. This is a reversion back to the worst of the 2020/21 season. Worrying. The basics should be in place by now. You don’t need top Championship ‘stars’ to get those basics sorted. Over to you Nige.

No. That didn’t really happen. It can’t have. I refuse to believe it. Desperate stuff.

NIGE! Take Scott off FFS.

Scrappy, disjointed performance….. but I’ll take having the lead. A few players need to up their game in this second half to secure the win.

1-0 yay.

OK. Johnson, Holden didn’t prove me wrong. Certainly, ‘Mr Football’, Mark Ashton, didn’t. I wonder if Nige will persist? I like Nige. I really hope he does prove me wrong, I really do, both for his and CODs sake. Ireland, on a tailspin of a downward spiral, I’ve no idea who their manager is/was…. is he in their current squad of third rate players? Possibly, but no great shakes if he is quite frankly.

I think you’ve missed a key word out there…. picked by every failed manager…oh, and don’t forget our failure of a CEO, who bizarrely awarded him a lucrative, extended contract…. even when those with the most basic of football knowledge knew it was rank stupidity. This era of building a team of ‘good humans’ at City must be ending soon, and it can’t come fast enough.

Amazing how that central midfield has gone from a major weakness to strength in a matter of a couple of months. Keeper sound, defence promising, centre midfield excellent - just the wings and forwards to sort and we could be a really decent side.

Nice feeling isn’t it, when you can say ‘ I was there’ for quite a few of these matches. Really do regret missing that Liverpool one (College assignment deadline the next day), Bradford (nearly went, but not quite from South Devon) and Mansfield (didn’t even get on the radar!).

We are soooo painfully slow in attacking mode. STOP ******* knocking around the back. Every time. Simply allows the opposition to set up their rigid defensive formation. Vary it. Just on occasions, attack with pace in a fast, direct forward movement. Sako what is the point if all you are going to do is receive, pass backwards 10 yards. No wonder Kane doesn’t get a sniff. He’s constantly surrounded by 3 defenders because they’re giving time to group up around him. Grealish was the only one who showed any spark and Southgate bewilderingly takes him off.