Square pegs in round holes

[Hugo Henrique Nascimento]

Working in Matlock a lot of my colleagues are Derby fans, when Clough first signed for us they warned me that he would often play players out of position and drop players who are in form for seemingly no reason. My first reaction was to laugh it off but the way this season has started im starting to think there is truth in what they said.

What i dont understand this season is why Clough has dropped three of main players who made up the good spine of last season - Doyle, Collins and Baxter. Why take the success and momentum of last season and flush it down the drain?!? I get Harry, Coady and The Beard are no longer here but to dismantel the team as much as he has this season doesnt make sense.

I was very disappointed when the team was announced today, I had hoped some of players from the win at Mansfield would have started today.... kept some momentum again, but I guess that wasnt to be. Im hoping our next game will be better and these loses have been purely down to new players trying to gel, im not normally a negative person but im not very hopefull of a win next time round.

Can anyone put a positive spin on the start we've made and make me want to keep my trust in Nigel? Today im flat and need that pick me up!

 

[Fulwood Blade]

you are flat today?

I was flat at Burton and haven't really been lifted by anything since - but many people on here suggest that pre season doesn't matter and wait until the real games start.............well they have.

No doubt, as again some posters have said, we should wait for lets say 10 games.............ok, lets wait 10 games, some won't wait 10 games, but the initial signs from this season should give Blades cause for concern.

UTB

 

[Kentblade]

you are flat today?

I was flat at Burton and haven't really been lifted by anything since - but many people on here suggest that pre season doesn't matter and wait until the real games start.............well they have.

No doubt, as again some posters have said, we should wait for lets say 10 games.............ok, lets wait 10 games, some won't wait 10 games, but the initial signs from this season should give Blades cause for concern.

UTB

No point in waiting 10 games if we drop points along the way.
We should be collecting points if we want promotion.
UTB

 

[Fulwood Blade]

No point in waiting 10 games if we drop points along the way.
We should be collecting points if we want promotion.
UTB

the point is kent, posters get demonised for saying what is wrong and that time will put things right.

Everything up until now is baffling supporters, but in Nigel we have to trust.

Is that trust quickly ebbing away as logic appears to be going out of the window?

Everyone understood what NC did last season, we are equally bemused by what is happening this season.

UTB

 

[judge]

Free pegs in quality holes

 

[JOEYDEE]

I think NC has brought in too many,that can play anywhere,but don't specialise in one..and there's a reason for that,they're all just ok wherever,but not that good at any one in particular ?

 

[wizadry]

I think NC has brought in too many,that can play anywhere,but don't specialise in one..and there's a reason for that,they're all just ok wherever,but not that good at any one in particular ?

A jack of all trades then

 

[Scottyblade]

What concerns me about it personally is last season Clough took a bunch of individuals and turned them into a team, and so far this go round he's focusing on the individuals.- hence accommodating Davies by shuffling Alcock across and playing Reed with Scougall when only one of the two ought to be preferred personally. I appreciate the theory of best performers get shirts, but taken to the nth degree you wind up with an unbalanced side. Early days yet though, he'll be as frustrated as anyone but he just needs to stick to basics, everyone in their right position to make a claim and let it settle. I still think we'll be up there.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

What i dont understand this season is why Clough has dropped three of main players who made up the good spine of last season - Doyle, Collins and Baxter.

What I don't understand is why most are acting as though their absence is some sort of inexplicable act of madness when plenty on here before the season started were giving us their ideal starting elevens which omitted all three. Collins 'didn't have another season in him', Doyle we've been 'waiting ages to get out of the team', and Baxter was a 'luxury' that we should be looking to move on - right?

I'm less concerned at their absence, and more concerned at the overall shape of the side so far. McGahey in the side? Fine, but put him alongside an experienced centre-half - this was vital for Maguire's development. The concern for me is that Basham and Davies have been deemed certain starters and we've buggered up the shape elsewhere to accommodate both. I.e. He also wants Alcock and Reed in on merit, but they have to be given positions in less natural (yet arguably more important) areas of the team.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Clough has been with us long enough to know the players he inherited. He made quick decisions to expel a number of players and then decided to move away a few more this summer.

In amongst those players he inherited and kept seem to be a few who have disappointed him in pre-season. He decided to keep them but is not selecting them. In yesterday's first team he selected only three players he inherited, all the rest he brought to the club.

It is difficult at this stage to judge whether the sum of the parts Clough has brought in is any better than the squad he inherited. If it is, it is not significantly so, after three competitive games and a few friendlies. Of course Maguire and Coady are no longer here, though we should remind ourselves that Coady took a long time to establish himself in both Weir's teams and Clough's teams. Brayford came and went later.

We have started the season without any loan players and this is a surprise to me. What we see is what we've got and it is clear that it will all take some time to gel together.

Clough runs the show with his brother as Chief Scout and his pal as M.D. He knew his budget months ago and Jim Phipps suggests it's adequate and fully accepted by the manager. We stand or fall with the Clough Dynasty, the future of the club is firmly in his hands and I for one am happy with that.

I am disappointed with our standards to date this season but it is early days. Clough is a decisive manager about players he wants to eject. It appears he has made such a decision about Butler. He will make similar judgements about such as Basham but it all has to take it's course.

Interms of "the spine" Clough's judgement is that the blooding of the rookies Reed and McGahey serves the club better than persevering with Collins and Doyle, even though it leaves the team woefully short of experience and "fighting " characters. That coupled with the rejection of Butler is a brave step by the manager but he must think it essential in the interests of the development of his squad, otherwise why would he do it?

Clough personally has a lot at stake this season, but he might be looking beyond that. That is a very bold thing to do when there is such expectation right now this season. Personally I am gobsmacked, but I have faith in the manager. More faith in him in fact than our fans to be patient and stay with him.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

"Can anyone put a positive spin on the start we've made and make me want to keep my trust in Nigel? Today im flat and need that pick me up!"

This will cheer you up, had a quick chat with McCabe at Scarborough cricket ground yesterday and promotion in his own words "will be a piece of cake"! So don't worry yourself about square pegs in round holes!

In reality, we'll all start feeling more positive once Clough starts picking the right team. Two teenagers and a full back in the key defensive roles in the team aint the way forward, results are showing that. Spine of team should be Howard, Collins, Butler, Doyle, Higdon, all captains, all mouth pieces, results and performances will start picking up once those players are in the starting XI.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

This will cheer you up, had a quick chat with McCabe at Scarborough cricket ground yesterday and promotion in his own words "will be a piece of cake"! So don't worry yourself about square pegs in round holes!

PMSL ! the words of a troubled man if you ask me - putting on a brave face by KM.

UTB

 

[Kenilworth]

Did you not hear the silent "for Preston" after that statement?

Anyway, how come KM was at Scarborough yesterday at the cricket and not at Covhampton?

Sounds odd to me

 

[JohnDenver]

The concern for me is that Basham and Davies have been deemed certain starters and we've buggered up the shape elsewhere to accommodate both. I.e. He also wants Alcock and Reed in on merit, but they have to be given positions in less natural (yet arguably more important) areas of the team.

The way Flynn has played there's every reason to put Davies in Flynn's spot and move Alcock across. As for Basham, he might just need time to settle, or he might need shifting to another position. I don't yet know enough about his game to say.

It does seem as though Clough's planning has been skewed by last season's key men not performing in pre-season.

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

It does seem as though Clough's planning has been skewed by last season's key men not performing in pre-season.

I think the problem is less to do with team selection than loss of form. I wasn't at Coventry - my days of travelling any sort of distance to run of the mill away matches are long gone - but from what I hear and having been to the Bristol City game, I think that the team we turned out was good enough to win both games and would have won both games if (in particular) Scougall, Murphy and Flynn had performed for 90 minutes in each to the standard they set in the second half of last season. They are all out of form and form is a difficult thing to do anything about. Players come into form and go out of it.

That's not to say that there aren't issues with team selection.

 

[Kentblade]

the point is kent, posters get demonised for saying what is wrong and that time will put things right.

Everything up until now is baffling supporters, but in Nigel we have to trust.

Is that trust quickly ebbing away as logic appears to be going out of the window?

Everyone understood what NC did last season, we are equally bemused by what is happening this season.

UTB

Totally agree with all you say Fulwood. All very frustrating but it is like that most times following the Blades.
UTB

 

[JOEYDEE]

A jack of all trades then

Yep ! Thats the phrase i was thinkin' of Wiz...Smarty !!

 

[JJBlade]

After ten games we should wait until we've had twenty, after twenty we should wait until we've had thirty, and after thirty we should all get behind the team to ensure that the last sixteen games see us to safety.
Then we can all look forward to next season when we can bring in new players of obviously higher quality...ha ha, but of course we'll then have to be patient and give them ten games to bed themselves in. And so the joke goes on season after season, decade after decade