As chairman of the Chincilla appreciation society I am disgusted with this turn of events:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
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The Chilean Chinchilla society have already called on me to make a public apology.
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Do we know yet how bad Knowles’ injury is?
Agreed, but when a certain player is just taking up a space in a team and contributing F all the fans have to make the ‘management’ aware that it is not good enough to stick with a certain player come what may, we have seen it in past years on a constant basis.
Guarantee that Matt will start at Morecambe…Gaffney would have more impact…
Matt won’t start, hes now 6th in the pecking order, just slightly behind Banton
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I do feel for Matt but unfortunately his days are done, he just waits for the ball and has zero movement, doesn’t look like he wants it at all. I think dropping Matt will be a decision that makes MS as a manager, on paper he is the first team striker with DJ, on the field it has been evident for us all to see he is behind Draper and Oteh.
I said it in the Rochdale thread but Draper is going to get assists and goals this season, 10+ if we can find the runs he makes, he is always getting behind and must get frustrated when we don’t find him. He also seems to find a way to press and win the ball, hopefully DJT learns from him because they seem to have a similar game but Draper has success. Shame we didn’t go for a sneaky bid.
Foulkes looked much more attacking, I know this will get some abuse but we missed Knowles attacking play down the right for the first 70 mins. Riley is not a RWB and needs to stay as an option through the middle and we need to sign someone else who bosses that role. Gordon looks a good player and Allen offers a lot coming on towards the end, it was him who cut in to get either hutch’s or mahers goal at the end.
As we stand Priestly seems a huge downgrade on Monthe. Looking into his history, this is his first ‘high profile’ move where he is expected to be a good player. I think once he gains some confidence he will come good. Just hope he doesn’t have to learn from too many mistakes!
After a dull 45 mins I think we played much better shooting against the fans, we have shown we can get goals from all over the pitch and not rely on strikers, saying that I think if DJ was on the pitch there would have been 2 or 3 more to add to that score line.
Roll on Morecambe!
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Lucky you’re here or those pro licence coaches who’ve been in the game 20-30 years wouldn’t have been aware of it 
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Priestley is the replacement for White on the right hand side of the back 3 - Hussey has taken over from Manny on the left.
Monthe would often get caught out positionally or make a mistake, but then had the speed and strength to recover (mostly). His distribution was horrendous though, his forays forward were often powerful but weren’t as productive as they promised to be, and he didn’t score as many goals as you’d expect from a big bloke up for corners etc.
As I’ve commented before, Hussey also seems to have a mistake in him and has given the ball away quite a few times in pre-season. He doesn’t have Manny’s power of recovery though so he needs to sort that out asap or it’s going to put a lot more pressure on the rest of our back line. On the plus side, he looks a lot better going forward, his distribution is overall better (bar the mistakes noted above) especially his dead ball deliveries. He’s not scored yet but his previous track record suggests he should bag a few more than Manny managed (depending on whether he’s taking corners etc or in the box to attack them).
Is he better or worse than Manny? Too early to tell but he is different.
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You can’t fool Football fans.
Many will accept effort where a player lacks quality. That’s fine. We’ve had many a hero where their effort exceeds quality.
Matt has been around long enough to know you can’t mug fans off with anonymous performances. He got the benefit of the doubt last season from many.
He’s had a whole summer and a handful of games - but he is no better than he was when he signed for us.
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Daniels seemed to spend a lot of time coaching Priestly on the field yesterday, during breaks in play he was pointing to where he should have been and during corners.
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I see Matt is this year’s fall guy.
It’s just the one this season (so far) - even Wilkinson, attempting to come back from serious injury copped it last season. Good luck to him, by the way, I hope he rubs the boo boys noses in it.
Good luck to Matt too.
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Agreed
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Yes I’m more concerned how the defence performs in the first few games.all the talk seems centred on the attacking players I think we are a lot more equipped up front than last year .how quickly The back 3 gel is going to be more vital at the start of Season .weren’t that convincing first half Rochdale could have conceded a least 3 .
If you say this every year for 30 years it stands a chance you may be right on at least one occasion
That’s been my general approach fo 5 decades
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Hayden White left a big gap in that respect.
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[quote=“Belgiansaddler, post:217, topic:10266”]
5 decades
[/quote] 6 me so I’m a tad more optimistic than you 
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Come on Funky you know you want to say 20 years… to fit my cyclic theory!
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We will take more risks with the ball this year, especially the defenders who are seemingly not being ordered to lump it forward. This will probably lead to us looking less secure than last season. If it leads to more goals and entertainment then all good. If it doesn’t then we all know which way the season will go.
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From what has been seen so far in pre season by people, would williams be an option as the left of the back 3 if hussey is maybe not quite at it? Or is it too soon for him to start league games?
Would hussey be an option at LB in a more orthodox back 4 if we wanted him in the team for his dead ball delivery and crossing?