Keener window-cleaner

Isn't working for me, can't even access the avfc homepage at all, anyone have the same problem, or rather, a solution? edit: seems to work now...

Agree with you, but I was talking about players reaching 35, most footballers retire at that age because their bodies can't cope with it, and in the last seasons of their careers the performance levels drops. We have many players 30-35 and my reply to the original post was that it is probably nothing more to it than a lot of players are getting old and dont perform (in contrast to the suggestion that they don't perform because of some other reason).

Well most of them 30+ players wont be able to play once a week for a full season either, so point still stands.

I'm not sure it's a mistake, but instead of jumping for it he should have taken a couple of steps back and then tried to punch it over the bar.

To ppl who want DS out now, what do you expect a new manager would be able to do with our current midfield?

I loved his two nutmegs in the first half, hacked down both times. Hope he builds up his confidence and kicks on. Great ability, huge potential, local lad and still only 20. I think he is a out and out winger, in the 4-3-3 he plays the wide forward role, I think he does it well, but I prefer to have proper wide forwards in that role, not wingers.

He doesn't necessarily have to have lost Bruce's players, it could be as easy as many of them reaching retirement this year, and it wasn't like they set the world alight under Bruce. Whelan 35, Jedinak 35, Alan Hutton 35, Elmohamady 32, Elphick 32, Taylor 30. Injuries have meant we cant rotate as much as needed, especially with these older players, they cant play two times a week a whole season. The pressing and passing style we want to play is more demanding than just hoofing it and then take a rest. The players aren't suited to it. And only a few are actually good passers of the ball. One misstake I think DS has made is that he hasn't played more of our younger players. Instead of letting them go out on loan we should have been playing them, givning them game time and preparing them for next season.

That's the spirit! :- D Agree it doesn't look likely, quite unlikely rather. But if we get Grealish back, plus some other midfielders to rotate and get back to the form we showed in November then it's possible imo.

It was good to see that we played 4-3-3 again and ditched the 4-2-3-1, thought we were back to playing a bit like we did in DS first games for the first 30 mins. I think the passing style of play we played and hopefully want to play relies a lot on the midfielders, loosing Grealish is of course the biggest factor, but having the others injured and only having Whelan, Hourihane and McGinn makes it really difficult for us. They need to rotate and get a rest, but we don't have any players to rotate with. Add to that, that Hourihane has fell apart and Whelan is old and slow, and we basically have McGinn alone to do the work of three midfielders. It just wont work. Hopefully we can get some of our midfielders back soon to get some fresh legs in the midfield. When we do I think we will see big improvements, especially if the defence settles with the back 4 from the last games. Still haven't given up on the play offs!

Great improvement from him, his passing was much better, and has a good cross in him. I love tall full backs who first and foremost know how to defend. He and Mings can be really good on the left hand side of the defence.

I really like his passing, good technique and passes with high velosity and always tries to look forward and find a constructive pass. He's also really committed and shows that he cares, I like the way he gets this sudden rush of blood to his head and has a go at the referees, team mates or opponents, and then calmes down seconds later. Lovely to see a loan player caring so much, looks like he is playing for getting a move here. I wonder how much we would have to pay for him? I need to see more of his positioning before I get too much over the moon about him, got the impression that Elphick bailed him out at a couple of times, but nevertheless, looks like a fantastic player!

Very rusty, slightly grew in to the match, but still didn't show anything promising. Gave away the ball almost everytime, no thought or intention just kicked it away. Based on this performance I'd say Taylor is better, at least passing wise and going forward. Defensively House is perhaps better, mainly because of his size.

Not surprising considering we play with only one midfielder. Kalinic was superb!

He impressed me a lot, both his passing and his defending. Perhaps already said, but how much would we have to pay for him in the summer? Would love a future partnership of him and Tuanzebe!

I'm very happy for him, hopefully he can kick on from here. He is a very intelligent footballer, and although he has some heavy touches and crosses that went to high, you can see that he has got that technique and touch that not many have. I'd like to see him staring games ad get a proper run in the side, I think he is one who can contribute to us playing more of a passing game than we have recently.

Despite letting in 3 goals I thought our CB were our best players. Midfield hampering us massively...

We haven't had a JJ since Julian Joachim what I can remember, so time for another. Never heard of this JJ but bring him in!

Or he lives in a house with a very long staircase?

I think we are better off without him. He looks like he plays for himself, detached from the rest of the team. He doesn't run back and do the defensive work, and when he gets the ball, it's like it doesn't matter what his team mates are doing or what movement they have worked on in training, he tries to do something spectacular for himself and fails 9 times out of 10. In the long run that's detrimental for the team as the others don't know what to expect and we become a team of individuals. His body language has also been wrong for most of the time. It's been painful for me to think of how much money we have paid him without getting value for that. I'm so much more happy to have Andre Green in his position. A very good decision to cancel the contract imo. Another great decision from the club! (and whether it formally was his decision or not, it's obvious that he was told something that triggered the decison)

I think our biggest problem the last years is that we haven't given our youngsters a chance. We have taken in very expensive has-beens and filled our squad with them, not letting any space for the youngsters. On the few occations that they have gotten the chance, we have put expectancy and pressure on them by giving them one chance to perform or they are out in the cold again. To me this is fundamentaly wrong and shows a lack of understanding in how people and especially young people function. It's very difficult to know at a young age who will cope with the responsibility, who will take the step up. Many are talented, but it's far from always the most talented is the one who makes it (Grealish an exeption, but his talent is one in a million or more). In my view we should always have a couple of youngsters on the bench and give at least one of them game time every game, rotating and give as many as possible experience and several chances. We should also not be afraid of giving them responsibility and start games, they'll make mistakes, but so does our older players regularly. Only a generation or two ago 15-year olds were expected to go out in the fields or industries and contribute as much as full grown men, we shouldn't treat 17-20 year olds as if they are helpless kids. Test them and give them responsibility and have patience with them, the one's who grasps the chance and grows with responsibility will do that at that age as much as if they get the chance at 25. And by giving more youngsters game time and experience, we will raise the value on them and can make a higher profit when we sell the one's we don't want to keep. We would also save money by letting them be squad players and can use the money to buy the premium players, not spunk out loads of money on other clubs average players just to fill up the numbers. There are also so many other positives with having home grown players in the squad. If we now have a self imposed qouta of home grown players I can just applaude Purslow, imo 100% right direction.

If they need a replacement for Dembele they should go for a more defensive or holding midfielder than Jack (hopefully). They can have that Grillitsch instead.

Oh no he can't leave, if so I can't do my traditional end of transfer window bump of this thread. It's as funny every time!

For gods sake! I've had high hopes of him coming back and showing what he can do, I think his passing ability would fit well with the way DS wants to play. But I'm staring to beleive he will never come back, how many injuries can a man have?? Ok if he was nearing 40, but he's not even 30, what's wrong with him? That strong good looking appearence is just a facade, behind the surface is an old mans crooked and fragile body.

How many times have you seen him play then? I rate him highly, I think he has showed that he is really talanted. Has got good technique, a sweet left foot and looks like an intelligent player, not the kick and run or rush winger but a passer with awareness who can fit in a system. IIRC there were rumours of Saints and Spurs tracking him, which says much about his potential. He had a bad injury and said himself it affected him afterwards in the way that he was cautious and afraid he'd tore it up again when he played. Hopefully he is back to full fitness, builds up his confidence and can kick on. He's still young and can certainly improve. Funny that he's only 20, feels like he has been with us for ages. Very happy that he's back, if he can get in form I'd like to see him be a starter or at least give him a run in the side.