Number9

It was possibly a special, they spent a long while talking about it, wasn't just ten minutes

https://audioboom.com/channel/pinkun You never know, this is where the podcasts are, just 400 to choose from.

No chance of that, but the lads who do the pod are quite approachable, I'm sure if you email them they would respond well. Might be worth trying YouTube, they're probably on there with the pinkun channel.

One of the pinkun podcasts actually interviewed someone at NCFC who was involved in the scouting / purchasing players. He may have been a manager of dept etc, can't remember, but very knowledgeable of the current setup and process. A very interesting listen if you've not heard it, fascinating insights into potential and what some players which we have purchased have changed since arriving.

It's public knowledge that a group of them do transfers with Farke having big say in that. I'm not having that poor Farke hasn't spent any money and just had rubbish players thrust upon him. It's just not the case, he is part of the process.

Farke has a big say in who comes and goes, he has chosen not to improve the defence and instead to bring in a succession of attacking midfielders. Of course some of them are tat and the squad looks unbalanced and the defence concedes too many goals. He is as much at fault as Webber etc

You don't know why players may or may not have come.

Rupp seemed to turn round and kick back towards our goal whenever he got the ball. I have yet to find much positive about his play. He has had a few shots which he consistently passes to the keeper.

So Farke is a senior voice in signing players, we've agreed that.

I understand that Farke doesn't sign players on his own. Most clubs have a group of decision makers who sign players, the manager being a senior member of that group.

Its possible but unlikely. ☀️

Mr Thumb, we have a huge surplus of attacking midfielders and we appear woefully under stocked with defenders. Farke has bought and loaned in attacking midfielders, he could have bought and loaned in defenders. That's not a cracking job, that's mismanagement when you consider that our defence was woeful last season and has remained so this season.

Exactly, including some who got brought in and couldn't get a game. Loans have been done in and out also remember. Normal club activity, doesn't fit with the headline that he hasn't been able to sign any players.

Brilliant, or should I say 'very poor '

We can't say that young players are being played all the time AND say they are inexperienced. With that playing time comes contact hours with coaches as individuals and as a defensive unit. Also, we can't really look at the defensive stats for the past couple of seasons and use the term 'inconsistent' the opposite is true, they have been very consistent, sadly. Ask yourself why that has consistently not been addressed by the coaching staff.

You can get the general gist of transfer activity by counting the number of incoming players, about 30 - 40 many of them attacking midfielders. Its not what he has been given, that's three teams of players he has bought in.

I've not had a sensible conversation with James as everytime I've met him he's had a couple of beers and having a disagreement with other people, I'm pleased to read your comments about him. I certainly like what he does on the pitch. I wasn't trying 'win trying the youth angle' just an observation that three of our most played defenders are 'youth' and we have the worst defense in christendom. That doesn't make them or Farke bad people, just suggests very strongly that coaching of the defence ain't up to much.

Seems like you haven't questioned what my motive is, you've just made your mind up and begin insulting me. *Unless you've been privy to his contract, you are guessing at his remit, at best you're partially right. Who knows? *We could borrow from the bank if the club chose to, I personally can't ever recall posting anything about borrowing funds so I'm not sure why you're getting stressed about that. *It's never the end product mate, always in transformation, we can only judge with what the situation is as we see it, the progress which has been made and the direction of travel. I feel that some of our players have greater potential, don't you? I don't think I've insulted you or said anything nasty. 👍

Has he coached them to be their best? Two of those are part of the worst defense in the League and were part of the worst defense of the League last season.

We simply don't know because the prices aren't disclosed.

He has bought in 30 - 40 players since he started here, so don't give me that shoestring garbage. We have 3 young players in the team, the rest are out on loan to varying degrees of success. His job as manager is to get the best performance from the team, not remain intransigent until we have been almost relegated and then baulk at a critical post game report, a game which we were abysmal in.

Let's just say, Farke's tactics have got us hanging off the bottom of the League, would think he would have more to do than criticise reporters. How about Farke does his job right first?

He was a Championship player for a good while, developed his game and progressed into the Premier League. It's ok if we have different expectations, I personally think everybody should try to stretch themselves and fully reach their potential. From what I've seen, McLean has reached his and it's mid championship level. You're welcome to have a different opinion to me, I have just posted it as I see it.

During the year and half, he's shown consistently how he plays, that's not being overly critical, just a realistic assessment. The topic was McLean and not our other players, so I posted my observations about him and not a detailed comparison of all our midfielders. I gave you the example of Maddison who is an improving player, there are many others.

One of the main qualities I would suggest would be to be an improver, someone who develops their game and gets better at the aspects they were weaker at while perfecting their best bits. For instance, James Maddison is an example of someone who improved. Lots of players and managers develop and improve, some don't seem to. Some of our players have improved, some haven't. I don't think that McLean has trained on or made strides in improving his strengths or weaknesses.