Salopian

It was not really a surprise when Derby scored once from a corner that they would do it again. Who would bet against them scoring yet another? What is it about our defence that we are good at keeping attacks at a distance but when once they have a set piece we seem weak?

We seem to have conceded a lot of goals through missed headers. Marshall has failed, Pinto is not so hot, Lewis is hardly a big fellow, and perhaps because he missed some pre-season even Hanley has not looked so dominating. Every cross and every corner, and teams are learning - good opponent headers of the ball are causing panic and also scoring goals. Perhaps this could be improved, as could the other cause - misplaced and misjudged passes. It has to be admitted that sometimes we leave our defence exposed because we are attacking and lose the ball. The final goal at Sheffield was a good example- we were pressing for a winner, and then suddenly... Our team are professional players, and if they can reduce the tendency to leak goals only slightly, we could see a win soon.

I am sorry that we had to sell Maddison, but that was to be expected in our financial predicament and we did get a good price, I think. I am quietly optimistic. We seem to have signed a real centre forward/goal scorer in Pukki, if we learn how to supply him - balls behind defences so he can use his pace. McLean, seems capable of scoring from the midfield. Ditto our S. American. Svbenny can perhaps improve his performance in terms of goals. We seem to have two fleet wingers. We should be better able to defend, especially with the development of Lewis, and our central defenders should know each other better. But I am not carried away. I hope that we have removed the deadwood, apart from Oliveira, as well selling Josh and Madders. The newcomers will take time settle in, especially if they have to learn English as well. So I am hoping for a top ten finish, perhaps even play-offs, but the latter may be impossible after so much change.

From the Youtube pictures from Bronby, he seems quick and strong and with a very good touch. I think that the CR faithful will enjoy him!

Potentially a very good signing - quick, and good crosser with either foot, and very keen to be with us! Well done NCFC. Marshall could be a very good asset!

There is speculation again that we are after the striker. I suppose that he is not yet too old, and may actually be at a prime age, but Sheffield Wednesday it seems are trying to get his wages off their costs, in a similar way to us. He has a good scoring record, but what would he cost, in terms of wages if not transfer fee, and would such a signing fit in with our determination to ''grow'' a team which could gain promotion and stay longer in the Premiership?

We seem to be in the process of selling our two top goalscorers. I hope that we have two scorers lined up, because the rest do not really contribute much in scoring. I think that both sales are unavoidable, especially given the financial position from stupid purchases in the recent past - Naismith, Wildschut, RVW, etc. I also think that if we can gain £10m for Joshua, that is a good achievement in the light of his inconsistency. My fear is that we must be patient and buy cheaply, largely growing our own successful players - we already have a number who have real potential, but this seems to be the future.The Premiership will seem a long way away for some years.

He seems quick enough and a good tackler, but he seems a little one-footed and shooting is not his forte. He is in no way a replacement for Madison. He could get more experienced, but essentially he is a different sort of player. He is still young and could develop, but do we see him as a shoe-in for one of the established players. I doubt this at the moment.

Farke - although he is not yet the finished article, he has done well with a team that needs to bed down and hopefully have fewer injuries to important players, and he is lacking effective strikers currently. I hope that in a year or two he can emerge comparable to other Germans in management.

Reed is the better player of the two, certainly in terms of passing and awareness. I am not sure either is a very good right back defensively, Pinto because he gets out of position and is not good at tackling, and both because they are not good in competing in the air with tall attackers. What swings it for me is that Reed is more willing to engage in tackles.

Iwan, Roberts in his article, suggests that our attacks seldom result in a cross. In part it may result from playing a sole striker who is better at shooting than heading. Other forward players tend to be shorter in stature and can be out-jumped by large defenders. Having said this. it doesn''t have to be a cross from way out wide, as Hanley and Klose demonstrated. Short crosses, even low ones, from the by-line are difficult for defenders to deal with when facing their own goal, and anything can happen. We have quick wide players, but our short passing often means that our quick players are marked when they receive the ball. We need to develop incisive passes inside the defender. These give our wide men an advantage, as they are facing the right way while defenders have to turn. However poor my suggestions, Iwan is surely correct. Wolves caused us problems with the pace of their wide men, while ours were stationary and marked before the slow passing game reached them, often the passes were very short, which meant that our two were confronted by two or more defenders. Our second half performances are usually much better, perhaps because opposing defenders are tiring, but also because our speed of passing is greater!

For some reason our passing speed in the first half seems too slow, and so is our movement. Perhaps this is why Farke is today playing both our quickest - Murphy and Henandez. At Molineux we gained a worthy point, but we were always faced with a packed defensive wall, as the Wolves midfielders and defenders were very quick to get back. I was worried as we committed more players forward they would score a breakaway goal. I suspect that if Bolton and other teams struggling at the wrong end come with a defensive plan, we shall struggle to score. We have seen this so many times this season.

In terms of money changing hands - a considerable profit? In terms of savings from loan players while they are away, better still, although in at least one case we are still paying 2/3 of the salary, as I remember it. In terms of the future, who knows? We signed a number of younger players, one or two of who may come good of very good. Still better! We ought to finish higher in the Championship than where we are currently - so more reward for position. With all due respect to the club and team, it looks unlikely that we shall go into the play-offs, and almost impossible to get promotion, but this was the case even at the end of 2017. One question is whether we can get rid of players coming back from loan in June. There are one or two in high salaries, and this represents a dead weight.

Let''s wait and see! We know Oliveira''s preferred style of play, and many feel that it doesn''t fit well with the slower speed in movements initiated from the back. What we don''t have a clear idea about yet is the preferred, i.e. effective, style which suits Srneby''s style, or whether he can adapt. From the few videos of goals scored by the German, he seems highly mobile, and like Oliveira has decent long shots, but I lack information on how good he is with lightning touches around goal, or with headers. His rate of scoring has been impressive this season, but I fear that if our approach is as slow as it has been at times he may not be any more effective than Oliveira.

Seems a good move, to Holland. Gives him experience and further development, in place of sitting on the bench watching German players here.