 | Forum
Reply | Injuries
at 11:05 15 Oct 2026
I think he absolutely agrees with the approach. I’m sure he actually said it himself at some point that he recognises the need to listen to advice.
At one point yesterday you could see Smyth just missing a couple of balls where he’d been completely on it before and he was straight off. So yes I do think they’re monitoring tiredness.
I disagree about predetermined removal of players though. Some players with their playing style will be more likely to get injured - so players that make a lot of sprints. Also it takes into account how many minutes they’ve played recently, and the amount of work they got through. I’m sure it’s emerged from the report they commissioned about injuries last season so if they’re following the recommendations from that then it makes sense to me. Burrell and Madsen last season almost certainly got injured from being overplayed and we don’t want that this season. Unfortunately we were not able to influence the Burrell one because of the frigging international break. |
| Forum
Reply | Football Finances
at 10:53 15 Oct 2026
You should write an article like that for the mainstream press Clive if you haven’t already. It’s absolutely spot on. I was going to say the same about parachute payments and I’ve been banging on about the Chelsea puppy farm for years. It’s really eroded the lower league’s opportunity to raise funds by selling players to the bigger clubs. They really should limit how many young players they can hoover up. |
| Forum
Reply | Alfie Lloyd - Well Done
at 10:45 15 Oct 2026
Yes he’s been managed really well by the club. I think the loan did him good even though he didn’t play a huge number of minutes. It must have been good to experience being promoted and playing with a load of determined players and he scored a couple of goals.
You can really see the progress since he was here last. He controls the ball much better in tight areas and he’s more aware of where he is on the pitch related to everyone else so he’s able to get the ball to them. His pressing seems more effective and I thought he took the goal well as well. |
| Forum
Reply | Derby Reflection
at 06:35 15 Oct 2026
Yeah.
We certainly p*ssed them off. Some very full blooded challenges flying in in the second half. Kemper for one was incensed at one point where he was pretty much assaulted with no attempt to play the ball and they were late on Smyth several times, seemingly for the fun of it. Nasty team. |
| Forum
Reply | Derby Reflection
at 23:33 14 Oct 2026
Absolutely gutted for Mbengue. A loss to the squad with his pace and commitment. I know he has the occasional brain fart but he put in some good performances last season and will be really disappointing to lose him for the whole rest of the season.I’ll miss his general exuberance on the pitch too.
Difficult to look past that but this was a very solid performance. We snuffed out pretty much all of their chances and those we didn’t Charles dealt with impeccably. Their goal wasn’t happening with eleven men.
Lloyd added something different and is looking much more in control of the ball and his passing. Took his goal well too. Kolli looked much more of a team player, passing when not in a good position to shoot and closing down much better off the ball.
Kemper looked very solid and Smyth is becoming very important to our attacking force. Ronnie, Dunne and Adamson all worked well together and Madsen looks like he’s coming back to his best form and linked well with Kamara.
These are the kind of matches we were struggling with last season and we lost to them home and away so that shows some progress. |
| Forum
Reply | Getting Fleeced Down The Bush Match Fred
at 00:36 14 Oct 2026
Yes. I think they must really miss Matt Clarke who’s very solid at the back and their LB situation sounds pretty bad. Let’s hope we can exploit it down that side.
We should be feeling pretty confident after a decent performance against West Ham and still being in the play off positions even after a lot of teams playing today.
The injury situation is pretty bad across a number of clubs including us, Derby and Millwall. I hope clubs are lobbying the EFL to improve the ridiculous scheduling of matches. |
| Forum
Reply | Unbeaten away, struggling at home
at 18:26 13 Oct 2026
I’m hoping the lack of Matt Clarke will help us. He was just brilliant at their place last season and seemed to be everywhere at once heading out every ball that came into their box. On the down side they’ve only won three of their last twelve away games and you know what we’re like about being charitable. But even a draw would be an improvement against last year’s efforts cos we got zero points against them last season.
I am a bit concerned about the number of draws we’re racking up and our relative drought in front of goal. But I also hate ‘must win match’ or ‘six pointer’ being trotted out so early in the season. Way too many matches to come. |
| Forum
Reply | Injuries
at 17:12 11 Oct 2026
Is it something being covered by mainstream sports journalists Clive do you know? Seems a big issue when so many players are being affected and it also affects the enjoyment of the fans if the best players aren’t available. |
| Forum
Reply | Injuries
at 16:54 11 Oct 2026
But how does that fit with Millwall who everybody agrees is a well run club? And they’ve had tons of injuries this season, probably more than us and also had a load last season. They’re also the land of the giants compared to us.
Injuries were no doubt terrible last season and the fault of the club’s strategy. I’m not convinced that we can judge them yet so harshly this season given the injuries have happened partly to those who didn’t have a pre season plus Burrell who was playing international football after a crazy few weeks schedule and a couple of freak injuries to Kone and Kemper.
I still don’t understand why the EFL scheduled two back to back three match weeks followed by a packed international break and then another three match week and then two weeks with no midweek games. It’s a recipe for disaster. |
| Forum
Reply | Rest of the Championship thread 26/27
at 15:57 10 Oct 2026
Maybe a new Wrexham manager too? They’ve got very high hopes and losing to Derby who were in the relegation places wasn’t in the script I’m sure. |
| Forum
Reply | Rest of the Championship thread 26/27
at 13:55 10 Oct 2026
Swansea very dangerous from crosses if today’s match anything to go by. Difficult to be totally sure as Norwich’s defence are pants. They’re safely at the top leading 2-1 at the moment. |
| Forum
Reply | Great draw tonight...
at 12:02 10 Oct 2026
Except I didn’t say any of that. Obviously from a playing viewpoint I’d have kept Kemper on. No one is saying any different.
We were talking about player loading when you’ve got yet another three day week. And unless you put on here before Lamptey went on that he was bound to get injured then it’s just the benefit of hindsight. What if Kemper had got injured or couldn’t play on Wednesday? Medicine isn’t an exact science and yet you’re expecting it to be. It doesn’t work like that. Players can be injury free if they carry on playing or get injured even if their minutes are managed. All you can do is maximise the chances of being injury free and minimise the chances of the injuries by being careful with their loading and that’s what we’re doing. |
| Forum
Reply | Great draw tonight...
at 10:37 10 Oct 2026
Sorry but I disagree Myke. I think Stephan has bought into the medical advice and is following it because he doesn’t want to see us losing players like we did last season.
Yes we’re losing players to injuries but that’s partly due to the mental fixture list - we’re having to play players more than once in four days because we have no choice with back to back three game weeks - and partly because we’re taking them out with a niggle so it doesn’t become a full blown major issue. Players like Lamptey are always going to be a gamble so I’m not expecting a full season from him but if we can manage Kemper and Adamson while Cirkin is suspended then we should be fine going forward.
I’m really glad Stephan listens to the medical staff rather than the fans. If you’d be willing to lose Kemper all season just to get two extra points then we’re never going to agree, so we’ll agree to disagree on this. Personally I think injury management is the single thing that will make or break our season and although we’ll lose people anyway because of the daft fixture list I’d prefer it was for that than stupidly over-playing people coming back from injury. |
| Forum
Reply | Great draw tonight...
at 09:14 10 Oct 2026
You say you get it about loading and then you say that he should’ve kept Kemper on which shows that you don’t. He’s just back after missing most of the season so far. I think it was positive he managed to play sixty minutes after so long off. Also he’s in the past been off with an Achilles tendon injury where he missed over a hundred days of football so not Superman after all.
With our injury issues over the last few seasons we’re crazy if we encourage the manager to actually ignore medical and physio advice. I’m pleased Stephan isn’t a Beale kind of tw*t who destroys players like Willock by ignoring medical advice just to further his own career.
It’s no surprise to me that Burrell got injured on international duty where they’re probably not managing his minutes like we are doing now. I get it’s frustrating but I think we should get behind the medical teams as they’re trying to get our players to maximise minutes across a whole season. |
| Forum
Reply | Blowing Bubbles Up The R's Match Thread
at 09:00 10 Oct 2026
Yes Adamson feels like a new signing this season. People were right to be sceptical last season but he’s really stepped up. Great that he can play both sides and he’s got pace too. He’s also taller than I thought - six foot one apparently - which is useful at the back. Whoever has worked with him - chapeau to them. |
| Forum
Reply | Great draw tonight...
at 08:51 10 Oct 2026
Not really as we’re playing on Wednesday and Saturday. You can’t overplay fast players like Smyth and Burrell as they get injured more easily. Plus he was taking a battering. Obviously in an ideal world we would’ve been able to play Kemper and Smyth for 90 minutes. But Stephan has to look at the bigger picture. Blame the mental fixture list. |
| | nix
|
Site Scores| Prediction League: | 9 | | TOTAL: | 9 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.