No fools in April. Away to the Pies, Tuesday April Ist 7-45.

[BWFC_Insane]

Certainly isn't helping Randall settle when he gets sarcastically clapped/jeered as he's subbed.

To the day I die I will never understand the neanderthal mentality of not supporting your own and wanting them to do well, rather than pouncing on them at every opportunity (a la Santos et al)....

There's 100% a player in there who can be very useful to us, we just need to encourage it out rather than childishly bully it back into him....

He’s a highly paid expensive footballer who will earn in a year what most of those ‘Neanderthals’ won’t in ten years. So you know maybe he should perform and start to pay back the club rather than sulk and expect fans to be enamoured with what he’s served up thus far.

Even if you aren’t playing well it is costing nothing to graft and put yourself about.

[jmjhb]

I suspect we'll be keeping Randall considering we'll still be paying for him in 2027. I agree with Dave in that whilst it's not been the most auspicious of starts for him, I'm not particularly worried.

[The_Gun]

I’m sure everyone agrees that Randall hasn’t had the best starts, but cheering your own player getting subbed is truly baffling. How is that going to help anything?

[Bertie Wooster]

I suspect we'll be keeping Randall considering we'll still be paying for him in 2027. I agree with Dave in that whilst it's not been the most auspicious of starts for him, I'm not particularly worried.

He does need to show more though work rate wise, he's clearly talented with the ball and certainly isn't being helped by having no proper strikers or players with pace for him to play balls through to. I think that he could be decent should SS bring in the right players in the summer.

He does need a more physical midfield to help him and a lot more pace upfront (which P/Boro had) - saying all that generally I thought the midfield grafted ok last night and were not surprisingly out muscled by Wigan. It's hard for any player to be in & out of the team, playing every now and then especially a new player, he probably needs a run of games once SS has got the balance of the squad right.

[The_Gun]

I’m slightly surprised that neither Santos nor Dempsey made the bench last night, given their absence from yesterday’s B team fixture.

I’m particularly keen for Dempsey to make his return sooner rather than later, as he seems like he’d be the best option we have for the advanced midfield role.

[Mar]

Certainly isn't helping Randall settle when he gets sarcastically clapped/jeered as he's subbed.

To the day I die I will never understand the neanderthal mentality of not supporting your own and wanting them to do well, rather than pouncing on them at every opportunity (a la Santos et al)....

There's 100% a player in there who can be very useful to us, we just need to encourage it out rather than childishly bully it back into him....

It definitely won't be helping him settle should he be getting sarcastically clapped when he's subbed, but I think he's not helping himself either.

I noted last night that even when he did something, he ended up running into problems by attempting to dribble out in a dangerous area. His performance last night was quite similar to McAtee's performance, but he's not given himself a grace period from previous games so he's got some impressing to do before he gets a pass for poor performance and questionable levels of effort, especially in a derby game.

When I saw his name on the team sheet last night I thought, ooo err, that's questionable and his performance didn't counter it.

He's clearly got good stats and his time at Peterborough suggests a good return, but I think it's important to note that was at Peterborough who have been known for scoring a lot and conceding a lot so his stats are going to look inflated compared to most.

Still, not willing to write him off just yet, but it'd be nice if we could see how much he wanted it with fully committed performance.
Thomason for instance, despite not having his best performance last night was notably knackered at the end and still chasing balls down the right flank. That's the effort level that we need to be seeing.

[irie Cee Bee]

Randall has a little touch of class about him but like others said, need some runners in front of him. He definately needs to bulk up and be stronger on the ball. Over the summer, thats what he should concentrate on doing. Lifting weights.

[Harry Genshaw]

I've no real concerns re Randall. The lad can play and deserves our full support. He's certainly suffering by association- Evatts last and inexplicable signing - but that doesn't mean he won't have a part to play. SS seems to trust him more than Matete or Lolos right now

[boltonboris]

I suspect we'll be keeping Randall considering we'll still be paying for him in 2027. I agree with Dave in that whilst it's not been the most auspicious of starts for him, I'm not particularly worried.

I'm not too worried either, but the ball is in his court as a professional, not us as fans. I'm not saying get on his back. I'm just saying that he needs to sort his shit out if he wants to be onside with people. You don't get a free ride and as a club, it's about time that a tougher mentality started coming through.

[boltonboris]

And nobody is realistically expecting Randall to win headers and hit a big defender in a 50/50. But to visibly pull away from those situations must be infuriating to the players who ARE winning duels and putting their bodies on the line.

With his type of player, there needs to be a trade-off. Accept that they won't do it going the other way, because you know they'll do the business at the top end and affect the game. We're not seeing that.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I suspect we'll be keeping Randall considering we'll still be paying for him in 2027. I agree with Dave in that whilst it's not been the most auspicious of starts for him, I'm not particularly worried.

He does need to show more though work rate wise, he's clearly talented with the ball and certainly isn't being helped by having no proper strikers or players with pace for him to play balls through to. I think that he could be decent should SS bring in the right players in the summer.

He does need a more physical midfield to help him and a lot more pace upfront (which P/Boro had) - saying all that generally I thought the midfield grafted ok last night and were not surprisingly out muscled by Wigan. It's hard for any player to be in & out of the team, playing every now and then especially a new player, he probably needs a run of games once SS has got the balance of the squad right.

Yeah, there's always a player who seems to coalesce a few bugbears, and Randall was always likely to be That Guy. Any expensive new signing will be held up to the light for examination; one bought by the dude who was out within a month (and not before time) especially so; and even more so if it's subsequently revealed we appear to have been losing £1m a month.

Then there's his position... Your typical flighty No.10 always has a job winning over the earthier football fan, even if he's Glenn Hoddle. He could help his cause by rattling into a tackle, but I'm not sure it's his game - which always leads to accusations of being soft and well-paid (remuneration rarely brought into conversation when other midfielders are sat on their arse serving suspensions for gormless cards).

Footballers show bravery in different ways. Some play to the gallery and go looking for fights; others accept hideous kickings and still show for the ball, then get their heads up and look to punish their tormentors. I'll give it to Randall that he hasn't hidden away from receiving the ball, but a couple of times last night he then got his head down and turned backwards in a very Schon-like way. One of them provoked a noticeable loud reaction from the away end, followed by a pointed chorus of "attack attack attack".

With Szabi I suspect those reversals aren't so much a lack of fearlessness as a lack of ideas. I don't think Randall has a lack of ideas, but I do think Bertie's right that Posh had targets for him to hit - as the 10 in a 4231 counter-attacking team, he usually had a focal point up top and two fast wingers, giving him options in each "lateral third" - to his left, his right and in front of him. Too many times last night we had none of that. If we're to get anywhere - this season or next - we need a lot more of it.

Whether Randall fits into Schumacher's plans is a big question, and not just on the balance sheet. Clearly Schumacher likes to play with two 10s, which should in theory double Randall's chances; but without wingers the 'hybrid 10s' have to be able to drift wide, which Randall hasn't been great at. He's not a back-to-goal 'second forward', but he's also not comfortably an 8, unless we're playing a poor team sitting back. Which means he's battling for those hybrid 10 slots with Collins, JOT, CMG, Schon, possibly McAtee, possibly Matete, Lolos for what that's worth, and soon Dempsey.

Like Bertie, I don't think the midfield played particularly badly last night - that's just the usual #narrative; to me, the forward unit was much more missing in action. We didn't play nearly as well as we could and should but we got the win, in a vital derby at Wigan, so hopefully that's the end of that #narrative - and with the monkey off our back, we can start to sort some stuff out.

[DJBlu]

It's been mentioned that Thomasson might not have had the best of games but he left everything on the pitch.

If Randall does the running and gives everything then fans forgive the odd bad pass.

He's not celebrating with the team, that's not a good sign.

[The_Gun]

It's been mentioned that Thomasson might not have had the best of games but he left everything on the pitch.

If Randall does the running and gives everything then fans forgive the odd bad pass.

He's not celebrating with the team, that's not a good sign.

It’s not a good sign, but I’d be pretty fecked off if my own fans sarcastically cheered me off the pitch, so I don’t really blame him.

[TANGODANCER]

More a poor reflection on the fans than the player. Randall must really feel fed up right now. If Sheehan's shot off his pass had scored he'd be a hero. I just hope Schumacher has more savvy than drop him. Give the lad time, right now he's a footballer in a mixed martial arts cage.

[Worthy4England]

I suspect we'll be keeping Randall considering we'll still be paying for him in 2027. I agree with Dave in that whilst it's not been the most auspicious of starts for him, I'm not particularly worried.

He does need to show more though work rate wise, he's clearly talented with the ball and certainly isn't being helped by having no proper strikers or players with pace for him to play balls through to. I think that he could be decent should SS bring in the right players in the summer.

He does need a more physical midfield to help him and a lot more pace upfront (which P/Boro had) - saying all that generally I thought the midfield grafted ok last night and were not surprisingly out muscled by Wigan. It's hard for any player to be in & out of the team, playing every now and then especially a new player, he probably needs a run of games once SS has got the balance of the squad right.

Yeah, there's always a player who seems to coalesce a few bugbears, and Randall was always likely to be That Guy. Any expensive new signing will be held up to the light for examination; one bought by the dude who was out within a month (and not before time) especially so; and even more so if it's subsequently revealed we appear to have been losing £1m a month.

Then there's his position... Your typical flighty No.10 always has a job winning over the earthier football fan, even if he's Glenn Hoddle. He could help his cause by rattling into a tackle, but I'm not sure it's his game - which always leads to accusations of being soft and well-paid (remuneration rarely brought into conversation when other midfielders are sat on their arse serving suspensions for gormless cards).

Footballers show bravery in different ways. Some play to the gallery and go looking for fights; others accept hideous kickings and still show for the ball, then get their heads up and look to punish their tormentors. I'll give it to Randall that he hasn't hidden away from receiving the ball, but a couple of times last night he then got his head down and turned backwards in a very Schon-like way. One of them provoked a noticeable loud reaction from the away end, followed by a pointed chorus of "attack attack attack".

With Szabi I suspect those reversals aren't so much a lack of fearlessness as a lack of ideas. I don't think Randall has a lack of ideas, but I do think Bertie's right that Posh had targets for him to hit - as the 10 in a 4231 counter-attacking team, he usually had a focal point up top and two fast wingers, giving him options in each "lateral third" - to his left, his right and in front of him. Too many times last night we had none of that. If we're to get anywhere - this season or next - we need a lot more of it.

Whether Randall fits into Schumacher's plans is a big question, and not just on the balance sheet. Clearly Schumacher likes to play with two 10s, which should in theory double Randall's chances; but without wingers the 'hybrid 10s' have to be able to drift wide, which Randall hasn't been great at. He's not a back-to-goal 'second forward', but he's also not comfortably an 8, unless we're playing a poor team sitting back. Which means he's battling for those hybrid 10 slots with Collins, JOT, CMG, Schon, possibly McAtee, possibly Matete, Lolos for what that's worth, and soon Dempsey.

Like Bertie, I don't think the midfield played particularly badly last night - that's just the usual #narrative; to me, the forward unit was much more missing in action. We didn't play nearly as well as we could and should but we got the win, in a vital derby at Wigan, so hopefully that's the end of that #narrative - and with the monkey off our back, we can start to sort some stuff out.

Not really going to make this about Randall, but I would expect all footballers playing professionally to be able to shoot, tackle, pass and, maybe a dirty notion these days, head a football when needed to. Obviously they're likely to be a bit better at one or two of these things than all three but I don't think you can have any that are very obviously missing. And yes - there's plenty of other stuff, like positional sense (which I think sometimes lets Sheehan down). But we often talk about games where there are lots of "fine margins" - outside the ones where one team spanks the other and if you have aspirations of promotion, these are pretty important and to have players really lacking a significant attribute, isn't one I'd want in my team - unless I took the view that they were so outstanding at one of the others it traded off the risk - so when we see outstanding on one of the others, maybe you give them a bit of slack.

I'm still in the "free hit" phase and Schumacher needing the summer. I think he already said he thought we had a "lot of players" - so it's a case of leave him to it for me (as with most managers). Pretty sure he will try and get the best out of whatever he retains.