Grant Ward last night. Midfielder not right back.

Tangerine Trev

Tangerine Trev

Well-known member
Ward looked fit last night and kept going all 94plus minutes. He is not a right back , he is a midfielder. Perhaps , in retrospect, with our midfield being so lightweight last night [ apart from Dougall imo ] , he should move into midfield ?
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
Quite sad even debating that. Makes a mockery of the fact we actually released him and then re-signed him. If that doesn't scream alarm bells, nothing will.
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We released him five months ago when he was clearly unfit, and far from certain he'd ever be able to play again, he's managed to regain and prove his fitness, so good for him, and a perfectly reasonable signing in the circumstances.
 
Lost Seasider said:
We released him five months ago when he was clearly unfit, and far from certain he'd ever be able to play again, he's managed to regain and prove his fitness, so good for him, and a perfectly reasonable signing in the circumstances.
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Still shows we haven't moved on and gone backwards. Happy for the lad and hope he does well but you can't argue it's another desperate move like Bridcutt.
 
Lost Seasider said:
We released him five months ago when he was clearly unfit, and far from certain he'd ever be able to play again, he's managed to regain and prove his fitness, so good for him, and a perfectly reasonable signing in the circumstances.
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Michael Appleton said we wouldn’t be offering him a new deal. The fact we’ve had to sign him is piss poor.

He’ll be sacked off in January 💯(again)
 
Adams Kebab said:
Michael Appleton said we wouldn’t be offering him a new deal. The fact we’ve had to sign him is piss poor.

He’ll be sacked off in January 💯(again)
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His contract will be extended until summer, guaranteed, along with the recall of Dale. We will be expected to be excited at this prospect, shows the height of our ambition.
 
He had to fill in at right back no other choice
Only signed due to lack of mature midfielders, he has done well keeping fit and playing in development squad helping our young players
He was missed at Accrington yesterday, had he played they would have won that game
 
Adams Kebab said:
Michael Appleton said we wouldn’t be offering him a new deal. The fact we’ve had to sign him is piss poor.

He’ll be sacked off in January 💯(again)
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I wouldn't put it past our lot to end up having to need to play him out of necessity and without realising having triggered a longer contract on whatever deal they've got him on if he's on managed minutes to keep costs down tbh

I thought we'd gone inverted full backs at one point last night when he ended up so far infield that Dom Thompson had to go over to cover the space he left. It didn't look like they'd practised any meaningful tactics or approach to the game and plan for the opponent with him at right back, just asked him if he could do it for 90 to get them through a game.

Fair play to the guy for his own mental resilience to come back from another bad injury. And it was us who put him out for a year by attempting to go into a championship season with an ex-right winger and a left back as the centre of midfield. And therefore pushing him and that achilles too far (that he got nobbled on at Sunderland and rushed back for the previous season end) before it eventually went at Bournemouth.

If I was him I'd have wanted well away from here but you go wherever the sniff of work is I guess.

Very much a sad, tired, desperate situation to have to watch unfold. Could easily turn into Riga/Clark season levels of WTF if left unchecked, like with Bridcutt Kevin Stewart Mk2 added to the collection etc.
 
poolfc said:
I wouldn't put it past our lot to end up having to need to play him out of necessity and without realising having triggered a longer contract on whatever deal they've got him on if he's on managed minutes to keep costs down tbh

I thought we'd gone inverted full backs at one point last night when he ended up so far infield that Dom Thompson had to go over to cover the space he left. It didn't look like they'd practised any meaningful tactics or approach to the game and plan for the opponent with him at right back, just asked him if he could do it for 90 to get them through a game.

Fair play to the guy for his own mental resilience to come back from another bad injury. And it was us who put him out for a year by attempting to go into a championship season with an ex-right winger and a left back as the centre of midfield. And therefore pushing him and that achilles too far (that he got nobbled on at Sunderland and rushed back for the previous season end) before it eventually went at Bournemouth.

If I was him I'd have wanted well away from here but you go wherever the sniff of work is I guess.

Very much a sad, tired, desperate situation to have to watch unfold. Could easily turn into Riga/Clark season levels of WTF if left unchecked, like with Bridcutt Kevin Stewart Mk2 added to the collection etc.
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That last paragraph is hysterical in all regards
 
Goforgoal said:
His contract will be extended until summer, guaranteed, along with the recall of Dale. We will be expected to be excited at this prospect, shows the height of our ambition.
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Nope can’t see it. The manager doesn’t want him and his comments last night about “being lucky to be playing in the Championship” were aimed at him.

When we have players fit again he’ll be let go.
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
Still shows we haven't moved on and gone backwards. Happy for the lad and hope he does well but you can't argue it's another desperate move like Bridcutt.
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Really all boils down to not having a backup RB, which means we're light in DM, and can't cover RB if anything happens to Connolly.
 
Adams Kebab said:
Nope can’t see it. The manager doesn’t want him and his comments last night about “being lucky to be playing in the Championship” were aimed at him.

When we have players fit again he’ll be let go.
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I hope so, never rated him. What the manager wants and what he gets are totally different things as was proven in the last window. Also whywere Pompey refused permission for him to play in their cup match? If he was staying there it wouldn’t have happened.
 
It’s not easy playing totally out of position and he was by no means the worst player on the pitch last night, albeit there wasn’t a very high bar for that. Who knows, a different manager might like him midfield instead of Carey who has had 1 decent 45 minutes since he joined the club in my opinion.
 
straightatthewall said:
That last paragraph is hysterical in all regards
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It is. Hopefully won't end up with 40-50 players used to get through a fixture list but could easily go that way with loans swapped out in January and other out of contract punts. Not dipped into the development squad yet either.

The injuries to the same players who are always injured won't just suddenly clear up. As seen with Anderson not being able to get through 45 minutes and Husband going down again last night.

Done well to have the points we have so far in a way considering but it definitely feels like it's teetering at the moment.

If Ward is here after January then we know what we're going to be for the rest of the season, I think.
 
Goforgoal said:
I hope so, never rated him. What the manager wants and what he gets are totally different things as was proven in the last window. Also whywere Pompey refused permission for him to play in their cup match? If he was staying there it wouldn’t have happened.
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Adds to the price when we sell him on.
 
Pauls_Boutique said:
It’s not easy playing totally out of position and he was by no means the worst player on the pitch last night, albeit there wasn’t a very high bar for that. Who knows, a different manager might like him midfield instead of Carey who has had 1 decent 45 minutes since he joined the club in my opinion.
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You must have missed Reading away and Huddersfield for starters then 👍🏼

The previous Manager let him go & the next one didn’t want him either (till we were absolutely desperate) so I’m guessing the next one won’t either 👍🏼

He started in our central midfield last season and we were piss poor. Bullied v Cardiff and Coventry at home and then got injured at Bournemouth.

I’m baffled as to why it’s up for debate. He’s not good enough & won’t ever be good enough. He’s here cos we are desperate.
 
poolfc said:
It is. Hopefully won't end up with 40-50 players used to get through a fixture list but could easily go that way with loans swapped out in January and other out of contract punts. Not dipped into the development squad yet either.

The injuries to the same players who are always injured won't just suddenly clear up. As seen with Anderson not being able to get through 45 minutes and Husband going down again last night.

Done well to have the points we have so far in a way considering but it definitely feels like it's teetering at the moment.

If Ward is here after January then we know what we're going to be for the rest of the season, I think.
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That last sentence is spot on in all regards... 😉

I'd still look at the whole situation though and say that everyone needs to be realistic. And by everyone, I'm including the senior management. There's rarely a free lunch in football. You rarely find players on too good to be true deals, without there being some sort of catch. I reckon we'll play a whole host of sides this season that have players who are limited in terms of their sell-on value, but functional and solid in terms of their performances at this level. We probably need a better percentage of those in the squad versus the potentials. Those in charge might realise that they won't get the big one-off return on such a player, but they might get the steady return that Championship football brings.

Likewise, I still some unrealistic views and expectations from those in the stands. Whichever you dress it up, we're a small fish in the big pond and we won't always win when it comes down to a straight financial shoot out for our desired player. We will also have to sell players to give us some better clout in securing the services of players we've targeted. I'd love Simon Sadler to have a bottomless pit to spend, but he obviously doesn't. I'm not losing sleep over that and I'm not bemoaning him for not being able to fund us up the league. It's boring, but any progress we make is going to be through incremental gains unless significant new investment arrives. But at least we know that money into the club is being used to try and build the club and support the push for those incremental gains. That's a totally different mentality to what went before.
 
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