Pauno out

[Coppells Lost Coat]

It make zero sense to have played him. Ashcoft, Camara Ehibhationham also all played. I automatically thought as they were in the Brum matchday squad they wouldn't be involved at all until players return - as you know, we have 400 players out injured......401 now.

Someone at the club is making huge mistakes - So do they continue to play Ashcroft Camara etc in the u23 games now? risk even more of our squad to unnecessary injuries.

Should we not have them train either, just in case they get injured?

We've prob got 4 or 5 players back fit after the intl break. Clarke is still massively inexperienced and needs to play wherever possible. Its in the middle of a 2 week break. You want him to play wherever possible after scoring those 2 goals, not keep him off the pitch for 2 weeks

Its just unfortunate, not having that he shouldn't be playing in the u23. He hasn't played a lot of minutes for the first team at all. He'll only improve by playing more, not sitting on his backside.

I get it, you cant wrap them all up in cotton wool. He wont get any better not playing but at some point you gotta do risk management.

[Hound]

It make zero sense to have played him. Ashcoft, Camara Ehibhationham also all played. I automatically thought as they were in the Brum matchday squad they wouldn't be involved at all until players return - as you know, we have 400 players out injured......401 now.

Someone at the club is making huge mistakes - So do they continue to play Ashcroft Camara etc in the u23 games now? risk even more of our squad to unnecessary injuries.

Should we not have them train either, just in case they get injured?

We've prob got 4 or 5 players back fit after the intl break. Clarke is still massively inexperienced and needs to play wherever possible. Its in the middle of a 2 week break. You want him to play wherever possible after scoring those 2 goals, not keep him off the pitch for 2 weeks

Its just unfortunate, not having that he shouldn't be playing in the u23. He hasn't played a lot of minutes for the first team at all. He'll only improve by playing more, not sitting on his backside.

I get it, you cant wrap them all up in cotton wool. He wont get any better not playing but at some point you gotta do risk management.

I'd not have played him if we didn't have the others coming back. But I'm assuming we do. Imagine Hoilett will be back up top, and Ehib might be our new chuck on an 18 year old to try to save us the match. He has also been scoring plenty in the u23

[CountryRoyal]

some fans....

to me it would be stupid if we didn't play him. Not like he has had the workload of a Swift or Ejaria who prob need a break and a rest. Clarke needs to play wherever possible.

Disagree, he’s part of the first team set up now and with our luck with injuries it is literally asking for trouble. Your comparison to training is nonsensical. U23 or not, matches are higher intensity and just can’t be compared.

of course they can be compared. Training should be intense as well. And he'll be playing against men in that, not a load of 18 year olds. He is part of the first team but he needs more exposure to playing football, not score a couple of goals and then do no more than pass a ball through some cones for a couple of weeks

We should have 5 back, inc Hoilett next weekend. He is part of the first team, but had about 70 mins at a guess over the last 4-5 games.

It should be intense yes, to a degree, but your own team mates aren’t going to be killing themselves (and possibly you) to win the ball, put in crunching tackles etc. Equally you’re not going to strain or stretch that extra bit.

[Hound]

Disagree, he’s part of the first team set up now and with our luck with injuries it is literally asking for trouble. Your comparison to training is nonsensical. U23 or not, matches are higher intensity and just can’t be compared.

of course they can be compared. Training should be intense as well. And he'll be playing against men in that, not a load of 18 year olds. He is part of the first team but he needs more exposure to playing football, not score a couple of goals and then do no more than pass a ball through some cones for a couple of weeks

We should have 5 back, inc Hoilett next weekend. He is part of the first team, but had about 70 mins at a guess over the last 4-5 games.

It should be intense yes, to a degree, but your own team mates aren’t going to be killing themselves (and possibly you) to win the ball, put in crunching tackles etc. Equally you’re not going to strain or stretch that extra bit.

Id guess that contact training with fully grown professionals isn't much less intense/physical than against a bunch of 17 year old Villa kids in a U23 game tbh.

[CountryRoyal]

of course they can be compared. Training should be intense as well. And he'll be playing against men in that, not a load of 18 year olds. He is part of the first team but he needs more exposure to playing football, not score a couple of goals and then do no more than pass a ball through some cones for a couple of weeks

We should have 5 back, inc Hoilett next weekend. He is part of the first team, but had about 70 mins at a guess over the last 4-5 games.

It should be intense yes, to a degree, but your own team mates aren’t going to be killing themselves (and possibly you) to win the ball, put in crunching tackles etc. Equally you’re not going to strain or stretch that extra bit.

Id guess that contact training with fully grown professionals isn't much less intense/physical than against a bunch of 17 year old Villa kids in a U23 game tbh.

I guess all we can do is guess, and hindsight is 20/20, but at the moment it’s clearly a bad decision. How’d he get injured anyway does anyone know?

[Zip]

some fans....

to me it would be stupid if we didn't play him. Not like he has had the workload of a Swift or Ejaria who prob need a break and a rest. Clarke needs to play wherever possible.

Disagree, he’s part of the first team set up now and with our luck with injuries it is literally asking for trouble. Your comparison to training is nonsensical. U23 or not, matches are higher intensity and just can’t be compared.

of course they can be compared. Training should be intense as well. And he'll be playing against men in that, not a load of 18 year olds. He is part of the first team but he needs more exposure to playing football, not score a couple of goals and then do no more than pass a ball through some cones for a couple of weeks

We should have 5 back, inc Hoilett next weekend. He is part of the first team, but had about 70 mins at a guess over the last 4-5 games.

We don’t know if we will have five back. Let’s hope so but how many of those will be fit to start? What happens if Puscas gets injured next week? Clarke didn’t need to be involved on Monday. It was a risk not worth taking.

[Snowflake Royal]

From our perspective as fans sure it seems stupid to play him, even if it was just a half of football but the club hires professionals who know the health and conditioning of the players so should, in theory, be in a better position to judge if he should play for the U23s.

some fans....

to me it would be stupid if we didn't play him. Not like he has had the workload of a Swift or Ejaria who prob need a break and a rest. Clarke needs to play wherever possible.

I'm with you.

[Snowflake Royal]

It should be intense yes, to a degree, but your own team mates aren’t going to be killing themselves (and possibly you) to win the ball, put in crunching tackles etc. Equally you’re not going to strain or stretch that extra bit.

Id guess that contact training with fully grown professionals isn't much less intense/physical than against a bunch of 17 year old Villa kids in a U23 game tbh.

I guess all we can do is guess, and hindsight is 20/20, but at the moment it’s clearly a bad decision. How’d he get injured anyway does anyone know?

£5 says the medical team says its an impact injury

[Hound]

Id guess that contact training with fully grown professionals isn't much less intense/physical than against a bunch of 17 year old Villa kids in a U23 game tbh.

I guess all we can do is guess, and hindsight is 20/20, but at the moment it’s clearly a bad decision. How’d he get injured anyway does anyone know?

£5 says the medical team says its an impact injury

ha yep

tbf in the other thread I mentioned this as well - don't know what the injury is. If it is a strain or pull, then I'd be more critical. If its a kick or was an actual 'impact injury' then I don't put any blame on the management.

We'll have people back fit by next game. But it is an absolute joke the injuries we are getting, definitely comical

[SCIAG]

Have I got this right? People are saying Paunovic should be sacked because we used U23 players in U23 games rather than saving them for our bench?

Hate to imagine what you people would make of the days when we regularly used first team players in the reserves! We were one of the last teams to move away from it, it was one of the reasons our “reserve” team used to be so strong.

Oh for the days of Brian McDermott leading us to the Premier League Reserves title with Greg Halford in central midfield, John Oster on the wing and Shane Long up front…

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Have I got this right? People are saying Paunovic should be sacked because we used U23 players in U23 games rather than saving them for our bench?

Hate to imagine what you people would make of the days when we regularly used first team players in the reserves! We were one of the last teams to move away from it, it was one of the reasons our “reserve” team used to be so strong.

Oh for the days of Brian McDermott leading us to the Premier League Reserves title with Greg Halford in central midfield, John Oster on the wing and Shane Long up front…

Def not Pauno out worthy.
I think the outrage is we are using youth team players bolster our match day squad because we have so many injuries, as with out them we cant field a match day squad, who then continue to use in academy games, who then got injured.
Back in the day if we had an injury crisis like now i doubt we would be using the remaining 1st team players in reserve games.

[Millsy]

Absolutely nothing wrong with the fitness/medical knowledge at RFC.

So let's blame Pauno for daring to play footy players in a footy match eh?

Pauno out.

[leon]

Christ you lot could start an argument in an empty room.

Personally I think it was a silly risk to take with the state of our strike force.

[Hound]

Christ you lot could start an argument in an empty room.

Personally I think it was a silly risk to take with the state of our strike force.

no argument, just a friendly, respectful exchange of differing views

[NathStPaul]

Players play, players get injured sometimes. It is just bad luck.

[RoyalBlue]

From our perspective as fans sure it seems stupid to play him, even if it was just a half of football but the club hires professionals who know the health and conditioning of the players so should, in theory, be in a better position to judge if he should play for the U23s.

some fans....

to me it would be stupid if we didn't play him. Not like he has had the workload of a Swift or Ejaria who prob need a break and a rest. Clarke needs to play wherever possible.

I'm with you.

Me too. It's not like he's run up hours of play for the first team this season; pretty much cameo roles with the last one being the longest.

[Snowflake Royal]

some fans....

to me it would be stupid if we didn't play him. Not like he has had the workload of a Swift or Ejaria who prob need a break and a rest. Clarke needs to play wherever possible.

I'm with you.

Me too. It's not like he's run up hours of play for the first team this season; pretty much cameo roles with the last one being the longest.

In many ways the last thing you want is him following a good 45 and 2 goals with no competitive play for a week and a half.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

I'm with you.

Me too. It's not like he's run up hours of play for the first team this season; pretty much cameo roles with the last one being the longest.

In many ways the last thing you want is him following a good 45 and 2 goals with no competitive play for a week and a half.

Its a mixed bag of confidence boosting and keeping momentum. It could be set both ways - reward Clarke by being fully involved with first 11 and train in their set up for the international break. You can only get better by playing better players.
Or keep him playing and getting more minutes in, hopefully gain more confidence.

Normally would agree that he should be playing as much as possible. But at the time it was too big a risk to play him, not because he is exhausted but because he is needed.

[Hound]

I'm with you.

Me too. It's not like he's run up hours of play for the first team this season; pretty much cameo roles with the last one being the longest.

In many ways the last thing you want is him following a good 45 and 2 goals with no competitive play for a week and a half.

Would have no doubts there'd be people whinging (probably me) if he missed the chance to play a couple of U23 games in the intl break, then started for us in our next league game and looked hopelessly off the pace.

have to remember he has been pretty ineffective other than those 2 goals, he has loads he needs to work on and improve

[Stranded]

Looks like Clarke was made available as the management knew Andy Carroll would likely take his spot on the bench for the Forest game?

And yes, I would have expected Clarke to be on the bench for that game as despite his 2 goals, I don't think he is quite ready for a first team start.