• trickylens
    3 months ago

    Well. He signed that contract. Take him back to then, and he was happy to. What an opportunity we gave him (it turns out)! I imagine he's at the top end of expected (his and ours) achievement and likely to benefit from bonus structure as a result.

    That sort of structure of deal is good for retaining players you might want to keep. The alternative is a very good, very happy, player who can piss off to pastures new. There is no perfect player contract, because they depend on outcome. One of the strengths of the current ownership is that they know the game and how to structure things.

    We can make him happy by agreeing a good deal, and if he doesn't want to we retain some value if the clause is triggered. You want to get some value out of player contacts. Not give them all arters. This seems to me to be a happy position to be in, both for club and player. It means things have gone well.

    This would seem to be cause for praising the contract competence of the club.

  • JRs_Cigarettepanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    I see it as a positive, buys us time to negotiate a longer deal rather than him being able to sign up with someone else.

  • Simonhelp_outline
    3 months ago

    Exactly this - we can secure him for next season while also incentivising him to sign the 3 or 4 year deal that is definitely in the club's interest and probably gives him the pay rise he wants.

    As long as the club isn't writing contracts that assume we are staying in the top 4... (and, ideally, ones that don't assume we are staying in the top division).

  • Simonhelp_outline
    3 months ago

    Good call, Nostradamus.

  • JimShadypanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    Think I'll join in this game:

    "We are going to lose a game in the next few months you know guys"

  • istklauspanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    There is a bit in the Athletic article where he says that almost no one in Nottingham is talking about a fairytale because:
    “in football fairytales are usually for small clubs with no history of sustained success.”

    Made me smile.

  • trickylens
    3 months ago
  • Simonhelp_outline
    3 months ago

    Two things that were obvious to me throughout were MGW man-marking Gravenberch because we obviously didn't want him dictating play and the fact we had no interest in pressing Van Dijk - there were quite a few occasions in the first half when he was stood with the ball at his feet waiting for something to happen (I wonder whether there's a future where that might make the crowd edgy but we're happy to wait at the moment). Clearly we were trying bait him into either coming forward to leave a gap behind him or pass on to Konate who we didn't regard as a threat with the ball.

  • trickylens
    3 months ago

    For me this is one of the ways that leadership, and managing play onfield, has given way to process football...in a bad way. It's really why we have been able to make a step difference in our fortunes from last season. We now have a good blended team, with enough athletic strength, and reinforcements...but critically we also have onfield leadership, and managing phases of play. Process teams full of young players, that just iterate through their patterns, are perfectly fine if everyone else plays the same game...but if teams cheat, think their way around the game, and exploit weaknesses, they are vulnerable. It's how teams like Real Madrid consistently beat teams 'better' than them, by modern process and statistical analysis.

    They and we are doing, what is called in the game, "old manning" them. i.e. using experience and in-game nous to unpick a physically superior side.

  • JimShadypanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    You could also read that as they think Konate is a threat with the ball, so they'd rather Dijk has it.

  • Simonhelp_outline
    3 months ago

    If we were mental.

  • JimShadypanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    So Forest thought that Dijk is the better passer of the ball than Konate .... So they let Dijk have the ball but not Konate? How does that work?

  • Simonhelp_outline
    3 months ago

    Because we also go man for man on the rest of their team, so he’s go no one to pass to bar Konate, who we will press, or Allison who we aren’t worried about having the ball.

  • BrettWilliamspanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    Sangare is still alive. I desperately want this guy to come good.

  • crashpanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    Same here.
    Pleasantly surprised to see how many of the club's support staff are fluent in French.
    It must make things a lot easier for the players.

  • Ingopanorama_fish_eye
    3 months ago

    Bonjour, you cheese eating surrender monkey.

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