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Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson

RL played DJ in his best position away at Rovers, so why would you then play him in different positions? When RL first arrived at the club DJ was the one player that bought into his style of play and was the best player in most of those early games under RL. What changed is anyones guess, but my guess is that it didn’t take DJ long to realise he was now playing for a sound bite with little knowledge of how to set up a Championship team.
Lowe didn't change the team after the Rovers game - he couldn't, because we somehow managed to injure half a dozen of our senior players whilst not playing football.

The exact same starting lineup that beat Blackburn also lost to QPR and Huddersfield.

He's not gone back to that kind of formation with one striker and two "creative" players behind them since those matches, and I doubt he will again now that he's signed Cannon and Delap, got Parrott back and has Evans. The preferred formation involves two strikers, after all.

I'd love to see us play with McCann and Whiteman as a two and Johnson as a 10 behind two strikers - if anything, just to get someone who isn't one of the forwards to be tasked with doing something that's not defending. At the moment, the strikers are so far from the rest of the team that we might as well call it a 8-0-2 formation.
 
Lowe didn't change the team after the Rovers game - he couldn't, because we somehow managed to injure half a dozen of our senior players whilst not playing football.

The exact same starting lineup that beat Blackburn also lost to QPR and Huddersfield.

He's not gone back to that kind of formation with one striker and two "creative" players behind them since those matches, and I doubt he will again now that he's signed Cannon and Delap, got Parrott back and has Evans. The preferred formation involves two strikers, after all.

I'd love to see us play with McCann and Whiteman as a two and Johnson as a 10 behind two strikers - if anything, just to get someone who isn't one of the forwards to be tasked with doing something that's not defending. At the moment, the strikers are so far from the rest of the team that we might as well call it a 8-0-2 formation.
Excellent post. DJ is needed.
 
DJ doesnt give a fuck and clearly wants to leave.
We wont renew due to high wages (for us).
End of story.

Yes on his day best we have, last time he was waiting for a contract he played shite.
 
Johnson needs quality around him, once the squad he’d played his better football in was disbanded he was done here. Hugill to hold the ball up Robinson with pace Pearson to allow Johnson to get further upfield and Davies in the back line. He only signed the new contract on vastly improved terms because nobody other than Rangers came in for him as a freebie, to best of my knowledge Neil never tried to sign him for Sunderland or Stoke ?
 
The team should be built around DJ, and a competent Championship manager has him being our most creative outlet.

The experienced DJ & Bauer both alienated by this narcissist. Not a chance Lindsay is better than Bauer who mustn't be a yes man. Potts discarded now too it seems.
 
Divides opinion and gets a lot of stick DJ but I’d build the team around him if I was the North End manager.🤷‍♂️
Bit of an easy target at times I feel when things are going wrong even though we huge and obvious issues throughout this club that need desperately tackling first.
One of the few current players in this squad with genuine quality and ability.
Never mind we’ll lose him for free in summer and replace him………… most likely with himself in 5 years time when he’s completely finished, either that or some Liverpool reject who’s bouncing down the leagues. 🤦‍♂️
 
Divides opinion and gets a lot of stick DJ but I’d build the team around him if I was the North End manager.🤷‍♂️
Bit of an easy target at times I feel when things are going wrong even though we huge and obvious issues throughout this club that need desperately tackling first.
One of the few current players in this squad with genuine quality and ability.
Never mind we’ll lose him for free in summer and replace him………… most likely with himself in 5 years time when he’s completely finished, either that or some Liverpool reject who’s bouncing down the leagues. 🤦‍♂️
Build a team around him when you know he’s here for the next year or two sure .

But we’ll never see him in a pne shirt again come May so what’s the point ?
 
Johnson needs quality around him, once the squad he’d played his better football in was disbanded he was done here. Hugill to hold the ball up Robinson with pace Pearson to allow Johnson to get further upfield and Davies in the back line. He only signed the new contract on vastly improved terms because nobody other than Rangers came in for him as a freebie, to best of my knowledge Neil never tried to sign him for Sunderland or Stoke ?
Agreed. DJ linked up with Archer brilliantly last season because he was intelligent enough to find the space which DJ could then slot the ball into. Can't do that when your strikers are just running the channels.
 
Build a team around him when you know he’s here for the next year or two sure .

But we’ll never see him in a pne shirt again come May so what’s the point ?

A good manager wouldn’t have let it get to a point where it comes to DJ leaving for free. 🤷‍♂️
Had Lowe come in and built the team around DJ, found a formation and set up to suit the players he had then recruited well in the 3 windows he’s had perhaps we would not be in the current wank situation we find ourselves in. 🤷‍♂️

People are happy to see the back of DJ but be careful what you wish for, I dread to think how bad a replacement will be if Ridsdale and Lowe have anything to do with it.
 
A good manager wouldn’t have let it get to a point where it comes to DJ leaving for free. 🤷‍♂️
Had Lowe come in and built the team around DJ, found a formation and set up to suit the players he had then recruited well in the 3 windows he’s had perhaps we would not be in the current wank situation we find ourselves in. 🤷‍♂️

People are happy to see the back of DJ but be careful what you wish for, I dread to think how bad a replacement will be if Ridsdale and Lowe have anything to do with it.
He's already here.
 
A good manager wouldn’t have let it get to a point where it comes to DJ leaving for free. 🤷‍♂️
Had Lowe come in and built the team around DJ, found a formation and set up to suit the players he had then recruited well in the 3 windows he’s had perhaps we would not be in the current wank situation we find ourselves in. 🤷‍♂️

People are happy to see the back of DJ but be careful what you wish for, I dread to think how bad a replacement will be if Ridsdale and Lowe have anything to do with it.

That's down to wages, budget, PR and the family.

Not Ryan Lowe.
 
That's down to wages, budget, PR and the family.

Not Ryan Lowe.

So are we saying if Lowe had played DJ regularly, had him playing well and enjoying his football he wouldn’t be open to the idea of staying? Albeit on reduced terms. 🤷‍♂️

I get his current wages are astronomical for North End and that won’t continue but Lowe has been here for over 12 months and he’s rarely bothered with DJ consistently, surely it’s best to play our best players until they arent ours anymore, we are still paying his wages aren’t we. 🤷‍♂️
 
A good manager wouldn’t have let it get to a point where it comes to DJ leaving for free. 🤷‍♂️
Had Lowe come in and built the team around DJ, found a formation and set up to suit the players he had then recruited well in the 3 windows he’s had perhaps we would not be in the current wank situation we find ourselves in. 🤷‍♂️

People are happy to see the back of DJ but be careful what you wish for, I dread to think how bad a replacement will be if Ridsdale and Lowe have anything to do with it.
I want Lowe gone as much as anyone but he doesn’t set the budget and can’t be blamed for the shit recruitment. You can’t buy championship players on a modest league one budget.

Course it would be great to have an on form DJ in the side making things tick but apart from Rovers away I can’t remember many games he’s done that .

He’s off in a couple of months wether we like it or not .
 
Lowe didn't change the team after the Rovers game - he couldn't, because we somehow managed to injure half a dozen of our senior players whilst not playing football.

The exact same starting lineup that beat Blackburn also lost to QPR and Huddersfield.

He's not gone back to that kind of formation with one striker and two "creative" players behind them since those matches, and I doubt he will again now that he's signed Cannon and Delap, got Parrott back and has Evans. The preferred formation involves two strikers, after all.

I'd love to see us play with McCann and Whiteman as a two and Johnson as a 10 behind two strikers - if anything, just to get someone who isn't one of the forwards to be tasked with doing something that's not defending. At the moment, the strikers are so far from the rest of the team that we might as well call it a 8-0-2 formation.
Sadly McCann has been pretty shit also
 
I want Lowe gone as much as anyone but he doesn’t set the budget and can’t be blamed for the shit recruitment. You can’t buy championship players on a modest league one budget.

Course it would be great to have an on form DJ in the side making things tick but apart from Rovers away I can’t remember many games he’s done that .

He’s off in a couple of months wether we like it or not .

Not sure I completely agree, recruiting well on our budget has its difficulties but not impossible if we have the correct people in charge of recruitment. Smaller clubs on lesser budgets than us have proven otherwise. I get that not every signing is going to be a Ben Pearson but Jesus Christ these lot have got it so so wrong over last few years.
We managed to recruit well under Grayson? That team competed well at champ level. Perhaps Grayson knew how to handle Ridsdale better than AN and RL in order to get players in what he wanted for the right money.

On the face of it, Ridsdale has been incredibly wasteful with what little funds we have available. I don’t believe for one minute that Lowe won’t have a say at all on transfers (Woodburn being an example), naive to think otherwise but I do think Ridsdale will and has overuled him at times.

Back to thread and DJ, agreed he hasn’t been at his sparkling best but I do think there are underlying reasons for this. We all know what he is capable of if playing regularly but like you say it looks like he’s off regardless. 🤷‍♂️
 
Not sure I completely agree, recruiting well on our budget has its difficulties but not impossible if we have the correct people in charge of recruitment. Smaller clubs on lesser budgets than us have proven otherwise. I get that not every signing is going to be a Ben Pearson but Jesus Christ these lot have got it so so wrong over last few years.
We managed to recruit well under Grayson? That team competed well at champ level. Perhaps Grayson knew how to handle Ridsdale better than AN and RL in order to get players in what he wanted for the right money.

On the face of it, Ridsdale has been incredibly wasteful with what little funds we have available. I don’t believe for one minute that Lowe won’t have a say at all on transfers (Woodburn being an example), naive to think otherwise but I do think Ridsdale will and has overuled him at times.

Back to thread and DJ, agreed he hasn’t been at his sparkling best but I do think there are underlying reasons for this. We all know what he is capable of if playing regularly but like you say it looks like he’s off regardless. 🤷‍♂️
Luton and Millwall shit all over these people who cry about our bottom half budget.

Just plan better and spend better.
 
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