Hasta

But in reality I don't believe that's what happens. For fear of curtailing a celebration and then being proved wrong, my feeling is they just keep their flag down unless absolutely certain. Same as I now feel that referee's give less penalties in real time than they previously did, instead thinking "VAR will make the call if I am wrong" and therefore don't give it. I'd like to see the stats for this which probably are available.

No because the linesman is told to keep his flag down if it is close and let VAR handle it. Linemen simply don't flag in the Premier League now unless it is miles off. They rarely flag after the ball goes in unless it was fairly obvious. Had VAR not been in operation, the linesman would have had to make a call and may have put his flag up.

And without VAR there is a good chance it would have been.

Preston fans believe our game at Deepdale has been moved to a 5.30pm Kick Off Can't see any official confirmation anywhere.

I know. I remember the Chelsea, Palace, Swindon play offs pretty well. But being only 12 at the time of the Palace game I was probably too young for it to have the emotional scarring that it would have done had I been a few years older. The reason I think the Sheff United game I referenced, and the Palace second leg, hurt fans so much as they are games we probably expected us to come through. Sunday's game, by comparison, I always thought was a 60/40 in their favour.

In order to thank their travelling support, Norwich players are subsiding their fans match tickets for Ewood on Good Friday. Away tickets between £1 to £10. I sense they see this as a key game. https://www.canaries.co.uk/content/blackburn-rovers-tickets-on-sale-at-subsidised-rate

Even North Macedonia are no mugs, having knocked Italy out in World Cup qualifying last time.

Me too. As much as I recall the Palace play offs as a huge disappointment , by 1993 I was old enough to go to away games on my own and we did quite a few that year. After Sheffield Wednesday on the Sunday I always thought we had a second chance against United. I can't remember why, but for some reason we played the league cup semi-final against Sheff Wednesday on a Sunday, and then had to play an FA Cup quarter final use 2 days later on the Tuesday. TV was screwing us over even then !!! Anyway I was proper gutted coming off Brammall Lane that night. It may well be growing up, but no game has ever left me that flat since. Chelsea in the FA Cup semi was heartbreaking. That first defeat after years to Burnley at Ewood stung. But Brammall Lane 1993 for me was the one. I shouldn't say it, but it would probably take a play off final defeat from the jaws of victory to top it.

Preston, Luton, Burnley and Millwall is obviously a high-pressure run-in with it being 2 local Derbys and 2 teams in the top 6. The next 4 up of Big Club, Norwich, Huddersfield and Hull are far more straight forward on paper. Approach those games in the same manner as the two Sheffield United games and we will hopefully be well on our way before the last 4.

VAR can only give straight reds, not yellows.

I said it after we beat them in the league game, but we need to take that level of effort and application into the next game at Big Club. It’s miles away from the lethargy we showed at Stoke. Do that 12 more time this year and who knows what could happen.

They had 3 strikers on at Ewood a couple of weeks ago when we led by one goal and we changed Dolan for Diaz and Sorba for Hedges. We then played a lot of the rest of the game out in their half.

Why does shit like this always happen before international breaks as well.

I imagine without VAR we probably wouldn’t have got the penalty, and probably had our 2nd goal ruled out for offside.

No he wasn’t. He was fairly anonymous first half, and had started tiring and giving the ball away long before the winner. We’d been saying before the subs were made that it had to be Garrett or A Wharton on for Morton, and we’re surprised that he stayed on,

In the game at Ewood, we brought Hedges and Brereton on to defend a one goal lead. I felt right up until he made the changes that we would score again in that game. After the changes I can’t recall having the ball in their box.

We’re on about today game on todays thread. Overall he’s done well, and I gave him credit in the last round. But today he’s made a bad decision and it’s cost us. Why so defensive about that obvious statement?

He is overall, but make no mistake he’s fucked that up

JDT tactical masterclass there. Looking generally ok until we switched to 5 at the back and then we didn’t get into their half.

Sheff United fans want to avoid Man City in the semi finals.

I kind of accept games get moved for TV, but there is very rarely any games at 7.45 on a Saturday. That’s just bollocks. That will interfere with peoples plans far more than moving it to any other times at the weekend.

Or 5 in a local derby.

I’m bang in the middle. He wasn’t to blame for relegation and takes huge credit for getting us straight back up. His first couple of seasons back were fine but by the last two seasons I felt there were too many strange decisions, we were not progressing and it was time for a change. I was just constantly told by some that no-one decent would want the job and no-one could do a better job. Many of those people are the ones that now criticise JDT far more than they ever did Mowbray. My post above is my reasoning why.

Too many people over-rated the job he did in an average league, then backed themselves into a corner with “who could do better?, who else could we get? , be careful what you wish for….”. Now they stubbornly won’t accept they were wrong.

Was expecting a Norwich win today so thats a boost.