Hasta

Well if winning a match averaging 90, scoring 8 maximums and a 170 checkout is dreadful we obviously have a different metric to judge the game here. And he didn’t have to be exceptional to beat Smith as Smith has been poor by his standards since he won the worlds - as a drop in the world rankings from number 3 to number 16 during 2024 shows. The Premier League picks will be interest in because Wright, Anderson, Price, Aspinall and Smith are all outside the top 8 now, but Chisnall and Clayton don’t put on as good a show. Having said that, the presence of the two Luke’s will sell most venues out on their own

I once saw an interview with a top striker (can’t remember who) who said the trick to meeting a cross was to know where the ball was going to land almost as soon as the ball,eft the wingers foot. That’s a skill in itself whether you are 5ft or 6ft6. That’s why Gueye is nowhere near the ‘target man’ striker people want him to be.

Big responsibility on Dolan and ACD to get back and help the full backs here. At least it looks like it might have potential for a goal with those two in. Surprised he’s not gone safe with Hedges.

Dolan up front on his own just feels like one of the JDT games against them where we piss about with what has been working. But I fully understand what you are saying. Id be sticking to what system has served us so well this season, and if that needs to be Big Mac up top so be it. Ohashi getting kicked off the pitch at Leeds has really hurt us here.

Disagree with most of this Rev. The thing that makes the Worlds special IS that generally most of the players on the tour get to feature, plus those based abroad who can’t commit to a generally European-based tour get to feature. Theres a danger that all big tournaments are contested by the same players due to the top 16 qualifying automatically, and then the money they win in those tournaments keeps them in the top 16. So the others have some difficulty breaking in. That’s also why the premier league is so stale - because it’s the same players every week when there are plenty of other pros that could be involved and hold their own - take Ryan Joyce for example. World number 33 before the tournament started and gave Littler by far his toughest game. As for the short format early on, most floor and European tournaments throughout the year are first to 6 legs. In the early stages of the worlds you’ve got to win at least 9 legs to win 3 sets, and nobody would call best of 17 legs a ‘short format’. The Matchplay at Blackpool is only beat of 19. The reason we didn’t see more of Smith, Cross and Anderson is because they deservedly got knocked out. The interest in darts at youth level is now huge (just look how many kids play in local academies). This has been spreading through the game for years. The quality and standard of people with a tour card now is far deeper than it was even 10 years ago. Most players can throw 100+ averages, the top ones can just do it more consistently. But if you run into a lower ranked player on a ‘good’ day you will see a top performance. Therefore you will get more shocks. Kevin Doets (age 26, world number 41) simply outplayed Michael Smith. Had that been best of 7 or 9 sets he probably would still have won. He then went on to the last 16 where he was very unlucky to lose to Dobey (in a barnstormer). I do agree it ended as a bit of an anticlimax from the semis on. Once Humphries was out it took the major anticipated clash out of Littler’s half of the draw. Both vanquished semi final opponents (Dobey and Bunting) have a history of getting to the quarters and semis of major tournaments and then underperforming when it matters. That’s what happened and it was almost two walkovers. And then MVG did similar in the final by seeing his checkout percentage which had been averaging 45% all tournament drop to about 25% in the first 4 sets. That saw the game very quickly go away from him. Littler was outstanding though. Deserved winner. Back to the Premier League, the problem is it runs for almost 4 months and (a bit like the Champions League), you always feel like there’s little jeopardy until the very end weeks. It’s a glorified exhibition. They are all paid to turn up and there’s no ranking points at stake. You just watchit getting the feeling the players don’t care too much.

Where has anyone one here been 'nervous' about it? People are shitting it more about the snow than Barnes.

When he played for Norwich against us he didn't look a threat. It doesn't worry me. If they'd announced Tella coming in on loan that might have been a bit different. Hopefully we are a couple of goals up going into injury time and we can put McFadz on "for a word" with him.

And Martin Olsson. Although he’s still playing for Malmo so probably would actually be better cover at left back than what we currently have if Beck got injured.

Which makes his inclusion and comments on the "Merry Christmas" social media video a bit odd.

During the interview Szmodics did with Big Sam in the summer, he says he didn't play in the away game but that the players had commented on how much animosity there was from the stands. Many of this lot also played in the last game at Ewood, including JRC kicking one of theirs after the final whistle. Hyam should be haunted by that Tella photo of him. There's enough in that dressing room to understand what it mean. Hopefully Gueye can keep a lid on his OTT aggression.

For me, Danny Batth is player of the season so far by quite a distance. Not because he scored today, just because of his level of performance practically every game. Tronstadt and Hyam the only two who come close. As someone said earlier, best veteran free signing for a long, long while.

Weirdly, Coventry did down at their place.

Never really heard of this Ferguson, but google tells me Fulham, Everton and Leeds and interested so that’s a no go. It still makes me sick looking at Deniz Undav’s record over the last few years. We actually had him in the building and couldn’t get it done 😫

Burnley already announced their first signing of the window. A recruitment team and club obviously on the ball. Let’s hope we are still not waiting for an Indian green light still in the last week of January.

If Whittaker was to leave, Burnley would be all over him like last August. And he would be a guaranteed starter there.

That’s exactly why it’s strange!! You don’t employ someone with a failed track record to be your manager cos you were in charge of them when they were a teenager 25 years ago.

Yep. The media and news sites are clearly looking at a different forecast than the one the met office and other sites are providing.

That left side was looking very, very good until Pickering got injured.

So what you are saying is at the start of every season if you did a predictor for every game you think we are going to go unbeaten?

Looks like there is only about 3 left.

Boro reminded me of Rovers. Got into great positions but a lack of composure let them down. Either played the wrong ball or miscontrolled at the crucial moment.

Those two offsides at the end were really frustrating.

I know. Most of us know. Very few people (if any) are saying they expect top 6. It doesn’t mean today wasn’t a bad performance and can’t be called out as such.

I think the disappointment on here is more that we lost team who hadn’t won away in 8, and only scored 3 goals during that period. @Forever Blue over-dramatised it by picking up that someone said the death spiral had started. I think your point is actually aimed at him - “you’re expecting us not to hit a death spiral with a non scoring forward line? let’s have some realism”

Last year Ipswich, who were near the top of the league and far exceeding their expectations, had Travis wrapped up by Jan 5th. Let’s see if we can move that quickly.