Hasta

The best ally the coalition could have on the 24th is the weather.

First 30 minutes were pretty level. United then had a spell where they were rampant for 15 minutes before and then 15 minutes after half time. Loads of shots, clearances off the line etc.. Got themselves in front, immediately took Bruno Fernandes off for some bizarre reason and then it went pretty even again. But in the spell when Untied were on top they could have had 4 or 5.

Big Mak knocked that ball right into Weismann's patch at Turf Moor and I thought "We've got a handful here". However the next 14 months proved it was a bit of a fluke. For someone so big, his aerial prowess was poor. He often was out jumped by shorter centre halves, and when he did win headers they weren't the knock down from the Burnley game, they either flicked on to nobody or were aimless. He is a poor header of the ball, and has a poor leap for such a big guy. He has certain odd games (West Brom away was it?) where it seemed to click and defences struggled to handle him. But generally he's been disappointing. Would I rather have him upfront for the last 10 minutes instead on Henriksson. Yes (if he stayed onside). But generally, for the money we paid, there has to be better options available.

Rudy. Rudy. Rudy.

'Nobody can get hold of him' - what happened to David Batty?

The difference between us and Wednesday was they repeatedly stopped playing the players. Therefore boycott action to remove the owners was also seen to be supporting the players. I imagine it made it a much easier decision for match attendees to miss a game. Even then, they still had people that turned up.

Hope Forest win tonight to push West Ham 7 points from safety and Burnley 9 points from safety.

Let's see. 👀

Interesting. So last season on average 1 in 5 didn't attend who had bought tickets (or 20%). However for league midweek games outside of the Christmas period this number is 30% For Saturday games this number is 18.5%. The highest figure for a Saturday game is 24.3% I suspect a large portion of this are kids who have been bought a season ticket (or even match ticket) because they are so cheap, therefore it's easy to "waste".

That seems to have been pinched from here, but it would make sense. My gut feeling is people will make more money from him being elsewhere, so he will end up elsewhere.

That's not reported on their social media feeds (which reports other contract signs), nor can I find any other source saying anything.

Moussa Baradji. Looks like he could be a good player. And yet something tells me he won't be here next year. We were reported as agreeing a loan with an "option-to-buy" However he signed for Yverdon sport in June 2024 on a two year contract. His contract runs out with them on June 2026. Therefore he is a free agent in the summer. Yverdon cannot "sell him" at any point except this window. This implies that the option to buy only is really relevant during this window. In the summer he can go wherever he likes. Am I missing anything?

The Gooner will have every school he possibly can on a coach to this one to inflate the attendance numbers.

As I said, it comes across as a criticism when most times it beats a keeper. I didnt mention it the time as it beats Toth as well. It's certainly not a "Toth might have saved that" comment. But it's not unsaveable. I just think his hands are quite low and the ball goes past him centrally not far from his head. It doesn't fly into the inside side netting or top corner. He's just beaten by surprise and power, but it is saveable. But as I say I'm not digging him out because, Wrexham's first goal aside, he's hardly put a foot wrong. Not making regular mistakes is what I would expect from most keepers at this level. What makes certain keepers better than others is awareness, dealing with crosses and the regularity they pull off saves you don't expect them to make (see Raya, Friedel)

Leicester V West Brom tonight. West Brom, being only 3 points infront of us, clearly have issues and could become unlikely participants in a relegation battle. Not sure where Leicester are up to with points deductions, but if the got the rumoured max of -9 would put them behind us.

I thought the same with the Rathbone strike for Wrexham but didn’t want to say as it sounds like I’m blaming Pears as though it’s a mistake. It’s not, it’s just that better keepers can more regularly pull of what you don’t expect of them.

I doubt a boycott against Watford will get the required numbers. But as it’s the first officially organised boycott of a game against Venkys in 15 years, supported by multiple fan groups, then I can damn well give up one afternoon of watching Rovers in person to try and support what they are doing and help make their voice heard. The question of one thing they have improved is a great one. I can think of nothing, other than things which weren’t possible or widely available in 2010.

He’s not shite. He’s a very average centre back from what I’ve seen, albeit fully committed. It’s the first time we’ve really seen him at RWB and in that first at half he was noticeably poor against Campbell. My view on him and McLaughlin hasn’t changed. If they were brought in to fill the Dion Sanderson role from last year they are decent squad additions. If they are to replace Baath or Hyam they are downgrades.

On the ball he was ok and did well for the equaliser. That’s why I mentioned “out of possession”. It’s just his defensive abilities as a wing back that worry me. He seemed very static.

I thought Miller was poor again out of possession in the first half. Skinned a couple of times by Campbell and then easily bypassed before they switched it for the first goal.

It’s stupid to say our squad has regressed from last season. Says Val He goes on to say “"This is stupid analysis. We didn't lose any quality (in the squad) we reduced the age” Bullshit. Says I. So he may just be a cheap, yes man to Pasha and Gestede’s plan, but when you come out with quotes like that don’t be surprised if people turn on you. At least you always thought Eustace and JDT wanted to drive the club forward.

We did 14 years ago. It made no difference as the owners aren't in the building.

The problem with the Premier League is Van Veen could meet and beat Littler in several weeks in it, but it means very little to either player. It’s has little importance. Results feel generally irrelevant until the finals night. It’s a glorified exhibition for selected players whose participants previously were based partly on popularity than whether they deserve to be there. 20 years ago Taylor V Barney only happened on TV two or three times a year. It was an event. Nowadays it would happen every other week in the Premier League. It just loses the uniqueness. It’s a great cash cow and marketing tool for the PDC, but it’s very samey. I just can’t think of a better “format” to make it more interesting.

Was the same against Wrexham. I got a 70/1 Betbuilder up which basically was Wrexham to win by more than 1 goal and have more Shots on Target. With the squad available it is clearly priced wrong.