DE.

I wasn't hugely enamoured with Elimination Chamber, although a distinct lack of strong build to the event was a big part of the reason why. The show itself was OK, but I wouldn't recommend anybody to go out of their way to watch it. Bryan/Gulak was a great opener, as I expected it would be. Some of the bumps DB took did bother me though, particularly the one they kept replaying where he got dumped on the back of his head and neck. There is no way to take a bump like that safely and DB especially really shouldn't be taking those kinds of risks. It made me a bit uncomfortable and seemed reckless. Gulak looked strong in defeat, but you know WWE won't do anything with him so it doesn't really matter. Andrade/Carillo was alright, but Carillo has lost so many times in these types of matches that he just looks like a loser now. Also lacks charisma to me. Always enjoy seeing Zelina at ringside though, so it's not all bad. The tag team elimination chamber match was decent, but I could only be so interested in it as I didn't care much for most of the teams participating. Roode/Ziggler are boring as shit. Miz/Morrison are from 2010. Lucha House Party are jobbers. The Usos and New Day are both great but stuck in limbo going nowhere. Heavy Machinery were the best of the bunch, but you knew they weren't winning this one with Miz and Morrison only recently winning the belts. No idea why they didn't do the title change here instead tbh. Styles/Black started off really slow, but got better as the match went on and was actually pretty good by the end. Undertaker appears for the second PPV in a row and downs AJ with a single chokeslam. Still not making me want a match between the two, as AJ in no way looks a threat to Taker. I also have no idea what Undertaker's motivation is for attacking Styles and the OC. To my knowledge they don't really have a history, so what's the beef here? Will it be explained? Undertaker himself looks much better than he has in previous years, but I doubt he can move much anymore. Wish he'd stick to one off appearances rather than having WM matches at this point in all honesty. His time has passed and his entrances are usually more entertaining than anything that happens afterwards. Street Profits/Rollins & Murphy was a Raw match. We literally saw this on last week's Raw, complete with Kevin Owens interfering. Creative on this has been out of ideas for weeks now. Then on Raw it's straight back to an eight-man tag with these lads, Viking Raiders, etc... feels almost as drawn out as Reigns and Corbin. Also I have to ask, again, why do the title change on Raw as opposed to the PPV? Talk about backwards booking. They threw the random "Street Profits can never challenge for the titles again" stipulation on Raw for no clear reason - why not have the Profits lose on Raw then have a verbal exchange with Rollins/Murphy afterwards agreeing never to challenge for the belts again if they get one more chance at the PPV. WWE just has zero logic with storytelling. Strowman Vs Nakamura, Cesaro, Zayn... honestly who cares? The women's chamber match kind of sucked. The women worked hard but hardly any of them are over which meant the match had a tepid atmosphere throughout. The booking of the match itself was baffling, with huge amounts of dead time between Shayna eliminating people and then waiting for the next person to come out of their pod. The final part when she was waiting for Asuka felt like it went on forever. Stupid layout. The only part of the match that was memorable to me was when Liv got swung into the side of the pod, that spot looked brutal. Not much else that was interesting and definitely should not have been the main event. The tag team chamber match 100% should have gone on last, although that was nothing special either. So yeah, overall pretty sub-standard for me and way below the benchmark set by AEW and NWA in recent months.

Hopefully he doesn't get the same treatment Travis did for that misdemeanor! We barely saw him again until Smallwood's suspension at the end of Dec 18.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30064890 The glory days.

I reckon he probably has a number of options available to him in the summer. Might already have agreed one - just didn't want to cut short what will likely be the largest contract of his career. I wouldn't have pegged Smallwood for that kind of player but the fact he chose not to move in the summer or January despite obviously not being in the manager's plans says it all.

Whilst I agree Mulgrew is well below the standard required, it's still bizarre that even with a bench devoid of any defenders Mulgrew is nowhere to be seen. We're paying him a small fortune to do absolutely nothing and that should be something the manager is questioned about.

At the very least it's crazy that Mulgrew isn't even on the bench when we have literally no central defenders available. Something very strange going on there.

I was worried as soon as I saw Armstrong, Gallagher, Rothwell and Brereton all in the same line up. It should be a cause for excitement and optimism but I just felt dread as I couldn't see them working well together - and unfortunately that is how it went. We would have been better off with Johnson in CM and Downing playing with Armstrong and two of Gallagher/Graham/Brereton/Rothwell up top. Starting with four young, largely inconsistent attackers who have barely played together as a unit was asking for trouble. I've been annoyed with Tony in the past for taking the safe option too often, but today his attacking choice was the opposite. A total risk that backfired massively when his big signings once again failed to deliver. The only consistency we got from TM was Bennett coming in at RB, and predictably the poor lad was targeted and made to look horrendous in that position for the hundredth time. Isn't it time someone at the LT asked what the situation is with Mulgrew? Or is that on a list of banned topics?

3 points from 12 when the pressure is on says it all. There has been no corner turned here, it's the same old shit we have been witnessing all the way back to the Bowyer days. As soon as we get close to the playoffs we crumble and collapse. A weak mentality which will only change when we get a proper winner in the dugout. Nearly 10 years into Venky's tenure and we're still waiting for a Championship calibre winner to take the hot seat.

Another warning as K-Hod's seems to have been ignored in some quarters, baiting other posers rather than discussing the match will lead to a sin bin. Debating football related stuff, fine. Creating a post which only serves to antagonise is not fine. It's easy to understand.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for TM. I doubt it but it's the second season in a row we've thrown away a genuine playoff chance.

Truth be told the only reason we're even in contention for the top 6 is because the quality in this division is appallingly bad. Preston have lost 4 of their last 5 and are 6th ffs. It's an absolute circus and we are as much part of the clown act as anybody else unfortunately.

Worth noting if we lose today that's 3 points from 12 (WLLL equivalent) so we've basically sleepwalked into one of Mowbray's spirals without realising it. Possibly because the teams above and below us have been equally poor meaning we haven't lost as much ground as we normally would.

Considering our general inability to win matches once we go behind I think this one may already be a write off as far as 3 points goes. Could snatch a draw but would require some turnaround in the second half.

We'll always have that 15 minute cameo and that u23 goal I guess.

Downing in the centre with Travis... Who knows how the Armstrong, Gallagher, Brereton trio will line up. At least two of them will likely be out of position regardless.

That's my understanding. There could be years between games so I guess from their perspective you're getting a full game each time.

Hah, nope. They are treating every chapter as a full game so if you want to buy them on the day of release you'll be forking out a minimum of £60 each time. So if there's four chapters that's £240...

Yeah the tape library is pretty much what I have the Network for. Love watching old Nitro/Raw episodes especially, and they still hold up today (for me anyway). I will usually watch the current PPVs but more out of a sense of obligation/getting my money's worth than because I really want to. For the most part they are boring as shit, like most of WWE's modern product. Couldn't really care less about WM but if it was on the Network I'd still watch it. If not then meh, there are other ways. Scott Steiner apparently having a heart operation after collapsing recently. Fingers crossed the genetic freak comes through it alright!

Huge win for Boro today, hauling them out of the relegation zone and dumping Charlton into it. I expect Barnsley and Luton to drop, but think Hull could end up taking the final relegation place. They're in total freefall at the moment.

Yeah I edited my post for clarification afterwards... basically I would imagine the Graham transfer was more or less agreed before Coyle even arrived. Coyle got sod all to work with in terms of budget, for sure.

Graham was signed by Lambert (initially on loan) after Rhodes was sold, if I recall correctly? Don't think he was a Coyle signing (although I guess you could argue Coyle made him permanent, but I'm guessing that was essentially already agreed). Mulgrew definitely was though.

Come on now. We reinvested by bringing in stars like Browny, Delfouneso, Fode Koita... actually, never mind. Yes we did.

Can only assume they were desperate for money. It would be like us selling Dack and Travis with no reinvestment.

I was talking with a former Ipswich player a couple of weeks ago and his impression was that Evans is happy to reposition Ipswich as a League 1 club due to how expensive the Championship has become to compete in. Last season they stocked up on League 1 players, and their business this season doesn't suggest they were gunning for an immediate return to the Championship. I imagine their operating model now will be academy players, free transfers and cheap loans.

To be honest I doubt I'll get it when it comes out. As much as I'm anticipating the game I'm not paying £60 (normal edition) or £75 (deluxe edition) for it. Will wait until it sees a price decrease.