Ref has been another poor, inconsistent one all game. But now he has robbed us.

Isnt it exactly what happened last time, and he was only out for a few weeks?

Elliott's least effective game for us today, he doesnt look quite his usual self. Still early days with Trybull and I'll not cast an opinion in stone on him yet, but so far I'm not really convinced. Seems a bit pedestrian, unadventurous in his passing and yet still fannies about with it too much at the back, risking there when he shouldn't. Rothwell has been excellent. Don't like that he keeps looking injured off the ball though, may need to come off but our main threat of making something happen today.

Yep. As long as he is sharp enough after having been unable to train yet again.

Yeh I meant the max we could name, not the max we could use. Totally in favour of the rule change personally. Intensive schedule, certainly helps us with our playing style, injury woes and the amount of players we could do with taking more of a look at. But I'd probably have been in favour of it without any of that. The 5th sub should have to be a keeper though IMO.

Interesting, and a little odd, that Vale is present. Having only just come back from injury and getting a niggle straight away in his first reserve game. Must be a bit depleted for depth. Then again there are what, 9 subs allowed now?

And the other umpteen times he has dropped him?

It probably means we can expect to see Nyambe picking up splinters on the bench.

From the context of what he said next, I'm fairly sure he meant TK. It did make me think though, TM would be far more at risk of complications than all these young and fit current professional footballers. Hope he in particular manages to avoid it. And any other staff of that sort of age upwards.

I did not, hence why I'm asking. As I may or may not get around to it.

Ok so this has been quoted 3 times in this thread now and nobody seems to have read it accurately. I haven't listened to the podcast, maybe there is context either side of this quote that changes the meaning, but the quote itself is saying media coverage of the situation often crossed over into the boundaries of racism. It doesn't mention the fans at all. No need for us to be offended. Outside of the quote, yes I have seen the occasional iffy fan comment in regards to the ethnicity of the owners, although it is undoubtedly from a small minority, as you would find anywhere, and the majority are only interested in how goddamned awful they've been at running the club. This is the same club that worshipped a Turkish man after all.

Odd that Venkys would be asking his opinion then. Well, if it weren't Venkys, from whom oddness is to be expected.

Who is this Nick guy?

Hmm...this one I'm a lot less convinced is a solid idea than the Magloire move to non-league. Purely because this one is til the end of the season. Although there's also the fact it's not even the top semi pro league. Hope theres a recall option and the plan is to bring him back in Jan to send to League Two or One if he has done well enough, and only leave him there if he isn't up to speed with mens football yet.

I imagine that would hurt her.

It has been reported more than once that League One teams have enquired about him on loan. I'm not sold on Buckley yet either though. Has talent, but I feel it's being way overstated. He has a lot to learn yet to be able to consistently affect games at this level. Hopefully he learns most of it soon.

The first Reading goal was definitely at least 50% Pears' fault. Absolutely miles out of position and shouldn't have been chasing the ball in that direction at all. He was being rash and naive. The bounce off Douglas was unlucky but the way the ball was going and where players were positioned, what he did is always the wrong choice. Slightly suspect on one of the others too, but far less so.

I was absolutely stumped we were signing him, but that was because I didn't see why we needed Liverpool's reserve keeper when we had Filan playing well and a competent backup. Never been more wrong.

That's mind-boggling to even consider. I knew he wasn't rated enough at Liverpool of course, but error-prone? I've never seen a less error-prone keeper in my life, the absolute model of consistency. And if I remember rightly they offloaded him because they had Calamity James to rely on? Madness.

Interested enough to pay for it? Not in the slightest.

Did TK give this absolutely superb BJ during the game? I know he only had 4 saves to make but doing that between saves is really disrespecting the opposition. And what about the social distancing rules? No wonder covid is spreading through the camp if this is what we get up to...

I'm absolutely certain I heard them mention his hamstring. I wasnt really paying attention myself to what he had done, as I was busy cursing us, and him, getting another injury so soon, so their commentary is the only reason I knew it was his hammy. Maybe they said knee at first, dunno, but they definitely said hamstring at some point. It's been a good day when all we are arguing about is the commentary though!

Shearer for me. When he went one on one I was almost already celebrating. When he missed it came as a shock.

True potentially but I don't think 'not losing anyone' is remotely on the cards. The last few weeks have shown that. Whether it's the training, the intensity of the playing style, the innate injury proneness of the players, the covid, bad luck, or a combination, it's apparent we are going to have injuries throughout the season. You don't have 11 first team players out as a sheer fluke and go back to having nobody out once it calms down. The question is more about how many we will have, whether they're to key players, or build up in specific areas of the pitch, and whether we can cope with the knocks and setbacks along the way. And of course whether we can start to consistently beat the defensive and organised sides that have been turning us over or getting draws.

I think it was just a throwaway comment by one poster until you took them to task on it though? You've magnified the discussion of the thing you didn't want discussing. Anyway very happy with that, was worried for spells but I think I'm almost happier with a ground out win than another boom and bust 4-0 at the moment. Got to be able to get these inbetweeny wins too.