philipl

Playing with no players this afternoon?

Two ridiculously rubbish sides Derby V Luton

Big test for Ismael. Nothing game for us against opponents who simply have to go for the win.

Batty looked all at sea in that Tranmere come back. Didn't know when to press or avoid getting rolled.

Blackburn Rovers - where 3 managers have sacked the club in the last decade.

The most underwhelming look forward to Easter football I can recall. Millwall will be coming to Ewood for the win to project themselves into the play-offs which will give the game an edge. They are on quite a run at the moment so the team and supporters will believe. All the noise from the sparse crowd will be from the Darwen End. Likelihood of us getting to half time at least 2 down has to be high. Montgomery will be unavailable. Travis and Hyam will play. Beyond that we need a random number generator for the starting eleven. This sort of a nothing game will be a measure of Ismael's abilities.

I too thought we were down to 9 until I realised Trav was still on the park.

Credit where credit is due but Luton deserve to be where they are if they can't win 12 V 10. Good to see us playing some passing football and defending effectively. Montgomery looks a proper footballer and that ref a brainless bully. Good that we finally have a double (at the last opportunity) and 1965/6 remains the last season when we didn't get one. Here's hoping Ismael has turned a corner in a positive direction.

What an abysmal ref that was.

We owe it to John Eustace to win this one.

Back to football. Having seen the "highlights" of their home defeat to Hull yesterday, if Ismael can't set up Rovers to give Wednesday a thrashing we are well and truly in the mire.

In the spirit of apathy around here it is appropriate that someone not going to this match starts the thread for the crisis derby. The club going for 6 defeats on the trot taking on the unpaid. Someone posted on BRFCS they wished they had the Sheffield Wednesday owner at Ewood... He might turn up which is more than Venkys ever will. It will be 0-0 unless Ainsley drops the ball in his own net. Makhter Gueye to knock a Wednesday player out cold in a fit of total frustration.

Oh dear. Got a dud.

With 7 first team regulars out, Pompey were there to be beaten. All Ismael had to do was pick the regular stand in right back and regular centre forward. Instead Carter and Woodrow gave season worst performances. Huge shame for Beck. Before he went off it had looked like he and Ribeiro were going to prosper on the left flank. Somehow we are still only 5 points of 6th with a current form which is by far the worst in the Championship. With the bottom clubs winning regularly it is a good job we have got to 52 points.

If I were deliberately trying to lose today, I would pick a team with Woodrow up front and no right side.

Watched Sweden 5 Northern Ireland 1. After apparently a horrendously bad performance against Luxembourg, Sweden played some really sweet stuff and of course have an excellent keeper as we know all too well and a world class striker in Isak. Certainly could see JDT hallmark style in the way they play. I was left wondering how we managed to have Ayari on loan and not have him play every possible second he was with us. Kid has potential to be one of the best.

England are so boring. Pass backwards more often than Forshaw.

My profound thanks to Mr Ismael for delivering the coup de grace today and avoiding any prolonged agony.

OK, I can forget about football for two weeks

Phillips og

well my forecast of 0-0 lasted all of 4 minutes

Crikey, the Academy results had been recovering! The whole club is disintegrating.

Huge for both sides. Fully expecting a listless clueless performance from us. It might be enough to get 3 points, it might be not. That said I don't think Cardiff are currently good enough to take their opportunity so a 0-0 draw is what it will be.

Eustace did us a big favour last night but put Stoke right back in the relegation mix. It is back in our own hands again to chase a play off place. Over to big bad Val...

Realistic? Grim.