LiberalCommunist

Another Markus would do me. How cruel that we only had him for a year. God rest his soul.

I've never bothered with any of those daft bbc predictors or anything such like. But, so alarmed by our last dozen games, I thought I'd check on the one team that can bother us. Fulham. The good news is, they have Spuds, Pool & City in the next three. The bad news, the way they are playing, they could grind 13 points from the remaining games, and that's being pragmatic. The good news to continue that pattern is we'd recoup £7M for Lemina. The bad news is, that's thirteen points without any surprise results, and lets be honest, this season is all about the surprises. So now I feel obliged to leave this on a good note. The club has had a massive wake up call. Gao cannot go into another season with this gamble. Ralph, who's stock was so high in November, that the whispers would have us believe that clubs had already made enquires, has had a total reset. He is not as bad as this run we are on, but he takes a share of the blame. Can we build back better? Will Danny find his true spiritual home? The coming months will tell. Win the next game and this thread will die. That's the best I've got.

I think Martin, in his desperation to stay out of the limelight made quite a few blunders last night. But, in comparison to recent weeks, it was much better. DCL's flappy arms will soon be noticed, he won't keep getting away with putting his hands in the face of opponents, its not violent content, but it does nullify the defender, a poke in the eye often has this consequence. The high boot by MS, got lovely contact on the ball, could go either way. And finally, on to the challenges MD suffered. Had that been the other way round, they would have surrounded the ref forcing him to red card the offending player. Hell, they were nearly doing that with nothing 50/50's. But, everyone hates MD, including Ings who seems to consider him irrelevant, so anything goes. Some of the treatment he gets by the opposition is totally out of order, and the lack of protection by officials is criminal. So he's theatrical, that does not justify it. I expect we'll lose him to a ankle injury before the end of the season at this rate. Anyway, blue line drawn, time to move on and start my eternal gaze at ref watch in the hope they intensify the pressure on themselves and piss off some other club.

I'm confident we'll have some luck tonight. Just not convinced it will be the good kind.

I want the refs to feel the criticism, whether that's MOTD or on the big tech. As there is seemingly no accountability within the job, and the cowards at the PGMOL don't feel the need to show any respect for the game or fans, then at least the message has a way of getting through to them. Do I condone death threats and abuse, no I do not. But if I don't do my job properly, I fully expect people to tell me so. So after the match, stand in front of the camera and tell us how you came to the decision. Show more transparency. Be more consistent. And if you can't do any of that, don't moan about being victim when the world starts to moan in your direction. Its a paid position which requires athletic stamina and mental strength, and half of them are stealing a living at this moment.

No such thing as a free hit. But my expectations are very low for tomorrow evening. No new injuries would be great. A goal would be most welcome. A draw would be fantastic. But if it all goes south, there will be no bed-wetting from me. Sheff Utd - Brighton being the next two fixtures. No excuses. Do our job, and we have a slow stroll to the finish line, and a glimpse of cup glory. The season isn't over yet.

Any chance of a small covid outbreak and a three week break? No, okay, stick Jack in midfield and take the 4-0 defeat. On to the next.

What all this shows is, we have given far too much power to the refs. They are backed up by cowards running the line, and the equally complicit guys at Stockley Park ready to roll out the cover up plan. And then, in the face of obvious incompetence we get less than a whisper from the PGMOL. No accountability, no contingency, no respect for the fans or the game. And after all that, they expect me to condemn online abuse as they play the victim when some lonely drunk spews outrage on the inter-web.........nah......I'll save my sympathy for a slightly less corrupt politician getting belters from Piers Morgan if you don't mind.

Thank the good lord we don't have Mason or Dean on Monday. Sends shivers down my spine thinking about the prospect!

I quite like a visit to grandolteam on occasions, nobody moans like a scouser! But I would NEVER sign up, that is just sad. No offence toffee mate. lol

Never known a season like this. The warnings were there, no pre-season, parts of the training ground locked down. Less contact, less mixing, less staff around. But to lose the key players at the key times has been devastating. Vest, Danny, Kyle, & Oriol, all when on top form. Is that a exaggeration? Its really not, all four at the time of the injury were playing brilliantly. Could chuck Diallo in there as well. Feels like a curse. How dare we prioritise the cup. How dare we match up with the big boys in the early part of the season. How dare we. Well, slap down accepted. I'm ready for this season to end. Dreading Monday now, feel sorry for Ralph having to live this, it must be utterly bewildering.

It would take the biggest collapse in football history for us to get relegated. But, I'm keeping a beedy eye on Fulham now. Imagine if Lemina scores the goal that..................... ..............SHUDDER........................

I'd be a tad concerned starting AJ, because we seem to have annoyed the whole of the ref association. The first 50/50 would be just too painful to watch unfold.

If a team gets relegated after accumulating 29 pts by January, then it has to be said, they fully deserve to go down. There's no denying that. 2019 - Pretty bad 2020 - forth best team in the land 2021 - Utter dog shit. I think that's what makes this hard to swallow. How has it gone so wrong? Nobody is headhunting Ralph now, so there's always that. And I firmly believe he is better than what is happening right now.

And double points for the win on the last day like F1. Sounds like a great plan. Can imagine the money men rubbing their hands together right now mummering 'We could do that.......'

I think we should maybe win tomorrow, so we can stop looking at these teams jumping us in the table. Our bad run doesn't need to define our season, but we need to put it behind us bloody quickly.

BEST JINX EVER lol

Well, they can dine out on that result while languishing in the Championship for a few years then. I'm sure that will make it all worth while. Again, dreadful team.

If Sheff Utd get a goal in this game, it will be a bigger smash and grab than our 1st 45 today! They look so utterly out of their league.

I'm not sure who enjoyed that less intensive performance the most, the players or me! When the commentators pointed out with derisory smugness that Chelsea had 80% possession, it actually made me feel more relaxed than in previous weeks. Some of the passing was pretty bad as we adjusted to he different pace, but the bodies were in the right area's and all of them were working for each other. Mini's goal must have made Joe Cole spit his soy latte all over his burberry suit. But fear not, his notes remained dry, he had left them in the car. A off day for Jwp & Ings, but lots of good performances from others. Special mention for Djenepo who put in a massive shift with some really good decision making, which bodes well for the future. Not sure why the opposition dislike him so much, but if a Chelsea player suffered half the kicks he got today we would have had a red card. Taylor, who I actually rate was poor today. He should have stamped out some of the studs up reckless from them in the first 45. The 50/50's felt like 35/65's. He's lucky we didn't make his job more difficult, so he got away with it. Massive upgrade on the omnipotent Mike Dean though. All in all, this puts to bed a very forgettable six games. Now for four away games as we head towards a QF with some optimism. UTS

I've tried blanking this game out, so forgive me if I'm wrong. But on that dreadfully wet surface, Ryan slid in, play goes on, they score a goal, then VAR goes back to look at it and sends him off. That's my double jep. God that night makes me cringe.

If you have only just realised this, then I suggest watching the highlights of that game again, just to see how bad the double jeopardy rule screwed us in that game with the goal and sending off. Not seen it happen since, in a season and a half. Don't think it will ever happen again.......unless we get the dream team again.

Leeds play Wolves tonight, and us midweek. So lets hope they have a blood n thunder affair to even out the 24hr rest difference. Will be an interesting game, wolves don't impress me at all. Look a shadow of last season. Leeds blow hot and cold, and the media love them.

Got a cloud of foreboding dread hanging over me in regards to this game. Fully expecting us to start really well and then get screwed by var. I hope Tunchel has placed all his eggs in the Champions League basket.

So looking back over our recent run of games. The Liverpool game stands out as a bit of an abnormally. We won, without any contentious decisions going against us. And here’s the thing, if we had Dean, Mason or Scott in the middle for that game, it would’ve been a certain defeat. Mane's little dive would’ve been given as a penalty and we will have capitulated. Of that I have no doubt. A lot of people say these things even themselves out over a season but what if they don’t? The losing run goes from bad to catastrophic. Confidence drops along with team morale. It can have a devastating effect. There is no excuse for the second-half performances we are putting in, but it certainly is aided and abetted by incompetent officials. I can live with the officials and the people at Stockley park making mistakes, and all the inconsistencies with the game changing decisions, but for it to be so one-sided, it’s killing my enjoyment of the sport I love. Now as match days approach, the first name on the team sheet I look for is the guy with the whistle.......and that's pretty sad.