Patches O Houlihan

More than 19 - we are way more creative this year than last year. > This is your cue to ...moan... striker ... winge... injury .... banjo .... sad face.... We may have four 'cup finals' in the next fifteen days, and even if we don't we'll have two or three in the playoffs. Our side has lost fewer away games in the league this year than anyone else, and we're in better form than our rivals. Can't you just hang your bedsheets out in the sun for a bit and be cheerful?!

To be fair I haven’t watched Rothwell live, on the pitch. Just my impression is that we loose some midfield resilience when he comes on, which is ok if we are still dominating the game.

I guess the exception would be Aribo for Smallbone: But big Joe brings a physical presence which is really working right now

Scoring hugely important goals in our biggest games - I'd take that

With Mara out for the next three games, a sighting of the monster would be very welcome. Although RM suggested he might be nearing fitness last Friday morning I haven't seen him in a training video yet. Sunderland fans started a seven page discussion thread on him yesterday morning. As you'd expect there are plenty praising their management for moving him on. But there are also plenty wishing him well, and pointing out that if fit his value would have been twice the fee the papers reported. Watching that League 1 highlight reel, and knowing he scored 11 goals in the 13 Championship matches he played makes me wonder how this season would have panned out without the hamstring tear after his return... maybe he could still make the difference. COYRS (Come on you Ross Stewart!)

What about Rothwell? He's got a good shot, and is a bit too lightweight for the midfield when we're tiring at the end, but is still a reasonable height. I'd rather throw on Dibling - at least we know he'd run his heart out

...and Gillingham

Have you ever watched a game of football where one keeper didn't touch the ball for the whole game?

I like Nord

You'd hope we'd be building some momentum now. Will need to rotate the squad a bit, and trust the players brought in. 🤞 Has Bazunu ever put in a MoM performance for us? One of these next few games might be a good time to start...

Probably Adams & Arma are both knackered and I need to keep them fit for the run in. Arma is hopeless in the middle. Who can I bring on... failure of recruitment/luck with Ross Stewart's second injury. Aribo CDAJFU as a hold up striker, but of course he was blowing hard as well. Maybe we'll see Dibling or SAA on the bench instead of Mara at some point?

Valderama again failing to cover himself in glory. France U21 striker yet jogs about as if its pre season warm up game, while all around him seasoned pros are sprinting and chasing down all that they can. Their shot that Bazunu got hands too came down the left; you could hear someone on our bench shouting at Mara to pull his finger out, but he didn't which allowed the through ball. Had he run at full pace he would have cut it out easily. Shit like this must be so frustrating for the coaching team

My original post that you quoted but edited stated that Poch & Koeman were also frustrating in cup games

That pissed me off too - as I commented on in that post that you selectively edited! Come on, you're better than that

That's unlike you to be negative. You ok hun?

Even if I had been excited by Puel's league play and results (which I wasn't following the previous three seasons) the ridiculous team selections and capitulations that we saw at the end of our European run would have still made me anti Puel. Bearing in mind our recent (20 year) history, that we didn't make the most of national and European cup games in the Poch/Koeman/Puel years is galling. And yes I know we were a sensible ref's decision away from a cup win under Puel but those away games in Europe. 😠

Maybe that's where all the 'bravery' chat comes from? He's hoping that if he describes them as brave in public, they'll act braver on the pitch and play the aggressive exciting effective football that we want as fans (and maybe he also wants as the manager) To be fair we saw 65 mins worth of that against Ipswich

I've just finished watching the pre-Coventry press conference (both parts). One aspect of the Blackburn game that seemed to particularly frustrate RM was that the players weren't putting in the last 5% effort to make last minute low percentage runs into the box for each other - the kind that create just enough uncertainly amongst defenders that the attack results in a goal. He was also critical that at certain moments a safer ball was 'played to feet' rather than a more aggressive through ball for someone to run on to. I think what I'm saying is that many here are critical of RM based on 'exactly' what they see on the pitch (which is not unreasonable) however it may be that the players during various matches are playing a more risk averse style than he has coached them or wants them to play.

This feels right on the money tonight

This is where I am too. I want him to come good, but there's just no sign of his traditional keeping skills improving right now.

Mad Nate signed Bree in January

Was Wilcox sensibly advising RM, and then the wheels have fallen off since he went on gardening leave?

Roy Keane & Rasmus Ankerson - a match made in heaven! 🤣

Fixed it for you

It was taking Fraser off that started the rot. Ryan said something to the staff as he crossed the touch line, did anyone lip read what he said? To be honest our recruitment has caused some real issues for RM in that game. You have to say that he got the game plan right because we were firmly in charge for virtually the whole first half and the first 10 mins of the second. He's started the biggest, strongest, most experienced (the closest we have to mentality monsters). But then after 65-75 mins you're going to need to bring on some subs and all we had were the lightweights. Usually we have Aribo to come on to bring some steel, Brooks to bring some magic, and Rothwell to either be anonymous or pump in a couple of rockets. Edozie can be good against tired legs, but he wasn't right for this game. Subs available to bring on: Brooks - yep worth bringing on. (I would've brought him on with 10 mins to go for Arma) Rothwell - bit of a Hail Mary but worth bringing on for a tiring Stu around 70-75 mins KWP - arguably should have replaced Bree 5-10 mins before the red card. Who else: Sulemana - nope Mara, Edozie, Smallbone, Manning = all too small and delicate to be able to deliver what we needed in that game. KWP and Brooks are also a little soft but their quality would justify bringing them on. Sadly this group aren't at that level. Arma can't be the strong physical forward that we needed, so you have to keep Che on, because Mara isn't doing it. Sulemana isn't going to be able to deliver the passes we need, Edozie will just stop and then try to beat everyone, and then get shouldered off the ball. So Ryan Fraser has to stay on. If Stewart had been fit since November I see us at least 7 points better off, maybe more. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Will be really sad if we have to wave goodbye to Stu/Fraser/THB/KWP. Nights like tonight suck. PS I appreciate Baz has some skills, but it would be really lovely to have a keeper who pulls out a top draw save now and again. I can only remember one memorable save in nearly 2 seasons...