Holmes_and_Watson

It's a little weird that you know SOG's Dear Diary opening for the day. 🙂

Apart from a cup final, I really remember him in his veteran years. Which must have been in his mid 30s at the start of those. One of those impressive stand outs, with a bit of everything. Good in midfield and in defence, a good leader and as tough as nails

Appointment

It's brave work from the evolutionary psychologists to show that when heads go far enough up their own rears regression also occurs. Are we not men? No! We are Devo(lutionary psychologists)! This was also toss. You've never missed an opportunity to portray yourself as the champion of empathy, and therefore right. All while expressing some of the worst, myopic, out dated, intolerance the board gets to see.

That he did all that endurance running, while having such a serious blood disorder, makes him even more of a legend in my eyes.

Stone

Mantra

Plenty of time for Downs to break back into the USA squad.

He's not back to being the total lump he was for quite a while, but Aribo is obviously a bit rusty and not as mobile as he could be. That said, the pace of that second half was very different. Everyone was a bit slower and more measured. Only Robinson having a few solo runs and AA's work rate strong, even when slower. Even then, Aribo's awareness closed things down without him having to bust a gut. He also took up at least one really good space only for no one to pass to him. That, and the off chance of getting some January pennies for him, and I can see why he's there.

If Tonda keeps giving us dull second Halfs, then he's got no chance of getting the job. 🙂 All done in the first half again. And again, the set up makes the most of our weaker areas, with lots of support for each other. AA roamed even more tonight to create space for the others. Scienza once again the beneficiary, along with Azaz. Scienza is able to disrupt defences with even the smallest opportunity and makes a massive difference. Initially Fellowes had to run from deeper than he'd have liked to. But he had his opponents well beaten, with one sentence off and the other lucky to escape cards. It's a shame we've no target man for his crosses. He had to adapt his delivery. With no Stephens THB was the one getting forward. And he did it well, in addition to the two headers. Manning becomes key to a lot of our set pieces. We need to be attacking, so that teams don't exploit us at full back. Quarshie is a lot rawer. But his presence put Leicester off and he did things well. Downes picked up his obligatory card, although he looked angry with himself for it. In truth, he should have got one a lot earlier. Bragg gets a start. Cameos for Robinson, who showed some direct runs, Aribo with more pluses than minuses and Downs who won a header, even if he decided not to aim towards the goal with it. All sensible switches from Tonda. The squad players know what they need to do, to start. This weekends game to come. But if it goes half decently, Tonda will get the job. Then not long until the window for Spors to rectify the centre forward issue.

Yours can't count because a) it's you and not him b) your example isn't being used to support a headline in the Guardian, without understanding the context and, importantly, c) your personal anecdotes are real ones. The closest SOG has personally come to a racial incident is the one he faked on here, when there were national incidents, and then blamed his wife.

We need an Alan Ball. 🙂

I woke up screaming from my usual existentialist nightmares. Why sit staring into the void, terrified of the futility and bleakness of it all? I can put the cricket commentary on...sod...

Just so much harder against 10.

I saw Fenandes put in his usual defensive work leading up to their goal. On the other hand, that might have been his missed shot that led to the sending off. Such a daft way to get sent off.

It's a bit like a Rento.

Crater

Data

Having any kind of centre forward would have improved our squad, as would an all round better goalkeeper. But both would have had to have wanted to be here, which I'm not sure is the case for either of them. Since the tactics would have had them running through treacle anyway, it would be a no.

Agreed. In his early appearances, it was clear he wasn't an out and out defensive midfielder. He could do the basics, but wasn't at the stage of controlling a game. Later, when he appeared, he did fine in a game where he had a bit more space, and tidily passed it about. It was another game with lots of space for him against Charlton, which suits him. As you say, he'll face tougher tests and time will tell.

Battlefield

Autos 🙂 But really this. And not necessarily that he must win every game. SR recruitment is to blame for a lot of our issues. If Tonda can show he has a plan, that allows the players to create, even in difficult circumstances, that would go a long way.

With Stephens, you have someone who is versatile (if limited). He was picking up space when other CBs moved, such as THB supporting Fellows. In the second half, with the pace dropped, he moved more directly into midfield runs, with Bragg and Jander supporting. He was shouting at least a few times too. You can see him trying to do lots of good things, although the execution is a bit uncertain at times. We passed through Charlton's press right from the start. By the time the goals went in, they were already unsure of it, and it failed completely. For games like that Baz is excellent, and has been key. Range of passing out from the back? Good distribution? Unflappable? All ticks to his game. Sadly, it's the other games, with different skills needed that's the problem. Tonda set us up really well to give AA a lot of freedom, giving the others the responsibility to support or feed off him. Like you say, he gave the players the responsibility to show their sense. He's also aware that Leicester are going to offer different challenges. As others have pointed out, we still have the same weaknesses. Tonda just has to keep working at minimising those, and develop winning ways despite them. And against different set ups. Not the easiest of tasks.

I am not a lower order M'lord! Oh darn again... 🙂

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