Holmes_and_Watson

Manning done again. Short range and solid McCarthy stop. We do look disjointed not playing the game that gives us the possession

Mara's overhead not troubling. Commentator said "not heavily involved."which sums up his playing style. So far, others have to do more of the work to get it to him. If it's going to work.

Dreadful out from the back. McCarthy trickled the pass out. Baz knew the strength of his passing. We look a lot shakier doing that under McCarthy

Stephens would get a lot more credit if he didn't do those longer, riskier no look passes that go straight to opponents. A thing since his return. The other are better, as they know the angles for the passes, reducing the risks.

Nice run from Aribo. Elsewhere Mara sticks close to his man not offering much

Nearly from AA. Good stuff from Downes and Aribo. Mara had a good moment a minute back, winning it back. But posted missing to get Manning's pass and the move after it.

Manning got done there.

Some nice passing. Jack didn't get control. But we get some control, a decent effort from KWP (mara lurking on the back post)

Yeah, Che did a lot of work getting us control. Mara is a lot slower getting back. Che just got on with working for the team, while Mara looking to get it further up.

Our possession and control were more than WBA could cope with to get us ahead before. If this is like Leeds, we've given up that possession. WBA are hard working, so it's not a surprise we're under the cosh early.

COYR!

Baz, Stu and Che now missing. A system adjustment as well. So, some concerns. Fortunately, we've still got lots of quality in there. Mara did show a couple of glimpses a while back in a CF position. But he'll need a step up on recent form. Hopefully we'll get that, as he'll know Stewart will be coming on at some point.

Well, that's spoiled my fun. Just some old football game on now. 🙂

The game will bring challenges. But we have shown our strengths in the last 2 games against them. If we remain focused and not over confident, we will bring them plenty of challenges too.

Brush

Franny will be in goal. Of course he's going up. 🙂

Fraser 10/10 to be forgotten by Gio. 🙂

"Like politicians leaving a sinking party," as marine based rodents say. Sunak's predecessors, major financial hits, policy fails, fatigue that all parties get, internal bun fights/ power grabs. Whatever [insert phrase other than "green shoots"] is being made now is offset against that lot. Also offsetting it are people's memories of previous labour administrations. There are still not many interviews that go by without "fully costed" being mentioned. A number of radio programmes this week taking us back to the 70s too. Grim. That might make it closer. Even then, Starmer looks likely. He'll then see his party expand into government, and keeping the lid on the parts of the party he's trying to purge will be hard. And he has to be careful not to lose the votes connected to some of those to other parties. Implementing major "fully costed" measures, will be difficult too. Being able to change with the wind and making u turns won't be as easy as it's been. The recent conservative policies have left even less wiggle room for them financially, as Egg said. So far, he's got a handle on what makes them electable, rather than just ideologically popular. Something some of his party have generationally struggled with. It's an ask to keep his party coherent. But, if he shows a strength of leadership (which doesn't seem to be big part of him, but might be him with his eyes on the voting prize) it might take a couple of parliaments for them to really implement anything they really want. Keeping the electorate onside, while also building for that lot is also going to be tough.

I thought there was a mix of things going on with Romeu's departure. He was very happy at the club and the area. He had become our regular starter by then. Later, and I read it as contract negotiations, there was a hint of a move somewhere else. Livramento's success was the perfect example for SR (even if he was starting to look tired, before his injury) They were also looking to significantly reduce the wage bill. Lavia turned out to be another good fit. Whether the club had told Romeo that his minutes would be more limited. Or if he could see SR's approach and saw he wasn't going to be first choice. The club may have had to give Latvia some assurances to get him here too. When the offer came in, it would have been a tough decision for Romeu. Some of it suited him. Some of it suited the club's goals. The deal needed some additional help to get over the line, even then. It would have been perfect if the club had realised it was a position that already needed strengthening. That young players are not going to be able to consistently perform across a season, not to mention fatigue and injury. There were plenty of minutes there for both of them. It's a shame that the club didn't find a way for that to be communicated to both enough, that they both wanted to stay. Had they both played, then there would perhaps been an issue elsewhere, but could have been resolved. We really needed both. AMN, as others who knew much more than I did about him, commented on what a poor replacement he was for that position at the time. There's a bit of me that thinks the club gets carried away with itself (not just SR). I'd hope it's mainly PR, but suspect they actually believe it. So cutting wages and bringing in young talent may have made them keener than they should have been to move some players on. Throughout all this, and his career, Romeu was a consummate professional. One of my favourites in recent years. A mix of everything we want in a midfielder from breaking up play, technical ability and getting us organised and moving.

Horn

Us at the pub? Oh no, we're being sold! 🙂

Hoot

Probably true enough. I caught the Beeb news cycle on it this morning. Their representative sounded really weak trying to defend a lot of what Elphike had said in the past. One question, picked up on from an early answer, was how did Elphicke saying sorry allow her in, while Dianne Abbott is apparently still waiting for a decision, a year after her apology. The answer was't connected to the question. The rest of the interview was like that, which isn't a good look. It came across as them not having any stances on anything, that would prevent anyone coming in, if it suited them. But in a while, she'll just be listed out as a name when the next detection occurs.

Golf swing is no Windmill.

And possibly last. 🙂