Holmes_and_Watson

I still think they got interested when RalphBall was going well, they heard about the playbook, and knew Gao wasn't investing and looking for a sale. They thought that they could come in, implement their ideas of getting on the cusp players from elite clubs, with some Brentford like signings and thrive in the PL. They hadn't paid enough attention to when RalphBall went wrong, and even with best of intentions, haven't done at all well in dealing with much since.

I doubt we'll see the best of either of them in RM's system. Not to mention the bit parts they've had as opportunities. Both decent purchases though. Nathan was out of his depth. Perhaps time away finding out the training and development plans of elite clubs, then applying those to his approach on a club our size would have worked. He said he was data driven, so then he could have seen the improvements across the squad. Even then, I remember Stu coming on, and having to turn and ask what was expected of him in a game that had already seen a few system changes.

It's hard to imagine SR actually being so invested in/aligned to RM's approach and a 10 year plan (possibly following it), that they wouldn't make the changes if we get well beaten in the next 2. They were supposedly invested in Ralph's system and had looked at Nathan over a long period before bringing him in. They could follow a Brighton data approach. Where they could see where they needed to improve, and work on that confident the results would come. Martin will no doubt have pointed out finishing (note: from not many chances) and individual errors (note:within his system). The large squad, recruitment and resources will have played their part on expectations too. Having gone through managers to get to here, are they wanting to follow another cycle of it? Do they really have confidence their hiring approach is going to keep us in the PL this time, when it's not worked at all so far

Edozie did actually score a few last season, the same number of league goals as Fraser I think. Fraser made an immediate impact when we got him. He's experienced and I had no issues with the deal bringing him here, even as that impact faded a bit as he fell into our system. Sule was frozen out. Showed some pace but no end product. Even less than Sam. BBD is wasted out there. Cornet is better than what we saw against Stoke. He's very match rusty, and his own reactions showed that. He wasn't happy how it went any more than we were. But Sam offered more. Presumably AA and Dibling are other options out there too. I thought Sam was improving this season, and was looking forward to seeing more of him. All of them, like our other attackers, suffer with the system. We try to move teams around from such deep positions that attackers have a lot of work to do as a unit to get any chances. Stoke played compact and narrow, allowing AA some freedom on the right. Others are less narrow, but compact and we struggle to get anything going from our passing across our back line. Before he left, Sam was trying a number of different things, often having to wait for support. With our bloated squad and struggling results, a season away will hopefully get him more game time. He can use the things he's developed under Martin with his own strengths. We should get a better player back.

Troll

Today's quick look has Trump saying "whether the women want it or not" in reference to protection from "migrants" and "missiles" The Beeb have a still of Biden at the worst possible point of him interacting with a child dressed up as a chicken. The still shows Biden taking a bite from the child's costumed leg. So one for those folk believing in the worst of activities on social media. The actual video of course shows something rather different.

He looked as though he was myopically trying to read from an autocue. Even then, he stumbled with the sentences leading up to it, resulting in his comment. Hard to know what he actually means, with his lack of coherency. I understand why getting there, he wanted to hang on for his second term. But he looks frailer every time I see him. Just think of the comments he'd have made had Harris not been selected and he was picking up on all those appearances.

Under

After the draw, they were interviewing Ruud van Nistelrooy. He was in a black pullover and had stubble. So 2 of the key SR requirements right there. If he's not part of the incoming coaching set up there, he must be on our radar now. Obviously, he'll have to ditch that high scoring nonsense he was doing tonight.

He absolutely is. If he goes on a run under RussBall, it creates too much space to pass to a team mate expecting a short, sideways pass. As our forwards will have dropped back to collect a pass, none of them will be forward to receive any of his crosses either. So Suga's natural instinct and expectations are going through some changes.

I hope Lallana goes into the right dressing room. 🙂 Home at least.

Yeah. It stopped the Democrats from getting the full news mileage on the Republican warm up act's comments. I heard that Biden had wanted to be supporting Harris more at events ahead of the election, only for her team to politely keep him as far away as possible. Probably reducing the chance of accidentally spiking oil prices by keeping him quieter too. I wonder what else they'll do to alienate voters before the election.

One of the million programmes breathlessly devoted to Man Utd's management change mentioned that they brought him in, expecting the same style of possession football as he was using at Ajax. The pragmatic Ten Haag tried instead to get some use out of the squad he inherited, and couldn't shift on their vast wages. So, they became more counter attacking. Which is where he's clearly gone wrong. Like Martin, he should have stuck to his guns, enforcing his style. If he somehow lasted until Wilcox got there, he would have found a like mind who would talk about "the project" rather than someone who was more pragmatic, and put of step with those above him. Martin's style at all costs means that clubs know exactly what they're getting. There is no Plan B. He's pinned his career path on it.

Dose

RussBall struggles to get past a compact team after all this time of practicing it. Doesn't appear that they've spent any time on anything else, such as getting the best out of TP. Stick with that plan A.

Doubleplusgood.

Lots of generally positive views here. As I was reading, I popped on the radio, for what seemed to be something unusually scathing on the Beeb "tax rises that can seen from near earth orbit" "The shredding of commitments, including borrowing rules to fund...more borrowing." "Money pumped into infrastructure to get growth that even with that investment is showing to be somewhat anaemic in projected figures." They are mentioning the risk of the borrowing not resulting in a growth that already tails off the year after next.

History will show us as the true winners.

It was I think 3 in the first half. Despite massive amounts of possession, it reflected how few passes actually reached probably our best finisher. Archer saw at least a few times that he had taken up positions to receive the ball. One was when AA went for goal himself. We were getting more room with AA, as Stoke kept it more compact in the middle.

I did let out a laugh as that ball bounced towards our goal for the their third. Just farcical to nearly lose the game.

Suga saved us conceding a third, and Bree gets his second late goal of the cup to get us the win. As always Martin will look at the possession, their few chances and our errors. We can all look at a dominant team failing to press most advantages. Also that teams will always get gifted at least one. Martin took off Archer, AA and Fernandes. That left us with TP, Sule, Cornet, SAA and BBD late on trying to get a goal. But boy we struggle to move into anything direct. TP crying out for a cross. It was a poor couple he got in the end. Sule did well for the assist, but very little else other than a poor touch. BBD anonymous. SAA did okay with very little to do. Cornet is incredibly rusty. Without Fernandes, who had taken a knock, we lacked creativity. Aribo was needed all over tonight, in a Smallbone like role, to keep things together. For the Leicester game I thought Les should have been the one to come on. I now wonder why he was on that bench. A couple of good passes into space, but well off in breaking them up, first tough and tackling. A strong 40 odd minutes, without pressing our advantage undone in a second and a fairly disjointed struggle over the line.

Need a goal? Try Russ' risk averse football. Make sure you get that new contract first though.

Oh for... Dominance without killing a game off does for us again. Big Les nowhere near strong enough. Marker at back post missing too.

Nearly total control, yet we still gift a goal. Not the best defending from a clumsy free kick, and Suga gets an assist for them. Apart from that, our strong team are too much for Stoke with RussBall passing it around their compact centre. Them being central is giving AA plenty of space. He clearly wanted a goal. He could have brought Archer in at least once for a tap in, but thumped it. We had a good set pieces resulting in THB's header. Their defender struggled to clear giving us a pen for the second. Aribo has been the stand out this evening. Linking things up, mobile and getting forward too. Les' made some raw touches early on. With the space he's getting, he's settled in a bit. Cornet trying to be involved, having come on for Fraser, but rusty. 75% possession, but 6 efforts and only a goal ahead.

Another day of interviewees on Beeb completely avoid answering, relying on 30 seconds of repeating a line knowing that soundbites will be fine. Contrast with a 3 hour interview. Not many would want to go anywhere near that. He does engage. I'd wonder about the fact checking (but both sides have issues there when it suits them), but the style he has does have an entertainers cunning behind it. He broadly knows what he wants. Another popular appearance for the candidate with by far the most name recognition. That he did it, engaged, while the Harris team didn't is only going to go his way. As I mentioned in other posts both sides are so used to trotting out the same rubbish. Our lot inherited it. Trump is different, and opponents used to dealing the standard soundbites are on the defensive and unable to compete. As the way both parties dismissed a lot of voters and views, Trump offers an alternative. The democrats lost last time in part because of it, yet still still can't get out of their standard thinking. Harris' coherency and energy to interact has made this closer than it would have been under Biden. Perhaps Biden, having been VP himself, would have made Harris more prominent rather than it being a lame appointment, stuck in the background. But that's hindsight, and how the roles are projected. She doesn't have the decades of craft he has, but he simply isn't up to the punishment of it now. It does seem incredible that someone like Trump is running this close. But some of that is due to both parties being a distant elite. Trump's populism has cracked that a bit. And that it took someone like that to do it, shows how rotten the whole thing is. Not that a core of Democrats and the side of the media that supports them seems to grasp what they could have done to stop it happening. Since they didn't last time either, makes you wonder just how remote they are.