chiknsmack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWL2JEF7w8I&t=177s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svtZpihan10&t=45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cM7P8nfurY&t=34s (overshadowed by the second goal.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I91ywh-BC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6WOiZbMj4g&t=164

1. Unsighted, could've done better but would've been a great save. 2. Free header at the back post, again could've done better/stayed bigger but not his fault. 3. Great shot across him into the side of the net. Not an expert on positioning, but looks borderline unsaveable regardless. 4. Free header loops in just inside the post. My criticism would be what's he doing pushing the opposition player around instead of getting ready to make a save (you're a keeper and there's no VAR; "accidentally" run your studs down his achilles one time and you'll have your six yard box to yourself for the rest of the game), and why does he take a second little hop after the header but before he dives for it? He looks to have slow reactions at times, but I'm not sure if it's actual slow reactions or these extra little hops leaving him too late to make the save. 5. Manning howler leaves a free shot. 6. Manning slips, untracked near post run leaves a tap in. 7. Unsighted, in off the post. Again it looks like slow reactions but I give the benefit of the doubt to the fact he was shifting his weight to the right to try to see around players in front of him. 8. Untracked run back post, great header downwards. Maybe could've done better (save with his foot or rush the player to cut down the angle once he sees there's a free header incoming)? 9. Thick deflection, which is then curling away from him along the ground. Maybe could've done better. 10. Should've saved it; his first and only howler for a goal this season. The presence of a couple of players in his eyeline didn't help, and you can lay the primary blame with Holgate for turning the ball over and then charging out of position (with a dishonourable mention for Downes' defending afterwards) but not good from Bazunu. 11. Great first save after Holgate gifts his man a free header (pushed wide and well away from goal) but can't save a tap in after Holgate has an airswing on the low ball back in. Arguably, after covering the near post in case the ball back in is a shot, he should be quicker to move back across goal when he sees it's not. But that's harsh. 12. Unmarked man (/kid) back post has a largely free header (token effort from a late-arriving Downes, though arguable KWP should've handed off his man) and heads down well. Could've done better, maybe should've been a little more central. I'd like to see him stay bigger and be more aggressive, and his slow reactions/extra hops before diving don't help him, AND there have been a few poor saves from him which haven't resulted in goals, but there's also been plenty of terrible play in front of him to put him under pressure. He's not a very good shot stopper, but he's very good in possession. For the way the manager wants to play, that's better than being a good shot stopper who can't pass to save his life. In an ideal world you'd have both, and mixed in with the dross there have been some great saves from Bazunu so maybe in time he'll provide both (certainly for the price paid for him he should do). He's clearly the best keeper on the books and "YHGTI", so while I get the exact opposite feeling when a shot comes in ("Oh no, this is a goal") to the one I used to get before a JWP free kick ("Oh yes, this is a goal") I'll support him because he's the best and only option right now. (Whether he should be or not is another matter.)

Double it. THB, Stephens, Bednarek, Charles, anyone else. Holgate fits in ahead of Onuachu and McCarthy, but only just. Really hope he improves with time and familiarity with the system. He certainly needs to to earn a spot on the bench.

No shame in being wrong. A little bit of a shame in being so relentlessly negative. For your sake as much as anyone else's (though plenty of us found you annoying AF the past few weeks, so you'd be doing us a favour too) you'd do well to be a bit more positive about things. Especially hypothetical things. We'd probably all be better off if we spent less time worrying about negative hypotheticals and save that time and energy for worrying about/dealing with actual negative happenings.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66534464

He's also 19 and in his first year of senior football. We saw what putting a heavy workload on teenagers did to Tino (not so much the ACL which I put down to bad luck rather than overload, but the injury beforehand) and Lavia. He'll get used in the same way we should've used Lavia last year; backup to a senior player (in this case Downes, like Lavia should've started as backup to Romeu), getting more playing time as the season goes on, then taking over as #1 next year.

The idea in possession is that the fullbacks sit in beside the DM while the other two midfielders push up, making a 2-3-2-3. Downes or Charles is the DM, Alcaraz or Arma is the left attacking midfielder, Smallbone or Stu is the right attacking midfielder. Smallbone would be third choice DM if needed. You'd expect Smallbone to be favoured when defending a lead; the other three are better at carrying the ball and attacking while Smallbone is better at passing and defending.

Ross Stewart, Stuart Armstrong, (Sinclair Armstrong?), Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Shea Charles, Charly Alcaraz. Need to sign Charlie Taylor from Burnley to get Taylor Harwood-Bellis to join. Do we take a punt on signing Ruben Alcaraz from Cadiz? It could bring the return of Selles, or it could bring us Dias/Neves/Loftus-Cheek.

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Jordan Ayew. It was an obvious dive.

No-one mentioned tax. @Nolan mentioned the 40% relegation wage reduction and so, for Aribo to be on 80k a week now, he'd have had to have been on $133k a week last year. Which he wasn't (I doubt he was even on half that), hence the article was bollocks.

Did he not do exactly this last season?

He could've done better (keeping his body open and using his left leg rather than his right might've helped), but "At fault again" is a bit harsh.

Looks good to me. Decent age, over 150 games at this level, would weaken another side in the division. The comments mention he's improved quite a bit lately too so there could be upside to come. I can't understand the idea that Smallbone would want to go to Sheffield Utd. They're odds-on to be relegated this year and probably pay less in wages than we do even after any 40% reduction for relegation. That's before considering any "one of our own" sentimental stuff. With Downes in he could potentially find himself 4th pick in a 3-man midfield (though personally I'd have Downes at DM behind Alcaraz and Smallbone, with Charles not being asked to be a starter as a teenager but getting playing time when we switch to two DMs and one CM to close out a game (subbed on for Alcaraz or Smallbone) or if we have injuries at CM/DM or across the backline.

Norwich looked pretty good (I'd say clearly the better team) against Hull last week and just drew with us. Given that nothing much has changed for them (Barnes replacing Pukki, Stacey replacing Aarons, plus Duffy and Fassnacht joining) and they only finished 13th last season, every team from 4th through to 15th from last year would be a chance. Anything could happen.

Adams doesn't seem to be pushing for a move but hasn't signed a new contract either. A handful of clubs rumoured to be interested, and Bournemouth had a bid rejected a few weeks ago. Sulemana hasn't featured due to a hamstring injury. Everton and French clubs interested in a loan or transfer, but nothing happening publicly.

Left foot Manning or Perraud, right foot Alcaraz or Smallbone.

He can tackle, he has decent technical skill on the ball, he's not good enough in the air to play CB effectively, and when he has one of his brain explosions it'll be further away from the goal. A proper midfield enforcer to go around smashing into opposition attackers when they're on the break is better than a Smallbone/JWP they'd be less afraid of. The reason Lyanco is as popular as he is is because he's one of the few players in the past few years to show a bit of aggression and passion and get stuck in. There's less value in that now that we're in the Championship and should be a big fish in a small pond (dominating possession and relying on a skill advantage to win games) rather than the reverse, but in the past couple of years having someone who could lift the crowd and his teammates by throwing himself into a tackle or two would've been considerably better at DM than Diallo was.

This is the problem with VAR, not VAR itself. Used for clear and obvious errors as intended (no drawing lines to decide if someone was offside by half an armpit) and it improves the game by eliminating obvious injustices. There's no reason every goal couldn't be checked by VAR in the time it takes the scoring team to celebrate and get back in position for the kickoff, and if an error can't be identified by then then it isn't "clear and obvious". So play on.

@Brissysaint@austsaint@Gingeletiss The only game from last night I can watch on demand with BeIN Connect is Blackburn vs West Brom. That may have been played earlier than the other (3pm) games, so it could be that BeIN Connect only has non-3pm games on demand. I'm not sure if the 3pm games were even available live.

It looks like there are BeIN Sports channels on Foxtel, which are different from the "BeIN Connect" streaming service. The streaming service looks like it has all games, live and on demand. Though I could be wrong. https://connect-au.beinsports.com/en/

$130/yr for BeIN Sports, which I believe has on-demand viewing for seven days after the match. That's what I'm using in NZ anyway.

This is the correct comparison for Sulemana. He may not get there, but he legitimately has the potential to. I'm not sure a dominant, possession-based team is the right fit for him (he could better use his pace in a more open, counter-attacking team) but there's potentially a very, VERY good player in there.