The Kraken

Another lurker 🤣

Sorry, I’m obviously being a bit dim but why is that a Rachel Reeves thing? In slightly relevant news…..My folks have both had flu lately and it’s hit them harder than Covid ever did. From what I read a couple of months back, it’s a bit of a new variant that came about after the mass production of the winter supply of vaccine. I know my parents are older but to see them today when they’re both still recovering from it, it’s absolutely battered the pair of them.

Alpine stopped posting well before you “started”. Who were you before?

Gav/Alex pack your bags son.

I know that it seems easy to say it like that but if you think about it, it isn’t. Eckert went from having a secure gig with the youngsters to being put as head honcho (temporarily) into a Championship job. A “caretaker” is most often a short term thing until a new manager is brought in. Caretaker until the end of the season is a long time, and if he had done that it’s harder to see how he would just pick up his old job with us again. Ergo, he’d be agreeing to a likely dismissal in a few months time. Also, players are a notoriously fickle and delicate bunch who want long term security themselves by having a manager they think will stay around. I think the club probably made the best of it at that time given they had decided on Eckert and not a recognised manager: give him a contract so it looks a bit secure, then if they bin him at the end of the season he gets a year in compensation.

This is reasonable. With hindsight, you get the poll result we see now, and rightly so. Back when he was appointed, while it wasn’t an inspiring appointment, it kind of made a bit of sense, at least to give the team some short term stability and let him see out the season. We had seen an uptick in performance and results, like you say it became difficult for them not to appoint him. That said, I remain convinced (as I was very early on) that he was the number one candidate from the beginning.

I would, but I don’t think it’s the 3 CBs on their own that are the problem, it’s compounded by deploying 2 defensive minded CMs in front of them. When Jander came on I hoped for something more going forward but he did exactly what Downes and Bragg had been doing for lots of the game, dropping really deep and taking the ball off the centre back. Sometimes the CMs dropped back to be literally our deepest players. Just means we get a lot of possession but the out ball is more difficult because we have fewer options further up the pitch. I dread to think what Shea Charles will be like when he gets back but I doubt under this manager he’ll be given as much license to drive into the box as we saw him do earlier in the season. For me, it’s so much not the personnel as it is what the manager is getting them to do (or not getting them to do). We are much more reliant on a bit of brilliance from an individual player rather than grinding the other team down and creating chances. Tom Fellows was a livewire but it was mostly only the last ten minutes or so where he more consistently got the space to get right up the pitch and run at the defender.

Well almost correct, Jelert came off in the 59th minute. That was absolutely abject for most parts. We finally managed to be a bit positive in the last minutes of injury time, but in general that was a really poor game and outside of Leo or Fellows doing something on their own we’re just so pathetically passive going forwards. The 3 CB thing and 2 holding midfielders is just killing creativity.

Dear me. Azaz and THB miss absolute sitters.

Another like for like sub, great.

Fuck me, good save Baz.

Come on hungry eyes, this is absolute toilet, we have no attacking threat whatsoever and it’s entirely self inflicted with this passive formation.

Doubtful. He’s played for Heidenheim and us this season already and can’t play for a third team in the same season.

Leo was definitely not having one of his better games but he was the only player on the pitch with a bit of creativity. Fellows is about the only other one who would take on his man but he’d have very little to aim at. Predicting that Fellows will come on for Jelert on the hour and we keep 3 CBs on the pitch for the full 90.

For Leo ffs

Azaz coming on

As Tessem said, “there’s some problem with how we’re going to score a goal”.

Fucks sake Tasmin.

Can’t say I’m enjoying watching 3 centre backs and 2 holding midfielders. On the rare occasions we break their first line there’s just not enough options in there. Leo having a quiet game by his standards.

Bump

No reason that a back four would mean that can’t happen. A 4231 would have two of Jander/Downes/Charles, then Fellows Azaz and Leo as the 3 with Armstrong up top. If anything I think it would add more to midfield rather than take anything away.

A proper Christmas leftovers sandwich. I noticed that the supermarkets were stocking about a dozen versions of Christmas sandwiches from about mid November onwards. I vowed not to have a single one until I could make a proper one myself. Bought a fresh loaf today, cut a couple of slices and filled it with leftover turkey, ham, pork stuffing and coleslaw. Absolutely flipping delicious.

Our winter festival crackers were of a high standard today. We didn’t have any winter festival pudding though. Winter festival presents were all on point. And the winter festival tree still looks resplendent. Winter festival day

Sadly I left it a bit late in sending cards this year, and Sainsburys had completely run out of “happy winter festival”. I had to make do with merry Christmas instead, I feel so foolish.

And a very merry Christmas to you Whitey. We may have some disagreements but you’re a good man and a decent poster. Let’s keep up the bickering into 2026 😉