Midfield_General

No, that is Ralph Kruger and always will be. Needs Dr Bunsen/ Les Reed next to him for the full effect

People are getting way too carried away with one solid but unspectacular performance against Norwich reserves. He made two good but not exceptional saves (the one low down to his left and the one that came through the crowd), and two basic routine saves (the one up to his right and the one that would have been an OG). He also played us into trouble three times by getting caught with the ball at his feet or passing out into trouble. Fortunately Norwich weren’t good enough to capitalise on it when he did. Then there was a low one in the second half which beat him but went wide. He might have had it covered but possibly not. See MaccaWatch (tm) in the match thread. It was a perfectly decent one-off performance for a championship level keeper but it really wasn’t anything special. Most pro keepers would expect to make those saves more often than not. We all know his weaknesses because he’s had the same ones since he joined us 8 years ago. I’m glad he did ok last night but unfortunately he’s too unreliable for a run of games and always will be. With all that said, I’d still play him against the Skates as they will single Baz out for dogs abuse as a former player, and he’s played in bigger games before so will probably handle the atmosphere better and be a calmer presence. He also did well last time we went down there. For that particular game, he is probably lower risk.

You’re very keen to make this ‘ginger Juric’ a thing aren’t you, even though it doesn’t make any sense and he is nothing like Juric whatsoever. Maybe if you repeat it often enough it will catch on anyway?

West Ham, Bournemouth, Leeds out with the Skates. Calvert-Lewin had an absolute mare on his Leeds debut. Missed two sitters and then blazed his penalty.

Full-time MaccaWatch: First half: - Caught in possession dallying with the ball at his feet, got away with it - Good save down low to his left - Routine save to his right to prevent an own goal - Routine save at shoulder height to his right - Poor pass out to defender, got away with it Second half: - Good save through a crowd of players - Poor clearance straight to Norwich player, got away with it - Beaten by low shot, went wide, possibly had it covered but also possibly not Summary: - Decent shot-stopping, poor with his feet. An old-school 7/10.

3-0. Better than a laser beam up the jaffas

Has MLG moved to Russia now?

Diaz you donkey

Delia Smith there, where are ya indeed

Fuck me Matsuki!! Pick that out and have it with mustard you carrot-crunching inbreds

Right, come on Downs, let's see what you've got

Looked off(Brook)side to me

More Martinesque defending, decent finish Fraser, 2-0. Fair play to him, he's been good tonight.

Two decent ones, two routine ones. Let's not get carried away lads

Red and White Flamin' Galaaar-my

They think it's bad now, wait until Martin returns to his spiritual home after Rangers give him the boot

And that is a very, very sad state of affairs

Ross Stewart calls his physio at half-time to reassure him that he's not seeing things and he has indeed managed 45 minutes unscathed

Half-time MaccaWatch: 1 good save 2 routine saves 1 caught in possession, got away with it 1 poor pass out to put the defender in trouble, got away with it

Great finish from Archer after Martinesque defending from Norwich. Edit: FFS Stewart has to score that.

Captain Darling? I assume they will have a cunning plan

To be fair they're used to seeing Eze on one wing and Olise on the other. I'm not surprised if they think he's a bit of a step down compared to that.

For me it's a draw between that, and playing two up top away against Bournemouth and starting with five centre forwards on the bench and none on the pitch.

I can't believe you need it explaining that he was bang average and unreliable to start with (hence not having been a first choice for years), which a couple of competent games a season and a half ago doesn't change, and at 35 is now 18 months older and highly unlikely to have improved. He was awful whenever he played last season (yes, in a poor side, but he was still personally poor), and poor in pre-season too. And the point isn't about who we should sign as a third choice to not get any minutes. It's about having credible competition for the goalkeeping spots and trying to actually improve the squad across the board. This point has all been set out above, I can't be bothered to explain it again. Mind you, I seem to remember you a couple of months ago confidently stating that Armstrong, Archer and BBD would all be good for 20 goals each in the Championship, so let's just say that we probably have differing views on the quality of some of our players and leave it there.

Even if Baz doesn't get injured, he essentially now has zero competition for his place. However badly he plays, we've painted ourself into a corner where we basically now can't drop him. What sort of DoF wastes a loan spot to knowingly create that situation? I've been giving Spors the benefit of the doubt until now but this is absolute amateur hour. I really hope I'm eating my words by the end of the window, but the cumulative effect of all his decisions so far mean that I'm now rapidly losing faith that he knows what he's doing or knows what a successful, promotion-worthy squad actually looks like.