Elmore Saint

Good result in the end but it was the Russballtime that nearly screwed it up for us. The first half mix of Russ and Ralph ball looked a cut above and suited to this squad. More of that please. Although we were helped by Birminghams lack of pace and pressure.

The ponderous passing around the centre circle seems to have made its customary reappearance…

Ffs. How have we gone from sharp to shit so fast?

When you have as many managers in such a short space of time - and they roll out the belligerent "my way or highway" crap in press conferences, it's no wonder the fans get despondent and frustrated when they see what gets served up in their name. In these situations fans' patience shortens with every subsequent appointment, and ours is heightened by the fact we've also rumbled the clowns running the show too. Can we give this condition a name..... Scar Tissue?

Been working on an avant garde line-up for the weekend after last night's show.... not bazunu kwp bazunu bazunu bazunu bazunu bazunu bazunu sunemala bazunu Loch Ness what could possibly go wrong?

Actually Vectis, I thought she read it and called it for what it was. She called out the ponderous possession based crap early on for what it was and how we were/did get punished. Additionally, she made a comment indicating the fan disquiet about the tactical approach and "style". Almost as if she has had a good look over this forum....

I wonder how long it would take Eustace to get a tune out of our squad....

As cato mentions - a striker will help for those situations when Sulemana lights the burners and gets into good wide positions. Everything else - you are spot on regarding our ponderous play. For a good few games now, I try and keep a mental tally of the number of opposition players between the ball and goal when we are in possession. We often gain possession with 6-8 in front of us, piss around it until all 11 of theirs are back in place and then piss around some more, getting to 5-6 in-front (in most cases) before losing the ball / trying a long effort. This is not how I want to watch football, but with the turgid tippy-tippy shit, it occupies the rest of my overactive brain in the meantime.

but 3G killed wappers (very geeky comms industry joke - apologies, but couldn't resist)

An old military adage -“all best laid plans only survive until first contact with the enemy” implying that you must adapt to the changing situation in front of you. Lego’s one-dimensional plan seems to last for 90 minutes, until someone takes ownership for the added time period.

And rugby have recently changed the rules to allow this to happen. Previously it was non-reversible once the conversion was taken. All the interventions today were sensible and clear, as was the conversion between referee and TMO. If only……

Just listening to the audio tells me how fucked up the implementation of VAR is. Look at how many people are involved- ref, 4th, VAR, 2 assistants and a vtr operator. No wonder they got their knickers in a knot! Too many voices, no clear question asked Other video review implementations have clear, short points of contact between on field and video review. Cricket is a good example of clarity of communication. To add to an already well worn phrase- football is a simple game made more complicated by managers and a fuck-ton of FIFA officialdom….

Watched from 20 mins in through to half time, then came on here. Am I on the wrong stream? Thought we were pretty tidy, in control and running them around a lot. Light in the final third granted, but tire them out and the opportunities will open up.

Totally get you on the culture change - That cannot come soon enough. As for the audio, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Of there will always be debate and contention over decisions, but a “monthly VAR show” just gives the impression of glossing over things. Transparency in its glorious and inglorious form matters.

Come on Fabrice, the dialogue is far more nuanced than that. I try to refrain from comparing footy to rugby (2 sports that I share a love of), but over there, the refs and TMO are in regular contact and the ref asks clear questions of them “can I award the try”, and also receives clear notifications from upstairs, “I’m looking at possible foul play here….” As for no one wanting to hear it, what then is the reason that ref radios sell out at a fiver a go? Even if the commentators get to hear the conversation, why can’t we? Transparency matters..

A lot of this debate would be brought to an end if the ref audio was made available in real time as in other sports. Knowing this, the officials would be forced to committed with clarity and with a level of accountability that would be necessary. It would also shine a light on the mouthy knobhead players who verbally hassle/abuse the officials too.

So it seems like the players are playing in roughly their natural position, in a style that is roughly their natural style and… who’d have thought it?

Can we have one of these made up for us please….

The football needs a little more attention methinks - letting it take care of itself is going great isn’t it?

But what a rarity we’d become! A club with an owner who is also a supporter! Fantasyland, but I’d take it over this lot.

Time for Dragan to step up and own things. Show these other SR chancers the door and get some sound advice from a solid experienced football head. If he can’t do that, then he’d best fuck off himself.

And the common denominator. Wish they had never set foot in our club.

<soapbox> Why can't RM see the reality of the league we are in? The Prem is the place for all the high-pressing and high-possession malarkey. The Championship is where the Prem was about 30-years ago. Just look at what Ref's are letting go - we yet are still in the falling-about / entitled to free kicks premiership mindset. It's not going to work. We have to wake up and recognise where we are. Think about the old Arsenal teams of the 90s. An old wise head between the sticks, couple of hard bastards running the spine and a solid striker up top. How many other Champ teams at the top end / recently promoted look like this? Most, if not all I'd say. We have some, but not all, of these elements on-board, but we choose to be all smart-arse and hipster-ball about it. Let's get back to some basics Russ - starting with fitness, a basic shape and using players in their coached positions. </soapbox>

The most depressing thing about our situation is that there are a host of names, mostly on my "never in a million years" list, that all now look like a pragmatic improvement on what we have. We are not (quite) at Branfoot years in terms of management - but we certainly are in terms of ownership.... Get a grip Dragan!

and their title winning team - coming off the back of a "Great Escape" - no scar tissue in sight with the right man at the helm....