Tommy Mulgrew

We played the first half with one DM who is young, inexperienced and misplaced several passes. We played the second half with no DM. We played 70% of the match with two players who have only just arrived here and look lost when they do not have the ball; DB and JR did not make themselves available enough and that led to lots of misplaced passes by others. We played most of the match without a proper CF. We played all the match without a properLB. WS was poor throughout and was hopeless when trying to play as a DM; he misplaced passes and won no duels. We played too slowly and indecisively, just like in September. THB looked appalled by what was happening in front of him. GB had a good game despite the three goals. RM’s hairdryer was not big enough (and no good for WS anyway). On to the next game.

Manning, who else, at fault for the first goal!

13 points for us and 9 for Leeds. That will be enough to give us a bigger cushion to cover our match at Elland Road. Easy-Peasy.

He did pretty well on Saturday when holding off THREE defenders and delicately passing to Edozie, who scored our fifth goal. He seems to have developed a more bulky physique in the last few months and is now more capable of keeping the ball when under pressure from a CB or other defender. Give him time; he is coming good.

Did anyone notice who took over as captain when AA left the field yesterday?

I wish we were Farnham Town.

According to LFC, we last beat them in the FA Cup in 1924/25, 1:0 in round 4 at the Dell. We won 4:1 in round 2 in 1902. But we have lost each time more recently. This is our last chance to keep the period of FA Cup losses to LFC below 100 years. Another incentive to add to our present unbeaten run, provided it lasts that long of course. If only! We live in hope.

VFC win away from home in the French cup, 1:2 against Saint-Priest, of league 3 I believe. Congrats, Christophe. Winning is becoming a habit. 🙂

At the risk of incurring the grapes of your wrath, a currant or a sultana would do just as well. 🙂

It’s not just THB either; Bednarek plays just as many long, diagonal or over-the-top balls that are equally accurate and defence-splitting, too. Stephens, not so much but he does tend to surge forward with the ball a bit more. So, our three CBs contribute a lot to our attacking play as well as piss about, drawing the oppo’s press onto them to open up gaps that we can exploit. A key part of our play.

Is Eyupspor anywhere near Rotherham?

Agree SNF. Small is a big lad; perhaps the Welsh madman will play him as a CF seeing as Tall Paul is presently unavailable, plying his trade at Afcon and Turkey. We seem to have quite a presence at Charlton these days.

Does anyone know whether the reported late valuation, by Burnley for Benson, of £15m is true and, if so, whether that really did cause us to end our commitment to signing him and, also, what valuation did we have in mind? I am not sure when Benson’s contract ends but unless it is soon £15m for him seems not too far away from a sensible price for him, always assuming that he is as good as was mooted on here several days ago.

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Christophe got his wish! 3:1 final score. First win of the season in league 2; second win on the trot after last week’s cup win. The start of a winning or unbeaten run? Let’s hope so.

Where? I’ve looked and cannot see it. I’ve obviously missed it but cannot see where.

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And there is the difference between a mid-table Premiership club and a mid-table Championship club. 6:1 final score; 6:2 aggregate score.

Well, they do have our fourth-choice goalie.☺️

A while ago, I suggested that we should start a new thread for Christophe (and others) to keep us updated on VAFC. He and several others favoured the idea and, as far as I recall, nobody demurred. So, here it is, celebrating the win against Paris FC in the Coupe de France yesterday. It should enable posts about VAFC to be separate from those more generally about Sports Republic. If we get a regular contributor from our Turkish sister club, we could start a thread for Goztepe, too. Enjoy your dedicated thread, Christophe.

Agreed. We should have been out of sight at half time; we were a pleasure to watch but should have made our superiority count even more. One goal should have been disallowed, as should theirs. In the second half we created few good chances and Swansea should really have scored three times. So, strange to say, we were lucky not to lose! Against better sides, we would have done. We are riding the crest of a beautiful wave but, look more closely, and we could easily be brought crashing down. Let’s hope RM learns some lessons (aired above in this thread) from this game and keeps us on our record run.

We’ve got Che Adams (whose last two goals have come from his deft left foot!), at least while he is here.

St Jonny is hot on T’s heels at 20 and counting.

Continuing the goalie theme, Jack Bycroft to Swindon on a “permanent” deal.

Harry Lewis signed for Carlisle from Bradford City today. Good luck to him. Did well for Bradford apparently.