CanadaSaint

Both Redmonds on display in ten seconds.

We need more height at the back because they'll be pinging the crosses in after the last corner shitshow.

It was the same at the previous corner. The CDs pushed out and left him to handle it. Willy's fault but they're culpable.

I think there's a player there, too. Also, from what I remember, he took some cracking corners against Chelsea - flat and firm. They were much better than JWP's from the right.

Appetizing to think that we could have JWP and Perraud standing over a free kick outside the box - a righty, a lefty, and both can hit the corners, especially when the keeper's not sure who'll take it.

What’s hard to take is that we have a classic FA Cup side - capable of turning any team over. The only shred of a rationale for what he’s doing, other than tone-deaf arrogance, is a desire to prove to the ownership that his squad needs strengthening.

That lineup shows nothing but tone-deaf and arrogant contempt for the fans. Ralph's arrogance will get him in the end.

As much as I want Ralph to start with our best line-up, squad rotation for this game is more a relative debate than a finite one. It's quite possible that Moyes has a bigger eye on their upcoming game at Anfield than we have on ours at Villa Park. Rotating doesn't help our chances but might not hurt them too much, either. That said, I was hopping mad at the starting lineup for Coventry, and will be today if he does anything remotely like that. I don't think he will.

There are numerous candidates but a lot would have to change for my POTS to be someone other than Romeu. Every game he’s breaking stuff down, knitting things together, bringing controlled physicality, and cleaning up after the errors of others. JWP’s free kick goals are sexy but Romeu is the glue that binds this team together.

A military response isn’t the only possible solution to this. I think it’s more likely that the solution will come from within Russia. I can see one - or a group - of the oligarchs arranging to take Putin out if the West inflicts enough financial pain on them. This is Putin’s doing, despite the reservations of some (perhaps many) around him. Sure, he made the oligarchs but they’re just like Putin and Trump - vicious, disloyal and very self-centered. They have really nasty people among their staff. I’d sanction the living shit out of the oligarchs and see what happens.

If Norwich are wearing that I’d love us to wear the yellow & blue.

I think it would be very cool if our fans with yellow and blue stuff would wear or take it tomorrow. It doesn’t matter that Norwich are yellow - the evil shit going on in Ukraine is far more important.

Yes! Alternatively, they shop at Fortnum & Mason and we shop at Tesco, but our stuff is much tastier.

Watching it a second time, it struck me how much more Adams and Broja are involved in our "out of possession" package than Kane and Son were for Spurs. For the most part they were waiting for the others to win back possession, while we passed-and-moved, recycled, and switched the point of attack. I was also struck by how much the Spurs players were gesticulating and moaning at eachother. It was like watching "The Culture of the Entitled" vs "The Culture of the Committed", and it was a fricking joy to see.

It was exhilarating to watch our football last night, and at times we were almost unplayable. One guy on the Fighting Cock said "I'd give my right nut for us to play the kind of football they play". Spurs were chasing shadows for much of the game, and there's a delicious irony in us doing that to them of all teams (from Wiki):

For years we’ve been forced to lament the players we’ve lost, but now it’s turning into an advantage. We couldn’t have played like that in a million years with Vestergaard, Bertrand and - especially - Hojberg in our line up. In fact, it really helped us tonight that Hojberg was in THEIR lineup. 😂 The squad improvement is quite stunning.

Finally the Spurs fans see the football they’ve been yearning for since the Sixties. Tis but a passing detail that we were the team playing it. 😂

It is now 😂

As much as I like him, Ralph dropped a lot of notches with me today. This competition is our only hope this year, and the formula has been known for 100+ years: Complacency + Arrogance = Upset He really needs to reign it in before people run out of patience with it.

Lost my stream. Anyone got one going?

Ralph's achilles heel has always been his arrogance and obstinacy. To do this in a "must win" game (if we have any aspirations at all for this season) is sickening.

All we can do in this life, Minsk, is care for our families and try to touch those around us in positive ways. That's how our lives are judged - and that's how we judge our own lives - because we can't control the other stuff. Based on how you've always come across on here, I have no doubt that you have much joy to reflect on. I send some brotherly love to you, and an electronic hug to your family.

I don’t think we want to sell Bednarek but if Newcastle struggle to strengthen their CD positions - one of their weakest areas - they could well panic as the window starts to close and offer crazy money. If so, I’m sure we’ll seriously consider taking it. That might be one of the contingency plans we’re working on, now that we have really smart leadership at the club.

We’re going to face some challenges based on the justified perception that we’re a selling club. It will take time to shift that perception but it helps that three of our most coveted players (JWP, Salisu and KWP) are locked up until the end of 2023-24 or beyond. It would also help if our new owners refused outright to entertain offers, with a “things have changed here” public statement. The wild card is KWP. For me he’s our best defensive RB with the ability to be very effective going forward, as he proved on Saturday. However, Ralph doesn’t seem to see him as the RB starter, and I don’t think we’re as balanced defensively (or KWP’s as happy) when he’s playing on the left. Over there we’ve got the adequate Perraud and the highly regarded Small. For a club of our stature to have two starting RBs of that quality is like being a middle class family with two BMWs in the driveway. At some point we have to decide whether we can afford to keep both of them, or would be better to sell one to fund improvements in other dimensions in our life. Our operating model is to have a quality starter with a talented, young backup. I really, really hope KWP doesn’t go anywhere but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a Summer departure, but we’d need to bring in someone much better than Valery.