CanadaSaint

By “still ongoing” I assume you meant that you’re still not a dad yet. Hang in there. Our first arrived as a result of my wife laughing so hard that her waters broke. She was laying on the sofa when our dog went up to the TV screen to investigate a program about dogs. He got a static shock from the screen, thought he’d been bitten, and ran behind the sofa yelping. 😂 So get her laughing. Maybe show her Djenepo’s cameo from today. Good luck. The arrival of our first was the most incredible moment of my life, a whisker ahead of the arrival of our second, and - just behind that - May 1, 1976.

I’m having a really weird feeling I’ve literally NEVER had before - and that covers more than half a century. I don’t care who we get in the next round.

You'd have to think that if Theo couldn't get into that starting lineup he's now low on Ralph's depth chart. And with Ralph pulling Djenepo at half time after another of his "fart in a thunderstorm" performances you'd have to think he might be joining Theo down there. For me, sad to say, it makes us a better squad if those two are OUT of consideration rather than in it. Addition by subtraction.

Jeez, Perraud sure strikes the ball crisply. Tonight's howitzer and the rocket against Spurs were top drawer. He's not far behind JWP on that front, and I'd love to see both of them standing over free kicks outside the box. Righty and lefty - nightmare scenario for keepers.

In Ralph's defence - and to totally argue against my own pre-match criticism - we have some players with significant potential that will only be realized if they play more. Valery and Smallbone are great examples. Both of them lack the self-confidence that can really only come with game time, and A. Armstrong is on the same list. I just wasn't ready to see them get the chance in a last-16 FA Cup tie.

I think we're all kinda right. We were lucky to survive Ralph's starting lineup without being two or three down, but kicked their arses with something closer to the lineup we wanted.

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.