S-Clarke

Nod to Derby, what they are doing is incredible. Don't particularly like the club after the play-off shenanigans, but to come back from a -22 deficit and not be sat on the bottom of the league is remarkable. 8 points from safety now.

Yeah, I saw those posts. It was relating to scapegoating or similar. It strikes me as if to certain fans you cannot critise any of our players, otherwise you're scapegoating them. For what it's worth I've always been of the opinion that Bednarek is fairly average, for a mid-table bottom half side he is adequate. For a team who have ambitions to potentially get back to the Koeman times then he needs to be replaced. I don't think there's anything outrageous saying that. We'd also need to replace Redmond, Moussa and our GK too. Those are our starting 11 week links. CB, GK and 'number 10'.

It's the sort of free kick that only a few players attempt, let alone score. His free kick today had a wiff of Roberto Carlos and Juninho Pernambucano about it.

That is a killer result for Newcastle, they really needed to win that to be honest. Massive game in a few weeks against Everton at home. Everton sinking like a stone. Not sure Rafa has any more time there, it's toxic at goodison at the mo.

A decent contest between too fairly evenly matched teams, they're just better at the back than we are. I thought we created the better opportunities and looked the more lively, Wolves were happy to sit and block the space in the first half. It made it difficult and there weren't avenues. Brentford were a bit naive and left a lot of space, Wolves were clever and they didn't allow us time or space when we had the ball. 2nd half was a bit of huff and puff from us I felt, we didn't have as much of a threat and it was fairly comfortable for Wolves up until that out of this world free kick. No right to score that, no right at all. We were caught on the break and they did us for 3-1 and that was it really. It wasn't a 3-1 game, closer than that, but we just had awful lapses at the back whereas they were very organised and solid in goal and CB. Not sure what we were doing for the 2nd goal, not a clue. Who was marking Kilman? and Forster doing a Forster, flapping in the middle of nowhere. Horrific goalkeeping and that is why he's leaving on a free very soon. We're not going to win every week, we'll have days like this against similar level teams. Let's see what the next few weeks brings, might not be particularly pretty but at least we have that cushion and the likes of Everton are still shithousing it.

It's off, confirmed by the PL. Disgraceful. So, going by that wording, if you have one COVID case which 'tips' you over the edge, because you've decided to sign a lot of African players who are away at AFCON...you can actually get a postponement. Give me a break.

Only between fans I think! Not in the media, no Garry Neville coverage etc. The whole situation is a farce, clubs are playing the game. Everyone can see it. If they play it well enough they can get their players back from the AFCON before they play another game.

If it is off then it's incredibly weak by the PL. Arsenal put a team out on Thursday night, they also decided to loan out Maitland-Niles. They also loaned out Guendouzi, Torreria etc in the summer. Their squad depth is on them, not the PL. Show some balls PL and play it, otherwise get Arsneal to forfeit and give spurs a 3-0 win.

KVB not at his usual standards this year, seems to have dropped off a level or two, but you still can't give him space as he has so much quality in that right foot.

Can't complain about that really, nothing wrong on Tuesday at all - so not upset about seeing the same side. Wolves missing Neves and Marcal, who was going to play CB for them. They've had to draft in a youngish player called Gomes who is making his first team debut.

Yeah, exactly how I see him really. That's why I always felt in the summer that we needed cover for Romeu, as Diallo shouldn't be seen as that. We do struggle when Romeu is out as we have no replacements of his profile.

But as tajjuk states, their places in the side evolved because of the transfer ban they were under (Notably Mount, James, Abraham etc). Lampard gave them a chance as he couldn't buy anyone else. Mount and james have taken their opportunities, but you could argue that their opportunity to stake a claim was because of an extreme situation in regards to their transfer ban. I agree with the general point tajjuk makes re: the hoovering of talent, it's making players think twice and they can see options outside of waiting for an opportunity at a Chelsea etc. There are so many players at Chelsea who have wasted their careers just waiting for a chance, if they'd have moved earlier and played they may well have hit their potential. Fakayo Tamori is another one who has moved on, clearly had the talent as he's at Milan. Things are shifting I think.

And if Watford lose, that's probably game over for Ranieri as well and Watford will once again be looking for a new manager. Rubbish way to run a club that.

Just read that article, sounds like they're trying to setup a second year loan to me. I don't think Chelsea will want to sell as there's no rush, even after the end of a 2nd year loan he'll still have huge value, potentially worth even more than he is today. I could see him as a Lukaku replacement at that point or still a huge source of income if they decide to still sell. Chelsea are in the driving seat really, shame he had to sign that 5 year deal!

I guess with Tino it's a bit of an extreme example, as this is a full youth player who'd never played any pro mins - that's the sort of player I think we'll be targeting, rather than the Conor Gallagher's etc. Funnily enough the overload happened when we signed Tino, as we already had a first choice in KWP there with Valery as backup at that point. We've thrown Tino right in as he's clearly good enough, but that has shown that as a club we don't care how old you are and if you're good enough you could even oust our current first choice player. (and he's now had to change position for the most part)

I think we've put ourselves at the front of the queue to snap up future ones though. There will always be top players that aren't getting the pathway at big clubs, as the big club can go out and spend £100m on instant success. So if these young kids want to play, we are an example of providing that. Tino sets our image very clearly and that will make us very attractive, I feel as if we're trying to build a Dortmund style model in England.

Brighton should have won that, as per most games they play against middling teams! 1-1 good for us. Keeps them all around us.

Bednarek is a funny one, when he's on form he's a decent, reliable and experienced PL defender. If he drops off it's an extreme drop off...and he just forgets how to defend. It's calamity city when he's off form. I don't think he's really changed under Ralph a great deal, he's got older, more experienced but he still has flaws in his game. He's aggressive and does commit, but if he's caught out he lacks the agility and pace to recover, whereas compared to Salisu...he has that ability to recover. If we wanted to push up with the Villas, Leicester's etc his is a position I'd look to evolve and give Salisu a better partner. Nothing wrong with him for where are now though, a fairly solid player most of the time.

The Brighton game livened up in the 1st half (Towards the end). Brighton had a pen awarded by VAR and then subsequently went on to miss it. Two mins later Brighton bundled the ball into the net and celebrated a goal from a corner, but that was then ruled out by VAR as Maupay 'brushed' it out of Butlands hands. He had two hands on it to be fair. Brighton being brighton, better chances but cannot put the ball away.

I don't think people are expecting to get him for £5m, but the same deal is still a possibility in the sense of a buy back or first refusal. I think it's all academic chat anyway, I don't think we have a sniff of getting him. Best chance is a loan for a 2nd year.

I think you often see clubs that are united from the top down do well. Leicester are a fine example of that. Whenever there is uncertainty at the top it will always filter down and eventually impact the first team, maybe not immediate but certainly over time.

That's not obvious at all is it! The PL have screwed the season with this unambiguous rule. Clubs are just taking the piss out of it and will continue to do so until the PL refine it.

It's all looking really positive to me. Our head to head comparison is very healthy, which is probably pointing to a better season than last season. The last season comparison is closing up as well, so as long as we have less of a disaster of a 2nd half then we will finish in the 50's points wise in my opinion. Feels a long way off, but if we replicate or even better the first half then we're on for that.

Hope you get out soon Minsk and hopefully you're feeling better!

I've never really rated him myself, but he's been one of the best keepers in the league this year in my opinion. Didn't expect him to do as well as he has at Arsenal.