Lord Duckhunter

Amazon have got a great line up. McCoist one of the best co commentators, personally, I think Shearer talks sense, Henry is ok, the 9 Pinter ticks the diversity box and I’d give Gabby one.

It’s not the point we got today, but the nature of how we got it. Previously we minced about like a load of choirboys when going down to 10. Today, we played like men. A proper team.

The 9 Pinter? She’s Emma Hayes, head and shoulders above any other bird on TV. Good knowledge of tactics and a non annoying voice. Probably the only one that gets a slot on merit.

My thoughts exactly. Why he was so wedded to it was beyond me. Tactically he got it spot on when down to 10. Looks like he’s learnt his lessons, good to see. Starting to get tough to beat, and horrible to play against. Long May it continue

Yeah, my mistake. With 10 men. Longy was fantastic today, even when 11v11. Saturday with Broja, and Long today is why I like a 9 up top. Gives us so much more flexibility around them. I don’t see why long term Che couldn’t fulfil that role.

Did very well today

That’s the way to play against 10 men, better than the mincing around we’ve seen the last couple of years we’ve gone down to 10. 2 banks of 4, with someone up top who puts themselves about a bit. Plus players defending properly and putting their bodies on the line. Proper performance. KWP motm for me, highlight a fantastic saving header when Kane looked odds on to nod it in. Valery deserves a special mention, to play like that at centre half after hardly playing was impressive. Left back played w really well too. Rode our luck when lurch dropped a bollock, but deserved that. Salisu owes his teammates a big thank you. He needed to calm down, dived in 2 or 3 times before his first booking. When are professional players going to use their brains and stop tackling in situations that he found himself in. What’s the worst that happens, they score but it’s 11v11.

And I’d take Frasier over Walcott any day of the fucking week

Joelinton Has been different class since Howe arrived , play like he did today and he’d walk into our side.

I’m fucking getting knackered just watching Ryan Frasier running around.

Although they might be able to rest 2 during the game against us.

What do you expect, he’s got to be in his 50’s.

You’re being generous. Personally, I think he decided it wasn’t a red, but with all the commotion forgot to give the yellow. Any other explanation beggars belief. You can’t look at that and say it’s not worthy of any card.

They’re right, the initial contact was outside the box. However they need to learn the rules. If a foul starts outside the box and continues inside, it’s a penalty and If there are two fouls, one outside and one inside then the referee, who has played advantage after the first offence, should award a penalty. either way it was a stonewall. Lucky to stay on, and even luckier not to receive a yellow.

Stop digging.

Agreed, Broja over Armstrong is the key. Gives us some many more options. Unbelievable anyone could think otherwise……

As me and Egg have already explained to you,(without needing my grandson to draw a picture with his new Xmas crayons) if both the full back and the wide men favour the “wrong” foot you’ll condense the pitch and make it easier to defend against.

I didn’t see it and I had my eyes on him thinking it was a borderline red (no genuine attempt at ball). Our website doesn’t show it either. Unless he showed it running from the monitor or after the penalty I’m pretty sure I’d have seen it.

What I meant was there doesn’t need to be a big man on the end of it. Most crosses nowadays are passes pulled back, accurate pin point delivery or driven along the 6 yard line. Not many fighting balls go in there these days. Look at Jota, he’s hardly Joe Jordan but he gets on the end of a few. If we get blokes in box the crosser can pick them out.

He didn’t though did he? He had to be told to rectify his fuck up. How the fuck he didn’t give it in real time was beyond me, even worse was (unless I missed it) he didn’t even show a yellow card. Appalling refereeing, he was saved by the result.

KWP deserves to be in the side, so Perraud is just going to have to bide his time. I’ve nothing against inverted widemen or full backs, but not down the same side together. Surely one of the reasons you play the wideman on the “wrong” side is he cuts inside dragging his full back with him, which gives our full back more space to overlap. If our full back then has to come inside because he doesn’t cross particularly well on his wrong foot, then it’s a wasted opportunity. All this pony about crossing and who heads it in, is just that pony. Nowadays when you get in behind their full backs the cross is low, or pulled back for someone. If we had an exceptional left back, then one of KWP or Tino will have to warm the bench, we haven’t, and we’re not good enough to leave better players out. I just wish we had a better left footed wide man in front of him.

Course there’s excuses for the individual players. The batsmen don’t get enough games where they can learn how to build an innings, don’t play enough of the long form of the game. Aren’t given enough time or practise on Aussie wickets. What are they expected to do, arrange their own games?

I don’t what the rest of the country is like, but round here the service from local GP’s is disgraceful. It’s like they’ve taken the opportunity to weed out all the time wasters that want to see a Doc for the slightest sniffle. I’m all for telling time wasters to fuck off, but they’re throwing the baby out with the bath water and people with serious ailments are waiting too long to actually see a doctor. Plus, the time wasters don’t sit at home getting over their mild cold, they’re down clogging up A&E.

Test cricket is incredibly popular in this country, but the powers that be are doing everything they can to undermine it. Stop trying to recreate the IPL and attract a different audience. Nippers aren’t stupid, they’re quite capable of sitting down and understanding the intricate ebbs and flows of the proper game. Why the headlong rush into becoming another version of baseball? Australia seem able to treat test cricket with the respect it deserves, and prepare people to play it. They seem to have the balance right between the modern world and tradition, why can’t we?

I thought his kicking was good, and he was positive at corners. Nothing particularly wrong with his game yesterday, and I’m far from a fan of his.