benjii

"The angst shown around the ground as the Geordie lad loitered on the ball in one first-half incident was jarring. It was an instinctive, perhaps even perfectly natural, airing of frustration to the glimpse of an opening disappearing. As one shrewd observer noted, however, it’s the sort of conditions which create a self-fulfilling environment for the striker." It gets better..... "It’s the ever-decreasing circles which eventually sees [sic] a player swallowed up in a vortex of sapped morale. Reports of booing as the player took to the pitch in the second half are indefensible, however. [The reports are indefensible?] It’s evident Smith is now bereft of the confidence he gained off the back of three goals in three [matches] going into December. All the signifiers there to show it. [sic.]" 100% pure crapola.

Never mind the actual subject matter; why is the standard of writing so poor at that organisation? It's abject, embarrassing stuff.

I don't. I can fully understand that. Norwich would have scratched the match beforehand if they were allowed - they didn't want to be there - and we were always going to select a low-priority team. It was always going to be insipid and lacking in competitive integrity to some extent. The match v Liverpool is a very rare chance to reach a major Wembley final and arguably our biggest match for the last 13 years.

The Europa problems were in the attacking third, not at the back. We failed to score in four matches out of six.

That first leg was so dull.

Yes, sorry. I was referring to your "dodgy DVDs", not your "DVD player".

Presumably this is all illegal?

Were they moaning about these same tactics when they won them the league? They must have a similar share of block-headed know-nothings as we do.

Exactly. As I said, a big bunch of helmets.

Agreed, but a lot of our fans seem to be utter helmets nowadays.

Won't happen. They would want something like £20m+ He's English and half-decent so he'll go to one of the "big" clubs for a stupid fee (or West Ham or Everton).

I think Van Dijk might stay for another season.

Gardos had some good games (Utd and Arsenal away) but also some bad ones (Palace at home - incidentally, a worse performance under Koeman than anything under Puel).

I think the "boring" thing is getting quite boring. I didn't go last night and am quite prepared to accept that it may have been utter ****e. However, I watched the highlights and saw us have at least three or four very good goalscoring opportunities (in addition to the goal we did score). One came from a backpass but the others came from good play from us. If one or two of those had been buried, I'd wager there would be a lot fewer "bored" people and a much more positive spin on the performance.

Happiness is a cigar named Yoric Ravet?

No goals conceded from open play in three matches.

It's a shame the FA Cup is so devalued. When Exactly did this happen, and why, really? Third round under the floodlights.... should be a highlight of the season but no one, me included, can be arsed.

I agree with the OP. People need to perk up and get posting on their phones.

Yes, but he probably wouldn't be better than our current forwards.

Top drawer striker = Ulloa or Kone? **** me.

I do wonder if he has been carrying an injury. It might explain why the rest of the team goes into its shell so easily - they know any half-decent shot is likely to result in a goal. If that is the case then: i) it's bad luck our second choice got injured; but ii) it shows our third choice signing to have been a complete waste of time.

Can you please post up some details of what would be a statistically significant number of matches? Thanks.

Yes, but not because the football is dull. It isn't now and it wasn't then. The similarity is that the manager has been brought in with a specific plan in mind but hasn't been given the tools to deliver it properly.

I think May is doing about as well as she can with this at the moment. Good statement.

I hate rotation. Stop the rotation. Too much ****ing rotation! I wish we had a bigger squad. Let's get a bigger squad!