M271

Will the booing be for taking the knee or for the racist reason behind taking the knee ?

Why didn't Vardy go off to the sidelines after his treatment? Is there something in the rules you don't have to in certain situations? Or was it just an oversight by the officials? Well played Saints, if we combine that solid play with 11 on the pitch and the extra forward we would be more difficult to beat and have a better chance of winning. As others have said I could see us losing that game if Vest had not been sent off and we had played in a more open way.

I was irrationally optimistic at least for a draw earlier in the week but now have that sinking feeling of dread. I'm not sure that I can put myself through watching it live but I probably will !! COYR we are due an undeserved result, even a point.

We just can't seem to rip up the losing script. A 2-1 loss away at Spurs or a 1-0 loss at Wembley to Leicester are not on paper a terrible result but the manner of the second half against the former and the no show at Wembley are an embarrassment. If last night we had a terrible first half and went in 2-0 down but had a storming second and narrowly lost 2-1 the feeling would be better but the losing from winning positions again hurts, especially with late freekick becoming penalty is a kick in the teeth. Losing 2-1 to Spurs is not the problem in an overall even game but losing and being outplayed in recent weeks by WBA and Brighton is. Every team bar Sheff Utd seems to have raised their game while ours has regressed. Our poor run (half a season) started with VAR decisions and injuries, and should have got something out of the Aston Villa, Wolves and Leicester games, but then the losses sap confidence and belief so that even when we have a nearly a fully fit squad and recovery time between matches we are not ready mentally to win matches. Like yesterday our midfield when on their game can control the game but in recent matches we go through spells of a match or whole matches where we lose every 50/50, get harried off the ball, misplace passes and we endure wave after wave of attacks. This team were bigger than the sum of the parts early in the season but are under performing the last 3 months. I don't think that the players are as bad as some make out on here but Ralph has to find a more solid match lasting way of playing and managing a game especially from winning positions. Even though we only drew I thought that our way of playing against Chelsea was more solid and made us difficult to break down. If we lose to Fulham and they are then only 3 points behind us after that I will fear the worst looking at both of our last 2 matches because I can't see where are next points are coming from in the last 6 matches, apart from the Fulham match. EDIT: When is the Palace match scheduled for?, I can't find it anywhere and had frankly forgotten about that one as a chance to get points. IMO

Exactly. If the 'rich' clubs refused to pay the high transfer figures or the stupid salaries the whole of the football pyramid could settle into a more affordable environment. A lot of the sky high deals don't work out well anyway.

I've always thought that a large % of the TV money should have been allocated to the clubs on the condition that it is used for the good of the club infrastructure, local projects and for the benefit of the fans such as subsidising ticket prices. In effect every time that the TV money increases players transfer prices and wage costs increase, sucking the potential overall sports benefit from the fans again.

Our midfield is so light weight, the opposition picks up most 50/50s and out muscles us which exposes our defence. Our midfield nether protects our defence or provides an outlet for our attack, this IMO is our main problem and needs to be addressed. I think that we need to set up more defensively until our confidence and results are more positive, we are so open and leave so much space for the opposition to exploit.

I hope that any UK broadcaster will not sign up to this 'league'. At the moment they fall over themselves to be more woke than the other, they should show some balls and turn their back on this proposal.

Big Sam had WBA set up well and knew how to play us. The way that they started didn't give us a chance to settle into the game, their quick passing, movement, tricks and flicks were very good and every 50/50 seemed to go to them. Our running around like headless chickens and quickly giving the ball away back to them didn't help though, at this stage Ralph should have set us up to be more compact and leaving less space for them to exploit. If WBA had started the game like they did the second half the overall game could have been much different. In the second half WBA did what they needed to do to protect their lead and they always seemed to get a toe in to nick the ball and the ball didn't fall for us around the box, if we had made it 2-1 before their 3rd it could have been different. To me it was just one of those nights where we were out thought and played. We need to change our game to become less predictable, I thought that one of our best games played in recent months was the more solid and compact set up against Chelsea. Without Romeo our midfield is very light weight, Diallo is more of a JWP replacement than for Romeo I think that a solid defensive midfielder is a priority in the summer transfer window.

And for once I didn't notice during the whole of the coverage any mentions of either 9 - 0. Maybe I just missed it? Souness seems to be getting more and more miserable though!

With a 8 days before and 6 days after this match no need to rest players unless have a niggle. It's nice to have a nearly injury free squad at the moment, could have done with this a month or so ago when the games were coming thick and fast and some resting and rotation would have been beneficial.

I have just remembered that once Bill Maynard the actor (Selwyn Froggit from the 70s series) was with him, of all people.

I'm watching on Sky Sports Football channel

He seemed to frequent The Otter at Otterbourne in the day, I presume that he lived locally at that time.

No excuses today, strong team line up against a weakened bottom of the table club.

I watched the Burnley match, did Sheff Utd have to work hard with 10 men? Hopefully will not have recovered in under 3 days time! Any more injuries for them?

Exactly. If ever there was a case of hand to ball and not hit at speed from close distance.

We played right into Leeds hands, 2 of their goals were typical Leeds breakaway goals and the free kick goal was from a similar break away. I think that we should have played in a similar way as against Chelsea, less gung ho and more compact. The problem is that when the 'easier' matches come along our confidence will be shot and we could struggle even in those games.

7 points from the last 13 matches, 23 from the first 12. With the way we are going at the moment it could easily be 7 from 16.

OK thanks. All I remember seeing on the BBC match text and SW match thread was that KWP had come off and Salisu came on, I didn't realise that there had been a change of shape.

I didn't watch the match yesterday. How did Salisu get on a RB yesterday once KWP had gone off? Better than Stephens when he stepped in a RB?

Watching WBA v MU, a month ago I'd be wanting a WBA win now looking for a MU win. I know that we will not lose all of our remaining games but I do struggle to see where the next points are going to come from. Even when we play the bottom 3 they'll either be fighting to make up the points deficit or be nice and relaxed having accepted their relegation fate if not mathematically possible to avoid relegation.

Get a point at least to get us off the 29 points that we are stuck on. Hope KWP injury isn't too bad. Chelsea and Leeds next!!

Only on Amazon Prime + streams. I got a free month of Amazon Prime over Christmas so not now eligible 😞

This.