Lighthouse

So why has nobody else in the PL, or even Europe, come in for him? If it’s just the tired old trope of ‘oh Russ hates him because he once dared to pass forwards and more than ten yards’, why is no other manager ripping our hand off?

Not unexpected but good luck to him. Cheers for that list Weston, you’d expect Weatherly and Brown to stick around, they both get enough cricket at the moment.

Tommy Forecast and Anthony Pulis never played a minute for us but we clearly saw enough from them in training to come to a conclusion. Russ has been nothing if not fair in giving our squad opportunities, even when players like SAA have then shown themselves not to be ready. If he isn’t playing TP at all I can only assume that, for whatever reason, he just isn’t on the radar.

I think some people tend to underestimate PL defences quite considerably. Similar sentiments were often expressed about Shane Long, "you want him in the team to trouble defences, he’s a nightmare to play against," etc. it’s the same with TP. A pace merchant with no end product is of very little threat and neither is a lanky beanpole. He’s clearly not shown enough for Russ to think he can be an asset.

Maybe he said, ‘I don’t want to be a loan’. Or was that the Bee Gees, I forget which?

Who on earth is loaning out reliable, experienced PL goal scorers?

This isn’t the case though. Russ hasn’t dropped him because he’s risk averse, he’s dropped in because he consistently puts in substandard performances. If the problem was Russ and his tactics, why has nobody else come in and snapped him away from us for such a bargain price? Why aren’t West Ham, Brighton and Palace all over him for that price?

Er… when did that happen?

KDB loses the ball being perhaps the greatest creative midfielder the PL has ever seen. He makes perhaps the greatest team the PL has ever seen tick, trying all sorts of audacious passes that most players, even at this level, wouldn’t even see. Alcaraz just loses the ball hesitating in possession and making poor choices with his distribution. Everyone talks about him not suiting Russball, that’s not true. Getting mugged in possession on the halfway line doesn’t suit any bodies philosophy.

It worked against the All Blacks.

Nothing much left to play for now but it's going to be an interesting off season. Does anybody have a list of who's out of contract this year? I think the big question marks are over the overseas players in the Blast and the bowling in the County team. Are we planning to get another season out of AAB I wonder.

What are you flying, a Global Express?

If the NHC was the FA Cup final, people would be horrified.

There’s nothing wrong with VAR. Like any system, it’s only as good as the idiot using it.

For me he didn’t, he was just playing against much worse defences and keepers who gave him more time, space and opportunities. He messed up far too many chances that he just won’t get at this level. Great Championship player to have not not PL capable IMO.

But just moving players back into defence isn't a solution to that, you just end up short in midfield and attack, like we are now.

People keep saying this sarcastically but did you actually what him play last season? He was just a passenger in too many games and gets caught in possession far too much. Russ has many faults as a manager but Alcaraz’s shortcomings are not something we should be pinning on him.

That's far too small a sample size to say we looked infinitely better. We had plenty of thumping wins with four at the back last season.

Alcaraz reputation has really dined out on the four goals he scored in the PL last time. In 18 months he really has delivered very little else. Like it or not, we got more Championship goals from Rothwell in a similar position last year and nobody wants him back. He’s clearly got technique but just doesn’t look comfortable in English football. If we get a good offer for him we should take it.

Which kind of proves the whole fallacy of doing it in the first place. It just breeds resentment that people are hired for reasons other than being the best candidate for the job. Worse than that when a minority does get a job on genuine merit, people fail to distinguish it from a box ticking appointment, so you end up doing more harm than good.

Would love the alliteration if we ended up with Aribo, Adam Armstrong, Amo-Ameyaw and Archer in attack at some point.

All the way to 11th last season, just below Crystal Palace. They're nothing special just because they sign a player we were linked with.

Apparently he sent messages to two women who ‘work on the show’ saying that Spurs were going to win the league. There are some sick people out there.

Because it makes people click on it.

It’s easy to point fingers but the fact is that most countries have access to some form of junk food but with vastly differing obesity rates. It’s more of a cultural/attitude problem. Bad habits stretch out on a national scale, people for whom a night in with a Deliveroo Dominoes and a bottle of Prosecco is a bog standard weekly occurrence and a triple cream, sugar filled latte is a daily beverage.