Saint86

Fucking love it, NGL. Hopefully Millwall don't cock this up!

Overly negative in my opinion. Watford (first game of the season, very physical, kicked us off the pitch first 15min, home crowd well up for it). Birmingham (away under the lights, only 3 teams won there all last season, very physical side - and a difficult place to get a win regardless) Lincoln (newly promoted, home crowd and team full of confidence, and a extremely physical side - probably the most physical in the league)... So all in, a draw isn't the worst result. Wrexham (fan and player morale through the floor, they got a hiding from us last time we played them there which will be in their minds, but they still remain reasonably physical)... I think the general factors that weighed against us in the other 3 away games will not be as significant in this game.... And clearly our confidence is starting to flow. A win is there for the taking, but as alehouse says, funnier things have happened. Tends to be the games where both sets of fans expect the same result that deliver the shocks... 🫣

Always quite liked Wrexham fans, and they've been on a fairytale journey in fairness.

I think there is a huge culture of complacency, who you know, *old boys club", and (dare I say it) corruption throughout English football. Be it PGMOL, the FA, or the EFL. The institutions, and their checks and promotion structures just aren't fit for purpose in the modern game 🤷. You only have to look at the numerous refereeing scandals in recent years, some of the particularly nasty people involved with football clubs, or the completely arbitrary and biased approaches to discipline that get applied throughout all levels of the game. This is part of why I am such a supporter of the independent football regulator, although invariably some of the same people will weasel their way into that as well.

Also, needless to say - Come on Millwall this evening!!! 🦁

Its hard to imagine being as thick as that VAR official tbh, but they do walk among us - and that one was so poor that i do't think you can even suggest match fixing. I reckon you could give most (impartial) fans a month to learn the rules and practice implementing them, and they'd have done a better job on that decision 9/10 times, let alone with years of experience behind them. Get a graduate etc., to drive the controls and all you need is solid understanding of the game and the rules to make high level refereeing calls on contentious decisions... And always remember, if its not clear and obvious, make no change - and that should be first bar on any VAR decision. Whoever that VAR was, he simply isn't fit to referee.

Distraction is included, and since the shot goes straight across him to Tolaj, he becomes an interference impacting on Peretz's ability to reposition and react to the subsequent shot.

JWP

The 2nd tier podcast just got done by MLG... https://x.com/MatthewLeGod/status/2099066270272401916

I mean, the shot goes straight across the box to tolaj and that player is directly in the line of sight to tolaj, so clearly interfering/obstructing in Peretz's ability to save the shot.

Tolaj was onside, but pretty sure this guy in front of Peretz is obstructing his view / interfering. He's a poor referee tbh - its also laughable that he's born in bristol and a former player of both bristol clubs - and yet he's refereeing one of them... that just shouldn't happen 😅😂 (i'm aware that he's not at fault for their goal, merely commenting on the position it puts him in as a ref).

Well... what a lovely Saturday

25min in to this west ham Wrexham game, and Wrexham are awful... West ham aren't even having to try to get at their goal. Woeful stuff from the dragons, no threat and can't defend.

I mean, he absolutely is. He should be an automatic starter imo. The question is who will get dropped to let JWP start because Downes is playing very well alongside him and i think Jander will struggle to get back in to that pairing. Its a great problem to have though - because assuming Jander gets back to his best, we then have Azaz, JWP, Downes, and Jander for the central 3 midfield spots - and thats 4 of the best CMs in the league no questions asked.

Boro appealing desperatley to have him kicked out and Wankshear given the award.

We'll beat them at home this season, no questions. This team is on a mission.

This will always be the case unless we are ourselves top. Which we essentially were after Swansea. All we can do is try to stay top few in the form table - the points will sort themselves out then.

I agree. I am not convinced there are stand out teams so far... although i think the most likely 2 are ourselves and west ham. The 8 team play offs should also keep the league competitive and make it hard to pick up soft points near the end of the season - will impact automatics and relegation places imho. (I'd be worried if i was a shit team this season as so often they put together a nice little run vs sides that have nothing to play for and stay up as a result... not sure that will be the case this season).

A few of the City fans i know reckon they can't defend either. I reckon this will be something like 2-2 (given they are a bogey side for us). The -4points remains an issue for us i think as we're constantly playing a game of catch up (and when we're not winning it adds pressure mentally).

Did Bolton pay us for him? Haven't seen a transfer fee reported anywhere.

Maybe, but we can have them regardless. The Tonda train rolls onwards...

https://fmttmboro.com/index.php?threads/tonda-eckert-news.83872/page-31 Still obsessed and delusional (they have more recent posts on this than we do...), but also starting to realise we aren't going away. Will love it if we torpedo their season.

That went about as well as expected, glad to see Tonda has started reading my posts and taking note 😌 In all seriousness though, good performance from us. Made Swansea look like the rapid press merchants they are, didn't really give them much outside of a sloppy penalty. Let them blow themselves out and punished the mistakes as they came. Wasteful if anything. I hugely dislike this passing back to Peretz, especially with wood. They don't have the first touch or passing to do it - it's an accident waiting to happen and indirectly led to the penalty in this one as well. Great again by Larin, azaz, and Scienza. Onwards and upwards though!

Without the 4 point deduction, we'd currently be top. And yet we've had some fans calling for Eckert to go on social media etc. 🤣😆

I know the foul was given, but that was a superb bit of reading and interception by jwp to stop the through ball.