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Thread | So, Forest - Palace then
at 18:58 21 Oct 2024
It feels like the most likely 1-1 draw going to me.
Something I should have posted earlier because I also just saw this tweet which kind of confirms that:
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Thread | A few thoughts on where we are now
at 07:55 23 Sep 2024
Having been away for Fulham and then missed Brighton, Saturday was the first game I managed to see live since the first two, it really doesn't take much to have a big gap between games in this division. That gives us a good amount of time to prepare but longer to get over bad results.
And Saturday was very nearly a bad result, it was a slightly strange game as, on the over all balance of play, a draw was definitely the right result but for much of the second half Southampton had a measure of control that we struggled to break and, until the last couple of minutes, had by far the better chances. It was quite reminiscent of the match last April in that regard - as well as in the conclusion.
Defensively we looked comfortable for much of the time, but also vulnerable out of almost nothing, obviously everyone has seen the goal we conceded, it was a bad one with both O'Shea and Axel missing chances to clear the ball and then Greaves and Davis being beaten by Lallana's excellent pass. It wasn't the only time we seemed to suddenly be under real pressure, some good balls on their part but I don't think we'll be too happy with how we dealt with them.
Individually it was ok, but collectively lacking a bit: Muric did well and looked much more comfortable than a month ago, O'Shea had a poor start to the game IMO but was ok after that and I thought Greaves threw himself into blocks a bit too readily at times. I also wonder if Wolfenden might play in some home games when we expect to have more possession as a lot seemed to go through Greaves at times.
Further forward, we are very much a team in formation, we know that in League One it took a while for players to get up to speed with how we play and that is similarly the case now. Despite a lot of possession we aren't creating a lot of chances from open play at the moment, again individuals are largely ok but the collective result will have to improve.
Omari remains the most threatening of our forward players, he looks like he can make something happen far more often than any of the others. His decision-making is a bit off at the moment and he clearly got frustrated on Saturday, as seen in a pointless yellow card, but it's easy to forget how raw he was a year ago and how much he improved over the season; the improvement he needs to make now is a much smaller one.
Under McKenna, we've consistently used our substitutes effectively and Saturday was no exception, Hirst and Taylor in particular made a big difference the former having two chances (anyone seen a video of the first one, we couldn't tell how good a chance it was?) and the latter getting stuck in as well as playing the key pass to Clarke for the second Hirst chance.
I do wish we had been able to sign Downes in the Summer though, for all Phillips experience FD would be a better option for the medium term, and I thought he was very good on Saturday (at least until Taylor rattled him with that tackle) consistently being first to the ball and breaking forward with it. Phillips staying fit is going to be pretty important to our season I think given his experience.
We have a lot of new players needing to adapt and not a great deal of Premier League experience in the squad so all of this will improve as the season goes on. To that end, it's been important not to start off by falling behind and we've done that with a little bit of good fortune but also a lot of work.
I'm still a bit concerned that we might have given ourselves too much to do to become a good enough team to stay up, three goals from five games obviously needs to improve a bit and we need to win some matches soon before the confidence of promotion drops a bit on and off the field. In that regard getting such a late goal as on Saturday can only help - such an enjoyable moment and a properly manic celebration in the away end.
COYFB. [Post edited 23 Sep 13:50]
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Thread | All nice and simple for West Ham tickets today
at 10:07 11 Sep 2024
Can't believe I'm going to watch football in a bastardised version of the stadium where I saw one the best (non-ITFC) sporting nights I've ever seen though.
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Thread | Cricket: SL really should win this
at 11:36 9 Sep 2024
England threw it away over the weekend, careless in the first innings with wickets in hand and far too lose Saturday afternoon. The less said about yesterday's batting the better.
A bit of a chance still though but England need more of this:
Looks another tediously dark day at the Oval, a bit drier than the weekend. |
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Thread | Triathlon Gold for GB
at 11:30 31 Jul 2024
Alex Yee with a sprint finish to win by six seconds. |
| | Steve_M
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