 | Forum
Reply | Fair play to our support really
at 22:31 20 Apr 2025
Thought the support was excellent today, particularly the response to the first goal when we pretty much drowned out the Arsenal fans’ celebrations.
It was a red card but at the time most of us in the ground hadn’t seen the tackle clearly, hence the inevitable reaction to Saka.
But, let’s be honest, as a team, as a fanbase and as a club, we’re just a little too nice for the Premier League so if we riled a few Gunners, I have no issue with that.
The only thing I would say is singing about Europe to Arsenal fans is a little bizarre given they won the Cup Winners’ Cup, a legitimate European trophy. |
| Forum
Reply | Fabio tickets
at 14:41 7 Apr 2025
The atmosphere at live boxing is great, the view not so much unless you’re in the first 10 rows ringside.
The higher you are, the more the light gantry gets in the way. |
| Forum
Reply | Berlin
at 09:25 21 Mar 2025
The Berlin Wall Memorial is good. You can wander around at ground level next to the wall and then climb a tower that gives you an overview of the section.
The Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag are impressive, but I wouldn’t waste too much time on Checkpoint Charlie. The location is the same but it’s now full of fast food restaurants and the actual checkpoint is not even the real one any more.
The memorial to the murdered Jews is very powerful. You kind of descend into darkness and then emerge into light. Not everyone gets it but it is quite moving.
Football wise…the Olympiastadion is worth a visit even for a tour. Very historic. And if Hertha are at home you’ll get a ticket. You won’t get a ticket for Union Berlin who play in Köpenick but there are other lower league teams worth visiting. |
| Forum
Reply | Keep hearing our champ defenders should be playing
at 10:50 19 Mar 2025
Greaves and Woolfenden were both awful last Saturday. Wrong decisions, out of position, reacting rather than anticipating.
I said before the game that Burgess should have played (along with Broadhead for that matter).
But our defending is a little more complex than just berating the 4 or 5 at the back.
We give the ball away so cheaply in the opposition half that we are always likely to get caught.
I hate the word Transition but we are very guilty of making poor passes or being knocked off the ball easily in the final third and that allows the opponents to break quickly. And their proven Premier League quality is often better than ours.
It hurts us particularly at home, where we're more willing to attack. Davis pushes forward and our CDMs both tend to support the attacks which leaves us open to being 3 on 3.
It's slightly better when Tuanzebe is in the side because he reads the game so well and covers.
But Philogene is not a wing-back at this level in a million years. Yes he tracks back but he has no physical presence and, as a winger, I'm struggling to recall one instance of trickery that has seen him go past a player.
As I say, you can criticise the defenders and rightly so but if Hutchinson, Delap, Jack Clarke and Philogene are just giving away possession at the other end, we will always be prone to being picked off.
As someone wrote on a thread this week, we didn't play that badly against Forest apart from the four goals.
That pretty much sums up the gap between the Prem and the Championship. |
| Forum
Reply | Chelsea tix….
at 10:36 19 Mar 2025
Loads left in the corner. And only one block completely sold out.
Not sure how many people are actually left in 25+ now so it might still reach 20+
Tom does an excellent breakdown for each match so he'd have a better idea of that. |
| Forum
Reply | TEAM
at 13:49 15 Mar 2025
Presume Philogene on the left. Chance for him to show what he can do in his favoured position if so. |
| Forum
Reply | Some good fanzine nostalgia here
at 15:26 14 Mar 2025
I remember A Load of Cobbolds.
Loved the fanzines, so much better than the programmes back then.
I used to go Sports Pages on Charing Cross Road and they’d be laid out from each club. Brilliant times, lot of humour, proper football, none of today’s bulls**t.
When Saturday Comes was also a great read back then. Their series of Caveman Keepers was a stroke of genius.
And then they went all serious and lost the selling point that had made them both unique and popular at the same time. |
| Forum
Reply | Broadhead has to start on Saturday
at 17:25 10 Mar 2025
As Garv says, Broadhead is not the messiah and I'd have Szmodics ahead of him. But he's injured so, for me, Broadhead offers more than Clarke.
Clarke is a talent, no question, but he is extremely weak at this level and gives up the ball way too easily.
In this league, you have a good chance of getting punished when you do that. I'm not saying Broadhead doesn't lose the ball or anyone else in the team for that matter, I just think he carries the ball better and is more of a threat.
Palace had Clarke in their back pocket. You know he's going to cut inside, so just block that route.
As for Saturday being one of our better performances, it really wasn't. It was OK, we battled, we created some chances but we've played far better this season. And that was against a weakened Palace side that was there for the taking.
I won't criticise the commitment but our ball retention was average. If that performance is our bar, then we won't lay a glove on Forest and Bournemouth.
People will always see things differently and that's fine. I won't deny Broadhead didn't play as well as he did against Chelsea so I understand those who doubt my opinion.
But I would also add that Philogene is being praised in this thread and yet missed two very good chances that other players would have been criticised for squandering.
If we genuinely want a chance of staying up, I would say a few changes are needed to the line-up. |
| Forum
Thread | Broadhead has to start on Saturday
at 10:44 10 Mar 2025
Short of injury, Broadhead has to start Saturday. He's not perfect but he was pivotal in our last win against Chelsea and he looks after the ball far better than Clarke.
For me, it's something like....
Palmer, O'Shea, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis, Morsy, Cajuste, Hutchinson, Enciso, Broadhead, Delap.
Possibly Johnson on the right and Hutchinson in the middle if he chooses to go with a wing-back.
The Clarke/Philogene experiment isn't working right now and Delap is suffering as a result. I think Chaplin is more of a loss than people think as well.
|
| Forum
Reply | Absolutely no complaints. Great team effort. Just not quite good enoufh
at 23:22 8 Mar 2025
Couldn’t fault the effort but I’ve said it before we have had the DNA of a relegated side for a long time now.
We make mistakes at the back, we don’t keep possession and we don’t take our chances.
Do that and it’s not rocket science where you’ll finish up.
But we do compete in matches and in a way that makes it more frustrating to watch.
If the Premier League was like a loading bar on your PC, we’d hang on 80% complete. |
| Forum
Reply | Thank god we didn’t pay £20m for Philligene
at 23:17 8 Mar 2025
Philogene has been very average so far and I’m not sure he’s up to this standard at the moment.
But he is playing out of position, so there definitely are mitigating circumstances.
That said I’ve yet to see him go past anyone yet which is a little alarming given the money we’ve spent. |
| Forum
Reply | Weak left side
at 23:15 8 Mar 2025
Clarke didn’t have a good game either.
Definite talent but he seems to put more effort into adjusting the length of his shorts than he does tackling and being strong on the ball.
I know that’s an exaggeration and a little unfair but perception is everything.
My old man used to say to me do you want to look like a footballer or be a footballer. And that definitely applies to Clarke.
He was so easily marshalled by the Palace defenders today and so powderpuff on the ball. He also looked panicky every time he got possession as if he wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Like I say, he has talent but he’s nowhere near this level at the moment.
And the same can probably be said of Philogene. |
| Forum
Reply | Bournemouth ticketing details here
at 11:30 7 Mar 2025
Ha!!! Apologies forgot it was 12pm today…having mentioned it myself yesterday on here.
I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day… |
| Forum
Reply | Bournmouth Tickets
at 20:00 6 Mar 2025
Wolves ballot is 10am tomorrow
Wolves main sale is 10am Monday |
| Forum
Thread | Anyone received their Palace digital tickets yet?
at 17:26 3 Mar 2025
Has anyone had their digital tickets for the Palace game yet?
I got the confirmation email and was told we’d get the digital tickets in the week leading up to the match.
Apparently it’s a trial for future ticket arrangements.
|
| | tractorshark
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 634 | | Comment Votes: | 515 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 1149 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.