Comrade 86

A not unfair take to be honest, though we don't really know how hard he trains the lads in comparison to other teams. Seems to me that there is a greater focus on athleticism, pace and stamina as you move down the leagues, with the players having more natural ability being priced out of range by Champ and Prem outfits. I did note from Barker's interview prior to the game that the squad had been given time off and returned to their families during the break between Pompey and Wycombe and I do wonder whether the rigours of a 50 game season on some pretty poor pitches (our own at times!) might have more to do with the injuries than a martinet's approach to training. In any case, hopefully we put it all together for the next 3 games, as I'm not sure anyone wants another season of L1 football irrespective of whether Warne is still the incumbent. Slight tangent, but I was sorry to read that 2024 has proved difficult for you and yours thus far. Hopefully a resounding win today signals changes sooner, rather than later.

Why is it always the in-form players? If we didn't have miserable luck in that regard, we have none at all 😔

Let's hope not eh, the failing bit, not the lighting it up thing, obvs!

The backstop date for Forest's appeal hearing is apparently May 24th but it's rumoured that the PL are to try to resolve this prior to season end. I've been trying to find the articles suggesting that Forest's belief that they had nothing to lose with what I view as a spurious appeal, is potentially a serious misunderstanding of the process and the link below is the the one I managed to find again. In a further twist, that really ought to set alarm bells ringing, the PL have stated that they retain the right to force a single arbitrator to make a final call should the appeal not go the way they would like. Bear in mind the 8 point penalty they originally sought. Perhaps I'm reading too much into that statement, but it suggests to me that they want to see the penalty increased and will challenge the appeal outcome if additional points are not deducted. I'm not sure who is advising the fat fella, but I think Forest appealing what was IMO, a ludicrously generous outcome given the size of their overspend and the underhand way they went about masking it, was essentially an act of flagrant self-harm, akin to accidentally shooting themselves in the foot, then shooting the other one too so they have a matching pair. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/nottingham-forest-ffp-appeal-points-deduction-fail-2964272

@LeedsCityRam if this is the case then apologies as I thought your comment was in reference to the status quo and not Rosenior's reign. I too was massively frustrated when he was moved on as it struck me that we were just beginning to play some decent stuff. Did we not dismantle Wycombe in his last game? Irony overload, if so. I also seem to recall you and I, among others, being taken to task (most often by the forum's most prolific poster who now wants us to believe she was in favour of Rosenior staying!) for suggesting that the style of play we would see under Warne would not necessarily please the masses. How quickly some forget!

I've wavered on this as before we heard Collo had miraculously returned to training, I'd have said the same. The ideal world scenario though is that we get over the line by hook or crook without him and Dajaune shows the benefit of being left to continue to develop his game when he returns next season.

With the form he's shown since being given a starting slot, I'd imagine it was a shortlist of one! Not often a kid who only recently turned 18 comes in and dominates teams the way he has. Hopefully he doubles down, works even harder, continues to listen to his coaches and in doing so maintains his current arc. He's a seriously exciting prospect for one so young and will surely be in and around the senior squad next season.

Apologies if I've misunderstood your point, but surely a league table encompassing 46 games is THE most accurate measure of success. What other metric is less misleading? it frustrates me that when teams finish above us it's always because they deserved to over the course of the season, but somehow this same rationale does not apply to us. IMO, if we do secure an autos slot, it's absolutely because we deserved it and by the same token, if we don't, then we clearly won't have.

When you feel lucky, perhaps? 😂

I always try to strip away the dressing and focus on what I see. Had we taken any of the 3 or 4 gilt edged opportunities we carved out in the first 40, I think conversations on here would be rather different. As someone else said, fine margins. The second half I thought saw an emboldened Wycombe and I don't think that would have been the case were they 2 or 3 down. Likewise, when NML blasts the ball over the sticks, or CBT fumbles a sitter, can we seriously suggest that these are tactical or coaching deficiencies. With the amount of experienced players we had on the park, calmer heads should have prevailed IMO, though none of this negates the view that at times, PW has clearly got it wrong. I've not reiterated my sense of it recently, as a pet hate of mine is posters who relentlessly post the same material, but whilst I support Warne currently (likewise the playing roster), I opposed his appointment and can also see how we'd likely need a very different formula to prosper were we to secure promotion. I have enjoyed some performances, Pompey only a game back, I thought was a fantastic game between two sides playing good attacking football, despite the atrocious conditions, but I'm not blind to the occasions where we've looked all over the place either. My view though, is that we are just a L1 side after all, despite being 'massive' and perhaps these inconsistencies come with the territory.

It certainly seems like a mountain to climb, but the West (or the sympathisers therein) can't give up now. We can't just throw our hands in the air and say, 'it's too hard' as in some ways that lack of determination is what empowers Netanyahu. It's also not lost on me that the assassinations on Iranian soil might be another twisted device to curry favour with the US at a time where relations are more strained than at any time I can recall. The enemy of my enemy etc. I'm not convinced either that any Palestinian state would immediately look to attack Israel again. I think the Palestinians will feel they have suffered enough for their allegiance to Hamas, but I concede that the Israelis could quite easily instigate further conflict.

Excellent stuff. Do they provide this type of analysis for every race? It's actually way better than the F1.com equivalent.

In fairness and unlike some, you've been entirely consistent in your observations over the course of the season, but taking Wycombe as an example, what was wrong with the team selection? Was it not another occasion where he actually got it right, which I concede, he hasn't always, but was let down by a forward line who lacked composure?

Try reading what I actually posted again. S-L-O-W-L-Y.

Alexander (2004) - I don't recall why I didn't watch this at time of release as typically, I like Oliver Stone's movies, but OMFG this film should have been aborted, or at best strangled at birth. A bleached out Colin Farrell sounding for all money like he's just dropped in from Dublin, had me twitching only minutes into the film and inside a quarter of an hour I was done. The illegitimate lovechild of Mikkel beck and Abdul Camara / 10 Code: Feckin awful!

Hope so or I'm hearing voices in my head. About 1500 odd 😂

Is it really so bad? Scott seems very well cast and the only artifice I can see is that it's rather needlessly filmed in B & W, which detracts rather than adding anything. You guys have me debating whether to go on now! 😂

About that cake though... 😜

But where are these charts RAW!?! We keep hinting... 😋

Not sure the addition of Bradley and Hourihane will 'freshen it up', or much else to be honest. Dropping Smith for the latter in particular, seems akin to an act of self-harm. We've looked ok defensively, having reverted to a back 4 and I'd fear a complete meltdown amongst the fans if we bring in the two slowest players on the roster for a game we absolutely need to be winning.

Sorry, last two the wrong way around. The songs are Inside and My Favourite Mutiny, the shows Dark and Winning Time 🤪

Done. A lovely idea Claire.

They sounded epic on the telly 😔

The Chain - F1 TV coverage Fighting For - Top Boy The Dirty South - The Dirty South Dark - Inside Winning Time - My Favourite Mutiny