roboto

Ok, so this is my two cents on the Chris Martin argument. Mainly because I'm sick of reading the same comments putting him down or bigging him up more than he deserves. He did great for us a few seasons back and we all have fond memories of his goalscoring form, he was a great servant to the club and he was treated badly while we messed around with management changes. That has stalled his career. To be honest though, although he does thrive in the right system with the right players, he isn't good enough for teams to be built around him and his needs. At this level teams can't afford to get a marquee player and spend money on trying to put the right players around them. It works in the top leagues with world class players, but this is the Championship where you need players to fit in different systems and deliver across a 50+ game season. I'm sure a lot of managers would love to have Martin in their team, but it's not just the cost of Martin you need to consider when putting him in your squad. You have to surround him with the right team mates and that costs more money. I'm happy that we have strikers like Marriott (natural goalscorer from any position), Waghorn (hard-working front man who can operate out wide effectively too) and Nugent (great character on and off the pitch for the young players to learn from) at the moment. Martin wouldn't get into this team currently. We've moved on as a team and we should move on as fans and remember the good times when he was banging in goals for fun during Mac1.

🙄

I took a Celtic, a Lazio and a Torino supporter to the game last night and they all praised the entire team and mentioned that our defence was much better than the Chelsea defence on the night, both on and off the ball. They were very impressed with how we played the ball out from the back and on the deck. Huddlestone and Marriott were particularly praised for their part but so was Keogh (although I personally thought Tomori was our best defender on the night). I thought Keogh's distribution was fine. He does only hit the ball at one speed (as hard as possible) which can sometimes cause problems for team mates who can't trap the ball and control it quickly enough, but we've had so many worse players than Keogh in recent years it beggars belief how many people still can't see how good he actually is and his passion for the club.

What a night. Really impressed with how we went about our business and the atmosphere was amazing. It's so nice to have that feeling even after a loss. Some thoughts on each player last night below. Can't really find any critical words for anyone. Seems weird. Carson - nothing you can do to react to those two OGs. Probably should've got a block in on the Fabregas goal, but pulled off a couple of great saves in the second half to keep us in it. Bogle - Did what he could against a quality player like Willian in the first half and held his own. He was better in the second half when he managed to get higher up the pitch and linked up well with Bennett. Keogh - Can't blame him for the OG. He was very nearly the hero again at the end. Oh, if only he would've put away that chance. Still love him like crazy and he came over quickly after the final whistle to show his respect for the fans and we sang it back to him. Tomori - Also really unlucky with his slice, but he was outstanding at the back again in my opinion. His positioning is getting better by the game and his speed helped against some clever Chelsea passing in the final third. Malone - Loftus-Cheek had the measure of him for most of the game and the Chelsea attacks were down that flank mostly. He did ok, but didn't get the chance to show his forward play due to the Chelsea press. Huddlestone - Absolute beast in the middle. Think I can only remember one misplaced pass all game. Always showing for the ball and also broke forwards a couple of times early on to give Fabregas something to think about. Mount - Chased the ball when Marriott needed time to recover from previous efforts. When he joined the high press we forced mistakes from the Chelsea defence which got us into some good positions. Wilson - A quiet game for him. I noticed him dropping deeper than Huddlestone towards the end of the first half and begging Carson for the ball only for Carson to launch the ball over his head to Waghorn. We also didn't get any free kicks in a dangerous position for him. Waghorn - Worked hard and caused Emerson some problems. Fluffed a great chance then put his goal away beautifully. Kepp plugging away and his goals will come. Lawrence- Did a lot of cover to help Malone against RLC in the first half. Got a couple of dribbles in but held the ball for a couple of touches too long in my opinion, but he had a good game and even got a couple of good tackles in. Marriott - Awesome performance and he caused the backline so many problems that they decided to bring Luiz on to freshen things up next to Cahill. A bit more stamina work and he could work hard and effectively for 90 minutes. He was struggling to recover for each attack towards the end of the game. Bennett - Worked hard when he came on and linked up well with Bogle which allowed us to have a good period of pressure in the second half. Forsyth - stuck to the left byeline and gave us an option for the pass, but he wasn't really used too much. Nugent - So. ducking. Close! He offered more than I thought he'd be able to when he came on and was chatting to the young lads through the last 10 minutes to keep their heads up and positive. Offers more to the squad than being a footballer.

If this happens I'll be looking at getting my ticket money back and I'm sure everyone in the squad wants to make themselves available for this match. I'd expect FL to keep pretty much the same team from the weekend, with any changes being down to how the players have recovered from the last 3 games. Malone looked completely finished on Wednesday, but put himself about all match yesterday. Mount was replaced as he'd taken a knock in the second half and I guess Lampard wanted him to be ready for Chelsea. These are the only two I'd guess are doubtful from the team that started against WBA and Boro. Birmingham might be in form, but we've not been too shabby lately either. No need to fear any team, they should be worried about us.

Scenes if he does a Kingsley Coman against Juventus! I actually thought this was the perfect game to get Davies back into the starting line up without the selection headache for FL.

Got mine this morning. I'm also taking a Celtic, a Torino and a Lazio supporter to the away end for their first Derby match.

What time do they hit general sale on monday morning? I've got a few people from work here in London that want to come to the match with me. Will they all need to register to buy tickets too?

The spin on the ball looks like it should curl to the keepers left but the ball actually swerves a little to the keepers right. He’s wrong footed and the pace of the shot means he can’t adjust to make the save in time. As was mentioned when he did it at Old Trafford, the technique is hard to get right and there’s an element of luck in the ball moving the opposite way once it’s been struck. He’s clearly getting the technique right more often and I don’t doubt he’ll score a lot more of these free kicks throughout his career.

Like a true cyclist. Well done to you for doing this. Distance cycling is daunting and challenging. Pint well earned!

1st minute, 5th minute and now the 10th minute. At this rate we might get to half time without conceding sometime at the end of October and hopefully keep a clean sheet by the end of the year.

Phil Jones' boots...

That. Was. INCREDIBLE! Can't remember such a great set of penalties from both teams. Keogh with the winner is a dream!

Proud of how the lads have played tonight regardless of what happens in the shootout. Can just about imagine how the ref found 6 minutes (goalie change was slow after the red and a bit of VAR plus usual add ons for yellows and subs), but it is a sucker blow to go deservedly ahead and then concede in the 5th minute of added time.

You weren't watching the same game, because he was commenting without even watching the Hull game (and possibly others).