Bris Vegas

There are multiple videos showing Dubois hit him low. Half his fist was low on impact and his natural movement followed up. It was low, and any bladder hit from a heavyweight would cause a reaction. Usyk isn’t any weaker to the body than Fury is to the head. Of the two, the latter has been on the canvas far more often. Fury didn’t get complacent. He is just a decent heavyweight who is vulnerable to being dropped at any moment. Usyk is far more skilled and only size will beat him, not boxing skills.

Dubois quit against Usyk after being thoroughly outclassed. The robbery line is laughable. First off It was a low blow, and secondly there is no proof Usyk wouldn’t have beaten the count. The latest with Fury is a shame. A freak incident seems like a cover up for what was a big blow in sparring.

I can’t wait for Warne to play him at LB.

A 10 point deduction for Forest and Luton winning another 4 games may be enough to see them go down. But truth be told, it’s extremely unlikely and they will probably be fine with a few games to spare. Credit Luton for appearing to be competitive. Sheff Utd and Burnley are awful.

Our midfield looks crap because of the way we play. It’s often bypassed in possession and spread out off the ball.

Wassall actually brought the fun back late that season. We had some terrific wins under him, including the 4-0 over Hull. The lack of experience was a major downfall though. Throwing away the 3-0 lead at Rotherham was just ridiculous. But what did it for me was the naivety in playing George Thorne in deadrubber against cloggers Ipswich Town on the final game of the season. If there was ever a time to wrap that man in cotton wool, that was it. And then we lost 0-3 to Hull where our midfield was just all wrong. Heroic second leg effort but just fell short. I accepted losing to Villa and Fulham in the playoffs as just losing to better teams. QPR was a freak. But that 2015-16 playoffs was the big missed opportunity. Hull and Wednesday were poor.

Cocu had a poor run away from home, and struggled first half of his debut year. But we really turned it around. 64 points that season was IMO a better performance than Lampard’s the season before considering Cocu didn’t have Mount, Wilson, Tomori, BJ and Keogh. Huddlestone was injured too. We were dire at the beginning of Cocu’s next season, with Martin’s absence telling. Playing an unfit Rooney was like playing with 10 men out of possession, and Waghorn’s form nosedived. Cocu wasn’t great. And only a great manager would have had any success in those circumstances.

When people have a fixed opinion which is so strong, clear evidence which flies in the face of that is just ignored altogether. We actually broke a 50+ year club record under Phillip Cocu in scoring at least once in over 20 consecutive games. There is this great myth that we never looked like scoring under Cocu. Yet if that is the case, how do you explain the scoring record?

My top two by a clear margin are: 1) George Burley 2 Steve McClaren After that, the Lampard season was often fun to watch. I had some joy watching Cocu’s side but it was mainly down to the youngsters. I couldn’t stand Nigel Clough’s first few years here and that clouded my judgement for the his final season which was actually decent looking back. Winning under Billy Davies was great. The performances were not. Similer under Rowett and Clement. Pearson, Brown and Jewell were just horrible. Warne isn’t terrible, but considering the resources and level of opposition, we should be playing far better.

Warne’s objective is to get us out of League One. If that happens, there is no reason to keep him on. We win games in League One because we have better players than the opposition. But for the past 15 months, when we have come up against teams who are a match for us in terms of quality of player, we have struggled. This season we have improved after the awful results against last season’s top eight, but we’re still unconvincing. I’d get rid of Warne because that would be the necessary action to push on the Championship.

No doubt Klopp would have won numerous other trophies if it wasn’t for Guardiola at City. Similarly, Wenger would have won a bunch more trophies at Arsenal had it not been for SAF at Arsenal. Sometimes you are just in an era where you are brilliant, but there is somebody better. Take two out of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic out of the equation and the other one gets 40 grand slams. In any other era they probably would have reached that amount. Klopp in PL terms has a higher PPG tally than SAF, Wenger and Mourinho. It’s almost unfair that he has just the one title despite finishing on 90+ points on three occasions. For context, both SAF and Wenger never reached 90+ points in their 40+ combined seasons. Klopp has managed it three times in 7 years and you wouldn’t back against him doing it again this season. I have no love for him. But he is a legendary manager and in the top three of his era (past 15 years) alongside Pep and Ancelotti.

I’m happy for Warne to finish the season. But I would get rid regardless of the outcome. Hopefully we get promoted, and we can thank Warne for his efforts and contribution in getting us back on track. But if we don’t get promoted, he just can’t stay on. It’s an awful league, and this season in particular, the competition is so poor with the three relegated sides from last season all a mess. If we can’t finish above Posh, Pompey and Bolton this season, we’ve got no chance of finishing above Wednesday or QPR next season. Posh looked so much better than us the other week. There appeared to be a clear gulf. And to put into perspective, Posh would be a bottom six side in the Championship.

We are winning this in spite of Warne. We are winning simply because we have better players, and it has been the case many times this season. It’s garbage football over and over again.

James Ibrahimovic Collins

He is probably looking at Whittaker thinking with a little envy.

Went from being an U18 PL champion, to scoring a 25-yard cracker on his full debut and then banging in a hat-trick on his second start, resulting in speculation of a £20m+ move to the Premier League. To now being a makeshift LB in the third tier, a squad player only stepping in as our 34-year-old regular is out injured. Seriously, wtf happened?

We should play Collins offside Bingo. I’m on for a line with 7, 16 and 30 already.

The same gets thrown at Guardiola. But if it was simply down to money, you have to ask why the likes of Brendan Rodgers, Roy Hodgson, Roberto Mancini and Pellegrini also couldn’t achieve the same success. No doubt without the resources neither could achieve what they have done. But Klopp and Guardiola are the two best managers in the PL due to their coaching and man-management. When they go, I don’t think we will regularly see 90+ point finishes again. It will probably open it up for Arsenal, United and Chelsea to really challenge again.

Aren’t all managers dependent on money? It’s impossible to achieve success with a certain way of playing if the players are unable to play that way. I can’t recall a manager who has achieved prolonged success by just taking over a team and not changed it by spending money.

Guardiola I think leaves at the end of 2025 too. It’s probably a good thing for the PL that their cycle of dominance is coming to an end. Without Klopp, City would have won another six or seven trophies over the past 5 years.

Seen more quality on a North Korean Tinder app.

Not sure why so many people are surprised? We are Derby County. Slumps this time of year is what we do.

Garbage football

That was a good point on the balance of play. Lincoln had by far the better chances and if Collins had missed the chances Taylor had for them he would be slaughtered on here.

If Taylor could finish he would be a PL player. He has had 5 attempts where you’d expect a decent player to have scored three of them.