Tamworthram

Must have been a temporary glitch. I’ve just looked at got this.

The comments were made whilst working for a Swiss TV company commenting on a game between a German team and an Italian team. I don’t know but I suspect there is a reasonable chance he wasn’t speaking English. It’s a fine line between stereotyping and racism. Reading what he said, and checking the definition of racism, I’d say they were clumsy stereotypical. In any event, I am always wary of bringing back ex players into a coaching/management role simply because they were “legends”.

I see Barnsley having a strong finish.

I only average half a dozen away games a year but I've NEVER seen it happen.

I'd say an excellent time for their form to dip (please). 😀 Seriously though, that's why I have them finishing 4th in my predictor. Sadly I have us only 3rd.

I would have thought the best place is as near to the away end as possible (that's what I'll be aiming for if I have to resort to a home ticket for Northampton or Cambridge). Looking at the stadium plan, it looks like you have the choice of either sitting in the South Stand (G) or better still, on the "Popular Insulation Terrace 2" you won't be restricted to staying in an allocated seat if you're on the terrace. Either way, I'm not sure there will be too much singing (especially in the seated area) due to the risk of being evicted from the ground.

I’d say neither are ideal. Form can change compared to half a season ago and three matches isn’t enough to determine current form or a trend. That’s why I looked at the last 10 games (plus, it quite neatly matches the number of games remaining) in which we have lost three. In terms of which I see as the biggest risks of defeat - Portsmouth away is the obvious favourite although I wouldn’t be surprised if we battled out a backs against the wall 0:0 draw again. Bolton is obviously a dangerous game but, as I’ve not seen them play much recently, that may be just because of where they are in the league rather than how well they are playing. The next one that worries me is Wycombe away. Their home form isn’t great whilst our away form (in terms of results) is good but it just feels like one of those games we’ll struggle in. I don’t see us losing more than a couple of games but there may be too many draws in there to keep us second.

Maybe because we’ve managed to lose 3 from our last 10 games 🤷🏻 But I’m only expecting a couple of defeats.

I don’t want you to go back in history at all. I didn’t ask you to list all the examples you can think of. I don’t know why you have responded in the way you have especially as I was essentially agreeing with you - it is a f***ed up world and there are sadly plenty of examples.

There are sadly plenty more examples than the two you have quoted. 😢

I’d like to think so but I also somehow doubt he would have won if there had been a labour candidate standing in what was, at the last general election, a very safe labour seat.

I know. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Apart from points (which, of course, at the end of the season is the most important element) what are the other two quarters? I can’t help but think you’re confusing “expected” (as in expected goals) with “deserved”. As I understand it, a penalty kick has a fairly high xg rating (something like 0.79) but, if the penalty taker puts it wide then he didn’t deserve to score - he missed the target from a good goal scoring opportunity. 🤷🏻

I’ve just set one up for Northampton as a back up.

Sadly, I don’t have any friends let alone any with good away membership.😀

Some folk must have found a way to beat the system. I can’t believe 65 people in the 10+ category waited until this morning to get their ticket when there were only 67 left.😏

Lots of ifs and buts, but if Bolton win their game in hand or Barnsley win their two games in hand they will only be 4 points behind Portsmouth with 10 games remaining. I personally wouldn’t consider that as running away with it. They have the advantage but not running away with it.

You seem to be obsessed with the word “deserved”. Did they not “deserve” to finish fourth simply because they got the fourth most points? If that’s not enough, they also won the fourth most number of games and scored the fourth most number of goals.

I'm not disagreeing with that (although, we know from this forum that managers can get stick for criticising their players in public), but I really don't see the connection. The fact is the ref messed up and I'd expect their manager to complain about it.

Good shout. I think I'll do it know (before they realise what's going on) just in case.

It's heart breaking to see Stoke in the bottom three. 😀

I agree that they can't really blame conceding the goal on the incident but an attacking opportunity was erroneously taken away from them. A wrong decision by the referee and I reckon we'd all be fuming if it happened to us. But, as it was Notts Forest, my heart isn't bleeding too much.

Maybe they'll be safe by then, won't need to worry about losing an element of home advantage and therefore be happy to give us more in order to boost their bank balance. Here's hoping.

Portsmouth aren't running away with it and I don't quite get the point you are making about them finishing 8th last season. The year before last Plymouth finished 7th and Ipswich finished 11th, so what's your point? It is a weaker league than last season without the teams promoted but it's still not an open goal. I haven't investigated all the signings each team has made but haven't Portsmouth, Bolton and Barnsley strengthened their squads (to a greater extent than we've been able to)?

I get the joke of course but there is a serious side. Every time Sibley plays, the chap sitting next to me makes some comment about how long it will be before he is booked. I have to keep reminding him that Sibley has matured a lot since his bad old days and is no more likely to get booked than any other player.