jono

If you win then the Championship is your oyster. We will have a nerve wracking seasons end If we win Bolton have it all to do and we will be in touching distance. Draw is probably good for all of us. We are short of fire power but football is a funny game. I have no prediction, no feeling how this will pan out but doubt there will be many goals Wishing you luck excluding tonight

I hadn’t thought about that. Ouch ! So….. We have to perform against Portsmouth to make sure they have to perform against Bolton. Psychologists and mind game devotees write your answers here.

Not sure it is ? Depends on the score and GD. They’d have to equal our points tally and achieve a better GD over the remaining games ? Unless I have missed something ? Even if we lose, Bolton still need to exceed what we do over what’s left ( I think🤣) it’s destined to be 0-0 v Carlisle with 9 minutes injury time and needing a win to do it. Or the same for Bolton at 4-0 up but needing 1 more to do it on GD Football bloody hell

I vaguely remember Roy Keane saying what Clough said to him as a young player. “your job is to win the ball and then give it to our Nigel.”

I agree. Washington has way more in his locker when he’s got a foil

Odd when you think of the red hot chilli peppers and that was 18 years ago ! I am an old goat so don’t know much but is there a Derby / East Mids school league ? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you were a kid and the schools final was at pride park. A stadium should be a flagship for the community, somewhere you dream of going I agree, though a fantastic location there must be potential to make it earn more money for the club but I suppose like everything there is competition.. so many stadia ? On a more prosaic note, I ate at the yard once before a youth match, really enjoyed it but what’s it like on match days .. is it a scrum and how long do you have to book in advance ?

I find your ripostes equally amusing. My “one eyed” comments that weigh his good and bad traits sit well with your monocular refusal to accept anything other than drooling praise or criticism of management concerning his deployment on the field of play. The boy is clearly a genius. Do tell me how we resisted all those PL callers last transfer window ? . It must be a miracle.

It’s an interesting debate isn’t it. ? I can’t decide. There are times, when we are on song, playing pretty good mixed football. Sure some long stuff but some decent on the ground intricacy with it. Then you get Warne saying in post match interviews that he wants them to take more risks and how he loves it when Wilson takes on his man. So far so good, BUT we then lapse in to a gloomy safety first 3 touches when one will do and all the instinctivness and flair just disappears as if it was never there. We look ponderous and slow. No one touch, no urgency. It’s odd.

Someone commented about Sibs. I responded to that with my feelings about Sibs. I wasn’t making comparisons. My post was not a general critique of the team as a whole. Predictably you chose to leap to Sibs defence. Really Roy the way you lock on to a player and decide that no balanced observations are allowed because he’s on your “preferred” list is very tiresome. Yes other players misplaced passes and Adams did get caught in possession. It is a feature of this team, lapses of concentration and awareness when you least expect it. Skilled players that leave me baffled with a miscontrol one minute and neat one two the next. Sibs has considerable abilities and is one of the few that has the potential to create a champagne moment but he is also more inconsistent and error prone than one would expect in someone with his level of natural talents

He was everything the recent Sibley has been. Some good positional play, a couple of clever darting runs, beat a man with some beautiful twinkle toes. A bullet of a left foot shot just over the bar. Then mix in some lousy passes under minimal pressure, got shoved too easily off the ball, slow to react. … Will the real LS please stand up. He confuses me !

Yep 😊 There was a panicky moment in our box after Collo came on, a mix of botched clearances, blocks and scrappiness. Collo brought the ball down from one of them, played for the free kick with 2 men on him, all calm and collected. Just killed the the threat by using his nous. He hasn’t got the pace and skill to rip defences apart but he’s a flipping good experienced player with diverse and valuable elements to his game

❤️ what a great photo 🍻

I am struggling to understand if there is an iambic pentameter in this ?

I think there was quite a lot of coaching and tactics in that performance. I do see what you are saying but the sort of player Wash is means he is a better player with a foil to do the give and goes. He strikes me as a short bursts of energy feeding off others type of player, a harrier that needs a base stone ? Yes , in round figures he wasn’t quite on it today but give him a couple of games to get to speed and he will contribute.

I felt the same. The ref was petty and stopped the game flowing but you get those sometimes. I’d say Blackpool got the best of the decisions(I would wouldn’t I 🤣) but his bookings were spot on. The Lino on the East side sounded as bad as yours .. But for some epic blocks, clearances and scrambling we might have conceeded when 2 Blackpool boys were yards offside unnoticed then a flag when Wash (I think) timed a run perfectly, being at least a yard on side when the ball was played.

What a weird game. A lot of tactics and mind games between managers I reckon. Why did we sit so deep, let them have the ball ? Yet, with it, they didn’t seem very scary did they ? A fair few individual errors, tried a few things early on that didn’t come off, then we got all “safe” with no panache or zip; but giving the walking wounded thing, maybe that was inevitable ? Loads of effort from all the lads. Beautiful technique and finish from Adams, well deserved MOTM. That was a certified belter of a goal and worthy to win any match anywhere. CBT’s performance was very encouraging and I thought Smith had an excellent game.. All the subs made a difference, Tommo’s energy, Collo’s physical presence and guile shored everything up in the last 20. Fussy ref, Lino made some terrible offside calls and just didn’t see others. Very poor on both lines today in my opinion. 3 precious points … it’s getting closer everyone. Keep the faith.

I find it a difficult one to call. The right cross from Ward wins a game, he has excellent ability to put pace and bend on a pass. Not seen any in this league who can get that dangerous low trajectory but Wilson is such a fighter who has that ability to beat a man properly. Rare these days. Neither excel defensively. … Glad I’m not a manager. !

I think it’s working because he now has fit players on form able to fit the set up. It’s the old round holes thing.

It’s a huge topic and there will be many pages devoted to it all over the place. One thought (sorry this is off topic ) I honestly think there’s some mileage to be had in making loans dependant on PL clubs paying all wages and accepting all risks. After all its training their players, why should money go back to the PL when the EFL clubs are effectively providing training for nothing ? Back to Joe. Everyone makes mistakes but Joe makes fewer than most and has proved to be an excellent keeper. Hope he stays. He’s not Shilton or Poom but he’s earned his No 1 spot to my mind.

I have some Man United in my blood but never liked Pogba even when he was there 1st time round before the mega money. Bling, loud mouth, arrogant - For whatever reason there is always a player you don’t like regardless of their skill. Pogba is mine ( Sheehan joined the list on Saturday 🤣) Not that any of them are quaking in their boots !

I used to sell steel tubes that ended up in the offshore oil industry and heard a tale that some Oil Company paid for Bucks Fizz to do a gig on a rig. They got stuck in a storm and had to stay on the rig. After they left some enterprising lad auction the sheets that the girls had slept in 🤣

The only time a league is “easy” is when there are 2 runaway leaders and you are one of them. That has not happened this year. Only 1 in Pompey. This league isn’t easy, it’s highly competitive. Until yesterday there were 5 teams in with a chance of the automatics and probably 9 or 10 with hopes of the play offs.

It was good yesterday, some singing in the concourse pre match and I got to shout and sing at a level that on other days would make me feel a bit of a stand out. If you are naturally polite you can’t help going with the majority in a crowd, so if those around you are subdued then, to an extent you will be too. I loved giving it large with allez allez yesterday 😎🐏🐏🐏

Sheehan drove me to distraction. Constantly fouling Adams off the ball, moaning at the ref, claiming throws that were even disputable. Huge credit to Ebou who never lost his cool and just seemed to enjoy the 1 v 1 battle

Build it and they will come. Outside yo-yo prem clubs with sacks of cash, if you were a player and DCFC came calling ? There aren’t many places where you’ll get 30,000 noisily wanting you to succeed every other week. Must have been a huge lift for the lads today and it will stand us in good stead whatever happens.