Alty_Ram

Best race for a long while IMHO. Podium positions occupied by 3 different manufacturers and Verstappen and Red Bull nowhere to be seen. Great to see 3 cars still locked in a tussle round the last bend and 5 different cars in the top 6 - what a refreshing change. I've wandered off from so many races this year (even fell asleep during one!) but this one had me on the edge of my seat right up to the line. Probably too much to ask for any repeat, sadly..

No, me neither because I think the tendency is for the ball to just come straight back at you and I also think that you are more likely to get a clumsy tackle in your own box from someone who is not a defender. It just makes sense to me to put one of your quicker players up the pitch so you have someone to chase a clearance and let everyone push up. The attacking team is not likely to leave just one player back then to mark them as that is a high risk approach as they may slip or get beaten for pace so it pulls a couple of players out of the attack.

In terms of Warne's idea that it prevents the opposition having space, well the counter to that is that it is increasingly difficult for your keeper to claim the ball though a more congested penalty area. Warne being Warne, I'm sure that he has decided on this tactic through analysing some stats but it feels counterintuitive to me.

Best race for a long while IMHO. Podium positions occupied by 3 different manufacturers and Verstappen and Red Bull nowhere to be seen. Great to see 3 cars still locked in a tussle round the last bend and 5 different cars in the top 6 - what a refreshing change. I've wandered off from so many races this year (even fell asleep during one!) but this one had me on the edge of my seat right up to the line. Probably too much to ask for any repeat, sadly..

No, me neither because I think the tendency is for the ball to just come straight back at you and I also think that you are more likely to get a clumsy tackle in your own box from someone who is not a defender. It just makes sense to me to put one of your quicker players up the pitch so you have someone to chase a clearance and let everyone push up. The attacking team is not likely to leave just one player back then to mark them as that is a high risk approach as they may slip or get beaten for pace so it pulls a couple of players out of the attack.

In terms of Warne's idea that it prevents the opposition having space, well the counter to that is that it is increasingly difficult for your keeper to claim the ball though a more congested penalty area. Warne being Warne, I'm sure that he has decided on this tactic through analysing some stats but it feels counterintuitive to me.

That is still possible.
So, what a race that was.
Right up until Geogey boy ran out of talent. But seriously, there was some good racing amongst the top 5 at the end there after Ocon's car broke down and both Mercs pitted whilst Lando and the Ferrari's stayed out.
Further back, verstappen got up to 5th, whilst Perez got up to 8th with Checo, as usual, making everything look a lot harder than his team mate. Then Gasly, Pistri, Perez, Lawson (get him in 24) and K-mags (woo hoo, a point for Haas).
Bad day for Fernando. Annoyingly just out the points for Albon, everyone else meh or broke down. Lance didn't even start which after a high speed crash is probably best not to risk.
 
 

I absolutely loved the moment max was out in Q2.
I don't think I'm the only one.
It was also nice to have a Q3 that didn't end with "oh it's tense and exiti....oh max has pole by half a second"
I'm loving how good Carlos is driving and looking forward to a race that isn't caveated"it's fantastic behind max Verstappen "

Only just caught up with qualifying - what a whingey little bitch Max is when everything isn’t going perfectly for him - at one point he was moaning that there were too many cars on track 😂

After last season's narrow failure to get into the playoffs with a hurriedly assembled scratch team, I don't think that an expectation from fans of doing better this year is unreasonable, particularly when there was talk of having a fair bit more financial flexibility to tweak an already reasonably decent side and to fill it with players who fit the manager's chosen style rather than some square pegs in round holes. I don't think it's fair to expect us to spend nothing and walk the league but an improvement is something that you should always be looking for unless you are in financial trouble and having to shed your best players.

The challenge has come with the recruitment and injuries. I don't think the recruitment worked out quite as well as Warne had hoped and we've had a string of injuries before the season has even really got started. Add to that a pretty challenging start fixtures-wise and I guess our current position is not entirely surprising at this stage.

That said, once we've got our teeth properly into this season and we've got a few of these players back then we'll have more options and I think it is perfectly reasonable, even with one of two longer term injuries, for us to be expecting to be in the mix. I don't think it is reasonable to consider anything less than automatic promotion as a failure because our fee outlay is negligible, but surely an expectation going a minimum 1 place and potentially just 1 point better than last year and being involved in the playoffs is perfectly reasonable ?

I also think that money from bigger gate receipts probably only really works as a significant advantage in the lower leagues. By the time you are in the top flight, the extra fans (and therefore gate money) vs anyone else in that league is just not really that big a factor as TV money dwarfs the money coming through the turnstiles. That's how the likes of Brentford, Fulham etc seem to manage not to struggle. They obviously can't compete with the Man Utd's of this world for players fees and wages because their (United's) worldwide presence is a huge factor in their wealth but as the likes of Everton are finding out, no amount of history or bigger gates is going to guarantee you finishing ahead of these smaller teams, not with the way the top flight finances are structured.

I know the season is barely underway but this feels like a huge game already for some reason. A win here feels like it would be a significant moment after the Bolton setback. Last year we failed to impress against promotion rivals but if we can see these off plus the win over Peterborough then it feels much more positive than the general mood on here.
I'd like to see us be on the front foot and get at them. They have a really tight defence so I hope they don't score first and sit in.

My tuppence worth, and I thought this for a lot of the good run last season too, was that if you put a bunch of good players on the pitch together, then they are going end up putting some good patches of football together, regardless of what the manager is telling them.  Good players will take up good positions, and other good players will play good passes to them etc, just by nature of them being good players.
Where it falls down for us, is I don't think we're setting up to encourage that to happen.  We're more interested in getting the ball out wide quickly to get crosses in, or getting it forward quickly for people to run onto, than actually getting balls into players feet.  So when it does happen, it's almost by random, not by design.

I think what frustrates me personally is when you think back to the Fleetwood game. There was a move just before Waggy's goal where we played some fantastic crisp one-touch passing football and went quickly from our own penalty area the theirs, leaving Fleetwood chasing shadows. The crowd really responded and it showed that this squad, for all its shortcomings, can play some high quality football. So why do we not do that more often, and why did the players choose to do it at that moment but rarely again ?

I think what frustrates me personally is when you think back to the Fleetwood game. There was a move just before Waggy's goal where we played some fantastic crisp one-touch passing football and went quickly from our own penalty area the theirs, leaving Fleetwood chasing shadows. The crowd really responded and it showed that this squad, for all its shortcomings, can play some high quality football. So why do we not do that more often, and why did the players choose to do it at that moment but rarely again ?

I think what frustrates me personally is when you think back to the Fleetwood game. There was a move just before Waggy's goal where we played some fantastic crisp one-touch passing football and went quickly from our own penalty area the theirs, leaving Fleetwood chasing shadows. The crowd really responded and it showed that this squad, for all its shortcomings, can play some high quality football. So why do we not do that more often, and why did the players choose to do it at that moment but rarely again ?

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

If he wants to go then he's as good as gone, that's no "boo hoo poor us", that's just reality and absolutely no ill feeling towards the player himself. This is unfortunately what you're up against when you ply your trade in the 3rd tier. There is nothing we can do to compete with what Brighton can offer and the remaining contract situation is going to seriously impact what we can get for him but we just have to get what we can.

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up, but Waghorn needs to take a long hard look at himself. It's all well and good banging in a hatrick but what a total waste that 3rd goal was. He didn't need to score that for us to win the game and he should have kept that goal in reserve for when we need it. We exactly the same nonsense from McGoldrick with his stupid spree scoring. Why oh why can't we have a striker that knows how to score exactly one more goal than the opposition per game. Bloody liability this fella..

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up, but Waghorn needs to take a long hard look at himself. It's all well and good banging in a hatrick but what a total waste that 3rd goal was. He didn't need to score that for us to win the game and he should have kept that goal in reserve for when we need it. We exactly the same nonsense from McGoldrick with his stupid spree scoring. Why oh why can't we have a striker that knows how to score exactly one more goal than the opposition per game. Bloody liability this fella..

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up, but Waghorn needs to take a long hard look at himself. It's all well and good banging in a hatrick but what a total waste that 3rd goal was. He didn't need to score that for us to win the game and he should have kept that goal in reserve for when we need it. We exactly the same nonsense from McGoldrick with his stupid spree scoring. Why oh why can't we have a striker that knows how to score exactly one more goal than the opposition per game. Bloody liability this fella..

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up, but Waghorn needs to take a long hard look at himself. It's all well and good banging in a hatrick but what a total waste that 3rd goal was. He didn't need to score that for us to win the game and he should have kept that goal in reserve for when we need it. We exactly the same nonsense from McGoldrick with his stupid spree scoring. Why oh why can't we have a striker that knows how to score exactly one more goal than the opposition per game. Bloody liability this fella..

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up, but Waghorn needs to take a long hard look at himself. It's all well and good banging in a hatrick but what a total waste that 3rd goal was. He didn't need to score that for us to win the game and he should have kept that goal in reserve for when we need it. We exactly the same nonsense from McGoldrick with his stupid spree scoring. Why oh why can't we have a striker that knows how to score exactly one more goal than the opposition per game. Bloody liability this fella..