kevinhectoring

Excellent. If we get in a pickle we get a 75% tax write off

Wish I could oblige. 2 months ago I would have said we’d lose in the play offs. But with the side we’re selecting, and with how we’re playing, I’d now say we’d be favourites.

the most exciting way to go up is through the play offs.

NML might be ok off the bench on the right wing in the champ. Barks would be on the bench imo i feel Nelson could be useful at CB, also dare I say it Fozzy if his injury is overcome. the type of player he is, I agree Smith might struggle next season if we go up. But he’s got a very important part to play alongside Adams for these last few games Yes, Ward, Wilson, Cash, CBT could comfortably thrive in the championship in the right set up maybe Nyambe too We have only one player who could survive in the PL and he’s a goalie

I assume you mean ‘problem for Warne’? The idea the dressing room votes for captain is comical. The manager should be in charge. It’s been a costly cop out and hopefully it does not cost us promotion.

I post a gentle reference to Portsmouth’s most famous son, and you and Clint Eastwood hold me out to public ridicule on the forum. I have been a gibbering wreck for days. You seem to think I’m in the camp that believes that we have found the best starting X1 only because of injuries. I’m not. If you look at my post more carefully you’ll see I’m saying simply that it has taken us far too long to settle on a balanced and effective startling line up. I think for example that this season we’ve overused Hourihane massively, overplayed NML, mis-used Fozzie (I agree with your assessment of him of course), underplayed Barkhuizen, Ward, Fornah (maybe) and Wilson and possibly underplayed Tommo. Dropping Wildsmith was obviously just weird but let’s assume there were other things going on. I also agree with you that Nyambe is a useful and good footballer but I’m not sure - even if fit - that he should start right now. The costly error imo - you can debate this of course - has been to accommodate Hourihane in the starting line up. I’ll be astonished if - having seen how much better we are without him - he ever starts again. That took 38 games ! I think a lot of people will be posting about that if we don’t go up

I don’t think Hourihane will start again. I think Warne has finally understood what a drag he is on the team.

I’d assumed he’s an obsessive roller skater

Your use of language doesn’t help you. I suspect you are saying not that goals are random; but that chance plays a part in whether or not a goal is scored from a particular situation. True of course. But chance ultimately obeys the laws of probability. So of course your two hypothetical teams won’t draw all the time. But if they play an infinite number of times, each is likely to score the same number of goals

What is the acoustic like for live music? I fear it might be very poor, except for small a capella renaissance choirs or baroque violins playing unaccompanied Bach. Sorry to lower the pitch er tone

We’ve now got the best balanced side we’ve had all season imo, a side that has the ability to outplay the oppo as well as grind out results; a side that is showing the consistency we have lacked for most of the season. That’s why I agree with those who are predicting promotion. I don’t think using words like ‘stumbled’ is helpful, but I think it has taken us far too long to work out how best to utilise the squad. Happy to provide more detail but if I do I fear you’ll merely criticise me for being negative.

It would be anomalous if it wasn’t anonymous

You say xG should award 1.0 for a goal? You miss the point that goals involve varying degrees of good fortune. If you award 1.0 to Ward’s second goal, on a xG assessment, you overvalue the chance massively. It was neither perfect attacking nor the worst defending. It was a goal that was scored through a generous dollop of good fortune. (Fact is, he was too far out to sensibly shoot and the defender was pretty well-positioned, as was the keeper ) There are two quite separate things : the quality of the scoring opportunity and the fact a goal was scored. Apples and oranges. I think you’re mixing them up

DC will be painfully aware of the reckless disregard Couhig showed for our club’s future. Wonder if Couhig will offer him hospitality and whether DC will accept it If I were DC I’d take my plane to Dublin and award myself a free rams TV pass

So my physio friend (who used to work at Leighton Orient) says these days they wouldn’t do that if it’s a soft tissue issue. She thought most likely a knock on the bone which was tender and would settle down in just a few days. Anyway, fingers crossed - he’s become an important part of the balance we’ve found in the last 4 or 5 games

I won’t quibble with your assessment but with this squad I still think we’ll make it 😜

2nd

This seems completely wrong to me. Either you measure quality of chances (which is what xG does) or you look at how many goals the teams have actually scored. But if in the xG calculation you give 1.0 for a goal scored, then you’re mixing the two up By the way I was interested to hear you say that Pompey’s missed chance (the ‘open goal’) was assessed at 0.1 on xG. It seems very low at first blush, but combine height of ball, speed it came in, bodies in the box not to mention the winds and I suspect it’s closer to the truth than the 0.9 implied by the moronic Sky commentator

in the players ratings it’d be helpful if the bespectacled members of the travelling faithful could add an ‘at the game’ footnote so their votes can be disregarded

Press a man hard on a pitch as waterlogged as that and as you approach he’ll push the ball to one side and watch you slide towards the bye line like a duck landing on a lake north of Toronto in February

Perhaps you prefer Russian novelists Comrade 🙂

Some great work by CBT. That was a big run out for him and if he’s not got any twangs he’ll come back stronger. Very happy with that result

Pretty good game management so far

Don’t want this end to end stuff

I’d have started Tommo and kept CbT back. We don’t need a win and a draw is less likely with this line up. 0-0 at half time would be good