eddielewis

Opta puts Carlisle pretty middle of the pack in terms of defending set pieces 13th in goals conceded, 8th shots faced so they seem pretty well organised on corners and free kicks. They are dead last however in open play goals conceded and 22nd in shots faced. They are surprisingly 5th best in set piece goals (16 goals) and have only 11 less set piece shots than us (169). Again they worst in scoring from open play. Just going by those stats Bradley will be needed at the weekend.

I find it hypocritical of the EFL to allow Coventry twice the 11th hour to find a home ground to play at both Northampton and Birmingham just for the upcoming season but they can't allow Gateshead if hypothetically they got promoted (big chance they would not) let's say until the end of July to find a solution to their ground.

It's funny how it's Forest who are setting a precedent with this tweet but I suspect a lot of other Prem teams are going to do similar statements in the near future with how desperate and sad they all are.

From what I've read of the situation National League teams have to apply for promotion to the Football League at the start of the league season which was accepted so the EFL and National League both knew of Gateshead's ground situation which I don't think has changed for years. To just boot them out at this stage is just cruel. Why should there need to be a 10 year security on a stadium when EFL clubs for example aren't required to show an equivalent financial security for that long of a period.

I really don't think we will even come close to relying on this match but really neither side will want to lose this game. I can see the second half of this match to be a pre-season game with key players of both sides being subbed off to rest legs and it just petering out to a 1-1 and tough handshakes at the end saying to each other 'see you at Wembley'.

Solid win once again under tough conditions. Nathan Jones last week was telling the truth when the surface was rustic at best alongside the wind which did effect some of the distance on clearances/goal kicks. The ball was also getting some serious bounce near the sidelines. I think Wildsmith was a getting a bit flustered with the wind and that effected his kicking a tad but he made a top save in the first half so can't be too critical. Everyone put a shift in. One more game!

I have thought this morning a pitch invasion will probably deny Warne from starting the bounce which he said he will only do once we're promoted

Celebratory punting on the Cam anyone? I'll bring the pimms!

It would not surprise me that the FA Chief Exec Mark Bullingham has taken money from the top 6 for this decision. It would not have been made if they had consulted the clubs first. This needs a strong response from clubs by boycotting the Cup. It's totally crazy how weak our football institutions are when it comes to dealing with the big clubs. At least in France and Germany they force the bigger team to play as the away team as they got rid of replays in the 70's. They even force the squad numbers in france to still be 1-11 and they cannot make too many changes from the previous league fixture.

Seems like the dry pitch has been a tactic of Garry Monk probably to eliminate any form passing into spaces and getting turned around on their fairly small pitch. I can imagine there will be a bit of a head scratch as to whether to play Bradley with the 3 at the back as according to opta Cambridge concede more set piece shots on goal (170) compared to Leyton orient (152) but Cambridge however have conceded 8 less set piece goals so will we have a threat on set pieces it seems hard to tell.

I think we've seen enough Championship football to know that largely the teams that linger near the bottom has some form of football or financial instability. Just take this season for example, the bottom 13 teams have had a change in manager during this season, some with multiple changes. This idea of sacking Warne as soon as he's promoted the club just screams Chansiri. The only goal should hopefully we get promoted will be to stay up and Warne more than deserves his shot and dare I say more than achievable when there's plenty of basketcase clubs in that league who will spend most of the summer in a manager recruitment rat race.

Can't forget the one piece Cameroon kit.

From a quick look of their weekend fixture vs Charlton the pitch didn't seem to be in a good condition. Nathan Jones described the pitch as 'rustic at best' and 'they haven't watered it in 8/10 years' and it didn't allow for free flowing football.

Same lineup and setup as Northampton besides Smith for Hourihane Wildsmith Nelson Bradley Cashin Wilson Sibley Adams Smith Thompson NML Collins

There should be confirmation for us I guess this week. Bespoke kits as well.

https://www.efl.com/news/2023/december/12/former-mls-referee-alex-chilowicz-becomes-efl-official/ American ref who has moved over here seems quite experienced 237 MLS games in 6 years 17 games in EFL 58 yellows 0 Reds Started the season in League 2 and Reffed in Champ for the first time last week with Rotherham vs Millwall Steve Evans thinks he can ref in the prem

The past few years European teams are realising how technically good the current generation of Japanese and Korean players are which has been a legacy of the 2002 world cup. It's also a cheap market to get into. A lot of players usually go to Belgian, Austrian and Dutch teams on loan with a view to buy (£1 mil max) and see if they can handle playing abroad. These European teams can then cash in a year or so later for loads more what they paid. Mitoma was the first signing by a English team that sort of bypassed Europe where they bought him for £4 mil loaned him to a Belgium club. If they let him get signed by a European team first he'd probably been worth £20 mil. Cardiff did this in Jan signed a very good centre back Tsunoda and have loaned him out to Belgium. If definitely a market we should look at.

It's probably scouts from league 1/2 teams who are scouting for loans next season. We're probably already getting loan offers.

Everytime santos touches him it's a pure wardrobe masterclass 😂

Luke Thomas nearly put Bristol 1-0 up

Portsmouth 1-0 up already

Yokohama F Marinos is probably my favourite team since under Big Ange they played some of the most entertaining football i've ever seen. If Spurs back him this summer I think they could seriously challenge next year with an aging Man City core and Liverpool without Klopp. J league has become so much better in quality especially the physicality and the speed of play in the past 5 years or so. It's easy to watch since most of the matches are on Youtube for free if you happen to wake up at 6/7 in the morning on a Saturday/Sunday. Another Japanese transfer suggestion is Yuta Nakayama at Huddersfield who is on a free in the summer. Did his achilles halfway through last season and been a victim of 7 managers at Huddersfield since he signed so not had the best of experiences but is an International player when fit and ready. Very similar to Forsyth who was originally a Left Mid before transitioning to Left Back/Centre back and could replace Fozzy should he be gone in the summer. Yuta could play Left of the 3 or even left wing back in Warnes preferred 3-5-2.

Miyoshi seems to have begun to settle playing in England so I expect a big season from him next year. As a J League fan I remember him scoring this cracker to make it 2-1 against Gamba Osaka.

Castore have bought the UK/Europe licence for Umbro recently so they can make money in football but not through their own brand. They have had loads of problems since they've been making football kits from shirts ripping, missing badges even badges upside down!

Don't need another title that's being greedy Clowes has already got the Watney cup back!