harpendenfox

I think it's all about survival for County now. We're arguably the weakest of the professional Counties, we have a very small membership, and no mega rich backer. Any win, frankly, will be a bonus. I think next season, if we survive the winter, we will need to have about 15 professionals, and borrow players from other Counties. That's unless we can find 19 year olds like the Kent lad who scored a double hundred yesterday. I'd hate it if the Club no longer existed, but we were in a weak position before the pandemic.

only for next year I would imagine. They were both contracted for this year, so I don't suppose they would walk away from that

Norwich away. He bagged with a super shot but was offside.

In many games we were sensational. If you weren’t wowed by us during the winning run I fear you will never be happy

First 20 minutes down at Brighton I remember saying to my son we look like Man City. We might have had 5. Actually got 0. Was a nice 2-0 in the end. Brighton fans on the train back saying we were just a different class. Wind on to a few weeks back and we made them look like Man City for the first 20 at our place.

Bowen was an interesting one. We’d been linked for ages. He appeared to tick all the boxes for our kind of signing but went to West Ham where he has done pretty well. Bit of a shame that one

I suspect 99.5% of us would agree we would like to be rid of Silva and Slimani, whose contracts expire in 11 months, but realistically I'm pretty certain no one will buy them, because no one will match the wages they are on. Any agent in their right minds will say run your contracts down lads. With that in mind, I would be tempted to keep them in the Club next season pretty much solely to play in Europa Cup and other cup games. They both have extensive European experience, and whilst they haven't succeeded in the Premier League, they are not totally useless. They give us a bit more experience, and we may as well use our assets as much as we can. The only other option is a final loan for both of them, but then we will still be paying a significant portion of their wages. The Europa Cup also puts them in the shop window to obtain a final contract with someone when they become free agents on July 1st next year.

It’s not really today we’ve blown it. We did that at Burnley, Norwich, Everton and Bournemouth. Should have got at least 8 points from that lot

So true. Cricket I enjoy. LCFC is often agony!

Stay classy

although it's pretty clear that being outdoors massively reduces the risk of virus transmission especially when weather is warm, sadly a football stadium is really tricky. If we allowed 23,000 season ticket holders in to our 32,000 stadium (I think there is zero chance of any away supporters being allowed next season), the queues to leave, and for the toilets at half time would still see you in very close proximity to others. I'm thinking of a game I went to a couple of years ago when the bloke behind kept showering me with spittle such was his anger at events on the pitch (we won!). At best we might be allowed 25% capacity, so 8,000. I have a vulnerable son who lives in a care home, so I will keep my season ticket if I can, but can't see I can morally go to a game and still see my son. So I'm pretty much resigned to no live football until August 2021 for me, by which point I'm reasonably confident effective vaccines will be available to all of us.

I like to think I’m quite calm most of the time, and try not to overreact to stuff, but after that hour, I completely agree with you on this. Especially the point about cowardice from Rodgers. From the nature of the half time substitution to the post match interview it wreaks of cowardice. In truth we’ve only beaten teams who have been woeful on the day since Christmas. Last night we could not even manage that. it seems daft to say this as we sit fourth, but it’s all about trends, and since the year began the trend has been almost unremittingly negative. I really want BR to succeed with us, but I’m not sure he has it in him now. I will be delighted to be proven wrong.

In his heart of hearts he must know he has made a huge mistake here. I didn’t think Kelechi had a great half, but we had been totally dominant in the first half. Totally bar one good shot from Brooks. Kelechi clearly has an issue with confidence, and at 1-0 up, he takes him off, as he thinks Bournemouth are causing us problems. Then the manager calls him out at the end. Genius. So the guy who wasn’t playing the second half now feels bad about himself. its a seriously poor bit of management I’m afraid. Mistakes happen, but this is a really significant one and it will be costly.

That game was a microcosm of the season. A first half of total dominance. A second half of complete negligence. No idea which half reflects us most accurately.

I’m a pretty calm bloke but this is one of the most difficult 45 minutes to digest I can remember. Against a team devoid of confidence and form we boss the first half, then totally give it away. I mean we have completely handed the game to Bournemouth through our collective ineptitude.