shen

What a solo goal by Ikwuemesi. Looks like it was a bizarre game though. From the highlights, Brugge could and should've probably score 4 or 5 goals, yet Schrijvers could have claimed a point had he struck a decent penalty.

Just trying to balance it out. You could easily apportion some blame to the goalkeeper, no-one stopping the cross and leaving Thomas alone to mark two players (who were Okoli and Mav tracking?). Not to mention the goal apparently shouldn't have stood as Cisse knocks it on for Wilmot in offside position. Thomas is not great defensively, so we should set up to counter his weaknesses. He has quality going forward, which he showed. So here's hopping Rowett recognises this and finally adresses it.

It's just not that black and white, nor can he be singled out as the only culprit. As I say, his flaws are obvious, but pretending he's got no qualities or handwaving them away is just petty.

Considering he made 6 key passes (according to sofascore) in just 55 minutes, hit the post and provided the throw for Nelson's chance against the bar, he was certainly a big reason for our second half performance. I know we're despondent, but let's recognise when he does things well and not only focus on his obvious flaws.

Bit unfair, they've hardly had a competitive squad all Season.

Connections Puzzle #988 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟦🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 First time playing. Somehow guessed the last two. Guess my knowledge of English isn't as strong as I thought 😅

Too early to say. We're still defending like mannequins and scoring from half chances. That said, we'd obviously be out of danger without the points deduction, so we should be better than the teams around us.

Didn't look like he touched it for me, but maybe I haven't looked closely enough. We seem to not quite get the rub of the green either lately, which only compounds the misery. Then again, we score from two shots that are barely half chances and we miss the sitters, so I probably shouldn't complain about luck.

We're not exactly creating chances for our strikers though (probably with good reason).

Daka has often been solid playing one-twos, setting up teammates.

Hellebuyck having a decent game

It's a moot point when he is constantly injured anyway. I watched the extended highlights yesterday and Thomas was involved in most of our best attacking moments, which gets overlooked because of his marking for their equaliser.

A goal against after a couple of minutes could explain this. We're obviously fragile in our current state, so it would've been a miracle if they were unaffected by the goal. We finished the first half stronger than we started it, so we were stabilizing already before halftime. Rowett capitalized on it at HT evidently, but he's no magician who can change the entire mentality in a few days.

And he brought a quality finish with him today which we're sorely missing when JJ is out. Sometimes Winks feels similar to Tielemans in that he clearly has the quality of a difference maker, but can come across as lazy or lacking commitment.

First individual medal for Denmark at the Winter Games - ever! Only the second ever medal in total. Media are going nuts here - some asking if there's still time to catch Norway in the medal table

We could definitely use some coaching from Danny Simpson in that area. He was an expert at covering the back post.

Thomas getting pelters again. But I want to balance it a bit as I thought he did fine in our build up play. The sequence that ends with Mavididi having a one on one (though offside) is sparked by Thomas playing inside to Skipp crisply instead of down the line which Nelson instructed him to. It put Stoke on the back foot. Then he also combined well with Mav to set up a chance at 2-1, which Mav scuffed. Not to mention the chance at the end which almost went in. Defending apart, he was much better than Ricardo which feels wild saying out loud.

Just tuned in to watch our best passage of play in weeks. Mav has to stick it away even if he was offside.

How would giving him 18 months be better? His pay day would just be higher when we inevitably sack at the end of the season. Being in charge of two clubs that both end up relegated in the same season, one of which has the highest wage bill in the league, will surely be a blot in his book, so clubs won't come calling straight away. Rowett has more to gain by doing a good job with us.

It's quite staggering how they're THE best nation - not just per capita, but outright - of all time in the Winter Games. Then again, knowing Norwegian culture quite well, it's not that surprising to me. Skiing is second nature to many Norwegians and they have a propensity for challenging themselves, even at casual level.

Don't see anywhere on the Beeb that Norway have broken the record earlier today for most gold medals at the Winter Olympics - a record they set themselves at the last games (16). Bit poor Reporting that.

Buonanotte?

Mediocre* *At PL level

If he's done his homework, he will have watched us closely since he was sacked. He'll have watched us prior to Oxford playing us, as he likes to focus on opposition teams. He'll have a very clear idea how Ayew and Thomas have been performing. He might be unsure about Kristiansen given he hasn't played much, but he will have been watching our team closely since January, for sure.

So close to another great result, but not this time. Well played Denmark.