DJ Barry Hammond

I think what’s clear from that is Casadei will be starting games - so it may pay us to start sending out positive vibes rather than shitting on his every move. The same can be said of Coady!

I see - he got in first - that’s clever 😂 Let’s hope the Egyptian FA kick up a fuss and ban him from playing for Ipswich during the tournament whilst also not picking him!

Ah yes, but that Brentford game is a little while away I see and Man City have to go to Newcastle before their mid-season break so… hopefully they leave a gap to at least provide some suspense.

Is Kelechi going to have time to make a move in January? I certainly don’t see that happening in the early part (i.e. before AFCON) - what club is going to sign a player on what would be a hefty contract, knowing they won’t be able to play him for over a month? As for Ward… I reckon the only side interested in him is Wales who obviously can’t sign him 😂

Definitely, because if we’re selfish for a moment, say Ipswich and Bristol City went up with us, you’d have to be fairly confident in our chances of then staying up the season after, whereas if it was say Leeds and Southampton, it feels a little trickier.

To be fair - forget VAR for a moment, the first was also crap defending as well. Bowen unmarked and then comical defending.

No, we can’t have Arsenal winning things, their fans are worse than the Spuds. Liverpool have 5 points on Man City don’t they… could have done with Everton pulling last night off really. If Klopp could get Nunes firing they would have an excellent chance - but he’s just a bit too much of a wild cannon.

Please say there was another VAR call missed 😂

Probably because football rejected it for goal line technology

It seems to me the VAR gods are having incredible fun with fanbases that like to moan! Mean for Arsenal to be hit with such a similar situation to the Newcastle one in the same season… it’s bloody hilarious 😂😂😂 So be clear - if you want good VAR, do not moan!

I simply called out a comment that he shouldn’t be praised for his role in the Winks goal at West Brom because it was ‘a simple pass’ that any player could have done. I don’t understand why as a fan base we would look to diminish a players involvement when they’ve done something positive for the team - regardless of how simple that involvement may seem. That just doesn’t seem very supportive to me - and is not conducive to creating an atmosphere that supports success.

I’m not a fan of Kelechi. Note the inclusion of “not fall over” within my items of praise! I think he’s a forward without a unclear future in the game because his stronger attributes and general play seems ill-suited to playing up top on his own which is a pre-requisite for most teams. But my personal view as to his overall position in the team doesn’t stop me from recognising good play that we benefited from.

Such a weird way to write that as well!

Behave! Kelechi deserves credit for his involvement for that goal, he had to secure posession, turn, not fall over and the weight of pass was well judged, allowing KDH to take it up in stride.

But then you see the Rodri one and wonder what’s going on with that! For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s ‘corruption’ which is seemingly the buzz word for every fan on social media right now. But it is certainly incompetence! I wonder if they’d do better with VAR if they DIDN’T use referees - because whenever I’ve heard the audio it feels the operators are much more clued in than the referees sat on their backside!

One strange thing I find with Maresca is his tendency to tie his own hands with the way he makes substitutions. The rules are you can use 5, but only via 3 stoppages. Yet against Ipswich, and he’s done this sort of thing before, he made 3 individual substitutions, preventing himself from making 2 more. The first change (Casadei, 56) was fairly close to the second (Iheanacho, 63) so I can’t really understand why those changes weren’t considered and made as a double change to leave the option of making 3 more substitutes across 2 stoppages for the rest of the game. It had to be fairly obvious to Enzo that he was going to manage the playing time of certain starters before the game, so why wouldn’t you group those substitutions together to simply give yourself more options rather than less?

Point on N’didi. • He’s played (and started) every game in December so far • He’s played twice within 4 days (70 & 59 minutes) • Our next game, another short turnaround, is another reasonably distanced away game with a late kickoff (therefore impacting available recovery time) • We have another short turnaround game after that - and of course the FA Cup game on the 6th Jan • Barring injury, N’didi will be in the Nigeria squad and would be expected to play a big part in their squad • The Afcon games also feature short turnarounds I get why fans are wanting him to play the full 90 given his recent form and importance to the team, despite earlier in the season many suggesting he couldn’t play the role we were asking of him! But as a club we do have to manage his physical workload, it would be silly of us not to.

No, I think the original comment has a point about how football has completely ignored other sports use of technology. See what Tennis, Cricket and the American sports have done well has put the onus of using technology on the teams / players by getting them to decide when they want to review calls - with some exceptions. I’ve always felt the challenge system was the much better way to go for football. But even if that wasn’t the way football wanted to go, they’ve not even learned from Rugby where it is the match official on the field of play that refers decisions to the TMO. VAR takes control away from the referee and often leaves them stood like a lemon whilst they run through replays. I’d much rather it be a case of the referee instigating the check, highlighting a specific aspect they want checked.

Provisional’s squads already announced - final squads 3rd January

When do the squads actually travel and join up? I know Nigeria’s first game is the 14th January, but wouldn’t they be there at least a week beforehand… which would cast doubt on related players for the Millwall game?

Does it need to be pointed out that what a manager says in front of the cameras doesn’t necessarily match what is said behind closed doors? It’s perhaps also worth mentioning that it’s in a manager’s interest to promote a positive atmosphere within a squad.

They may have had 19 shots, but they didn’t trouble our keeper much - just the 3 on target. In terms of serious chances, I recall the free header from the corner… and the guy falling over in front of Ricardo. There wasn’t much else, but equally we didn’t create much second half either, bar the penalty shout. If we take the positives - that’s a point away from home against 2nd and despite being well clear past the halfway stage, we’ve got areas that can still be improved on going forward.

Will be really interesting to see who starts.

Bugger - that’s the cheating centre half too isn’t it!

Harsh on Casadri, he’s offered something for me.