ClaphamFox

I’m going to put the kids to bed early tonight, close the curtains, open a bottle of decent red and watch Arsenal Fan TV all evening.

Quite a high chance, I would think.

And against Southampton. Possibly Preston too if they need the win. Blackburn will hopefully be safe and on the beach by the time we play them.

Well if they genuinely thought that sending those missiles into Israel (even though they knew they would be shot down) would ‘close’ the matter, then I suspect that will turn out to be one hell of a miscalculation.

Israel is a functioning democracy (albeit an imperfect one) surrounded by undemocratic theocracies of varying levels of stability. Democracies tend to be allies - wars between democratic countries are very rare. Iran is a deeply repressive regime that allies itself with Russia. Allying ourselves with other democratic countries may mean sometimes tolerating behaviour from some of those countries that many reasonable people may find objectionable. But realpolitik dictates that pragmatic considerations usually override ethical ones.

Yes it's hypocritical, but it's how international alliances work. Israel is our ally; Iran certainly is not. It is in our interests to support Israel in this situation so we will do so. Whether it's hypocritical or not is way down on the list of priorities of those who make these decisions. Whatever your view is on whether Iran had the right to attack Israel, there is no doubt that they launched those missiles in full knowledge that it would legitimise a direct retaliation from Israel. They're inviting an attack. It's a calculated escalation. This is a very dangerous moment - it's not an exaggeration to say that right now we're probably closer to a Third World War than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Doyle in for Justin. Give Daka another chance - he’s just having a bad run and will come good soon. Consider bringing Coady on if we’re trying to defend a lead with a few minutes left. Radical I know, but we’ve got to try something 💪

The accounting period for 23/24 runs until 30 June so we can’t have failed them yet, but yes, you can assume the EFL are salivating over the prospect of us breaching and staying down so they can get their claws into us. If we go up and our level of breach for the 20-23 period is between £25-30m (as Kieran Maguire estimates), we’ll likely end up with something close to Forest’s four-point deduction. Not ideal but not disastrous. Promotion is an imperative - it really could define our next decade and beyond. Unfortunately our squad and manager have chosen this absolutely crucial moment in our history to completely disintegrate.

They’re still in there. Enzo is apparently giving a two-hour power point presentation on his ‘idea’…

We’re about to undertake one of the biggest bottle jobs in football history, aren’t we? We’re a complete laughing stock.

I really want to see this movie, if only for the moment when Joe Biden puts down the phone with a worried face and says to an aide, “Get me the Chief of Staff of the Airforce - this shit is about to get real!”

No. This won’t put them in breach of PSR, so unlike us they’re not facing a points deduction.

Brilliant read 👍

We might be less shite for the next couple of games - that’s what happened after the Bristol debacle. Against Norwich and Birmingham they put in more of a shift and got the results before the old complacency set in again against Millwall and we went back to square one. If the team is sufficiently shocked by last night’s horror show to turn up for the next game or two, any dropped points by Leeds and Ipswich could make a big difference.

Unlikely.

The frustrating thing is that Maresca very likely does have the brains to be a very good coach if he wants to be. He is by all accounts a very smart guy who spends a great deal of his spare time studying tactics and playing styles, etc. His major flaw is that he is so ideologically committed to his preferred way of playing that he refuses to change things when it is obvious to literally everybody that change is required. His unwavering adherence to one way of playing makes it easy for our opponents to make it very difficult for us, as Millwall did last night. It's so hard to fathom - his mentor Guardiola also has a preferred way of playing, but if things aren't going as planned he will change things. Why is Enzo so inflexible? He must surely know that the best coaches adapt when they need to - why can't he?

He was given a ludicrous yellow card early on, which probably severely impacted his performance thereafter.

Our players absolutely bottled it, I agree. But as @Chelmofox points out, the ridiculous yellow against Winks may explain why he went in half-arsed against Longman in the build-up to their goal. It does not, however, explain why our overall performance was that of a team already on the beach rather than one still very much at risk of not getting promoted.

No, but the Winks yellow card was an unfathomable decision. And it's not as if he didn't have a good view of it either - it defies belief that he judged that passage of play as a foul against us and a Winks yellow card. Millwall also were given a corner after one of their players blatantly headed the ball behind our goal line. Admittedly that was more on the linesman than the ref, but it was another example of how clueless the officiating is in the Championship.

Ah - fair enough.

Didn’t we sign Mahrez during the promotion season?

I haven’t smoked dope in years and my other half would never allow us to have any in the house, but Christ I’d give anything for a spliff right now. That performance was so bad I actually need drugs to take the edge off….

Millwall have played ten previous home games against teams in the top half - and won just one. They’re an awful side, utterly devoid of quality. Yet they deservedly beat us tonight. I just don’t understand how a team a few wins away from getting promoted can somehow muster up a display as utterly turgid as that. It defies belief.

Well I enjoyed that.

Literally the softest yellow I’ve ever seen 😂