funkyrobot

We have the worst striker options in The Championship. We also have the worst fullback options in The Championship. It’s remarkable how poor we really are considering the cost of our shambolic squad.

3 poor decisions on the trot suggests quite correctly that the problem lies with those who have made the poor decisions.

If they are going free I’ll have them👍🏻

One problem is the lack of a huge brickhouse of a forward.

Bear in mind we are watching a relegated team who were able to spend relatively big in the summer to refresh, versus a relegated side who have had to rely on taking 3 outfield free loan transfers - two of which aren’t even in the side. Cifuentes is rightly getting some criticism but make no mistake, this shit show tonight is down to prolonged mismanagement by Rudkin and Top.

What minute we going for for Skippy’s inevitable red card? Not booked yet but with Ward as ref, it’s pretty inevitable.

Genuinely think the first one was accidental. It was in Southampton’s half and there was also plenty of cover. Harsh yellow when you consider Flynn didn’t get a thing for two consecutive fouls in the same move shortly after.

Omfg investigate this guy and suspicious betting.

He saw Manning get a soft foul for exactly that same thing. He’s every right to expect consistency. What he didn’t factor in though is the ref is Gavin ‘fkin’ Ward.

The combination of a notorious diver in Manning and the worst of all biased terrible refs in Gavin Ward is hell.

Those of us ancient enough to remember (ooh aah) Nicky Platnauer would also include him in the worse than Thomas category.

Terrible referee. Biased with his bookings, ensured set pieces took an absolute age. There’s was one Stoke set piece in the second half when the ref almost acted as a set coach for Stoke. He took 2 minutes to line up a wall and lecture the Leicester player marking the guy stood just off our wall. He also stopped play continually to speak to players.

A solid 6/10 for me today. Also Skipp’s best game.

He was outstanding for us when we had a great team playing Marescaball and his main job was to act as the deep lying pivot with the ball at his feet. Even then he kept his distribution usually short and on the floor. It was telling that Maresca didn’t come in for him when he moved to Chelsea. As a keeper Mad’s is vulnerable with corners and crosses in and around his 6 yard box and he isn’t as capable of long ball pinging as Pickford at Everton or Sanchez at Chelsea. With the fashion moving back to more direct football, he’s less suited to how teams now play.

We won’t fall to the lows of David Pleat’s latter years when average home attendance was less than 12k (1990-91.)

Except Hamza is often guilty of not closing down players when defending. Playing for Bangladesh is levels below The Championship.

I genuinely don’t think we’ll be spending money in January. I think it’ll be loans or frees only, such is our issue with PSR. I don’t think we’ll see any money spent until the summer break when a few more of the high earners will leave.

The fact remains, including this summer we are in transfer net profit - and that was to get in line with PSR. The reason we now aren’t buying is also because of PSR.

Add 50m net transfer profit 25-26. Now do the maths.

And they put a splint on the leg

I think Monga is better off the bench at the moment. Our best left wing option is Mavididi to start and Monga to finish. Occasionally switch it up by starting Monga and finishing with Mavididi.

The game changed after Skipp was subbed off and James moved into his position. James is a much better footballer than him and that’s reflected in how differently they play the 6 role. James is a creative player who hunts for the ball and is strong defensively and offensively. Skipp is disciplined defensively but offers minimal creativity. Playing James deeper also means we are way more creative as we then also have Reid on in the 10 role. That being said it was definitely Skippy’s best game for us since Palace away last season. However, he was also still comfortably the worst midfielder out of him, Winks, James and Reid.

Tbf McLean is a veteran central midfielder (who has never been blessed with pace) who is playing out of position at left back.

Cifuentes needs to help himself even if he prefers two deeper midfielders by moving James deeper and playing an alternative 10. James offers so much all over the pitch and Reid (or even Ayew if Reid needs subbing) needs to be trusted to play the 10 role.

I got on to BDCR last season as he looked slow on pace and low on physicality but at this level he looks quality. He absolutely changed the game today. Great goal and some great through balls. James MOTM but Reid ran him close and Winks excellent too.