deep blue

Thanks for that, and for the info from when-Im_smilimg (I haven't yet learned how to paste up multi quotes!!). I go back to the 50's & 60's in Loughborough. I watched the County at the old Brush Sports ground. I also used to cycle through the Uni (it was a college then) grounds to school, passing along the running track where Robbie Brightwell used to train. As it happens, I also used to score for the Loughborough Town cricket team in the early 60s so I know their ground well - as it was then. It was a nice compact ground but I can't imagine it having much in the way of spectator facilities unless it has changed over the years. It's a pity that the 4-day format is limited to so few games as there must be a few towns where it would be good to host the 4-day games once in the calendar.

I come from Loughborough and once watched a County match there, at the Brush (who were bought out by Hawker Sidderly) sports ground on Forest Rd. As a matter of interest, does the same sports ground exist, and is the cricket ground you mention there? (Maybe the university grounds are the more likely location now). Thanks

As I recall we were 3 up at HT at Wolves and still managed to lose.

Where can you follow it?

Two of a kind

The problem with assessing JJ's capabilities is that it's so long since we saw him fully fit that it relies on you having a good memory , and even now you feel that he's slowly getting up to speed so we're not seeing what he's capable of if/when he does (and, of course, having to adapt to a new system). Having said that, if you go back about 3 years I seem to remember him performing very smoothly as a wing back on the left side, interchanging very effectively with Barnes and also being dangerous (and scoring, even) when cutting in. His being right-footed didn't appear to hinder him.

So did Enzo today

You're right. Interesting to bring in the managers, though, when you talk about your preparedness for the season compared to ourselves. It's worth noting that your manager has huge experience in the Championship, and at the higher levels of this league, whereas Maresca is, by comparison, a novice. There's room for learning and improving for him over the season which could see our performances improve tactically as the season develops, so that gives us optimism for getting even better as the season plays out.

Wow. Impossible to see whether it was behind the line from that angle, but a VAR view would have been interesting.

Vardy of old was very effective wandering out to receive long balls on the wing, too. It would be interesting if he did that still, interchanging occasionally and dynamically with our wingers, giving defenders an extra dimension to think about and pulling them out of position. Maresca's style is much more rigid with the positioning of the 2 wingers. Having pacy wingers (at last) lends itself to a more fluid attacking style so I feel we are missing a trick here. This idea relies on Vardy still having that pace and verve of old, though, and I fear he may have lost a little of it now.

Sadly, I agree with this. Their attacking intensity in the first 10-15 mins was amazing and they should have been 2 goals up, though credit to us for not being blown away by it and staying resolute. We didn't find a way to put the same kind of speed and intensity into our attacking play, and we didn't find a response to their gameplan or the changes they made.

Hamza was an improvement tonight. Maybe worth giving McAteer a go in that position - he is hungry and also seems an adaptable and intelligent player. Possibly Alves in the near future.

This concerns me too, especially with the next few weeks testing the strength of our squad before our injured players are back to full functioning. Friday will show us whether 6 days is enough time for our players to recover or whether we do have a tiredness problem throughout the squad that will start to tell on us.

The first foul wasn't just a grab but he wrapped his hand round the neck and pulled him back. Very dangerous. In rugby union I think hat would have been viewed as potentially ending up in a serious injury. The second foul, he didn't simply push our guy but knocked him violently to the ground. I'm inclined to think that both deserved a red. I certainly think it amazing the QPR players questioned it.

I thought that too. It must have been dispiriting for our promising youngsters, seeing how they were given no prospect of progressing to the first team under Rodgers. If only Maresa were in place a year earlier. Would that have made the difference and persuaded Nyoni to stay? Hard to say, because of the appeal of Liverpool (both being a higher profile club and being able to offer bigger wages) but I feel sure that his decision wouldn't have been as easy.

I'm completely baffled by the Daka situation. He was signed with high hopes but so far he's shown very few glimpses of the ability that we bought him for. I haven't a clue to what extent he either does or doesn't want out - it's so hard to get concrete information on the minds of players these days so I can't see what makes some fans so convinced he wants out. The question for me is does he have what it takes to improve sufficiently to the level where he can't be ignored by Maresca. He's had 2 years in the company of Vardy; if he can't learn from him, and also improve under the added tutelage of Maresca, then that indicates a very low level of football intelligence in Daka and you would question his ability to ever step up to the level. Or it could be that he wants out, is uncommitted, and is lazy in training. But that would be a stupid attitude to adopt as he would just atrophy, preventing himself from putting himself in the position to be selected in the team or to in the shop window for a transfer. As time goes on, what other team would want to come in for someone who has barely played for a year or more, who can't possibly be close to match fit, and who hasn't demonstrated any ability in recent times? Can anyone come up with a believable explanation?

No, it's a question of professionalism.

The ball went past Fatawu at below knee level. You don't get a ball to rise from ground level to face level after travelling a max of 2ft.

One of my perennial beefs surfaced again on Saturday and I've not seen it picked up on here. So often you see a "lip service" attempt to block a long range shot, by a player who turns his back on the shot instead of going in face-on, and by so doing allows the shot to go through when it should have been stopped. The culprit on Saturday was Fatawu. He does well to get out to the oppo player but then negates it by turning his back at the moment when the ball is struck. If he'd remained face-on then he could have watched where the ball was being struck and put his foot in the way. I see this time and again and cannot understand why it isn't drummed into pro footballers, if they aren't already aware, that the technique to block a shot involves keeping your eyes on the ball until the shotviscmade.

He did a pretty conclusive job on Soyuncu too.

Is their manager called Rodgers, by any chance?

I think it's likely that the simple answer is Sammy Braybrooke as the deputy for Winks, if and when he's back playing.. What a pity that Rodgers never gave him an introduction into the team earlier. Having seen clips of him playing for the development squad I think his style would be easily adapted to the Winks role.