Phileas Fogg

There’s no way a teenager can compete physically on raw strength with Sol Bamba or Leon Clarke. The difference is that Abraham had learned to use his body better. Kelly clearly hasn’t. It’ll come.

Exactly. He just needs time. He’s clearly got lots of great attributes and within a couple of years will have filled out lots more. Physically and athletically he reminds me a bit of Tyrone Mings. - Meant ‘first team games’ not ‘academy games’ in my post and have since edited!

Annoyed I’ve felt the need to bite but he’s a kid who’s played a handful of first team games. Leon Clarke is a seasoned wily pro. That’s not the final version of Lloyd Kelly and he’ll learn from today. Anyone can see he’s got things to improve on and also to fill out physically. Give him a break. Anyone who understands the game can see he’s clearly got lots of potential.

Would love to see Eliasson get more game time. I’ve got this nagging feeling we might have another Bolasie situation where he leaves in 18 months and fulfils his potential elsewhere..

Good fight. No idea as for a prediction, seems lots favouring Groves on account of his size, power and jab.

Just waiting on visa paperwork which takes a while, hopefully within the week! On the plus side it means boxing isn't on at 4am for me just yet!

Nice one thanks, forgot it was on there!

Just tuning in, found a British Beef stream but still looking for a Gassiev one

Haha I bought into the hype - Frank’s big announcement was that Warrington vs Selby is happening at Elland Road! It’s a good fight but a bit of a shame for them because given Fury tweeted about ‘big news coming soon’ the same time Frank talked about a 10am announcement everyone assumed it was that!

Fury comeback fight announcement in an hour apparently. To keep his ring mag title it has to be a top 5 opponent I believe, or perhaps a belt holder not sure which. If it's a belt holder then Manuel Charr is the logical one to go for and he's already mentioned his name a few times recently.

Agree. Obviously a bit rusty but showed us how much we've missed his presence and athleticism.

Haha, it wasn’t that long ago James that you (along with me) were one of the most anti-pun people on this board!

I’m very sure it won’t be. The Villa game was purely exhaustion. We’ve had a weeks rest now, won’t be a problem. That said.. if it is a Villa scoreline it’s a bit worrying

People should relax. Since our victory over Forest (December 16th); this is the first time we've had a game after a near enough a full week of rest and prep. That makes the world of difference. We've been dividing our weeks up over planning for various games for a month now. It would be nice to have a few more forwards to choose from and Derby's form is great, but don't underestimate the difference a proper rest and opportunity to plan will make.

Some good fights coming up - I think this will be a decent one. Press conferences will be fun anyway. The Okolie vs Chamberlain one is also an interesting match up with a good undercard too. Joshua vs Parker.. not sure what to think. You'd expect another Joshua win but Parker is tough..

You're talking about an isolated game but i'm talking about our style of play on a bigger scale to explain why Flint is playing forward You can make the argument about tactical choices for the Wolves game but the fact is that our style of play requires at least one bigger forward. It's not a fluke we signed both Djuric and Diedhiou in the last year - both with size, presence and energy.

No he isn't - evidently. But whilst Diedhiou and Djuric are out we lack a presence up front. It's essential to how we play, distracting and pulling their defence apart so that our creative players (such as Reid and Paterson) have the space to pick passes and score goals.

'contributing to the goal' is more than just taking a shot or making an assist, whilst he was up there he spooked their defence and pulled them out of position.. helping to make the space for our goal.

You could be forgiven that in a strange sort of way some prefer it when we play badly.. at least then they have something to moan about on OTIB.

We scored whilst Flint was up front? The only time we broke down a quality Wolves defence was when he was playing there.

Don’t agree. We’re a good side this season. Your statement was true for the good form early last season. We are where we are on merit this time.

Don’t think that’s true. Compare that to 07/08 when we really did ride our luck (in addition to the hard work and team spirit of that squad). This season I believe we are where we are on pure merit. We’re a good side, but injuries and a fixture pileup have led to two defeats. Villa and Wolves are the two biggest spenders in the league - I’m not too worried. We’ll bounce back.

Two losses against good sides isn’t enough to suggest a ‘bubble has burst’ or ‘wheels have come off the wagon’. In the context of the December we’ve just had, I’m not that surprised about these two results.

Textbook Otib

I blame you @JoeAman08