firstdivision

I don't think they play Wednesday, Saturday away. League one games are generally on a Tuesday because they are not moved for Sky's red button.

It was sort of my point. ? But here's another task. Find a configuration where we play 100-120 miles from home on Tuesday and then play home on Saturday. Our Saturday opponents play 240 miles away on Wednesday and travel 240 miles to us on Saturday. Anyway, we lost. We just have to suck it up. A tough week with two defeats that most of us expected.

Exactly. We can't. But Burnley get to do that. How is it right that they play 25 miles from home as their away game on a Tuesday when we have to play 240 miles from home on a Wednesday. All players should be allowed 3 days recovery. We should have been allowed to play at Norwich on Tuesday. That's all.

No, they don't.

They actually have quite a sophisticated algorithm that tries to give the fixtures some fairness. So they don't just 'come out as they do'. Please, though, point me in the direction of a fixture configuration this season where we play 25 miles away from home on a Tuesday and home on a Saturday, while our opponents have 440-mile round trips on both Wednesday and Saturday. I'll be surprised if you can find one but I'm happy to hear about it.

The scheduling was brutal. Not sure how it’s fair with Burnley playing 25 miles from home on Tuesday. We lacked much zip today. Fair play to Sunderland who nicked an 87th minute point at Watford after playing at Reading on Wednesday. Blackpool, who also played away Wednesday and Saturday, beaten at Millwall.

If we get anything today, Dave, I think it’ll be our best result of the season.

I don't disagree with much of that, although any successful side in our league needs a few 1-0s and, pedantically speaking, 3-3 every week could see us relegated (46pts). My comments about that remarkable spell under LJ in 17-18 were merely in response to someone else's comment that 'we are playing the best football since we returned to the championship by some distance now,' which I thought was a bit of a stretch (not least because the current sample size is relatively small and LJ's sample size was 29 games). I don't think we played particularly well against Hull, Wigan, Sunderland, Blackpool or Huddersfield. And for me, the performance at Blackburn was better than the one at Norwich. Let the fun continue (with a few 1-0 wins interspersed) and let's see where we are at Christmas.

My point, Mr P, though was about the quality of the Pato goal. Beautiful passing movement set up Pato's glorious shot. We were capable of playing some decent football, even under LJ ?

We will indeed. I always thought we were more likely to get something from Norwich than Burnley because of the utterly ridiculous configuration of matches this week. Wonder if we’ll struggle to find the same tempo tomorrow. We looked very tired by the end on Wednesday. I would have been fascinated to see how the Norwich game would’ve worked out if we hadn’t given them two goals at the start. It skewed a potentially interesting tactical game. They would have given us more space, I’m sure. (Probably ended 5-4 or 3-5. Or something ridiculous.)

Do you not think we’ve laboured to beat sides this season? Wigan? Blackpool? Huddersfield? (And the games we’ve actually lost). It’s a pointless debate really because fans are in their bunkers (especially when it comes to LJ’s time), but I would point out that our record in the period I mentioned was PL29 W18 D8 L3 (start of season to Wolves defeat). Playing good football is about resolute defending as well as knocking the ball around. I’d also come back to my point that, for all our pretty football at Norwich, we didn’t look like scoring when there was one goal in the game and, er, we lost.

You’re so right. We were pretty ordinary as we went second in the league and reached the semi-final of the League Cup. The night at Fulham must have been a mirage.

It's a good question.It was definitely a penalty though. But I'm glad Semenyo scored. I wouldn't want to use up our one penalty of the season when we are 3-1 down with 15 left. Much better when it's 0-0 with 5 minutes left (although we'd probably hoof it over the stand).

I found that spell more fun than this because we were a threat and we were able to defend. I remember coming away from the Cottage that night and saying to a friend: 'that was the best we've played at this level for nearly forty years' (since 75-76). This is enjoyable in a different way but more stressful because our defence is so fallible away from home. At least it's not dull, which is a major improvement. Flawed but interesting is the best way to sum it up, I suppose. But I hate losing so much that I find the general satisfaction in our performance a bit too self-congratulatory. If we'd have played like Norwich last night and won 3-2, we'd have been in raptures today, saying it was a great performance. I actually don't think we really hurt them when there was one goal in the game. We barely created anything at 2-1 or 3-2.

Were you at Fulham that night, Dave?

The best football since we returned to the Championship came in Sept-Dec 2017 under LJ when we shot up the league and reached the s-f of the LC. We scored goals and, here's the difference, stopped the opposition scoring. One night stand outs: 2-0 at Fulham on 31 October. Our football in the first-half was superb. And we didn't give goals away. We also had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside. Another moment that stands out: Jamie Paterson's stunning goal at Sheffield United. People focus on the shot, but the build-up was superb as well. We played superbly at Ipswich in that spell as well. We won at Sunderland. And we beat Manchester United with a couple of excellent goals. We also came from a goal down to bear Derby 4-1. Amazing how the memory can fade. We are quite fun to watch but I hate being 'patted on the head' by Norwich fans. And we lost. We gave them stupid goals. That is not good football. Also, when the game had one goal in it last night, we didn't look like scoring. Norwich sat back and tried to hit us on the break. They played quite pragmatically - and successfully.

Did we outplay them? We played quite well, especially for the second part of the first half, but they sat back at 2-0. When it was 2-1 and 3-2 in the second half, we barely created anything. They sat in and tried to hit us on the break. There’s more than one way to win. The way we see the game can often be about expectation: Norwich were expected to have a lot of the ball and attack a lot. They didn’t. But they still won the game. Home fans get nervous when their team is defending but how often did we look like scoring when there was one goal in the game? But Semenyo’s return to the starting line-up can’t be far away. We might need to freshen up on Saturday with the absurd schedule.

Also, I thought Norwich sat in and tried to hit us on the break, which essentially worked for them. For all our nice football and possession, we didn’t create that many chances, especially in the second half. I never thought we looked like scoring after Antoine’s goal, which came out of nothing.

Don’t make the pass, Mr P. The pass left us completely open, surely. It was simple for Norwich to get in after that. He was to blame for the first two goals. Definitely. But he was superb apart from that. That’s the frustrating thing.

I have to say that I’ve never seen a great deal in Sam Bell. Or Riley Towler. Thought both have looked out of their depth when they’ve played in the first team. Just not ready. Both are young, though, and youngsters can make big steps forward very quickly.

No. Not under the current law.

I’m not sure you understand the modern offside law. The ball was played to Eriksen, not Rashford. That’s the point. Rashford makes sure he’s onside when Eriksen plays it to him.

To me it was a clear foul on Eriksen. Arsenal player doesn’t get the ball, knocks Eriksen over. It doesn’t have to be GBH. I want Arsenal to win but it just seemed an obvious foul. Simple: no goal. VAR working properly.

The fact we have to play at Norwich on the Wednesday and at Burnley on Saturday disgusts me. The Norwich game should be on Tuesday if there's any natural justice. I saw Russell Martin complained yesterday that they had to play at Boro on Saturday and at Stoke on Wednesday ('1,000 miles on a coach') but at least they had a bit of space between away matches. The only mitigating factor for us would be if we are able to fly back from Norwich.

We played so well today. For 70 minutes. We made Blackburn look ordinary for large parts of the game. Shame we let them score twice. The big test is coming: Norwich and Burnley away in the same week. Ludicrous schedule. Burnley have a neat little trip to Preston on the Tuesday; we play at Norwich on the Wednesday. Then we play at Burnley on Saturday. Nonsense schedule. How is that any way fair? Burnley are even home to Norwich on the previous Friday night. Nice spacing out for the relegated PL teams, computer.