Supersonic Robin

No need for us to panic. Frustrating result tonight, but we're looking pretty safe in the league IMO

Frustrating one. Thought we looked the better team for large parts. Unfortunately, we continue to concede soft goals. Often feels like we need to score 2 just to have a chance of getting a point. It's been like this all season too, so unfair to lump all the blame on O'Leary. Big picture still looking positive though - we're moving in the right direction.

According to Transfermarkt (ignoring cup appearances): 21/22 (so far): Without Club 20/21: 28 appearances for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League (full season = 36 games) 19/20: 7 appearances for Norwich in the Prem 18/19: 31 appearances for Norwich in the Championship Looking at the minutes he's played, most of his appearances in 20/21 and 19/20 look like full 90's. 18/19 season slightly less so (approximately 23 "full 90's" worth of minutes)

Fair point. Probably also fair to point out that Reading (A), Bristol City (H), Birmingham (H) is one of the "nicer" trios of fixtures you'll get this season. Conversely, it's worth noting that our 1-0 in the cup was essentially against Fulham's "2nd team". As you say, some of their numbers are a bit silly though. Certainly makes one question whether parachute payments are giving a bit too much of an advantage.

Crazy few games for Fulham. Perhaps not the best look for a league that tends to boast about its competitiveness though.

We should be fine. There are definitely 3 worse teams than us this year, probably more. I don't get the impression that the club are actively trying to sell Massengo or Bentley (perhaps quite the opposite in Massengo's case).

Parachute payments and FFP certainly aren't ideal, and in practice have the effect of gatekeeping certain leagues (or sub leagues). The financial effects of COVID have worsened this, and now the Prem/Championship boundary just seems like a revolving door for the same handful of clubs. (I appreciate there's a few exceptions). However, it has to be acknowledged that we've been one of the least efficient spenders in the Championship over the last few years. In terms of value for money our squad must be right down there. Comparatively, look at clubs like Millwall, Coventry and Luton competing for top half finishes whilst spending a fraction of what we have.

£5m!?!?! Is that it!?!?! I recall seeing suggestions that it would be closer to 2 or 3 times that a couple of weeks ago! Any idea of the logic the EFL are using to arrive at that number?

Re WRDC, worth bearing in mind that (IIRC) their underlying numbers going forward are some of the worst in the league. Their defensive solidity has come at the expense of attacking threat. In fact, I think their xGA (expected goals against) is worse than one might expect too. Bit of a statistical miracle that they've not conceded more.

Well, today felt like it was going to be a bit of a free hit. That said, still shouldn't be conceding 6 against a side in the same division as you. Worth noting that Fulham seemed to bring their shooting boots today - on another day I'm not sure that their chances would have produced 6 goals. Perhaps a testament to the incredible talent within their squad too. *Insert criticism of parachute payments* Contrary to popular belief ("We urgently need to sign a striker!"), we continue to be limited by our defending more than anything else IMO. Only Peterborough have conceded more than us this season (Reading have also conceded the same number as us). It's the number of "soft" goals conceded that frustrates most. Saw a number of posters referencing the results of Derby, P'boro, Reading etc during the game - I'm still confident that we'll stay up, and that it's entirely in our hands. Hopefully we can bounce back for the Cardiff game next weekend.

I think we look pretty safe. There are some really poor teams down there this season - Barnsley and Derby (in fairness due to points deduction) the obvious ones. It's possible that we don't even finish THAT close to the bottom 3. The current bottom 6 all look poorer than us IMO. Quite plausible that a couple more finish below us too.

Spot on, he absolutely contributes to goals and general attacking threat. I think people often overlook assists for strikers too. Semenyo has 4 goal contributions in 563 mins (approx 6 full matches worth of mins) this season. That's roughly a goal or assist every 140 mins. Comparatively, when Diedhiou won POTY in 19/20, he averaged a league goal contribution every 220 mins that season (12 goals 1 assist). FWIW I've not written off Semenyo as a goal scoring striker either. He's still only 21 - lots of strikers have few Championship goals to their name at that age. It seems slightly premature to eternally brand him as "a striker that doesn't score".

Don't forget the bloke who said "he just flaps around" ? Still not sure what that's actually supposed to mean..... ?

I think it would be very bold of Palmer to claim that he hasn't been given sufficient chances during his time with us. Your last sentence is an interesting one. IMO it's for players to earn consecutive games by showing they are good enough, as oppose to being granted consecutive games and essentially having to prove they're not good enough.

I'm happy for other teams to not fear Weimann if he keeps scoring goals against them ? I think opposition defences may dislike playing against Weimann more than you think. IMO his movement in the final third is excellent. As you anticipated, I will quote his goals - he's currently on track for 18 goals and 8 assists this season. That's brilliant for a bottom third side, and would still be very good in a top 6 team! Perhaps it's easy for some of our fans to turn their noses up at Weimann as he's not an especially "sexy" attacking player, but we're a long way off being in a position where his current standard isn't good enough for us. Also, just a thought on your last line: Our defending is statistically our biggest issue - that's holding us back more than our attacking play at the moment. Weimann might quite reasonably argue "I scored twice on Saturday, the reason we lost the game is because we conceded 3 soft goals"

Don't think I'd like to see us loaning a prem striker personally. Seems like a waste of money on a short term project to help us finish 14th instead of 17th. It would also be a shame to invest those Championship minutes in developing another team's young striker instead of our own (e.g. Conway). Perhaps a different story if it's a loan with option to buy, but that's very unlikely if you're looking at most notable youngsters from prem teams.

It's about the level to which you can do it I suppose - it's not a binary case of "can" or "can't". Is Kalas at Webster's level of playing out from the back? No. Is Kalas reasonably capable with the ball at his feet and able to be part of a Championship defence that plays out from the back? Absolutely, IMO

Think this highlights the difference between aesthetics and effectiveness quite nicely. Lots of fans confuse the two IMO. When people say we look worse than Derby, Hull, Peterborough, Swansea etc, do they mean we look a less effective team, or do they actually mean we just play less aesthetically pleasing football? The narrative from both our fans and neutrals this season has generally been that City are awful, and Swansea look great. Statistically, City and Swansea are pretty much as neck and neck as possible so far: Both City and Swansea are level on points (27) Swansea have scored 2 goals more (24 vs 26) Swansea have conceded 1 goal less (32 vs 31) City and Swansea are 18th and 17th respectively in Infogol's xP table. Swansea are almost certainly more aesthetic, but they aren't really a much better team so far this season looking at the above. Interestingly, the biggest difference between us and Swansea is that (xG wise) we both create and concede far more chances than they do. There's an argument that we're the exciting one of the 2 teams, and Swansea are the boring/defensive one!

Personally I wouldn't be in such a hurry to get rid of Jay DaSilva (understand that NP may feel differently though). In reality, I think Palmer will be the hard one to shift - I can't really see why any team would take him. Those that could afford him wouldn't want him, and those that would want him couldn't afford him. Technically, offloading these players (even on frees) will be decreasing our wage bill and hence increasing our "wage pot", but yeah.....in the grand scheme of things it is still a sh*t tonne of money wasted

I suppose it's a case of damage limitation at this point. We're pretty much guaranteed to lose money on Palmer, but we're better off losing a bit of money rather than a lot of money (especially if he can't even get anywhere near the matchday squad)

Agree. Palmer has technical ability, but there are lots of other skills required to be an effective and successful footballer, many of which Palmer appears to be lacking. It's not the case that he's simply a brilliant footballer who is too lazy (as many would have you believe).

As others have said, I think our highest level (realistically) is probably a mid table Prem side who can give the FA Cup and League Cup a decent go every year. I actually think it's a fairly reasonable ambition for a club of our size/potential - there are smaller clubs who have done the same or even more. Feels like a long way away right now though

Personally wouldn't be so big on a draw against a top 6 prem side. I don't think we'd be anywhere near competitive - it would likely just be a televised drubbing at the hands of Liverpool's 2nd team. That's not an especially fun experience IMO, even if it allows you to tick a big stadium off the list.

Feels like this whole "Derby are a good side" thing is a bit of a myth. Without the points deduction they'd still be below us in the table. Underlying stats show them to be performing at the standard of a side in a relegation battle too. Wouldn't go as far as to say I'm confident (as obviously we're not great either!), but no reason why we should expect to lose.

Escaping relegation you mean? That will take a hell of an effort - we're roughly half way through the season and Derby are currently 19 points from safety. Derby's underlying numbers are pretty poor this season too - they're performing at the standard of a team in a relegation battle. Note that even without the points deduction they'd be below us in the table. Credit to Derby for the fight and spirit they've shown in recent weeks, but they're still not a great side. Obviously we're not in a great place ourselves (especially with the midfield injuries), but really I don't think it's a game we should be expecting to lose,