pj76

Yeah that was class. But it took about half an hour for me to explain what it was and why it was funny to my 8 year old.

Home fans seemed almost sinisterly quiet. Acoustics there were terrible. It's not as bad a stadium as some people have said, but is a pretty soul destroying place for football. We bought along the heart and identity that they left behind at the Boleyn ground. Fair play to all the crowd, proud to be a red today.

On the way home now. That goal from Tommy and the singing and bouncing that followed (and went off pretty much throughout) was utterly intense and overwhelming.. Almost worth the world's worst train journey. Wish everyone luck getting home.

I have limited experience of this, but at Hull away this season people sat in their allocated seats. With this being a sell-out, and the likelihood of families attending I imagine people will be sitting in their allocated seats, especially with the rails.

Yeah... or on the other hand, it's a missed opportunity

Standard. Tanner gets all the flak, simply because he's on the right. Everyone loves Pring and Mehmeti, with Knight popping up here and there in support, but then they expect Tanner to do it all on his own and then complain that he doesn't get forward. Ah well. Funny how all our best performances (Swansea away anyone?) feature Sykes.

Exactly. So much space there, AW sat fifteen yards infield, usually gesturing.

Yeah so much for dry January after that shitshow. At one point I thought they may as well just do route one. What a mess.

Weimann is an impact sub, game management. That's where he is now. Last time he started in that position - Norwich - it was equally shit and only Sykes coming across led to the goal.

I felt the referee didn't help. The fight at the end was the most exciting thing for the whole game, but it would never have happened if he'd taken action over the constant cynical fouls throughout.

Starting with weimann in midfield is bizarre. He didn't compete, gave tanner nothing in terms of runs in that channel. It was the same in the Norwich game. Tanner can get forward but it's always a dead end.

Abysmal. Happy new year everyone.

Oooh. I guess it'll be Souček

Kudus is the main one, a sensational player. Also away at Afcon probably Cornet, Benrahma, Aguerd, but they have been on the bench of late. That just leaves Paquetá, Bowen, Mavropanos, Ward-Prowse, Ings, Alvarez, and Souček to worry about.

A couple of things stood out for me, and seem to have been building since the start of the manning era. The passing - so much better. There was ambition before but the accuracy was lacking and we saw some proper hide behind your hands moments. They are building from the back with much more purpose, i.e they all know what the attack is going to be, where they are going to target and work to create that opportunity. Some of the passing yesterday, helped by the interplay with the midfield, was great. Mehmeti - may not be the finished article but he's putting the willies up the opposition and dragging defenders with him, making space. Teams now have one more thing to think about, i.e watch the 11, don't let him cut inside, etc, as well as watch TGH, don't give him space to shoot. Previously it would have been "City don't do shots from outside the box, don't worry". I guess aligned to this is the greater goal threat from a wider group of players, knight, Mehmeti, TGH, Conway, Sykes. The gentle shift in rotation - Manning now seems to lead with energy, impact, high press and pace on the team sheet first up. Game management, experience and skill are on the bench to see it out. This seems like a bit of a reversal from the previous regime, where weiman might be hooked for yeboah in a chaotic roll of the dice. I'm optimistic, but then I was optimistic under Pearson and optimistic from the first game with Manning, the way he was setting foundations (or "principles" or "behaviours".) Fingers crossed for Friday, Monday, and Sunday's big day out.

James Piercey (Post/Bristol live) is measured, thoughtful, knows his stuff. Don't know if he is on here, but i assume he lurks. You also get the occasional article from Matt W, which is worth a read. More generally, Not the Top 20 pod and website is brilliant, George Elek particularly, loves football (Oxford) and is always insightful regarding how teams play, as well as the wider context. Particularly good on Pearson/Manning, West Brom finance issues, Mowbray, etc. Listening to this pod is really enjoyable and helps me temper my irrational fears and knee jerk responses.

Some of that from Connolly (A* for shithousery) was in response to the bounce chant, he did the up and down hands etc, and some of the away fans did a bounce. That chant (which I love, and seems to be a clear indicator of when the crowd is in good voice) came out very early and we nearly ended up with egg on our faces. Ultimately, it all added spice, it fed into the players, fed back to the crowd and made a difference. Everyone today saying how much they loved the atmosphere under lights last night.

Yeah, 'hate' only insofar as annoyed the hell out of me last night. Would like his good qualities in the team but his 'housery.

Might attract a confused glance from the 6 other people up there.

Great player and great goal, but what an absolute shithouse. Lying on the ground to break up an attack as if shot from a sniper's rifle. Cheeky smile to the Dolman when booed. Bounce around goal celebration. Hate him with a passion. Would love to have him in the team.

I feel like he's a player who has one clear strength to his game, i.e running at the opposition, and now he is trying to develop the rest, the team play, defensive work, the right pass, not cutting inside every single time. He is definitely getting better and has bags of potential.

Agree, first 20 was quite tricky to watch, crowd in the dolman got very antsy at that point. First penalty shout seemed to change the dynamic all round.

It will, but they will take confidence from the performance away in August. We should have won there.

Great piece by George Ekel on the NTT20 pod explaining this decision

if there were no problems in the world there would still be a thread on OTIB with people moaning about it.