MarcusX

Also worth noting that people can put any name down or is it likely that Steven Gerrard has actually donated? Also as @Bristol Rob has said, not put their name for anonymity. Such a sad thing for Scotty, echo the comments about him he's a legend of this club.

Go stick a tenner on it, £650 return.

The problem you and many others fall for is just looking at the table, counting wins and points and then fearing the worst. Not only that, but applying worst possible results to us, and assuming promotion chasing form for the other 6/7 teams at the bottom of the table. For that to happen you're going to need results such as Sheff Wed and Cardiff to beat Leeds and Ipswich respectively - both at home but still highly unlikely. Blackburrn and Plymouth, and Millwall and Brum play each other. Next week Sheff Wed would have to backup their massive Leeds win by beating Ipswich away. Millwall go to Leeds, the rest are all playing teams higher than them. Good Friday Blackburn are next up to topple Ipswich, QPR and Brum play each other, Sheff Wed and Swansea face each other. It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely many of those teams are picking up more than a few points if that. And if you do think it, I'd head to the bookies as you'll get some good odds.

I've got to GW43 and no one gets near us - assuming general form continues from those bottom sides. Too many play each other, and we should probably pick up points between now and then - fwiw I've only got us as beating Plymouth and Huddersfield and losing the rest and we still have 54 by GW43 Blackburn, Stoke, Sheff Wed, Birmingham, Huddersfield all languishing around 40-45 points. I may have been a bit harsh on Blackburn's results. I don't think we're in danger IMO.

Wasn;t that the question?

Why not? The tickets those guys get don't come out of the initial allocation (or are already allocated for) anyway. They've helped me in the past, though usually when it's been too late to buy a ticket because I've been able to get out of work after the sales have ended.

He's started the last 3 games?

What interests me is how much ground they cover compared to us semi-pro/amateurs. I average about 7km as a CB and 8-8.5 as a CM and I'm one of the more mobile midfielders. I'm also nowhere near those sprint speeds either, despite being one of our quickest I am at the higher end of that vereran bracket now though, so I'll cut myself some slack

Interesting take, but like many teams what will likely most improve Stoke's atmosphere is success on the pitch. Thought their atmosphere was impressive in that 08 season when we played them near the end of the season

Pearson got loads of stick early in his first full season, and some wanted him gone before Xmas that year. Doesnt matter what side of the “divide” you are on, its re-writing history to pretend Pearson had it easy or didn’t get any stick from fans at the same stage of his tenure as Manning is in. Difference js, Nige should have been in credit to some extent after keeping us up.

The nonsense money argument aside, why has he not been playing well lately? Because we've gone from setting up to play to his strengths to restricting him to a thankless task of controlling a press and feeding on scraps.

Exactly how I see it, I actually wrote out a repy to another post but think I lost it. As you say, a knock is something minor and common (as I think @Super was getting at yesterday). I'd even go as far as saying it's something that probably doesn't get worse if you play a game on it. i expect most players play through knocks where they've caught a late tackle or something. An injury again as you say is more serious, and something that you either need treatment to get through or will get worse - things like strains, slight tears, imbalances. I don't know why he chose the word injury.

He actually said injury. Now that might be a slip of the tongue, but to me a "knock" and an "injury" are two different things.

Funny I thought this too, I’ve only seen it in real time though. I still think there’s a potential player there, but he is very awkward at times or like his feet don’t quite do what his head wants them to. His intentions are there but it’s more luck than execution as to whether it comes off sometimes.

He’s left injured (his words) Pring on for 90 mins, with Mehmeti looking tired in front of him. He didn’t react at all to Burns causing us all sorts of problems down that side. I’m not going to hammer him for tonight because we’ve had a good go - but he’s definitely not completely oof the hook either.

I think he’s been naive or foolish in trying to come in and change things so dramatically with, in his words, such little time on the grass. Any manager coming in mid season is going to struggle to make big changes and in fairness to him he’s come in to an unusual situation. Often mod season changes happen because a manager has ran out of ideas or “lost” the dressing room, a falling out has happened or the team is dramatically failing. It’s rare (although a few teams have done it this year for some reason) for a manager to get sacked while he still “has the dressing room” and as I mentioned on another thread largely has the support of the squad and the fans. In the former situations it’s “easy” for fresh blood to come in and rejuvenate the players, get them to enjoy playing again and freshen things up. We didn’t need that. I didn’t see any signs of an unhappy dressing room and I think most were happy to see out this season around mid table, with a bit more flexibility in the summer. So how does a manager come in a change a team that doesn’t just need the typical lift, a bit of motivation and confidence? I think even the best managers would struggle to come in to a team mid season, with little time to work on ideas, and drastically change the style of play - especially to a style that some of them just aren’t comfortable doing or doesn’t come naturally enough to be effective. Lastly factor in that playing possession football requires confidence and bravery. It’s hard to have the latter when you’re lacking the former!

Only started listening after Sheff Wed, enjoyed listening to the last couple. Thought the young lad in particular spoke well at the weekend.

Manning also says he had to protect him as a precaution, after just giving Pring 90 mins with an “injury”

Makes a change because for years we were shit on TV

Whilst I’m fairly confident still we won’t go down, what have you seen that gives you any confidence we’ll go from winning 35% of all home games this season to suddenly a 60% return from the last 5 games? Especially given we can’t beat poor teams who sit in, which is exactly what those 4 teams are likely to do.

Watching Ipswich ride this promotion momentum wave is also a gutting tale of what should have been with Cotts. Have to also add how terrible their home support was. Started reasonably well but from about minute 15 to minute 85 they were shockingly quiet. Also amazed with their record how many left early at 2-2.

That’s the tackle of a knackered defender, unfortunately

Have to say, second half was a complete reversal of the first. From boring to thrilling, proper game of football. Definitely can’t fault the effort or work rate, there’s no sign of “lost dressing rooms” out there tonight. A bit of naivety / sloppy defending and possible lack of change to react cost us? Their 4 subs completely changed them, brought on some quality and really troubled us especially Burns. I think in isolation you’d walk away and say we have it a go, but in the run of form it’s another defeat. I don’t want to say Swansea is “must win” but if we don’t, when will we?

Just cannot understand it. Pring carrying a knock and Anis looked knackered, kept both on for 90 despite Burns constantly looking dangerous down that side.

VAR can’t give yellows so it wouldn’t be