chinapig

That'll teach you to stay off the curries!

A timely reminder that if we are tempted to direct abuse at a player we should remember that footballers are people too. We never know what they might be going through in their private lives. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/14/jesse-lingard-nobody-really-knew-about-my-struggles-were-all-human

Not if you want energetic full backs who can get up and down the flanks, which is what Silva seems to want.

He was moved there because Neeskens Kabano picked up a long term injury I believe.

Nice work, thanks. Another factor occurs to me, though not one amenable to statistical analysis. PGMOL have said this season that contact does not necessarily mean a foul (fair enough, it cuts out the "he felt contact so he was entitled to go down" nonsense ex-players spout) and that contact has to have consequences (also fair enough on the surface). As usual though they have added another term that is open to a wide range of interpretations. How exactly do you define consequences? If there is a foul but a player struggles to stay on his feet and have a shot that goes wide are there therefore no consequences despite the fact that he would have had a better opportunity without the foul? Or, topically, if a high boot catches a player in the face are there no consequences if he wasn't about to head at goal when he was kicked? Has the inclusion of consequences in the guidance in fact given referees a get out of jail free card so to speak?

Running across the defender's line is not simulation so I don't see why it would be a factor. Indeed you see Premier League attackers do it often, leading to free kicks and penalties.

I posted on the matchday thread that we should do a detailed analysis (video and statistical), send it to PGMOL and ask for a face to face meeting. This gives them a chance to show how such a staggeringly improbable anomaly over an extended period might be explained. Their reply would at least be illuminating.

Was thinking the same. It is increasingly inexplicable from any objective perspective. I would do as you suggest, present a detailed analysis to PGMOL and demand a face to face meeting in which they can explain why they think so many penalties have been denied. I steer clear of conspiracy thinking but it is getting harder and harder to think of an explanation.

Surely he wouldn't say something to mislead the opposition manager?!?

Didn't Nigel say in his press conference that none of the injured players would be available today?

Everybody knew their full backs played very high but haven't been able to exploit that before. There are other factors I think, starting with the loss of the underappreciated Wijnaldum. Fabinho and Henderson are past their peak - smart clubs replace players before they reach that point. Or ideally recruit their replacements in advance. Lots of Liverpool fans were saying they needed to sign 2 midfielders last summer in fact. I'm also not convinced Thiago suits their approach, gifted player though he is. A bit like Veron at Man Utd, a world class player who just didn't quite fit.

How about his dad? Remarkable to get to a play off final with a squad that was nowhere near as good, as expensive or as big as the squads LJ had.

Nigel said recently that he had had a good discussion with Han who understood the position and told Nigel he would continue to work hard and be ready if he's needed.

He said at the fans forum that he was staying until the end of January in particular to be involved in the transfer window.

No, Tins is not Director of Football as his job description shows. He doesn't have day to day control of all football activities - unlike Ashton did.

How many other clubs are in the kind of dire financial position as us though? If we scrape through FFP this time it will be because the EFL have accepted our claim to loss of transfer revenue due to Covid. That's a one off that leaves us still needing to make big cuts and/or raise big money through sales that might not be available to spend. In addition, if SL is looking to sell he may need to reduce the debt well beyond what FFP requires to attract a buyer. Looks like a hiding to nothing to any experienced manager with options, though perhaps a rookie at this level might feel they have nothing to lose.

Imagine the interview for a new manager: "We want to challenge for the play offs but you're going to have to help us cut another £10m from our losses at the same time. If we sell a player to do that you're not going to get much to spend if anything so you're stuck with what we have." "OK, thanks for inviting me, bye!"

It does rather call into question Musk's claim that Twitter's moderation policies are unchanged doesn't it?

Because allowing as much of a free for all as they can get away with makes them lots of money.

Will somebody please think about the Sky commentators? They're constantly going to be apologising if we were offended by any swearing we might have heard!?

Were it down to me I'd pin your first 2 tables to the top of the forum for those who still can't see the near impossible circumstances Nigel is operating under.

I thought we had finally reached the point where everybody understood that because of the massive overspending under Ashton and Johnson we needed to greatly reduce our losses to avoid FFP points deductions so don't have any money to spend. It seems I was wrong.

By the same token, when accused of doing sweetheart deals HMRC issued a statement insisting they always recover the full amount due. Or, as it turns out, not. As to the EFL, there are sanctions for failing to pay taxes but are there sanctions for failing to pay 100% of the amount due? Derby will argue that they have paid the reduced amount agreed by HMRC in full so no action should follow. Kieran Maguire said this week that he had spoken to some owners of Championship clubs who had to borrow to meet their tax liabilities and they are furious. But of course we know from Derby fans that they are special so there is that to take into account.

Ben White perhaps, who can cover multiple positions, though Southgate doesn't seem to rate him. More likely Mings, who is not as good as Webster imo.

The keeper is key here imo in that he must be yelling at them to get out of his space. Indeed you sometimes see keepers physically shove defenders further away from goal. I'm not sure our keepers are assertive enough in that respect.