The Bard

Yep. The Nagy deal whereby he left is going to be more common for players who care about their career and want to play. The ones who just sit on a wage will probably rot though.

Really looking forward to the game later. Got the potential to be a classic. Genge the pantomime villain or hero?

It wasn't just a bit of concussion. It was a serious head injury. He's had a number of these and one gets the impression that he may be out for some time.

It's massively overblown the Christmas games. Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. Happens loads of times each season

No offence but that doesn't really matter does it?

Personally, I think we're capable of improving in the 2nd half of the season. We've had about 5 seasons in a row of falling away badly in the 2nd half of the season. It would be nice to buck the trend and the conditions are there for this to happen. We've hardly set the world alight and have a mostly young side that should improve as they gain more experience. We need to put together one good run of 5 or 6 games and we'll be safe and nicely tucked into mid table.

Met him in 1992 at Portsmouth Uni, He was a genuine, friendly bloke who liked his food. 80p a pint of Blackthorn in the Student Union beforehand. The gig Was absolute carnage,

Well they bring on a sub. There's a maximum of 3 per game. That's why it's 14 rather than 11!

A truly bizarre suggestion. We gave the man a 3 year contact inspite of him having a serious injury. He's 30 and a solid Championship player so hardly going to rake in a huge transfer fee especially given prevailing Covid financial insecurity. It would take a massive fee for this to be worth our while. He's not my favourite player but he's been on the pitch for about 99% of our league season. That would take some replacing. Far more likely a bid of several million for Scott or Benarous being accepted. They are hardly intrinisc players but their potential could tempt a big club to find some spare change to chuck our way.

Chelsea asked for their game to be postponed today which was rightly refused. The poor little darlings then 'only' had 14 outfield players available from their squad plus 3 keepers. They have over 50 youth players listed as available for the EPL (though the likes of Gilmour, Ampadu, Gallagher and Broja are out on loan). This sort of crap absolutely boils my piss.

The game I saw yesterday saw us start very aggressively pressing high which resulted in our goal. Huddersfield clearly well coached looked to play through our press. As soon as they did it put our defence in the position where they have to decide whether to follow the press up or drop off to deal with the counter attack and that is where we lost the game. On at least 2 occasions (build up to the penalty and the 3rd goal), Atkinson got that decision badly wrong, following a player into midfield who just ran him out of position. Their equaliser also came from such a circumstance with Scott pressing high and Vyner getting sucked into midfield meaning they got an overlap down our right. Even then Atkinson was completely indecisive edge of our box when a bit of cynicism would've got him a yellow but stopped a goal. 2nd goal was also down to indecision between the RCB and RWB. Once we brought on Pring for Atkinson I thought we improved markedly, creating enough chances to have got back into the game. I'm intrigued as to how Pearson reacts to this. He's called Atkinson out for his performance but I wonder if we'll go back to a back 4. If we do, I'd expect to see Tanner and Pring starting but am interested whether Vyner or Atkinson get hooked. If we stay with a 3, Pring will play left of the 3.

It's literally identical to what it was 2 weeks ago, it's just that the media narrative has moved on a bit and Piri Patel's attempts to scare everyone have taken a backward step.

It didn't work and it was probably never going to work. However, there's nothing wrong with getting him and Scott in the team even if they aren't in their favoured positions. Seems to me that Pearson is making strategic, long term selections at the moment. Giving inexperienced players chances to play as part of their footballing education. In the long term this will seem like a wise thing to have done. On the day it seems odd to say the least.

Easily the best I've seen him play live. We looked a proper threat for considerable periods of the game today and that was down to him. If he can put a few performances in a row, his confidence will mushroom. He's got all the ingredients to go a very good player.

Carlisle have reduced the number of tickets they sell for games to 9,999 so the checks aren't required.

Attendance will be less than 10,000 but the club won't be able to change the rules as we've got more than 10,000 season tickets. Only exception to this could be the FA Cup game v Fulham...

He's going to end up being the 2nd highest England run scorer in 2021. That's a desperate statistic Same in football and Rugby Union. Bet Genge gets dropped now he's left Leicester

It did because Johnson made a mess of using him. If we're short of CBs I'd rather have Towler as back up than have to source another CB from elsewhere

We did this with Cundy last season. Gillingham to Cambridge

On what planet is Boro a gold game?

Trouble with having a plan b 'oven ready' is you default to it without properly considering your options at the time. I worry it simply won't work and so people will be adhering to something that is blunt.

That's plausible. As I said above I can see a RM coming in January on low wages from League 1 or 2.

To gradually move out players that are under contract and move in ones that the manager wants. This will take 2 to 3 years due to contract length. Develop homegrown players so they are regularly playing 1st team football. I'd hope we have 4 or 5 younger players involved in 2 years time. Unfortunately can't see Scott staying as he looks a very good player and we could use a large fee. By doing the 2 things above we should have a team that can challenge for top 6. Sort infrastructure out fully including DOF and recruitment. It's all blindingly obvious to me can't understand why you can't work it out for yourself.

Seems to me that Nige has accepted that 3 5 2 / 3 4 3 best suits the players we have at the moment. Any signing now will need to plug a gap in the squad till the summer and be a long term option too. Assuming Cundy is fit eventually it would give us 5 options at CB with the option of recalling Moore in January. Pring and COD cover LWB assuming JD has been thrown off the bus. Tanner RWB... We've got 7 CMs including Benarous and Scott and 4 strikers plus Conway. Seems to me we need an option who can play RWB or right side of a midfield 4 should Nige want to go back to 4 4 2 long term. I expect us to sign someone unheralded from League 1 or League 2

Palmer is going to turn out to be one of the biggest wastes of money in our history. £3 million on fee plus £4 million in wages. For what precisely?