KrolMong

That statement from Forest yesterday was embarrassing. But, to be fair, they have doubled down and demanded VAR audio for the three decisions today. So they are sticking to guns. Having seen all three, I’m astonished two weren’t given, and the third was debateable. But herein lies the issue. The officials are literally untouchable, they don’t have to explain decisions, they don’t have to speak to managers and players post game, they don’t have to meet the media, but more critically, any criticism regardless of performance leads to a player or manager fine, whilst the prem refs get a demotion BUT no loss of earnings. It’s the only profession I can remember when no matter what they do or how bad they are, they are not accountable in any way shape or form. And our referees are fucking shit. For every good one, there are 3 bad ones.

We did a job on them. It wasn’t sticking first half, but second half, the balls were less straight, we pressed them in wide areas, and we won all the second balls. Just good, old fashioned football basics. We scored two great goals, and the freak from the keeper, I still, to this minute don’t what he was trying to do with the attempt at recover the situation. They missed one good chance but rest ot the half was us having control with and without the ball. Palmer, Famewo, Johnson, Bannan and Vaulks were good. We need to defend like that the next two weekends, if we do, we’ll stop up.

It’s just not sticking to the forwards. It’s that simple.

It was a cracker. I feared for Garcia due to his unhinged behaviour this past 5 months and the wild stuff that’s happened this fight week, and the fact that he blew the weight. But, he was really good last night, hurt Haney multiple times. I genuinely think that the ref could have counted more knock downs, should have taken at least 2 points off Haney and had good reason to pull Haney out of there.

We are on Polish TV today. I’m sending the wife and child out for 2 hours so I can enjoy in peace!

Darren Moore with another relegation on his CV.

Both deflected strikes, but, poor keeping.

Arsenal were awful with the ball. Bayern are not great, but they were comfortable. City, despite there utter dominance, were let down by all of there attacking players. Haaland, De Bruyne, Foden, Silva. All poor against a Real side who let them have the ball. And Cities unwillingness to want to pull the trigger is just daft.

We’ve got an embarrassment of riches in attacking areas. Conceivably, we could play Rice and Bellingham in a two. And then line up Foden, Palmer and Saka behind Kane. The two players, who at the minute, are most at risk are probably Rashford and Grealish. Bowen and Gordon have really had good seasons in terms of numbers. Maddison will go too.

I think we absolutely need two wins from the last three. We have to win at all costs next weekend at Blackburn - there is no hiding from that. Issue today, not enough quality in the final third. Either with pass or finish. Not really sure why Ihiekwe is flying in for the Stoke equaliser, wrong decision.

I don’t blame Rohl for wanting to play out. The passes we were not making were not due to an aggressive press, but simply due to player mistakes. If Norwich were pressing like animals, and we persisted, you could blame Rohl, but they didn’t. They literally just had to stand still and we gave them the ball back. I cannot accept that any professional footballer in this era cannot find a fellow player from 10 yards away under minimal pressure. If a player can’t, they need to sit in the stand and pack it in. The fact that Rohl had to go ale house in the second half is an indictment of our players inability to do what most 14 year olds can do.

A proper ale house second half led by Callum Paterson. He was outstanding. We were very fortunate in that we absolutely should have been 5-0 down before we scored our first, but, the effort was there even if the quality wasn’t. And when we got the first, you could feel we would get a second, Norwich were creaking physically. Massive point.

First goal. Bambo knocks a simple 10 yard pass, 5 yards short. From the throw, he then gets caught not watching and they score. Immediately after, Famewo knocks a simple 10 yard pass to Bannan 2 yards short. They should score. Then, Beadle knocks a simple 10 yards pass 3 yards wide of his target. They score again. Later, Ihiekwe knocks a pass across his back four 10 yards behind his target and out for a throw in on the edge of our box. Every single pass, most people on here would make them. It is inexcusable for professional footballers to be unable to complete them. And I mean inexcusable. None of the players were facing a press when they gave it away.

Deserved it today. Better side, went a bit longer today and picked up the seconds. I thought, despite the miss, Windass was decent, Bannan and Palmer did well. But, Gassama gets MOM today, although I thought Bambo and Smith were good too. Aside from them hitting the bar, they’ve not created a lot. And we’ve had decent possession all day. 7 points from a possible 15 will do it.

Wasn’t a pen for the foul on Gassama. Outside. We’ve been the better side, horror miss from Windass. Clear plan to target their left side both with the ball and on the press. Need a goal.