M42Owl

Revised Team Defence: Bolton £8m Outfield Eisa MKD £2m McCleary WYC £2m Udoh SHR £2m Clarke-Harris PET £3m Leigh ACC £1m Hardie PLY £2m

Transfer news Out go Port Vale, in comes Bolton.

Why does a game kicking off at 5:30 prevent 5 minutes being dedicated to reading all the results? It's not like going round the grounds or owt.

And the North. And get rid of the pillars on the kop. And maybe improve the flood defences (we were a bit close last year).

I was thinking about changing my defence, but after a decent result last week I decided to wait until after the weekend. Lost 4-3.

Or 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 I like the fact that we can play different formations with the starting 11. Palmer in for Hunt suggests a back four to me, but it could easily be a straight swap.

We should start with a back three that has three players comfortable in their position. So Famewo at left and Ihekwe at right. Bench Iorfa. If we continue to get balls in behind the wing backs with the left/right centre back struggling to prevent crosses coming in, then we should switch, in game, to a back 4. Probably 4-3-3. We need the right starting 11 to be able to do that switch without using a sub. If we play as we did 2nd half of last season, we should stick with 3-5-2 and Smith should make us even more effective. But that’s up front. Defensively, we need better defenders or better organisation, or a different formation.

What time did he go off injured?

There’s been lots said about how refreshing this competition has been, and linked this to the women’s game in general. It can’t be argued that the lack of dissent, feigning injury, blatant time wasting etc has been great for the games. Add on the vast improvements in the players’ level of skill and technique over the last 4/5 years and there’s a great “product” on show. There’s still some crappy goalkeeping but by and large it’s better. Overall, the product is not just watchable, but it’s entertaining. Women (and many men) will now be calling for more equality throughout the game. In terms of access, at grass roots, there should be no question of equality, and there never should have been. But at the top, it has to be earned. And some of the England players can now expect mega deals for sponsorship. But players will also start pushing for higher pay from their clubs, arguing that Russo should get what Rashford gets, and a bog standard WPL player should get much nearer what a bog standard EPL player gets. And this is where it could all start to go wrong. Is there the depth of talent to create a competition (WPL) that will generate sponsorship and TV deals to match the mens’ game? Will crowd numbers increase when ticket prices trend towards that of the men’s game? Will TV audiences fall when they see the quality of the bottom half of the league? But at the very top, I think we could have some mega stars on mega bucks and some teams (we know which ones - I think it’s a shame that women’s football can’t develop independent of the men’s clubs, but that a different discussion) that suck in all the new income. Matches will then become more like the men’s game as winning becomes more imperative, as teams try to bridge the gap to the top few so as to access that top income level. A few years ago, we rarely saw a tackle worthy of the name, but in this competition, although rare, we’ve seen cynical fouls, a head high tackle (somehow the red card was overturned to yellow), players haranguing the ref, petulance on the pitch and on the sub’s bench, and falling over at a mere nudge. Sadly, these traits will become more common as the money grows. I may be a cynic, but as the game grows, as it attracts more money, it will tend away from all those positives at the top of this post and it’ll lose it unique attraction.

The queue for the beer at the fan zone was too long (about 1:45) so I didn’t bother. The “band” whilst enthusiastic weren’t much better than karaoke. Although they did select a few tunes to try to liven things up a bit. No food on, even though there’s a hot dog stall in the car park. But it all seemed very popular. Need to add something for the kids I think.

2-1 win for me.

Guy Whittingham

Hirst

I’m on the fence on this. It seems a bit petty of the club, “cut off your nose to spite your face” type action and brings more ridicule to the club. But, did many (any) of those bringing action against the club genuinely and desperately need the money at the time? All they had to do was put the money towards the next season’s season ticket and they’d have had the money back ages ago. So fuck em for bringing embarrassment on the club. Personally, if I was in charge, I’d be trying to draw a line under the whole episode.

My revised entry… Defence: Port Vale £8m Outfield Eisa MKD £2m McCleary WYC £2m Udoh SHR £2m Clarke-Harris PET £3m Leigh ACC £1m Hardie PLY £2m

That scuppers my plan of changing the defence on a regular basis in August. Might need to make an amendment to my team.

Carlton Athletic Bright n Hirst Albion Real Madjid Stockdale Hornets Leigh Brondby Forestieri Green Rovers Bannan Athletic Peter Swansea City Lancequay United Pressman North End Andy Macclesfield Town Nope, can’t think of owt either.

Defence: Port Vale £8m Outfield McCleary WYC £2m Udoh SHR £2m Chaplin IPS £2.5m McGoldrick DER £2.5m Leigh ACC £1m Hardie PLY £2m

Top flight?

Bolder

Proudlock Reach

Neither do I. Isn’t the rationale behind the change to 5 subs to do with exhaustion and burn out in a busy season? But if @Tylluan is correct, we’ll now be telling (some of) our player to run themselves into the ground and not to worry because we’ll sub them on 60/70 minutes. Whatever happened to “pacing yourself” through a game or season?

Compared with this time last season… In: Vaukes, Bakinson, A Hunt. Out: Luongo, Wing, Hutchinson. Based on expectations for Wing, rather than the reality, I’d say we’re a bit weaker than we were. But not a lot in it, (especially considering that Wing was rubbish and the other two had lengthy injury absences) so I think we’ll stick as we are unless a generous bid comes in. If that happens, we’ll look to replace whoever leaves.

If that were to happen, I think there’s a good chance of it causing a bit of dressing room discontent. What’s the typical pay for those who won promotion? Bit of a risky move for Forest.

Expected goals is an interesting stat, but it’s subjective. Who decides that a chance is 90% likely to turn into a goal or 5%? I suspect that it’s Opta that decides, but what qualifies them to decide? What criteria do they use?