M42Owl

Just got back, here my take on Saturday’s match. Firstly, I thought the crowd were positive throughout. Heard that recent away games have been a bit quiet: not on Saturday. Team selection was spot on. I did wonder about Hunt and James as wingbacks, but caution was justified and both played well, if not spectacular. And a back three of Palmer, Iorfa and Famewo was concerning, but what was the alternative? And Paterson over Gregory? I’d have gone for Gregory, but Paterson had a stormer.

Does anyone know how player registrations work? Presumably, McGuiness is registered with SW until it’s transferred back to CC. But if FIFA/EFL won’t, yet, allow CC to register him, doesn’t he remain, technically, our player until a decision is made in their favour and the paperwork is approved by EFL, even though he might be training with Cardiff’s squad? So if decision is made after January… Decision goes our way: he’s stays registered with us. Decision goes against us: it’s too late for his registration to be transferred to CC. It stays with us. Either way, CC can let MM resume back at SW or have him spend 5 months twiddling his thumbs. Surely, they’d rather he played and was paid by us? So would another three weeks of FIFA/EFL procrastination work in our favour?

I disagree with most of the BBC bashing that goes on, but in regard to which matches they show I’m drawn to their charter which I believe has something along the lines of “catering for everyone”, “supporting minorities”. It’s with that in mind that the BBC supported the growth in the likes of snooker, darts, skiing and introduced MOTD. So when it comes to live football they should leave the commercial games to the commercial channels that rely on viewing figures to drive advertising revenue and look elsewhere from the big six and show more of the smaller clubs and potential giant killings instead. On the other hand, perhaps the BBC have had their funding squeezed so much that they too are now reliant on commercial sources (e.g. overseas sales) so have to take the same approach as Sky / ITV.

So his comeback game is v Wednesday at Hillsborough after all.

Leeds aren’t doing so well either. Ha ha!

Chelsea at home. If they lose to City, West Ham.

As a fan, the Arsenal game meant way more than yesterday’s. But as an achievement on the pitch, yesterday was more impressive.

Edit: Ignore that^^^^. Seems it’s four games in addition to what he’s already served.

Assuming he’s already missed two games, he’ll be due a return for their visit to Hillsborough.

Whilst he can’t say no to the recall, can’t he say no to a move to Ipswich (or anywhere else)?

Vaulks was excellent today. His best game for Wednesday so far. Wilks’ best game for Wednesday too, but he was still a bit hit and miss. Very reluctant to take his fullback on despite his pace. Despite the opposition presenting little threat, the defenders were excellent. McGuiness won everything with little fuss, but Palmer and James were a class above. Between those two and Vaulks for MotM. I’ll go with Palmer. And a few pluses towards the end with the substitutions. Hunt looked his best for ages, Dennis getting fitter and minutes for Famewo too. Then a debut for Shipston. Not enough time to shine, but didn’t look out of place.

I realised after posting that my post could be read in two ways. I did mean in the Championship.

It’s not too long ago that Cambridge were on the fringe of the play off places. They didn’t do too badly at Derby the other day. 1-0 to Wednesday. Nervy last 30 minutes Or, They've won 3, drawn 2, in the last 16. They’ve got a few injuries. We were a little bit improved last time out, and that’ll continue. 4-0 to Wednesday. Smith on the scoresheet again, and a few minutes for Famewo and Adeniran.

We will end the year in 8th place about 3-4 points off the play offs looking forward to signing a couple of new centre backs, to bolster an injury ravaged defence, and someone with pace up front.

Ditto And I don’t think my IT skills are up to the required level.

From your post of Nov 14th, “All League fixtures scheduled til the 7th of January … are to count for the FF purposes.”. So have you omitted the games from weekend Nov 19th deliberately? or was that a cup only weekend? I’m losing track a bit. ^^^^see above post^^^^

After a couple of poor performances leading to narrow wins the debate was whether we’d turn it round, get back on track, and start winning a bit more comfortably or whether narrow wins would turn to points dropped. After three draws, it’s a case of will we turn it round to getting wins again or will draws turn into narrow defeats? (The last two games we’re so close to 0-1 losses). I don’t know which way we’re going to go. I think Byers has been missed more than we’d have thought, so hopefully his return will see an improvement in performances and results.

Will this be known as the George Hirst derby?

It’s not just the last three games. We haven’t looked right since the Burton game. And had a last 15 minutes shambles. That’s eight games. Perhaps Southampton wasn’t so bad, but none of the rest have been convincing. Coincidentally(?) Byers’ last appearance was as a second half sub against Burton. We’ve needed a DoF since Chansiri took over and he had his short lived committee. I thought the original plan (as rumoured) was for Carlos as DoF and Cooper or AN Other as head coach.

Am I alone in thinking that some of the pitches look a bit dodgy? Looks like some of the French goal area has been relaid.

I don’t think I’d ever heard of Malik Wilks before we were linked. Unusually for me, I fell for all the hype.

We need a striker with pace, even if that means a slightly less clinical finisher. The player we thought Malik Wilks was going to be.

If I was the Portugal manager, I’d have brought CR7 on with three minutes left not 20.

Ours is better.

This^^^^. Low ranked team at home. Preferably one that’s struggling in their league.