owl71

Finally we test their keeper…after 69 minutes. Grim.

Having possession without really doing anything isn’t pointless though. It stops the opposition from having the ball, which means they can’t build pressure, and the defence gets a breather. Yes obviously it is better to have the ball and do something with it. But first things first.

Yes it is good that Xisco is thinking these things over…well it’s what you’d expect anyway. We can’t afford to keep having 28% of possession against mediocre opposition, or we will be in big trouble. It’s actually somewhat encouraging that we managed to score twice while having 28% possession. But the first priority is get some control in games.

The way the keeper goes the wrong way…but still has time to get up and save it with his second dive. 🤣

It sounded fairly shit, but let’s be honest, Championship sides fielding B teams full of guys who’ve just been introduced, do have a tendency to get beat in the early rounds of the League Cup by lower league opposition. We showed some spirit and went through.

👍

A little bit of Patterson in my life A little bit of Rhys James by my side etc

Rarely have I come away from a home defeat as reasonably happy as tonight. We showed enough second half to suggest we’ll be well clear of a relegation battle. The little bit I’ve seen of Xisco’s signings, they look an improvement on what we had. The way Southampton played, particularly in the first half, was a million miles away from the kind of shite we were up against most of last season. We got closer out of possession second half and rattled them a bit. Really liked what I saw of Delgado, an intelligent, lively player.

I do hope Bambo gets number 5…

Totally dominant performance. Too clever, too many angles, too much variety.

Crawford v Spence tonight. Basically anything could happen. I’ll pick Crawford, but not with any certainty.

This current wave of liberalisation in Saudi Arabia is probably a good thing taken in isolation. It’s better that they spend their oil money on sports washing than on promoting global jihad. The minor drawback is that it’s all happening on the whims of a 37 year old Crown Prince, who’s had lots of his own uncles and cousins locked up in the past, and who was made Prime Minister by his dad earlier this year. How widely the population of the country support what he’s doing is anyone’s guess. Given the past history of the country, some massive Salafist backlash and armed rebellion can’t be completely impossible. There would be a certain irony if some of these greedy fuckers end up being paraded before the cameras in orange jump suits.

Not looking like nailed on relegation candidates so far. Maybe the hard training in hot weather did actually work?

“Yes I did say set piece specialist. What’s so funny?”

One newspaper now reporting it, so suppose it is true. Bloody hell, Tricky Trev and Bartman on the same day. RIP.

Not confirmed anywhere other than twitter, and the story is over an hour old. Terrible news if true, but there is a chance it’s not.

RIP.

He was welcoming Delgado to Hillsborough three hours ago. Must’ve changed his mind and come back.

That’s decent, albeit a bit of a Boca Juniors rip off.

West Brom. His dad’s old team.

Was that Bakinson who headed about 12 yards over the bar when it looked easier to get it on target? Anyway proper pre-season game that. 0-0 draw in baking heat against some random European team. Good workout and no injuries.

On top in the second half. Their keeper just pulled off a decent save from a Gregory shot after a cross from the right.

Xisco did say they’d look knackered tonight because of the amount of training they’ve been doing last couple of days. Right so far …

He’s making all the right noises so far.

Silly season sound and fury, signifying nothing. Darren Moore does not have a Championship promotion on his CV, Xisco Munoz does. Presumably whatever money Munoz is on is less than Moore wanted, which kind of makes it a no brainer (and I don’t mean Carlton). Let the bloke get down to work and let’s all form a view in 2-3 months time.