useless

He's only played about three and half worth of games for us in total since he joined the club, and most of that has come in dribs and drabs, he's not going to look like world beater, or Champions League quality player in that small amount of game time, no young players do unless they're extreme outliers, in general if they get a run of games and don't look out of place then that's a promising sign by itself. It would be wrong to presume just because he isn't being used much Emery doesn't rate him, could just be that he doesn't think he's ready, or that he thinks it's too much of a risk to play a youngster as a DM in the situation we're in with so much at stake, also have to remember he missed pre-season, and was hardly fit for the first half of the season, all that said I think there's a chance he could be sold with buy back in the summer, but don't be surprised if has a Philogene type season next season and people are asking for us to resign him, because he will no doubt do well at Championship level if used right and in a half decent team The key really for whoever he's playing for is to give him a role where he has license to get forward, I watched him for QPR a lot and he was unquestionably much much better when they played him as a box-to-box midfielder, ask him to play purely as a DM and you're restricting some of his best qualities If he has a problem as it stands it's probably in both final thirds, defensively and attacking, defensively he can be prone to giving away cheap free-kicks, his passing in general is good, but can also have the odd lapse in concentration and end up giving the ball away cheap, which again is a big problem in the defensive third, and then at the other end he's not going to score a lot of goals or get many assists, although I'm sure he can improve both, a lot of his good play for QPR was carrying the ball forward and then giving it to someone else to something with it, he's a pretty good forward passer too

If Martinez was on the pitch Gallagher wouldn't have even had the chance to score that goal, because the chance wouldn't have arrived, the game would have followed a completely different trajectory, as Martinez would made completey different passes to those which Olsen made and from that the game would have followed a different course. We still might have lost the lead, but if had have done with Martinez on the pitch it would have happened in a different way

The better news regarding Norwich's position in the away league table is that much of it's down to poor form in the first half of the season, in 2024 the only teams to have beat them on their travels have been Middlesbrough, Leicester, and Leeds, and in the Middlesbrough game Middlesbrough were down to ten men for the last sixty minutes.

Norwich have to go for the win, they can't afford to take anything for granted, all it would take is for them to take it easy, get beat by three goals, and Hull to thrash Plymouth by five and they would fall out of the play-off places, or for them to lose by four and Hull to win by four. Three or four season's back Nottingham Forest were in a similar position, lost big on the last day and ended up missing out on the play-offs on goal difference when they had looked guaranteed to finish top six. These beat Coventry 3-0 recently, they're actually not that bad at home, and as it happens Norwich are very poor away from home for a team in the top six, only Huddersfield, Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, small heath, and Rotherham have worse away recods this season, so they wlll know that they will have to put in a good performance to make sure

I've said it a gazillion times but he's not a specialist DM, previous to him being asked to play there for us recently, he had only ever played as a DM when he had another specialist beside him, this was true of his time at West Brom, our U21s, and at QPR. His best qualities are his ability to drive forward with the ball and his passing, if he's sold in the summer and the buying team has any sense they will play him as a box-to-box midfielder and he will do well, very well, if we've got any sense we will insist on a buyback clause I watched him recently for England U20s and he did play as a DM in that game - England age group teams often play non DMs in the DM position, I've seen them play both Aaron Ramsey ad Jimoh-Aloba there - and he wasn't great in that game... except when he got forward, in those moments he was very good

We've got one of our biggest games in recent history coming up in the week, our first European Semi-Final since 1982, I'm surprised it's being talked about so little

Would have been okay with a point beforehand, we had three brilliant wins previously in quick succession and not easy to keep that up, plus there was always going to be a reaction from Chelsea after what happened to them against Arsenal, I think they've only lost one in ten, so they've been good at grinding out results. We're seven points ahead of Spurs, so they've still got to win all three games in hand to go above us, if Arsenal can beat them tomorrow then today's point will be looking even better

Norwich can't rest their entire team on the last day, rules were introduced after Huddersfield did it, to stop it happening again. Besides Norwich have a much stronger squad than Huddersfield had, so them resting a few shouldn't make much of a difference, the players that come in will be decent, and will be wanting to force their way into the starting eleven for the play-offs

And now Wednesday have a second goal

Huddersfield equalize

I think West Brom will probably beat Wednesday, but also Albion don't have a great away record, and I think it has got worse of late, so that one might be closer than might be expected. The thing working against Wednesday is that West Brom stll need another win to confirm their play-off place, so they will make it difficult

Ipswich could be promoted before they play Huddersfield on the last day if they win their next two

The Cross and the Axe (Bogdan Dziworski) Elegiac documentary about Krzyżtopór Castle in the village of Ujazd, southern Poland. Built between ca. 1627 and 1644 by Krzysztof Ossoliński, it was occupied until 1770 when it was destroyed by the Russian army during the military actions against the army of the Bar Confederation. Nowadays, the castle is classified as a permanent ruin. The film is a powerful meditation on vanity and historical decline whose ghosts inhabit the ancient ruins. Modern times are really ridiculous compared to the magnificence of the destroyed fortress. Very great, visually stunning, and good soundtrack which I think is some sort folk choral thing, and sound design is good too, I didn't even know what it was about as I watching, I just knew people rave about Bogdan Dziworski documentaries as being hidden gems, and this was definitely good, some of the cinematography was like watching Tarkovsky film or something, this one about Ice Hockey from the same director also looks interesting

Young is a box of tricks type winger similar to Philogene, I think he has a lot more to his game as a winger than just going past players with his pace, but when he's playing on the right hand side that's his main asset, and since he came from injury I've noticed his crossing has improved a lot, so I think he's going on he outside a lot to take advantage of that, when he's on the left he cuts inside and his play is more about linking up with others around him, I actually think he's improved a lot since his injury, previously he was obviously very talented, but seemed like he was waiting for the game to come to him rather than taking control of it himself, but now gets a lot more involved, I actually wouldn't be surprised to see him back on the first team bench before the end of the season Jimoh-Aloba has some very good games, and even in games where he's not as good he has some moments of technical brilliance, kind of how Kadan Young was last season, which I think is normal for a player his age, Kellyman was similar last season as well Good to see Broggio back as well, another top young attacking prospect, actually came into the U21s before Borland and Jimoh as a first year scholar, but has been injured since Decemeber

Unless Leeds turn this around I think they've pretty much handed automatic promotion to Ipswich, they Ipswich will only need four points from their final three games if it stays like this. QPR had nothing to play for, so was expecting a routine Leeds win

I thought t was quite an untidy performance from us for a lot of the game, we weren't playing our usual passing game, as in the players not linking up as well with each other as they usually do, too many telegraphed passes that could have been decisive, final ball was often flat, all three goals were poor to give away, although maybe Swinkels one was just one of those unfortunate things, can happen to anyone, referee didn't help either as seemed one of those that thinks every time a player falls over it's a foul, so game didn't have much flow to it, and it was them taking more advantage of that than us, all that said we also had enough chances to win the game, and probably should have had it won before we went down to men I don't think playing Wilson as a second striker is helping our performances, he's not able to drop deep and help the midfled in terms of linking up with them and help us keep the ball better in those areas like Jimoh-Aloba, or Kellyman do when they have that role, as they're more specialist tens/attacking midfielders, with Wilson as the number ten it becomes more like a traditional 442, I presume he's being played there to try and develop his game further than being more than just a goal scorer

Olise is already top four level, we'd be lucky to get him, will probably end up at Manchester City or PSG. He will beyond a shadow of doubt move to a Champions League side, the only possible exceptions are Newcastle or Chelsea if either one throws big money at the situation, his younger brother is in Chelsea academy, but wih Palmer, Hutchinson, and Madueke, not sure they need him, then again could say the same about us with Bailey and Diaby, Eze would probably more suit our needs but again, but would be very strong competition for his signature.

Birmingham Senior Cup Final has been confirmed as being played at Villa Park, on Wednesday, May 15th, kick-off 7.30pm.

No one is getting Archer for as little as £4m, he will be £10m with add-ons at least, put him in the Championship and he's pretty much a guarantee of goals, clubs are desperate for promotion, so will pay a decent fee because his goals could be the difference. If there are any Championship players we're interested in then maybe he could be used as part of a deal, Hayden Hackney has been mentioned for example, he's rated around £20m, we could probably get him for around £12m if MIddlesbough were willing to take Archer as part of the deal, of course I've no idea if we're interested in Hackney, that's just an example Ollie Arblaster is another we've been linked with who we could perhaps use Archer to get, although they're desperate to keep him, and being young and a Sheffield United fan, maybe he will stay there a while longer

The Archer buyback is £9m according to recent reports in Sheffield, and their CEO has more or less confirmed those reports and that it's a done deal that he's returning. They paid £9m for him in the first place, with another £9m owed if they survive, but that's obviously not going to happen, so we have to reimburse them for the initilal fee and it essentially been like a loan deal.

Archer, if we want to sell him, we should make a decent profit on, when you look closely at it his stats for Sheffield United they aren't actually that bad, and also bearing in mind the team he's playing for, most Sheffield United fans seem to rate and like him too, so I don't think he's done any serious damage to his reputation, a Championship team with money I think would pay a good price for him, as guarantees goals, and could be the difference between promotion or not, he could even attract interest from one of the newly promoted teams, as again put him in a better team than Sheffield United have been, and you will see a better return from him Maybe we won't get the £18m we would have got in total had Sheffield United surived, but I think we could get £10m plus with add-ons, maybe closer to £15m with add-ons, and that will essentially be all profit, being as though in buying him back, we're only giving Sheffield United back the money they paid for him in the first place, so his move to them was basically a loan deal. Of course we may want to keep him I don't know

We've messed up in a major way if we haven't got an option to buy Philogene back regardless of which division Hull are in, he could potentially have been an option for us, but if not he's someone we could have brought back just to sell on for a big profit There was talk of Palace being interested for example, so if we were interested in Eze and Olise could have been used in a deal for one of those, but again he's on the right trajectory to be a very good player in his own right, so would be a good option for us, maybe as Zaniolo replacemet It doesn't really make sense that we wouldn't have a buyback, Emery kept going on about the club wanting to have control over his future, well we don't have much control over his future if it's dependant on them getting promoted, something that was always a long-shot, and even if we didn't think him likely to be good eough for us, he was still always likely to progress to the point where he was worth more than what we sold him for, which was cheap to begin with, and again would have thought the only reason they got him for such a low price is because of a buyback, and not one with a strange condition such as them having to be in the same division as us, but Hull chairman has recently reiterated that that's the case and stated it more explicitly than when his vice chairman had previously spoken about the subject, but surely there has to be more to it, some information being left out