markavfc40

4 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

Watched it all tonight, very good.

Hope you enjoyed the six episodes, my Netflix has seven though

 yes mate you're correct it was seven. In fairness I spouted a load of bollocks in my last post as I'd actually already watched 5 episodes and not 4.

I watched the last two tonight. Like you I thought it was really good.

Fair play to Man Utd they have done us a bit of favour taking a point here. Three points for Bournemouth and they would have been on a high and sniffing around the European places and been more up for our game against them next week.

I think the worry here as got to be Bournemouth catching us. They will be 16 points behind if they hold on here and have us to play still.

2 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

3 goal defeat for Spurs would be nice meaning their game in hand will have resulted in them pushing us back up to 4th

I posted the above more in hope than expectation but fair play to Newcastle they have gone one better.

Looking at the remaining fixtures you'd have to make us slight favourites for 4th now. 

The wankfest over Van Der Ven has come to an abrupt halt. He has been dire today and at fault for all three goals.

I watched 4 episodes of Baby Reindeer on Netflix last night.  A new 6 part mini series based on a true story about a stand up comic who is stalked by a woman he meets in the pub he works at. That doesn't tell the half of it though. It has everything and is funny at times, distressing and sad with some great acting (the man who wrote it plays himself/the lead role).

I'm going to watch the last two episodes later.

3 goal defeat for Spurs would be nice meaning their game in hand will have resulted in them pushing us back up to 4th

I notice in a lot of the predicted line ups on this thread people have McGinn as one of the sitting midfielders with Tielemans further forward. That is not how we have been lining up recently as when Tielemans and McGinn have both started McGinn has pushed up and been been the one closet Watkins and Tielemans has been further back.

I am assuming Lenglet is still out so with Cash also out the only decision at the back is Digne or Moreno and given it is Saka they will be up against I'd go with Digne. 

If we go as strong as we can and really go for it then we'll probably go:

……………...….Martinez…………………..

Konsa…..Carlos……Torres…..Digne

……….......Tielemans…..Tim………....

Bailey….…......McGinn.................Rogers

………………..…..Watkins…….……………..

I wouldn't be at all surprised though to see either a back 5 with KKH getting a start or us going completely the other way and the back 4 above, McGinn and Tielemans sitting and Rogers and Bailey wide and a front two of Watkins and either Diaby/Duran.

However we go this is going to be tough. I think I'd rather see us have a real go though, whilst acknowledging the risk of a heavy defeat, as we don't have it in us to grind out a low scoring draw or a 1-0 with a breakaway. 

I don't know if this is the right thread for it but I noticed when I looked across from the Holte last night that every box in the Witton Lane stand was empty. I know the club are apparently very much focused on increasing revenue from this side of things but they have a long way to go if they can't sell out these existing areas for a European quarter final.

I wouldn't rule Liverpool out of getting to the semis yet. If Atalanta can go to Anfield and get a 3-0 win I am sure Liverpool on their day can go over there and do similar. An earlyish goal for Liverpool next week and it is game on. 

I think what the results have shown in all three European competitions this week is that at this stage there are no easy games. Only two ties have more than one goal in them and that is Liverpools and West Hams so pretty much every tie is in the balance and could go either way so trying to predict how things will look this time next week is in fairness a waste of time. 

I also think what results have shown over the week is that getting a win at this stage isn't easy which makes our result last night even more impressive. 

I think given how the game went 2-1 is a good result. On another day Lille could have won that by a couple of goals had they been more clinical and Emi had not put in such a good performance. 

I think hopefully we'd have learned a lot about them from tonight and I'd like to think we'll be better next week. If we're not it is going to be really tough. Unai is a master in Europe though so that is a huge plus we should never over look and he'll have vast experience of managing a 1 goal advantage in a second leg away from home. 

Just as an aside I thought the ref was dire. How we have ended that game with 3 bookings and Lille none is shocking as they made worse tackles than either Dougie or Tielemans did for their bookings. 

I thought the atmosphere was really good although did go flat after they scored. 

17 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I reckon I know exactly what it was.

The protest group against Lerner had put together a load of A4 signs that I believe were to be shown on the 74th minute. They had previously done “Out the door on 74” with people leaving the game and this was a variant of that. A visual representation of discontent for people who wanted to express ill feeling towards the owner but who also (inexplicably) wanted to endure the game.

I was handing out signs that day, I met @markavfc40 (whom I believe was chief organiser that day), @HanoiVillan and @Hev. 

Crikey mate nearly 8 years ago. So much has happened since then at the club and I am sure neither of us have aged a bit  

Saka just can't help himself can he the diving/cheating bastard. He could have stayed on his feet and scored yet chose to initiate contact.

41 minutes ago, TRO said:

 

We have conceded 49 goals this season in the league....3 more than last season with 6 games to go....surrendering leads, even when we have won, is a concern, and it questions the very notion, that we are convincing.

 

We've also scored 15 more goals than we did in the whole of last season with 6 games still to go. It suggests that perhaps we are a little more attacking leaving us a little more vulnerable defensively, or given the defensive injuries we have had that we have suffered in that regard whereas our forward players have in the main stayed relatively fit. 

The above doesn't excuse individual or collective errors within games but it possibly goes some way to explaining the bigger picture. 

In an ideal world I'd love us to score tons of goals and rarely concede but given the option of being tight defensively and winning games 1-0 or being a bit more adventurous/open and seeing 3/4/5/6 goals a game and coming out on top more often than not I'll take the latter every day of the week. 

Last two posts by @briny_earand @Sulberto21 have been excellent. Some of us need to give our heads a wobble and put where we are into the perspective of who are competing against, where we were just 18 months ago and how far we have come in the last 5 years. It is remarkable what we are doing at present and what we are on the verge of potentially achieving this season.

Do we have issues? of course we do but I feel they are blown out of all proportion. As mentioned in the previous post apparently we have an issue with throwing away two nil leads yet it has only happened twice this season and only one of those resulted in a loss. Also some seem to think we have a poor defensive record yet we have the joint 7th best defensive record in the league all whilst being without Mings for the whole season, Torres for 2 months, Moreno for 3 months, our best defensive midfielder since January and also decent spells missing Konsa, Digne, Cash and Carlos. On the flip side though and what rarely gets mentioned is that we are the 4th highest scorers in the division. 

Regardless of what happens from here on in this season will have already exceeded my expectations and should have exceeded any supporters realistic ambitions. With a fully fit squad I'd have hoped to be competing for a top 6-7 finish (and Europa league place) coupled with a decent cup run. With the horrific luck with injuries we have had though we should probably be lingering in mid table. 

16 minutes ago, PaulC said:

5th Is great.  After a season where we have had so many injuries to key players it will be remarkable really. Real progress. 

Well said mate. I said to someone at the game yesterday if you'd have said to me at the start of the season that Mings and Buendia would miss the whole season, Ramsey over half of it, Kamara a third of it, Moreno 3 months, Torres the best part of 2 months and we'd also be without Digne, Tielemans, Konsa, Carlos, Cash all for a decent number of games then I'd have expected at this stage we'd be lingering around mid table. 

Just because the mainstream media choose to ignore it we as fans should not turn a blind eye to the fact we have had horrendous luck with injuries that renders our current position remarkable, more so when you consider we have also found our way into the Conference League quarter finals. 

Sky are still referencing how far outside the Champions league places Man Utd are  absolute madness.

I have only seen it at the game looking from the Hotle but it seemed a harsh booking in the context of a game where the referee let quite a lot go and wasn't overly keen to get his card out. Regardless of whether it was deserved or not though these things happen in the heat of battle especially when we were desperate to regain possession and try to right the wrongs of throwing away a winning position.

Trying to put a positive slant on it he'll be fresh for the away leg in Lille and our run in. 

Gutted for him and us. 

Fit and firing he would be one of the first 3 or 4 names on the team sheet for me. He is our best ball carrier and we have really missed him down that left hand side. We have also seen that Moreno looks nothing like the same player without Ramsey to combine with. 

Hopefully he'll be back as good as ever come the start of next season.

United are not catching us, I'd put my house on it. They are as good as 12 points behind with goal difference. I'd even go as far to say they won't take 12 points in their remaining games.

Remarkable that it is the first week in April and we are pretty much nailed on for top 5. Let's finish the season in style and get 4th though.

Yes get in!!!! 

2-0 down now.

3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

If we beat Brentford at the weekend, it might not be the worst time for him to pick up that two game suspension. With McGinn back he'd miss an Arsenal game which is going to be very difficult anyway and a Bournemouth game where we'd be able to field McGinn, Tielemans, Ramsey and Rogers (or maybe Iroegbunam).

He only needs to get through the Brentford game without getting booked and that is then the 32 game cut off for 10 yellows resulting in a 2 game suspension. After Saturday he'd then have to get to 15 yellow cards before end of the season before receiving a suspension. 

I think a loss for Utd tonight at Chelsea pretty much sees their slim hopes of catching us or Tottenham disappear. Fortunately Chelsea still have plenty to play for/incentive tonight as they are only 5 points off 7th with 3 games in hand and if they beat Utd they'd only be 5 points off them/6th with a game in hand.