Silas

Behind a paywall. Can anyone with access copy and paste please.

Looking at the goals after 90th minute league table again: 22 West Brom 28 0 24 4 0:4 -4 24 23 Sheff Wed 27 0 23 4 0:4 -4 23 24 Blackburn 27 0 21 6 0:6 -6 21 3 teams there that have conceded 14 goals in total in that small period, and not scored a single one. Feels like bad luck when it happens, then I look at the 10 game form table: 22 West Brom 11 3 0 8 14:23 -9 9 23 Blackburn 10 1 5 4 8:14 -6 8 24 Sheff Wed 10 0 3 7 6:21 -15 3 Oh look, same 3 teams dropping like stones, hurtling towards the trap door. Not bad luck is it. It's just being rank bad at all facets of the game- ball retention, game management, set pieces, general defending etc.

Feels like your telling me I should watch the Manchester derby instead.

This commentator is ripping us to shreds every 2 mins. Not much he's saying I can argue with.

If he properly controlled one of the two attempts he could have made the ref irrelevant.

The state of that tray. Was there an earthquake whilst walking from the bar?

I swear there's a sentence in there somewhere if I rearrange the words.

And within 4 pts of both Burnley and Sunderland with a game in hand. Both in the Prem now. Imagine if we'd just spent even a sensible, modest amount on transfers each of those Januarys we were in similar positions. The opportunity has been there multiple times. Everytime we've sat on our hands. Come 2026 when that spend is needed to retain our 2nd tier position, will we react. Yep, we'll probably sell a couple.

2 weeks before Xmas feels like a hell of a time to discover I'm not real. Then again, if I don't exist, then Venky's don't exist too right. Every cloud.

Looked up some stats for my own sanity, and our record on 90+ minute goals = 19/20- 1 goal 20/21- 0 goals 22/23 – 5 goals 23/24 – 4 goals 24/25 – 3 goals 25/26 - 6 goals (after 18 games) So, we went from being the best in the league in those first 2 seasons, to being about average/mid-table in the next 3, to being by far the worst this season. (Next teams have 3 goals this year) Some of the 90+ minute Top of the Pops over those years: 19/20- Sheff Wed = 10 goals (not relegated) 19/20- Charlton = 8 goals (relegated) 21/22- Bristol City = 9 goals (not relegated) 21/22- Peterborough = 8 goals (relegated) 23/24- Huddersfield = 10 goals (relegated) 24/25- Sheff Wed = 7 goals (not relegated) So my definitely not scientific conclusion is that if you end up top of that particular stat, there's a 50/50 chance that relegation is on the cards.

Tbf, he preached that mantra, but then did have a tendency to make lots of excuses. Here he is bemoaning a penalty decision, playing 3 games in a week, and only having 48hrs to prep for a game, all in one interview. And talking about being away, if I want to nitpick. All excuses if you think about it. If you're good enough, all those things shouldn't matter. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/october/26/eustace-frustrated-by--terrible--penalty-decision/ His actions didn't always match his proclamations.

Heading the ball fairly

Great by Todd and Andri. De Neve, do not fuck this up!!

Would snatch hand off for a point now. Probably what we would have got from 1st match anyway. See Saturday as an example. 10 man Ipswich probs on a par with 11 man Wrexham. 90+ min equaliser was likely on the cards in the monsoon.