mikec

Ralph, is that you?

Interesting to see that the number of penalties dropped slightly with VAR, in the European leagues at least. I would have assumed the opposite from what happened in the men's and women's World Cups.

You are mixing up 2 games. Rednapp's first match in charge was against Middlesbrough when we threw away a 2-0 lead with just a couple of minutes to go. The Everton match we went 1-0 down (Beattie scoring against us just after his transfer) then we turned it around to 2-1 before Crouch's unfortunate choice to go for a 3rd in the dying seconds. I still have nightmares about it.

Bear in mind that VAR has already been used in the top leagues in Germany and Italy for a season and I don't think those competitions were ruined.

Might not be easy if all 3 are battling for survival.

I seem to remember Jimmy Gabriel being involved in a challenge that left both him and his opponent flat on the ground (at Leeds?) As he was being carried off on a stretcher, the ref informed him he was being sent off (no red cards were waved in those days).

Yes I think the 5-4 at Norwich was the best in a match where we were 3-1 down at one point and defeat would have meant almost certain relegation. After that I would go for the 2 Liverpool games - 3-3 at the Dell when we were 3-0 down with about 20 mins to go, and more recently the 3-2 win against Klopp's side after being 2-0 down and missing a penalty.

I guess this means that Cardiff are down if Brighton beat Newcastle later.

The reason they cannot get it across the line is that all Brexit scenarios - no deal, May's deal, custom union, etc - will leave us worse off than now so understandably, parliament is not prepared to vote for any of them. So yes, Brexit IS the problem.

Those were the odds before tonights game. They are now around 5/2 on Betfair exchange.

The advantage of the trading estate was not so much the fact it was free (although that helped) but it was a lot quicker and easier to get away from there after the game, compared to parking in the city centre. Obviously that depends on where you live.

That's my usual parking place too. Do you know if the PCNs were just issued for a certain area or was it the whole estate? I know that Screwfix try to reserve the bit outside their site for customers (reasonably enough). For anyone who wants to contest it there is some useful information about fighting PCNs at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163. Read the FAQ sticky.

Yes as far as I recall this this the 7th time this season that we've taken a 2-0 lead (Brighton H, Man Utd H, Huddersfield A, Leicester A, Derby A&H and today) and every single time we've put pressure on ourselves by then conceding a goal. At least we still went on to win in the 3 PL games since Ralph took over.

Can we ever go 2-0 up and then not concede a goal?

If you mean "is it legal?" then the answer is no. Or to be more precise, the use of Kodi in itself is ok but the use of IPTV Kodi add-ons to view PL games etc is not legal. As for whether they are dodgy, well according to the comments on here there are some that provide a decent service for the money you pay. Some authorities have claimed that they are often run by criminal gangs and that you are funding these groups by subscribing but I suppose the likes of Sky etc have a vested interest in saying that. I suspect over time they will eventually close down most of these providers or at least make it harder and harder to use them. Ultimately it's up to you if you want to go down this route. If you do, there is plenty of information available on ways to do it.

Yes that's the most memorable one for me as well. It was the season that Dave Merrington was in charge and he turned up for that final game against Wimbledon even though his wife was seriously ill. As I recall it, Coventry, Saints and Man City were level on points for the final relegation spot, we were all playing at home and we all ended up drawing which meant City went down as they had the worst goal difference. Legend has it that someone told Alan Ball (City's manager at the time) that we were losing so he told his players to just play out for the draw when it was 2-2.

I think it was the Skates that rolled over - and we would have been relegated anyway. We should probably thank WBA for the precious 6 points

Yes I wouldn't rule out Stoke getting something at Swansea on the final day. Look at Sunderland's 3-0 win over Wolves yesterday to see what can happen with a relegated team when the pressure is off but they still have pride at stake. Admittedly Wolves had nothing to play for, but it's a straw to grasp at.

They had nothing to play for in the league, but they had an FA Cup final the following week so the hope was they would rest some key players. I remember my heart sinking when I heard the line-up before the game - Rooney, Giggs, Van Nistolroy and so on. I think Fergie really wanted to send us down that day.

I didn't think the atmosphere was too bad either, even though I was on the top tier with loads of empty seats around me but there were quite a few vocal fans up there. The problem at Wembley is that the vocal groups are split all around so it can be hard to get a coordinated chant going other than a few rounds of OWTS. I am not a keen stand up-er but there were some pointless arguments near me between a couple of small groups who wanted to stand and the stewards trying to get them to sit. There were masses of empty rows behind them - and even if someone was sat there, they could easily haved moved seats.

Odds of 11/10 mean that the market still thinks there is a less than 50% chance of us going down. I wish I was that confident.

A Roman walks into a bar and asks for a Martinus. "Don't you mean a Martini?" asks the barman. "If I wanted a double I would have asked for it!" he replied.

FWIW the chances of a quarter-final draw where the "big four" avoid each other are 24/105 - or around 23% - so not that surprising really. (I'm a lot of fun at parties)

You could have saved some typing by writing "only people like me should be allowed to attend games" ?

Well, a repeat of last season's "treble" is still a possibility: - 8th place finish - cup final appearance - manager sacked I suspect only one of those will happen though.