derry

And Windmill Walker.

First team approximately that I watched, Christie, Wilkins Traynor McLaughlin Parker Elliott Flood Reeves Day Mulgrew Hoskins. Also McGowan Ellerington Page Kiernan that season.

On Saturday everybody but Dean and Mason thought it was a penalty. The linesman who unless he had five minutes and loads of cameras would not have been able to see that Ings's equaliser was arguably offside but immediately waved his flag. Against MU Dean gave a penalty, reviewed and disallowed. Adams goal again disallowed with not even marginal evidence of offside. Bednarek's sending off for a forwards dive overturned even though it had to be a sending off if Martial impeded. It was obvious he went down looking for the penalty and hung out his right leg to contact Bednarek. It will be' but it shouldn't be left there. Either the officials are grossly incompetent and should be removed or alternatively there is something happening that needs investigation.

We are too slow to pass the ball forward when the central defence just slows everything down and aimlessly retains possession usually resulting in McCarthy kicking anywhere. Bednarek is bad but Stephens is worse. Build from the back but don't just retain the ball setting up the opposition with the ideal circumstances to win the ball back. It's happening far too often and we are not opening up teams because they are being given time to get back in numbers. Stephens is a hopeless centre back because he is a constant ball watcher focussing on the ball picking up nobody and rarely checking behind him. There are countless goals we have conceded because of this. The latest yesterday from the time Targett put in Grealish he never once checked behind him. Barkley consequently was unchallenged although he had been behind him for a while. He is often late with challenges again through being caught out. It's not a new fault but patently it is not being addressed. Part of the problem is his body positioning or rather lack of it. Focussing on the ball rather than on his positioning and ability to see the threat behind him by turning more sideways on enabling him to see both the ball and the threat.

It turned out his contact that caused the isolation was twice retested due to a suspected false positive and both tests negative RH tested negative. No apparent problem.

We were much more incisive with Armstrong mostly playing on the right. If Walcott isn't going to play up front, (I'd be interested how he would play with Ings), maybe he should play on the left and let Armstrong revert to mainly right side. Adams needs to wake up, in the last two matches he has been marginally offside when crossing for Walcott and Ings goals to be ruled out. The crosses were spot on but wasted by a lack of awareness. He could see across the backline so no excuse. It may have cost us four points.

Armstrong was an idiot, he'd won the ball and no passing options, so put it up into the back of the stand. Game then has to reset. Losing the ball was critical in the match and immediately led to a goal. Possession is great but not when it overcomes common sense. Any danger and no help forget possession immediately it's safety first and foremost. Grealish is a disgrace indulged by referees as he looks to go down with almost no excuse. I think its about time players realised he is going to get a foul so give him the foul but leave something for him to be wary of next time. the penalty was a con. I've looked at it so many times, he stabs the ball forward then makes no attempt to run and just immediately dives forward. The key is his other leg made no movement to continue running after stabbing the ball forward it stayed behind not moving as his torso dived. Gallagher did his usual, agree with the referee. Grealish is the biggest con man in football at the moment. Referees are conned time after time as players lean in and fall over.

Once the greedy six get their hands on power we can expect the TV money etc to be re-divided. Bigger share for the top six less for the rest. Leading to even less money available fund the remaining clubs and the top six able to steal more players for less money. Thanks but no thanks. Weve been warned about scams during Covid and this is the biggest one Ive ever seen. Ponzi based in Liverpool and Manchester.

Leaving my disquiet about his ability to close down effectively to one side. Provided he still has pace he could be a real counter attacking asset. I think he comes in the same sentence as either Redmond or Djenepo as I think Armstrong is a vital player for us. He could also offer us an alternative up front, I regretfully can't help thinking what might have been for him. I personally think he made the wrong choice. Wenger's Arsenal where ball possession and overlapping full backs was the style with closing down ten yards away the norm. I often watched Walcott bemused moving inside as his slower full back made runs into the very space he should have been racing into, I felt Alex Ferguson's MU would have been a better place to go and have his lightning pace used into the space behind defenders, I remember his great game for England playing wide, tearing I think Croatia to ribbons without an overlapping full back. He always seemed to play the way he was required and only rarely had the opportunity to use his pace. I think there was a great player in there wanting to get out but submitting to the multipass regime. I wish him the best and hope that we use him in a way that suits his abilities.

I did see somewhere today proposal for a swop for Jack Butland. Possible, logical but likely I don't know.

If we are going to play a high press then walcott is a luxury we don't need. He has no idea how to close down or press. He didn't bother in his last match and left his defence in the lurch. My onclusion is he likes to attack but defence is for the less talented. I won't lose any sleep if this doesn't happen much as I liked him in 2005.

That was a bit of historical deja-vu. Pochetinno had a good start with his high press and we were going well. Then Villa turned up and put Benteke up front hitting balls up and over the top so we conceded and lost easily. Its no good having weak players (Smallbone) in a pressing game. It was a gift to Spurs pushing both full backs upfield and two slow square dithering center backs without the wit to realise they had to get goal side of Son if he stayed onside. Even the equaliser in the 48th minute was a clusterfuck. We knew there were only seconds left how incompetent can you get then repeat it all the second half . More than one person needs a kick up the backside.

The last two games were unadulterated dross. 71% possession at Palace, 66% possession against Brentford. Probably half of that was the back five and a fair bit more from the two midfielders. Nearly every time our possession goes over 50% it almost always represents lots of backwards and sideways in our own half. The only thing that achieves is the time it allows our opponents to get goal side and stifle us. Our biggest problem is allowing the goalkeeper to get involved and recycle more of the same, The forwards need quick ball so stop the defenders and midfielders from just aimlessly passing it around because eventually we'll lose the ball as for Palace's goal. The marking for Brentford's first goal was atrocious and nobody attacked the ball. The second goal was a shambles everybody out of position, no shape and the scorer unmarked. Our best results have come from high tempo quick attacking with early passing up to the forwards. Armstrong is a big miss at the moment. Leaving Djenepo on the bench was rediculous whilst playing Smallbone out of position and Tella. We need to get back to our High tempo and stop exposing our pedestrian centre backs. They looked awful in the last two games. Redmond has to stop checking out and passing backwards, Its a complete mess at the moment.

We are the 19th worst home team in the league whilst being the 5th best away team. It doesnt need a genius to work out why, away, the players move the ball forward quickly, at home the back six even if they are going forward don't pass forward but almost always stop and pass back. The slow play allows the opponents to get their whole team goal side and crowd out the forwards. Away we attack quickly in numbers and often cut defences open, at home we don't. The changes haven't helped and have only accentuated our abysmal football at home whilst playing the same negative go nowhere possession at the back we've played all season.

A very good performance, much more positive from the back four and central midfield when in possession, A lot less of the aimless passing that gets us into trouble. The emphasis was in making forward passes and runs. Vestergaard had a good game but I noticed especially when the cross came in for the own goal he tends to ball watch and not move. He should have been moveing to cut out Welbeck as Bednarek went for the ball but he didn't move. It didn't make any difference in the event but it is a major weakness and would be fatal against City etc. We had 53% possession which was unusual in a good away win but I think that was more to do with Watford going long most of the second half reducing their pass count. It was a very good team performance. KWP, Romeu, Smallbone played well, Armstrong lifted us when we needed it. Adams looked a decent player with a lot more to his play than the one dimensional Obafemi. To turn it around at home the defenders and central midfielders just need to cut out the disasterous keep ball and play on the front foot and like yesterday move the ball up to the attackers quickly. That in itself would be a game changer. KWP gives us a positive balance to Bertrand and Romeu / JWP played well together. I didn't miss PEH one bit.

Above is the reason we are winning so few games at SMS. It's the whole season we are talking about. The worst set of statistics of any team at home in the Premier League and you are trying to justify it. Ralph is talking about us playing too slow at home The conditions on Thursday are an excuse set against the previous seven months of dire performances with the same slow pattern time after time. Thursday was no different. The attacking players are making the same runs home and away. At home the defence is ignoring them, away the ball is moved quickly forward and the midfield links with the front. We were better in the second half but the damage was done. We should be looking to get the ball quickly to Redmond, Armstrong, Ings and Long supported by a full back and at least one central midfielder. The defence and midfield two seem to think slow one dimensional sideways and backwards often ending with McCarthy hitting a poor clearance under increasing pressure is copying the top possession teams which is nothing like it and nonsense. As for Liverpool they probably play more long balls cross field to runners and up to the strikers none of whom are tall. They use the balls manoeuvering at the back to set up for the long pass or open up a couple of runners wide from deep. All the defence does at home is pass it sideways and backwards aimlessly, eventually getting into trouble or making desperate clearances to nobody, either putting the ball out of play or giving possession away anyway. I'd prefer us to play high tempo passing and movement, I don't want to see us playing Kamikaze passing at the back. If that's all that is on offer I'll take the big up and under out of our defence any day of the week which won't end up with Valery, McCarthy etc giving away stupid goals. The total passes are the possession statistics. We get some of our best results with possession in the forties or lower. against Arsenal we had 52%. Most of our poorer results have higher possession figures. For me the amount of wasted passing around at the back inflating the possession percentage.

Firstly the players have to recognise their limitations. McCarthy isn't a competent passing keeper. His control is ponderous and it is better not to expose him. Far better he belts it long than gets caught like last night. He also had a close call against Norwich. We are aimless with our possession at the back unlike top sides who are moving and manoeuvering the opposition. We on the other hand just get into trouble as the opposition know this and close us down.. Away we are a different team altogether. At home our tempo is too slow as we try and keep possession. we are just not good enough. Secondly I didn't advocate lumping the ball except to clear dangerous situations, I want to see the ball passed forward quickly to the forwards with high tempo movement. Until we stop playing the way we do at SMS we are not going to start winning regularly at home. The dire results speak for themselves.

That was self inflicted. It's been obvious all season what has been wrong at home. The opposition back off goal side, the midfield and defence play five yard slow tippy tappy, get closed down and McCarthy thinks he's a footballer. The solution play early balls forward, don't pass back to McCarthy. If he does get the ball just smash it downfield. Bednarek and Hojbjerg were just as much at fault for the first goal. Hojbjerg dropped Stephens in it with his rediculous ball and got him sent off which then led to the second. Hojbjerg is just deluded if he thinks he can play for a top team. He is not a good footballer, a poor reader of the game together with poor judgement and poor passing isn't really the answer for us let alone a top team. I was surprised Valery played since he was the worst player on the field against Norwich. I thought Long should have started. KWP wasn't too bad when he came on and we looked better with Long. We have to stop the poor man's impression of Man City at home which has led to the worst home record in the division. We have to force the pace at home, we have decent forwards so get the ball up to them quickly. Saints reminded me tonight why it's not worth paying to watch at SMS until they change the way they play.

I found it interesting, especially as all the ex players had very successful careers, mostly with big clubs and were internationals. Nearly all of them were probably obese in BMI terms. Not all footballers are like that. I knew, Ian White and Ron Davies well, Hughie Fisher quite well and had a passing acquaintance with George O'Brien and Brian O'Neill amongst others. They were all fit for their ages and probably weighed pretty much the same as their playing days. The one horriffic thing for me was Neil Ruddock's total inability to grasp his predicament and show any willingness to address it. I seem to remember he was hopeless in that respect in the last series.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Cambridge University statistician, mentioned some interesting statistics this morning. Of 10m under 15s only 2 have died of Covid 19. Of 17m under 25s 26 have died of Covid 19. Elsewhere I see that for under 40s less than 1 per cent of the total registered deaths from Covid 19. That really loads the death total onto the retired population especially with one or more additional underlying ilnesses and the BAME population due to unknown at the moment reasons for their vulnerability. The above with social distancing and a common sense approach from everybody regarding symptoms would seem a good reason to get the country back to work as soon as possible. Obviously more and better testing is essential together with being able to track and trace any hot spots and close them down quickly in isolation rather than one size fits all England lock down.

Jenrick on Marr's show, a problem in it looks like PHE labs.

Which facts don't you like, 18.1m passengers between Jan 1st and Mar 23rd. Of those only 273 were quarantined. From Wuhan rescue flights, Jan 31st 83, Feb 2nd 11, Feb 9th 147, a further 32 came in from Tokyo. The Swedish modeling was widely reported. 40000 by May 1st in fact 2941 by May 6th, with 100000 by June. The next model was median mortality 96000 ie between 52000 and 183000 by the end of June, We'll see what the result is then. The testing only increased significantly after PHE built additional labs, brought in private and university testing facilities and employed the army manning mobile and fixed testing. As for Lallana he addressed all the criticisms I was making starting with for the first time good tracking back against Norwich that season. He then improved immensely after that. His talent was obvious but his application and work ethic was lacking in defensive duties previously. He turned into a fine player.

Ferguson's model forecast 40000 deaths in Sweden BY May 1st in fact less than 3000 at the end of the first week in May. Patently the modelling was faulty there. The next check point is 96000 by the end of June. Probably allowing 18m people into the UK by air in the first three months of the year, with a high proportion coming from countries hit by the virus had a major effect and with no health checks or quarantine had a major impact on the spreading. As for the testing, Public Health England trying to maintain exclusive testing in their own laboratories, without calling in outside help and insisting on using one type of machine caused the low numbers tested. It was only when outside Laboratories were brought in that the testing improved. The Germans used outside testing from day one.

Plus 18m coming through the airports Jan to Mar. Bloody mad. At the most it should have only been returning UK citizens not 120000 Chinese students etc.

The Swedish scientist adviser rubbished the UK response. Apparently the Swedish character has helped with social distancing without trashing the economy. As we didn't continue the social distancing we'll never know but I feel it wouldn't be much different if the social distancing was strictly enforced. Londoners filling pubs that weekend didn't help.