Badger

Have wondered if the appointment of Tonda, who Spors had brought to the club, and is said to have wanted his appointment, shows a bit of shift or endorsement of his position in the pecking order/power struggle. May of course be conspiracy bollocks, so pure speculation. Hoping that with his key man in place it will see him commit for a couple of seasons. We can’t continue the revolving door for key posts

How would he fit in with Tondas style ? Think we’re playing with a bit more energy than when he was last here.

That Pele bloke, all well and good, but he’s got to master the defensive side of his game and track back more … summary borrowed from I. Branfoot

Agree with this, but problem is that we effectively take off the players who look to move the ball forward and our attacking threat has gone. We end up camped in our own half. I don’t think Aribo and Romeu offered anything going forward in their time on the pitch. Robinson and Archer were a pale imitation of Scienza and AA. Robinson seemed to try and take on one player too many or run himself into trouble. You and I have covered our differing views on Archer on his own thread so won’t dwell on it here, but to his credit he did seem to stretch Birm with his pace (but it petered out with his finishing). Hoping Tonda might have better options once injuries clear, and possibly in January window.

Should he ?? As I saw it on their video the ref let the play flow, the fouled player passed or released the ball to a teammate - at this point he’d played the advantage - but the player receiving the ball was then tackled. Should he stop the game at this point, and call it back for their free kick, or is it a second or separate phase of the game ? Perhaps the Brum fans think he should have played on, but then brought it back for their free kick if they didn’t eventually score from it.

Agree with you totally we just allow the opponents to take the initiative and come on to us. The MF seem to retreat and we have taken off the main attacking outlets (although we did still create a couple of breakaway chances to put the game to bed). Credit to the defence though there was no shortage of blocks going in and throwing bodies in front of shots. May not seem a lot, but much improved over the last couple of years.

Okay, let’s revisit this one in a few months.

Gets my vote. But please don’t lose.

Last league game at Goodison, first FA Cup tie at Hill Dickinson perhaps

Wonder if Tonda will look to bring in any coaches to support him, possibly from previous clubs he’s worked at. Or if he’ll be allowed to. The roles may already be permanently filled from his U21 colleagues, but not sure if others have been put in place to assist Lallana.

Panto season. Auditioning for Robin Hood: men in tights

Hoping for somewhere new, that we might expect to get a ticket. So not Weston super Mare away. But it’ll probably be Palace.

Bit of a contrast to Strachan ball juggling on the touchline when it went out of play once.

Is that such a surprise ?

Are they the short skirted cheerleaders who drop the pom poms and each other in the pitchside rituals before the game ?