BoSelecta

Lascelles is an animal from corners.

Wilson picking up where he left off

Scruffs works as well.

Fully behind this, great post/cause.

xG doesn’t account for the player on the end of the chance or the quality of the finish. It’s based entirely on the area of the pitch the chance is taken from. So a shot from joelinton which goes over the bar produces exactly the same xG as one from Haaland which goes in the back of the net (taken from the same position on the field). The point I was speculating on was that we’re accumulating a lot of xG from set piece crosses which are falling to burn, schar etc with (seemingly) very little chance of actually being scored. This was being masked earlier in the season by Miggy scoring from extremely low xG positions resulting in some parity between our xG and actual goals scored. Now that we aren’t scoring as many worldies it results in a relatively small reduction in our xG but has a significant impact on our actual goals scored. This has lead to a narrative along the lines of ‘we’re still creating chances, the goals will return’. The eye test does confirm this feeling; our xG is flattering to deceive at the minute.

Another thing to note is our xG numbers are inflated by ‘chances’ from crossed free kicks and corners (which we never score). Even in our purple patch we weren’t scoring a lot from these situations and were infact vastly outscoring our xG from the other chances (namely miggy’s weekly worldies). This gives a false impression that we were close to ‘par’ on goals scored and are now simply in a dry patch of poor finishing which won’t continue. I’m not sure it’s that simple unfortunately - we are likely to continue missing a high volume of 0.2-0.5xG chances from crosses; the question is can we find the goals elsewhere? I’d be interested to see our xG from open play statistics from both periods, not sure if they are collated anywhere.

I was stood about 30 metres away from that and thought it was the pub landlord (couldn't see him, just heard a southerner on the mic thanking us)

Irrelevant anyway when we didn’t score.

When do people think we will hear about his ankle?

Bruno would be suspended for the final if bans were competition specific.

On the road

Well that’s the last distraction out the way, shitting myself now.

He pulls him round, idiotic foul. Soft as fuck but 100% a pen and totally needless. The rat cunt.

??

How strict do people think the allocated time to enter the ground (printed on ticket) will be? Mine is 15:00 - 15:30 and don't fancy getting in there that early; particularly as i'm sat on my own.

This place never fails ?

Yeah I completely get your point and agree we’ll look to start quick as we always do. Obviously the dream scenario is getting ahead early but if we’re still in the game last 20 we should be all over them. The team selection will be very interesting in that regard as bringing on ASM against tired legs could be the difference. If he starts our bench looks a bit weaker in terms of changing the game. Let’s see how Howe plays it. I have a feeling it will be big Jo/Willock with Maxi off the bench but would be more than happy with ASM starting.

I think they opposite, hoping they’ll tire and if we’re still there or there abouts with 20 minutes to go we’ve got a great chance.

He put one on a plate for Almiron at 0-0.

Yeah would love to move to a standing section, currently in the milburn.

I wonder if it’s targeted areas of the ground for ST holders.

Any idea if this has gone to all ST holders? Haven’t received one.

I’m sure they’re well aware we’ll need major recruitment if we’re in Europe, that’ll be part of the reason why they didn’t want to overspend on players this Jan. We need every penny of our FFP budget

I share the sentiment of others on the nerves, feels like less pressure going into the game now. I couldn’t go yesterday so was sat at home, nervous as fuck until the wheels fell off. Can’t imagine what I’ll be like down there on the day. Just hope we turn up and then anything can happen. We’ve got the players to win the game, as they have. I have them as favourites but it’s a cup final; mentality matters a lot and we’ve got a fantastic spirit in the team. Big Joe & Bruno will hopefully be absolutely all over them and if the lads up top find their shooting boots we can win. Wish it was Saturday already.

Thanks for the perspective, I still maintain that you being late for work because the traffic was bad on the coast road is something you absolutely could write. File it next to ‘you couldn’t make it up’. Peeve over.