Stottie

Fulham have scored four times in their last eight games, and seven in their last twelve. Not what you want from a team needing to win games. Seasonwise, it looks like the XG stat loves them, so maybe they are where they are due to shit finishing. If Wilson, Miggy and ASM play much in the remaining games, I think we'll be okay.

RIght result in the end, but that VAR decision is so fucked. I don't think the drawn lines are accurate enough to give something that close. One idea might be for linos to let the play go, but also have a button they press for an on-field decision that can be used as a tiebreaker like in cricket. If the video review comes down to 10cm (15cm?) or less on video, the decision goes with the linesman's button pressed in real time. This keeps what we had before, judgements by linos, but overrules them when they are clearly wrong. You can't have a straight "umpire's call" in football because that would mean linos stopping the game, sometimes by mistake. All VAR needs to do is overrule clearly bad decisions. Letting it dominate in the current way is very unsatisfying.

It's April now and lots of teams have little to play for. Spurs are still in contention for the Champions League though, so I was surprised at the lack of application from them. Conversely, Villa could have slacked off against Fulham, but came from behind to win.

Sorry if unclear, but what I meant was when we had a marketable asset with him, we should have topped up his wages at his new club to let us cash in on the selling fee. And then bought a Prem level player, of course. We should not have let the deal fall through and become stuck with him because he wanted twenty or thirty grand more than WBA or someone else wanted to pay. That sounds like a solvable problem.

It should be a given, but it was nice to have an actually entertaining game for the first time in a long time. A contest. Getting a point against teams near the top is good, but only if you are beating the teams near the bottom. Which we have not been doing or even trying to do. Any credit that could be given to Bruce today is vastly outweighed by him not even trying to beat West Brom. Today showed he has players who can get 4 or whatever xg against Spurs. Why the feck wasn't the same approach used against West Brom, Brighton, Palace, Villa, etc.?

Us topping up 20 grand a week for two years is only a two million hit though. With a Champo contract you can add massive promotion bonuses, because if you achieve it you'll be able to pay them. And fifteen plus a season strikers are the easiest way to go up.

Yeah, it looked worth another look. Certainly not "definitely not a penalty".

His record in the Prem is now P458 W128 D126 L204 F467 A619 Pts 510 PPG 1.11 That's a win percentage of 27.9%, basically a relegation battle every year. There is a formula for predicted league points based on goal difference, which is (0.6455 * GD) + 52, and this gives his teams a lower expected points total of 39.4 points. 1.11 points per game is 42 points for the season. For TL:DR people, the guy is a loser, and lucky that his record does not show him to be a bigger one.

Didn't try to score against pretty much the only team in the league with a worse defensive record than us. Woeful.

Started okay, but lucky to be 0-0 I thought. They had the better chances.

First time in 5 years according to BT. No idea if that's PL or Championship though. Goals 6, 7, and 8 in the first half for the season. Only the third time we've been ahead at HT.

Incredible! That's exactly the type of goal we're always on the receiving end of.

Got up like a salmon! Great goal!

Class goal! Top drawer cross and header.

Wilson is banging them in when fed on scraps. He should score fucking double if at City. To get double, all he'd have to do would be to equal his second half tally with us in the first half of games. He's never scored for us before half time. That's where defending from the first whistle gets you.

I think Defoe is a good comparison, moocher with great runs and positioning, but it looks like he is better at getting his team mates involved. When the ball is actually in their half, that is. One for the fascinating facts department, but all six goals of Wilson's goals so far have been in the second half. As a team, we are for 2 against 4 in the first half. After the break, it's for 8 against 7. You might as well tune in at half time.

It's a foul in the box, so it's a pen, because that is the only possible punishment. However, not all contact in the box deserves a free shot from 12 yards. Another Mitro miss lol.

Calvert Lewin talks like Michael Owen. The likeness is uncanny.

That's an idiot's fault, not VAR.

The Brighton Man U one yesterday was ball-to-hand with an arm in an unnatural position = penalty Today was ball-to-hand in what looks like a natural position. Common sense says this should not be a penalty.

I must confess I got a bit carried away with the ol' optimism after watching us string passes together against West Ham. After two more games though, it is clear that nothing has changed, well, actually scoring from a penalty perhaps (cheers Callum!), and we are indeed the same team as last season. Darlow is looking like a decent keeper as another unexpected small mercy, but other than that, it is the same old reheated hanging-on-for-dear-life shite that brings me little joy. I'm just pleased I had some cycling to watch today until the final twenty minutes.

VAR's okay. This handball rule is cretinous and total pish. All VAR does is increase consistency, which has to be a good. It's way better than some pundit's "they even out over a season" bollocks. Tell that to Watford fans whose team got relegated instead of Aston Villa. The fact that fancied Tottenham were on the losing end this time counts a plus mark for VAR.

This bollocks rule has also rewarded what looked like the classic set penis.

There you have it, "there are boxes and there is Tottenham's box". I think Route One is anti-football and hate to see it rewarded, but that's what this bollocks rule does. There is also irony in that Mourinho himself, in spite of having talent of the likes of Arjen Robben and pretty much the greatest goal-scoring midfielder English football has ever seen, was still happy to aim long balls at Drogba's head as his Plan B. Some of those won corners that were then finished via John Terry, William Carvalho, or the Spanish right back who was good in the air and who's name escapes me. So the guy likes a restart and is no purist himself.

HOY IT IN THE MIXER!