Paullow

Quite enjoyed this interview

Big game tomorrow, Wolves away at 2pm. Doesn't look like there will be a stream, but there is audio on the Wolves website, although I guess if you can't actually see the game then NFTV's stream would probably be the better alternative. By far the hardest match on paper of the remaining 5. If we did win then that would surely be the league all but secured, although a draw wouldn't be a disaster as it would mean 3 wins from the final 4 would guarantee the title, regardless of what anyone else does.

Just found this thread:

Of course I get the struggles, but again, I was originally responding to that Thumbhead's post about why wouldn't anyone accept the following criteria at the start of the season, which is obviously before the injury nightmare, tough draws, fixture congesting etc. became apparent, suggesting what we have done and where we currently are now would have been acceptable before a ball was kicked, and like many, I disagreed, and still do. That was my original point. Taking everything into account, I'd have still liked a few extra points on the board, especially against the likes of Luton x 2, Bournemouth, Forest etc. where we would have still had enough quality, despite the set backs, to have picked up more points than we have, and be sitting in a healthier position. To go from having the joint best defense in the league last season to suddenly having only 6 teams concede more in the whole league, is frustrating, and some of the goals we have conceded have been pathetic, and in many cases we need 3, 4, 5 goals to get any kind of result.

Because the question of the discussion was literally would you take that at the start of the season, and no I wouldn't, because pretty much everything that we've achieved is below par from what was expected at the start of the season. Yes, there's been circumstances, and unfortunate issues, but to be 2 points clear of Fulham in 12th at this stage of the season is pretty poor. 12 defeats in 28 is very poor, it just hasn't been a good season at all.

Fuckin hell

Just looking on another forum (boxing one) and the thread was expectations for the start of next season, and this was mine on June 29th, which you can barely read: Should know far more by the end of the window, but something like 5th or 6th, stay in some form of European football beyond the CL group stages, and a reasonable run in one of the domestic cups would be a decent follow up season, especially if it was 5th and that got a bonus CL spot this year. In terms of pre season odds Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man Utd were all expected to finish above us, and we were kind of in and around the Chelsea odds, some shorter some longer to win the league, top 6, top 4 etc. then Spurs. So 5th to 7th would be par and if we were to finish 7th, and be 'best of the rest', I think most would have been fine with that, not delighted, and it would have been nice to to finish above one of those, but no complaints if those teams squads, budgets etc. lack of Europe in some cases, proved too much, but I don't even see us finishing 7th this season as we are just not consistent enough.

It's actually 7 points, so 3 wins off 6th place, and we're only one defeat from 12th, or 2 defeats from 13th. We've made a right pigs ear of some of our most 'favourable' fixtures in recent weeks, so there's literally not one match you look at and think 'we'll definitely win that one', or even 'we should win that one', especially with the amount of goals we are conceding. We're probably on course to finish 8th or 9th, which I would consider below par at the start of the season, and I certainly wouldn't have taken 8th or 9th if offered. Nice to have a cup run, but still no silverware, or Wembley appearance, and even Bruce managed a couple of QFs. We were second favourites to win the CL group, but ended up out of Europe completely, even if a tough group. I think most would have been expecting some form of European football to continue into February, especially when sitting on 4 points from the first 2 games. 1 point from the final 4 games was very poor. At the start of the season I would have taken 6th, stay in Europe beyond the group stage, and really reach the business end of one of the cups, like a SF and feel within touching distance of a final / trophy, and we're extremely unlikely to do all 3, so no, while I'm still Howe in, even if we lost the last 10 games, it's been a very underwhelming season, particularly from early December onwards, and I don't particularly look forward to matches at the moment, as I know it's likely to be underwhelming and there's just a massive lack of jeopardy on any of the games.

Fulham leading Spurs 1-0. Start of the season you'd expect be pleased with that, but Fulham would just be 2 points behind us if they won.

Meh.

Huge win for Blyth, just when things were looking massively bleak. 3-2 away at adjacent Southport. Darlington won again, and Kings Lynn beat Rushall, which was probably the best result there for the North East sides.

Poor result for Middlesbrough as well. They had kind of kept their season alive with 3 straight wins, but only drew at home to Blackburn today, and Norwich won, so they are 7 points off 6th with only 8 games to go, and they do have some stinkers in their remaining fixtures - Southampton, Ipswich, Hull away, and Leeds at home. Looking like yet another year of us being the only North East side in the top flight and another season of them playing each other. If so, Sunderland will have played Boro 14 times since we last played Boro (assuming we're not drawn in the cups). I think in a few years, if they are constantly in and around each other in upper mid table, that match will become bigger than what it currently is.

Just saw that Brentford only have 10 points from their last 17 matches. 3W 1D 13L, and will be hard for them to come back today being a man down. That's awful form. Probably end up lucky that the bottom 2 are so far adrift, and Luton seem content on throwing away leads that they will end up being OK, but didn't think they were doing that badly.

I'm not sure what the pre match odds were, and whether QPR have just started better, but I see the in play odds are 21/10 vs 6/4, so QPR are favourites, despite being away from home.

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/wolves-v-coventry-kick-off-1215-itv1-stv-itv-x-stv-player.1629841/page-8

Wow. I watched the first half of Cardiff-Swansea, and turned this on at around 60 mins, pleased I did. I literally shouted out loud with that 3rd goal.

Wow, he's just 22. Assumed he would be 30 odd with that beard

I know Man City has a few injuries at the time, and that they had a match in Athens in mid week, but it's crazy comparing odds of the same fixture less than 7 months On August 19th we were as short as 5/2 to win and Man City were just short of evens. March 16th and they're as short as 1/6, and you can 11/1 on us at a few places - I did actually think we would be a bit longer, and nearer 14/1, but it kind of emphasises the contrast in confidence and mindset in a relatively short period of time.

I was just going to say earlier, I am following NUWFC much more closely this season, streaming matches / watching online content / scores etc. and if/when Newcastle are in the WSL I'm sure i will be more interested in the league in general and the top end, even if they are finding their feet and battling to stay up for the first 3 or 4 years, but I still don't have any interest in the WSL at this stage, and was disappointed that there was no 8pm Championship match on Sky tonight as I like watching that league as much, if not more, than the PL. I was tempted to watch Dunfermline vs Dundee United in the Scottish 2nd tier, but thought better of it

I guess at least 2 of Newcastle, Chelsea, West Ham and Brighton would miss out if it went down to 8th, but it would feel harder to not get into Europe than it would. 8/20 does feel too many, but if we got in via the backdoor, I wouldn't be complaining.

Is that actually confirmed, or more you assuming?

There's 3 combined English places for the Europa and the Conference league, and in most years, if both cups were won by the top teams, European football would go down to 7th place. If we were going to get 5 Champions League places, and a Liverpool/Man U/Man C won the FA Cup, would 8th place definitely get into Europe (Conference), or would it still be 7th, and we lose a Europa League spot to make up for the extra CL spot? If it went down to 8th then I'd want the English clubs to do better to give us more of a chance of playing European football, but if there was still the same amount of combined European places for English clubs, i.e 7 max, then I'd prefer England not to get the 5th CL spot as it would hinder either Spurs or Villa, and not allow them to push on ahead, particularly the latter. Anyone know the criteria?

Starting to look really ominous for Blyth. Darlington won 2-1. Just 2 points from their last 10 games. Darlington in contrast have won 5 of their last 6, or 6 of their last 8, whereas they had only won 6 of their first 31 games. The bottom 2 looked knackered, and Banbury have lost 6 in a row, so hopefully they'll continue that form, but Blyth possibly favourites to drop at the moment considering their awful form, and possibly concerns with the takeover.

Blyth vs Darlington is a big match tonight. Less than 4 weeks ago on Feb 17th, Darlington were 17 points behind Blyth, but if they were to get the 3 points, they would be level on points.

4W 2D 8L is the last 14 games is absolutely shocking like, 14 points from 14 games, relegation form over what is more than a third of a season. I've said it a few times, but the season has felt like a write off to me since throughout December when we lost 5 out of 6 in the league, out of Europe completely, and the League Cup in the space of 4 weeks. I just can't ever see us stringing 3 or 4 results together, I'm expecting us to lose most away games, and when we do, I'm just like 'ah well, next season'.