magvicar

I think it's a simple case of too much intense football and pressure coupled with high intense training. Most players are suffering from it. It stands out. And as you say, confidence. I think it's just a case of business end of the season management and this is where Eddie Howe and co will earn their corn if they can revitalise the squad for the final push for a top 4 spot.

Aye, it's maybe not entirely ideal the way it is but it's a case of both parties likely wanting something to happen. Eddie for a bit more game time and the Hearts manager daring to risk Kuol in games he thinks he can. Not wholly ideal but sometimes you get situations like this.

Agreed.

The lad is just a kid and learning his trade in a tough league. Throwing him into the deep end won't generally benefit him but having him ease into games based on his ability to play in them that the manager believes suit him better will potentially aid in his progress rather than hinder. I know some fans get a bit over excited when a player like him comes on the scene with the tag of " wonder kid" and immediately it's a case of " why isn't Howe putting him in the squad." And as it stands now some fans questioning why he isn't starting for Hearts based on this "wonder kid" tag, as if Hearts are a no mark team but the reality is, although they've lost a good few off the belt they're still 4th in the Scottish premier league. I'd rather the kid blends in over time rather than end up being thrown in the lions den and end up being swallowed up and spat out as bare bones.

I thought he was ok. nothing special but then again nobody was. Gordon has played very few games for us and started even fewer. Just like Viper said to Jester when Maverick lost the edge. Viper said " keep sending him up." Howe will say " keep sending him on." Soon enough Tindall will be shouting " Gordon's re-engaging, Eddie ." On the pitch Gordon will be shouting " I'm going to bring him in closer then I'm gonna put on the accelerator and fly right by." Yeeharrrrr. Back at the dugout the info will come through. " Boss the remaining Tottenham players are bugging out." Yeeeeeeharrrrrrrrrrrr.

He was man of the match against Brentford. He was let down badly by the defence yesterday. He'll be fine.

We were bound to struggle a bit when you consider we've had 3 away games on the trot and two of them in London. Our expectations have elevated and that's why this game against Villa is more of a shock to the system. Obviously it's not nice but it can end up being a massive blessing in disguise because the players can now have a nice regroup and analyse the game and also knowing they have home games to come and no more silly 3 away games off the belt. If anyone had asked me if I would be happy with 6 points from 3 successive away games, especially against two teams that are revamped and play at notoriously difficult stadiums for away teams, then I'd have snapped their hands off. Eddie Howe says it as it is without throwing anyone under the bus and also without getting too over critical. He turns negatives back towards looking positive from that point. We'll be fine.

Gordon is still blending in and yesterday wasn't a game to judge him on unless all players come under the same scrutiny because all players contributed to a very forgettable game from Newcastle United's point of view. No biggie. He did ok and worked hard so I'm not worried one iota about Gordon.

Obviously Lampard isn't going to turn down Chelsea and especially a big pay day for a short amount of time. The thing is Lampard's walked back into a club he says he knows inside out and in a way he does in terms of the ground and training facilities and such, plus a fair chunk of players. He's likely looked at the players bought and thought he could quickly turn them around and fire Chelsea into winning ways and be hailed a hero. What he's likely not getting is that many of those players are mercenaries and a fair few of the older guard will be disillusioned. Not an easy thing to turn around just with that. The individual quality is one thing but getting those egos to gel and actually create a trench like attitude will be hard for most managers. If the owner stops trying to play FIFA 22/23 and actually hands the reins to a manager to actually do a proper manager/coach role then Chelsea will become a force again. Personally I hope he keeps playing his FIFA with live players and they sink like a big lead block.

My fingers are crossed for the lasses today. Hopefully a good solid win with a big chunk of goal difference added. I'm predicting a nice big chunky 7-1 win for them today.

I will say this what I noticed. Did anyone see Dan Burn in the tunnel before the game started? He looked knackered. I honestly thought he had some kind of fever or he'd overdone the pre-match warm up. Anyone else notice this?

I disagree. I thought Villa played out of their skin and aptly aided by the ref, plus a fired up to hell crowd. The only thing we had that offered us a little something was attack wise. The rest was a mixture of little cohesion defensive wise and I doubt Targett and Longstaff would've helped much more. It was literally a bad team display aided by Villas (arguably) best display....and, as I said, the ref giving us virtually nothing.

Dan Burn has had a long tiring season at left back. I'd say he's done fantastic and played far more games doing well and been a massive part of why this team has lost only 4 games this entire season. Of course he's going to come unstuck against pacey attackers at times but more often than not he's held his own. Burn has been targeted by some managers who have the pacey attackers down his left and he's suffered a few hair raising games. But so has all the rest at some points. Botman is a class act but even he's been suffering. Tripper has also. In fact all of the team has to some extent. Some a bit more than others but it's going to happen. Eddie Howe may give him a deserved rest. Burn may not want it. Just like Longstaff was rested. Considering the position we are in and the players we have I'd say I have zero complaints and I'm more than easy to understand the team as a unit will have bad games because all teams do, including Man City and so on. We all see things in different ways and respond in different ways. Some see one person as a weaker link than another in all areas. It's what makes debate interesting.

He's up there for sure.

Owls that?

That's the basic crux of it all. Anthony Gordon was subbed on and subbed off and he obviously knew he'd had a good game in that second half, so in the heat of the moment he's likely thought Howe's seen something bad about his game or something without realising at the time it was simple a time sapping tactical bit of management. I'm sure Eddie and co would've explained that and Anthony Gordon will have seen the error of his ways. Two things to take comfort from....possibly but time will tell. 1. To have a player being pissed off like Gordon was means he was biting at the bit to play. 2. He will be under no illusions about Eddie Howe's coaching and man/management style and potentially won't rock that boat again. Sometimes something like this can blaze that fire in a player's belly and I'm fairly confident that Gordon will gain in strength for this because he won't get another chance to go against the grain, so fingers crossed it's settled and water under the bridge, so to speak. He's young and only human.

Aye I know what you mean. I used to get caught up in a bit of the violence. I remember talking to a lad who wanted to go to see Newcastle and I said " come with us, you'll be ok." I remember his words were, " ahhh I would but me mam and dad will go mad and won't let me go." I said "howay man your 14 so just tell them you're going with me and a group of lads." He said "knowing me I'll end up getting hit by a brick or something and I'll never be allowed to go ever again." I said " don't be silly man, the chances of that are pretty slim." He ended up being allowed to go and if my memory serves me right I think it was against Chester in the cup and we got beat courtesy of one, Ian Rush. I was giving it the " ahhh we'll thrash these about 6-0." I think we got beat 2-0 and it all kicked off after the game with police and horses plus dogs going hell for leather hitting fans with batons and having the dogs chasing us. I remember seeing one lad grabbed by a police dog and it ripped his jeans to shreds. The lad I'd coaxed to come with us was petrified and was saying "what are we going to do." I just said " leg it." Before we legged it, a bottle just missed his head by inches. Obviously aimed at the police but I remember running down the street shouting, "you nearly had your head split open" and we ended up running past a shop where a load of lads were trying to empty it of sweets and stuff. The lad I coaxed was basically following me as close as hell as if I knew where to go and what to do. I remember seeing this wall about 4 foot high and thought "I'll jump this and just hide behind it." I said that to the lad and we both leaped it to find about an 8 foot drop on the other side. Luckily we only had dodgy landings and no breakages. I remember saying to the lad " you're a Jinx."

There were so many negative vibes for us in going to Wembley. As has been said, Pope missing out was a massive blow to us. And Bruno's suspension prior to the final and simply the occasion and the hype. But you know what? Out of all that, one thing we did learn and that's a big lesson in experience of a final and (fingers crossed) if we get there sooner rather than later once again, I think we will be much more blessed in that scenario. We simply didn't carry much luck and Man Utd did, plus Casemiro having a blinder. The ref didn't help our cause...but... it's over and done with and as some have already said, if we had won it we may well have thought of a job done and simply dropped off. This has spurred us on massively and we just might go one better and finish in a champions league spot but at worse we should get a Europa which is what we would've got if we won the cup....so...well....you know.

This was against West Ham when I was about 15. I was in the Gallowgate end also at that game. This was a petrol bomb thrown in the Leazes corner with the east stand where the away fans were generally put in those days. This was in the days when our crowds were sometimes 13,14,15 and 16 thousand for most of the season. Mind you we were in the second division and the ground was a bit ramshackle. I remember just seeing a big flame erupt for a short while and the West Ham fans quickly segregating to leave a sort of circle around the petrol bomb. I remember the song sung in the next home match we played against West Ham. He's only a poor little hammer. His clothes are all tattered and torn. He came for a fight so we set him alight. And now he won't come anymore. Funnily (or not so funny) enough I was in the Leazes end in this game and the police were ready and waiting to catch the fans singing. Many were dragged out and I was nearly dragged out myself by managing to absorb into the crowd a bit and all the bigger lads were dragged out. Anyone remember this? I mean, it's not funny or clever but as a young kid you generally get dragged along with the crowd and are very impressionable. I was stood outside the magpie the day West Ham came and I watched a dad and his young son walking past us all stood outside. They were on the other side of the road. I remember this very clearly. The man was carrying the old type (obviously) ADIDAS bag with West Ham on it and a few skinheads spotted them and ran over and give the bloke a bit of a kicking in front of his kid. I was gutted for them but luckily the kicking was more half-hearted and no harm was done other than for the bloke and his kid having some of their day ruined. I was a little bit of a rebel myself in those days but although impressionable I drew the line at any of that garbage.

Q.P.R I think and If my memory serves me correct, Peter Withe scored from the Hibbitt free kick.

I was at this game. I was in the gallowgate end and just after this happened Terry Hibbitt took a free kick and we scored from it.

This can be a massive subjective argument among managers and fans to be honest. One minute it can be "you can't change things overnight" by managers to fans offering an insight into certain managers being escape artists or promotion experts or Jonah's in the football world and so on. Look at Sam Allardyce. People argue as to how good or bad he was or is. I'd say most if not all managers would come into a club with some kind of saying like " I'm not a miracle worker" or "you can't simply change things overnight" or a variation of other like comments and if it goes tits up they can say " well, I think if I had more time" or " I wasn't able to get in the players to effect change" and so on. But if they start off well they can be deemed a saviour as long as they don't come with any baggage that offers them a dodgy start in fan's eyes. So many arguments as to what and how. Bruce had to try and implement his own ways onto the squad from How Rafa had set up. He tried to change it and it didn't work so reverted back to how it was but then slowly changed things again and got a mixed bag I thought. Of course he still spouted some shite. I used to roll my eyes many a time with his excuses. But I still enjoyed the football under him more than I did under Rafa. And that's not saying too much as Bruce offered some turgid football at times, just not as much as Rafa did.

What do you mean by having little influence?

The worst? I'm not so sure. I can name many a manager that would be classed as worse overall but they all come under different attributes or stigmas where fans and memory serves each.

It's a classic case which we've learned. We just follow the trend and it works for us a lot of times just as it works for others a lot of times. Swings and roundabouts when you look at it throughout the season. Normally we used to be far too honest.