Kew Owl

Could have done a decent job for us - shame about the misleading thread title !

Can’t say I’d heard of him previously TBH, but if DM rates him, that good enough for me at the minute.

101-4 now, 271 looks a long way away now, I’m afraid.

Shame we didn’t hang on to him - could do a good job for us now

Yes, you’re right of course - we were outplayed again from start to finish, but the players battled hard. We got a slice of luck with the weather and it’s nice to avoid the 5-0 whitewash.

We’re in the middle of a pandemic unfortunately which isn’t going away any time soon. The footballing authorities need to properly take account of this. IMHO, kicking clubs out of competitions because they can’t fulfil fixtures due to COVID shows the sport in a bad light externally and is bad for its reputation.

Unless Abramovitch loses interest in Chelsea and decides to sail off into the sunset, the position is presumably sustainable.

I’m backing DM at the minute because he knows the players, knows where we need strengthening. With the transfer window now open, it’s not the time IMHO to bring someone else in who would take time to assess the squad and get up to speed with things.

There’s no doubt IMHO that we are missing Luongo and Windass, also Dunkley, and I would expect our form to pick up when they’re back. People calling for DM’s head need to take these absences into account.

Is it even a problem at all ? - we’ve only lost one League game at Hillsborough this season - and there’s plenty of room for anyone who wants to go and support us

First league defeat for some time tonight - and, predictably, Owlstalk seems to go into meltdown. DM and the team have done well recently - the unbeaten run had to end sometime. Disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world by any means

Nice to see Dunkley back - think he might have his work cut out tonight. Defo take a point tonight, not feeling at all optimistic

BBC now reports that these fans have now had their bans rescinded on appeal, but have, instead, been issued with a “final written warning”. So, to a degree, common sense has prevailed, but these fans now need to tread carefully, I should think.

My understanding is that there are two other interested parties and negotiations with the administrators acting for Wayne Rooneys Derby County are ongoing. HMRC are presumably happy at the moment to sit on their hands and await developments, but, yes, if discussions fall through and these potential buyers walk away, then it looks like curtains for WRDC, I’m afraid. Its the fans that I feel most sorry for in all this.

Australia 40-0 in their second innings, England looking a bit dispirited now

Done - our family have decided not to give each other Xmas pressies this year, so I’m more than happy to pass over to a good cause some of the money saved

If Burns fails in the second innings, I’d be inclined to go with Crawley for the 3rd Test, although I’m far from convinced that he’d do any better than Burns.

Apparently Stokes didn’t bowl a single ball all day that would have hit the stumps. Not sure why he was bowling short stuff all the time - hasnt really got the pace to trouble the batsmen too often

Royston Drenthe looked good for a while IMHO

Home to Burton on Boxing Day may well be called off as well

Brentford’s game against Man Ure is off - expect more games to be off in the coming days

Not sure about Sunderland, think they might well stay the course, but Plymouth look like they’re starting to implode already. Portsmouth are dark horses IMHO. They seem to be starting to really get it together

The Portsmouth goalie - Bazuno - seems to be getting loads of rave reviews, but he didn’t have a lot to do against us

Much under- rated IMHO. Good player to have around when we need to battle and dig deep. Always gives 100%. I often think that I’m glad he’s playing for us and not for the opposition

Yes, I thought they might have gone for Chelsea v Chesterfield, but I imagine that would be Chelsea reserves anyway and they’d still probably win comfortably. I suppose they try to select games where they think they can maximise viewing figures, based on market research. All this talk about the “ romance of the FA Cup” is a load of testicles anyway - TBH I’m not desperately upset that we’re already knocked out.