Wolves v Everton

“Daddy, that was too loud for me”
- My youngest when Mina scored.

Awful game for injuries but a great result under the circumstances. Thought we were the better side. Can’t imaging Dom and Patto will be available for Bournemouth. But hopefully we can start with Simms rather than maupay.

Lumper wrote:My steam had gone so I’d given up. Could be a huge point. We need a few other results to go our way now.

The Bournemouth game was always going to be the huge one, and so it is.
In Moyes we trust.

Apparently Wolves hadn’t conceded at home for over seven hours.

Tonteau wrote:Apparently Wolves hadn’t conceded at home for over seven hours.

We hadn't conceded for seven days, since the City game

Just watched the highlights on MoTD. I have several thoughts...

1. I'm glad Dyche came out and said Onana should have brought Traore down and taken the booking when he broke through for their goal. I couldn't fucking believe he didn't do that on first viewing.

2. The commentator said, when we scored, that "it heaps the pressure on Leeds and Leicester." Well, that's right, it does. It's interesting to hear the perspective of others, of neutrals in particular. I don't blame Blues for seeing things from a doom-laden perspective - I do it myself sometimes, and it's because this is all quite scary. I find excessive optimism every bit as annoying as excessive pessimism. But Leeds are under pressure tomorrow, whatever team West Ham put out. If we'd lost today, Leeds might have been OK with a draw tomorrow. Now they will think they have to win. Could change their mindset, could cause them to play more open, who knows. They will now think they have to go out and win that game.

3. Assuming DCL is out, I say start with Gray up top against Bournemouth. I know this carries risk, he's not a striker. But he has a Barry Horne goal in him. Gut feeling, I'd feel better with him starting than Simms. Maupay doesn't come close to getting into that conversation (it was notable that Gray, not Maupay, replaced DCL today.)

4. Do we have any full backs left?

To finish with a little positive, it's my daughter's 20th birthday today. She couldn't get back from Uni until mid-afternoon, due to various logistical issues. And she'd planned to go out in the evening with her mates. So my missus had no option but to book the birthday meal for 4.30. To say that my mood (and my lad's mood) lightened when Mina scored was a bit of an understatement. We ended up having a great time.

It reminded me of being stuck at Cologne airport waiting for a delayed flight home last year while we were playing Palace. My boss, and his boss, were with me, moaning and fretting that the flight would be cancelled and we'd be stuck in Germany for another night. Once the final whistle went I didn't give a fuck, I was floating.

Everton is a drug that we can't give up. Unfortunately it comes with more lows than highs these days, but the highs are fantastic. Not that the result kept us up today - more that it saved a family gathering from feeling like a wake.

Apropos of nothing, as I type Klopp is whingeing about Villa time-wasting on MotD. Is there anything worse in football than football people moaning about things that they will shamelessly do themselves when it suits them? Cunt.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:Just watched the highlights on MoTD. I have several thoughts...

1. I'm glad Dyche came out and said Onana should have brought Traore down and taken the booking when he broke through for their goal. I couldn't fucking believe he didn't do that on first viewing.

2. The commentator said, when we scored, that "it heaps the pressure on Leeds and Leicester." Well, that's right, it does. It's interesting to hear the perspective of others, of neutrals in particular. I don't blame Blues for seeing things from a doom-laden perspective - I do it myself sometimes, and it's because this is all quite scary. I find excessive optimism every bit as annoying as excessive pessimism. But Leeds are under pressure tomorrow, whatever team West Ham put out. If we'd lost today, Leeds might have been OK with a draw tomorrow. Now they will think they have to win. Could change their mindset, could cause them to play more open, who knows. They will now think they have to go out and win that game.

3. Assuming DCL is out, I say start with Gray up top against Bournemouth. I know this carries risk, he's not a striker. But he has a Barry Horne goal in him. Gut feeling, I'd feel better with him starting than Simms. Maupay doesn't come close to getting into that conversation (it was notable that Gray, not Maupay, replaced DCL today.)

4. Do we have any full backs left?

1. I think he even had the opportunity to make a clean challenge, particularly given his excellent tackling ability. I guess Traore is a bit of freight train when he gets going though.

2. I prefer the look of Leeds and Leicester's run ins now, but they would probably rather be in our position with points on the board.

3. I think Simms. We need a focal point for our attacks. Gray does have the ability to conjure something from nothing though, and he's probably due a worldie about now.

4. I guess Vinagre wasn't allowed to play against his parent club yesterday, so should be available against Bournemouth?

Armchair wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:Just watched the highlights on MoTD. I have several thoughts...

1. I'm glad Dyche came out and said Onana should have brought Traore down and taken the booking when he broke through for their goal. I couldn't fucking believe he didn't do that on first viewing.

2. The commentator said, when we scored, that "it heaps the pressure on Leeds and Leicester." Well, that's right, it does. It's interesting to hear the perspective of others, of neutrals in particular. I don't blame Blues for seeing things from a doom-laden perspective - I do it myself sometimes, and it's because this is all quite scary. I find excessive optimism every bit as annoying as excessive pessimism. But Leeds are under pressure tomorrow, whatever team West Ham put out. If we'd lost today, Leeds might have been OK with a draw tomorrow. Now they will think they have to win. Could change their mindset, could cause them to play more open, who knows. They will now think they have to go out and win that game.

3. Assuming DCL is out, I say start with Gray up top against Bournemouth. I know this carries risk, he's not a striker. But he has a Barry Horne goal in him. Gut feeling, I'd feel better with him starting than Simms. Maupay doesn't come close to getting into that conversation (it was notable that Gray, not Maupay, replaced DCL today.)

4. Do we have any full backs left?

1. I think he even had the opportunity to make a clean challenge, particularly given his excellent tackling ability. I guess Traore is a bit of freight train when he gets going though.

2. I prefer the look of Leeds and Leicester's run ins now, but they would probably rather be in our position with points on the board.

3. I think Simms. We need a focal point for our attacks. Gray does have the ability to conjure something from nothing though, and he's probably due a worldie about now.

4. I guess Vinagre wasn't allowed to play against his parent club yesterday, so should be available against Bournemouth?

Mina at number 9.
Bout-time.

https://youtu.be/D4mtUdHuvyU

Enjoyed the reaction of Dyche at the end of the video. Not a professional lip reader but I think it’s: “Yeeesss! Fucking get in there!” Which is entirely the right reaction.

The biggest result so far this weekend is West Ham beating Leeds. I have to admit I was far happier when West Ham equalised than I was when we equalised against Wolves.

Fingers crossed Newcastle beat Leicester, then a draw should be enough against Bournemouth.

hairy cataract wrote:The biggest result so far this weekend is West Ham beating Leeds. I have to admit I was far happier when West Ham equalised than I was when we equalised against Wolves.

Fingers crossed Newcastle beat Leicester, then a draw should be enough against Bournemouth.

In terms of tension, and given the stage of the season we're at, West Ham v Leeds was the second most nerve-wracking game I've watched all season. Only our game at Brighton tops it. It's funny to think that I was still shitting myself in that game when Brighton got it back to 4-1.

Tonight could be similar. Although Leicester have a tougher task than Leeds had yesterday, I still don't want to assume anything.

I don't want to think about Leicester winning tonight. If they sneak a draw then that's OK, but it means we must win next week. A Leicester defeat tonight gives us that second chance next week if we draw.

Grateful though we are for West Ham's professionalism and doing us a favour yesterday, I would not blame them one bit if they go easy at Leicester and rest a lot of their better players, ready for their final.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:The biggest result so far this weekend is West Ham beating Leeds. I have to admit I was far happier when West Ham equalised than I was when we equalised against Wolves.

Fingers crossed Newcastle beat Leicester, then a draw should be enough against Bournemouth.

In terms of tension, and given the stage of the season we're at, West Ham v Leeds was the second most nerve-wracking game I've watched all season. Only our game at Brighton tops it. It's funny to think that I was still shitting myself in that game when Brighton got it back to 4-1.

Tonight could be similar. Although Leicester have a tougher task than Leeds had yesterday, I still don't want to assume anything.

I don't want to think about Leicester winning tonight. If they sneak a draw then that's OK, but it means we must win next week. A Leicester defeat tonight gives us that second chance next week if we draw.

Grateful though we are for West Ham's professionalism and doing us a favour yesterday, I would not blame them one bit if they go easy at Leicester and rest a lot of their better players, ready for their final.

I agree... this is not the time to be complacent and if Leicester win their 2 remaining games, we are down.

Leicester tonight is huge for us... it could happen (Forest just beat Arse FFS)... and I agree the hammers will likely take it easy on the last game now they are 100% safe & a major final to prepare for

I remain terrified

Having won money on Saturday, I lost money yesterday backing Leeds. This is fine.

Leicester are 13/2 to win tonight. I'll have a fiver on that. If I lose that fiver, that's also fine.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:Having won money on Saturday, I lost money yesterday backing Leeds. This is fine.

Leicester are 13/2 to win tonight. I'll have a fiver on that. If I lose that fiver, that's also fine.

I bet my 20p balance on leeds too. It's money I can afford to lose, and that 52p would have really cushioned the blow.

In my head, Newcastle win this game at a canter. They're tight at the back and can score plenty. However there's this other part of my brain which is I believe is called the medulla evertonia and that's convincing me that, against the odds, Liecester will run riot and score 6.

Tonteau wrote:In my head, Newcastle win this game at a canter. They're tight at the back and can score plenty. However there's this other part of my brain which is I believe is called the medulla evertonia and that's convincing me that, against the odds, Liecester will run riot and score 6.

Even if tonight goes well for us, it will only ease my nerve marginally. We've had a tendency in the past to make our great escapes more dramatic than they need to be. I include Palace last season in that - it wasn't a last day escape but given who we were playing on the final day, it was basically our last chance.

I love football and I've been lucky to have caught loads of really exciting games in the last few weeks, especially in Europe and in the playoffs. But I swear to God, I'll be so fucking happy to kiss this season goodbye, have a break from the tension, and enjoy some carefree weekends for a couple of months.