Pukki Blinders

Really frustrating. Only one side even trying to play football or get a result out of this. As long as we did the basics defensively you'd think it was a matter of time before we found that first goal, and what do we go and do? Basically gift Watford the opener. No doubting how good Max is, but what is he doing for that goal? Gives the ball away poorly, and then after Hanley does brilliantly to hold-up Gray and stop him getting in-behind, Aarons backs off and backs off Sema, all the way from half-way inside our half to the byline, and doesn't do anything like enough to stop the ball in. Sorenson also has to be getting in front of Sarr there. Has to be said though there was a blatant foul on Pukki on the edge of their box in the build-up. How the ref didn't give it I'm baffled. No excuse though. I bet Farke is fuming. In general our play when we get into the final 3rd is just a bit too rushed at times. Too many shots from 30+ yards out. Our movement and passing (up until the goal at least) was generally superb we just need to have a bit more patience and composure. One thing we can be sure of, we're going to see a lot of the ball this half, so we need to use it wisely. Dowell at the moment isn't really getting into the game, and Cantwell hasn't had near enough of the ball. Hopefully those to can up the ante and we'll make something of this second half.

That Sena collision with Max Aarons in their box is literally no different to the McLean one on Sarr that they got a free kick for.

Well yeah obviously him too! But obviously he’ll come straight back into the team with McGovern replacing Barden on the bench. I was more pointing out the sheer amount of good outfield players we have to choose from when they’re all fit.

To think we've still got Hernandez, Placheta, Stiepermann, Idah, Mumba and Byram to come back into the squad is terrifying.

Love the look of that team 😍 A win would obviously be fantastic, but I would certainly not be unhappy with a point. 10 points from Blackburn, Reading, Cardiff and Watford is a superb return. If we can get all 3 point though what a result it will be.

Things you love to see 😍

Probably Tettey's for me. Howson's is probably the better goal technically but the fact Tettey's was in (what we thought at the time at least) a massive game for our Premier League survival, and watching the ball fall out of the sky like that and then being hit so perfectly was so satisfying to watch. My personal favourite goal though is Vrancic's free-kick. Just an amazing moment. One goal that was scored at Carrow Road which I don't think I'll ever forget was when Luis Suarez hit one from the half-way line. I'd never seen a goal like that in the flesh before and may not do again for a long time. The sheer amount of time the ball was in the air and the gradual realisation that it was going in made it so unlike any other goal I'd seen. That's probably the best opposition goal I've witnessed at CR. Gareth Bale scored a couple of great solo goals against us though and Forestieri's a couple of seasons ago wasn't bad either.

Fingers crossed it's a quiet one. Farke did say after the game yesterday that he has no intention of selling any of our best players in the window, so unless somebody comes in with a stupid offer hopefully Buendia, Aarons, Cantwell, will all still be here come February 1st. From our perspective it makes no sense to sell anyone, and with our league position I doubt that players will be jumping at the chance to leave like they would be if we were 8th. I think with Byram and Mumba set to return from injury in the new year, who can both back-up Quintilla, we won't worry about signing another left back. If there's genuinely no incomings or outgoings for the entire window then I'll be very happy (though would like to see Leitner and Drmic off the books).

This is definitely my favourite 😂😂

I was trying to make something work out of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Goodbye promotion, yellow shirts, there’s gotta be something in there I reckon. Hopefully they re-hire Pearson so I can say the b*tch is back 😀

There's a huge difference between holding down the fort for a handful of games and being the number 1 for an entire season for a side that are looking to gain promotion. Obviously I support him and want to see him do well, and in Krul's absence he has filled in very well, and as I said deserves credit. But ultimately he is our back-up goalkeeper for a reason. I don't think it's unreasonable to state that if Krul was to get a season-ending injury (a completely hypothetical scenario by the way 😅) that we should look to bring in another first-choice goalkeeper. If Farke ever viewed McGovern as good enough to be our number 1 then he never would've signed Krul in the first place.

*racks brain for most applicable Elton John lyric to use as a pun for this situation*

If it was announced tomorrow that Krul had picked up another injury, and was ruled out for the next 6 months, how would people feel about McGovern becoming our first-choice goalkeeper for the rest of the season? Would anyone be looking to upgrade him in January or genuinely have no issues with him starting every game for all that time? Not having a go at him I'm genuinely interested as to what people think. For me, he has done generally very well since coming into the side, and deserves a lot of credit. But, I don't know if this is just me, I worry every time a ball is passed back to him and he's closed down by the opposition striker, or a ball is whipped in at pace in-towards him from a corner. No doubting he's a very good shot-stopper, but if it was down to me, as well as he's done, I would be looking to bring in a new number 1 in that situation (one which we hopefully don't find ourselves in! 😅 ).

Fantastic today. If he's fit and his attitude is right (which is certainly seems to be at the moment) then long-term he's the player we should be looking to build the team around, in a similar vein to what Villa have done with Grealish. As much as I love Emi, it's hard to imagine that he won't be playing in the Champions League within a couple of seasons, whereas I think Cantwell really is someone who could be the key man in this team for a long time.

Not sure whether this works for or against us in terms of our game on Boxing Day. One thing I'm very happy about though is that I'm not a Watford supporter. No stability at that club whatsoever.

Have to say I can't stand Neil Harris, going back to the 4-3 win over Millwall a couple of seasons ago. Never heard a manager come out with so much crap both before and after a game. No doubting how effective that style of football can be, but I'm very happy we have a head coach who insists of playing the polar opposite of it.

Thanks! 😂

Best performance of the season. Earlier on in the season even though we were getting results it still felt like we had one or two gears we could go through, recently though we really have stepped it up and look every inch like a team worthy of our league position, and as a result in the space of a week we've dispatched 3 promotion-chasing teams relatively comfortably despite our injury list. Has to be said, I think all of us probably questioned when Farke publicly called-out Cantwell and Emi for their attitude and left them out of the side away at Bournemouth, but what a piece of management it turned out to be. Both of them were unplayable today and both scored spectacular goals. A shame in a way that game was live on Sky where no doubt thousands of people would have been marvelling at them the same way we do every week! Those two were the obvious stand-outs but to a man we were fantastic today, the only disappointment was that it wasn't far more, though I guess we'll forgive Pukki this week due to the circumstances 😃 A special word to McGovern as well. I said before the game that I was concerned that Cardiff's effectiveness from set-pieces could expose him, but I'll hold my hands up as he was superb today. Another fantastic, world-class save to deny Morrison today, which he had absolutely no right to make really. Nice that the squad now have a full week to rest up in preparation for what is a huge game at the top against Watford on Boxing Day. With the way we're playing at the moment though it's hard to see us dropping points to anyone in this league.

Good news about Quintilla. Sorenson has been excellent but a natural left-back in that position will give us another dimension going forward, as well as obviously a defender in a defensive position. I personally would stick with McLean alongside Skipp, but would also bring Cantwell in for Martin. Even though Stiepermann was pretty poor against Reading during the week, I'd also keep him in the side for this one. Vrancic offers so much more when he's played deeper alongside Skipp or Tettey, and always feels like he's a bit shoehorned into the side when he's a number 10, so I think he'd be better as an impact sub for this one. Plus, on paper, Cantwell, Stiepermann, Buendia and Pukki is a fantastic front four. I have to be honest, McGovern being in goal for this one worries me. Cardiff have scored more goals from set-pieces than any other side in the league, so it's likely their attack will consist of dangerous deliveries into our box, particularly from corners and free-kicks, something that McGovern very rarely deals with convincingly.

Fair play to him, he has done considerably better than I thought he would, and that save at 0-0 against Blackburn was top drawer. From everything that comes out of the club it also sounds like he's great in the dressing room. But, particularly if we get promoted, we really need to upgrade him before next season. He's a decent shot-stopper, but his distribution is terrible, his presence in goal is practically non-existent and he just doesn't really inspire any confidence. It's not his fault he's not Tim Krul obviously, but it's no coincidence we haven't kept a single clean sheet in the 7 games he's been between the sticks. In the 7 games before Krul's injury we'd conceded a total of just 3 goals.

I do find it funny that they speculate we don't have a plan B if we were to hit a poor run, something which their manager definitely does. That's despite the fact that Farke has managed us over 100 times in this division, and literally guided us to the title 2 seasons ago with largely the same squad he has this time around. Jason Tindall's managerial experience consists of 20 games. Don't get me wrong, he's doing well so far, but we all know what happened to Neil Adams after a promising start here. Couldn't help but laugh at the idea of Begovic being the best goalkeeper in the league (and apparently Foster's the only one who's close). I assume that person just can't believe or accept that Netherlands' number 1 is playing in the Championship.