Jim Smith

That is the concern

Unfortunately the scum are going up. They’ve been handed it on a plate and won’t mess it up from here. The good news is that Leeds and Southampton are both eminently beatable and also huge bottlers. If we face either or both of them there is no excuse for sitting off and letting them play. Get in their faces, win the ball back and they are both iffy.

Agree with this. I think the way the VAR ref chooses the most damning replay then plays it on the screen to the on field official repeatedly in super slow mo has a huge influence and almost inevitably results in the on field official reversing his decision not just making it again with fresh eyes. All challenges look worse in super slow motion.

Yes I’d imagine they want to hear the discussion and for the third incident in particular it should have been clear and simple. The ref should be asked why he didn’t give the penalty and when he said (as apparently he signalled) that he thought the player got the ball VAR should have intervened to inform him that was not the case and therefore he should take another look at it on the monitor. If that process did not happen, something went badly wrong.

I don’t think he’s on the take but I do think he is unquestionably a really, really bad referee. I still haven’t forgotten how he screwed us over in that game at Elland Road during our last relegation. Rarely has a team of officials had such an influence on the flow of a game. As for the other post above querying why referees get a harder time than players, I agree that the on pitch officials will make errors from time to time and they can be excused the odd one but it’s a bit different when they are watching the game via video and have the benefit of endless replays surely?

I have some sympathy for Forest in the sense that we can all recall how immensely frustrating it was being screwed over by the officiating almost every week at prem level. That said it does happen to most of the smaller sides and they would also do well to remember the playoff final they won when Hudds were not given two blatant penalties and VAR did not intervene.

I disagree Sara is at his best coming in off the right. I think he’s isolated out there and we don’t get him on the ball enough

Agreed. But Wagner has a complete blind spot for the midfield or is willing to sacrifice it for the extra striker. If we get there it will be madness to go into the playoff away leg without the extra midfielder in my view.

Correction. They had to hit the deck to get the decision. He gave us very little. Thought he was very one sided.

A draw no disaster given other results and also the way the game played out but I have to say a very poor “back down to earth” performance today, particularly defensively. I just hope it was an off day but at no point did we seem to have our usual intensity and we hardly pressed and won the ball back up the pitch at all. To be fair I thought Bristol were impressive and looked a well coached and well drilled unit. Certainly better coached than us anyway. We have better players and the extra quality we have is enough most weeks but when we have an off day we are still far too easy to play through and we got away with such an off day today. Gunn immense. Thought Sara was decent as well, need to find a way to get him back central again (but without sacrificing Nunez) as he’s wasted out wide.

It was a bigger game for Preston than it was for us to be honest. I think 1500 for a game that far away at a ground we’ve been too loads is not bad. on the flip side, I think our turnout at Shef Wednesday was very impressive given it was a midweek game with no ability to get back on the train. Was well over 2000 in my view. A lot paying on the gate as well which suggests the victory over the scum may have had an impact.

Agree I thought we managed that second half today as well as we have managed any game away from home this season. Nice also to be able to bring some pace and attacking threat off the bench rather than the substitutions making us less threatening.

Except against us as we rolled up and rolled over with our awful tactics/performance.

What is the matter with these teams, handing promotion to that bang average Ipswich side on a plate. The sheer amount of luck the scum are getting. Another ridiculous result last night.

I’d rather play Aboh than Van Hooijdonk to be honest. The latter has shown zero threat in the cameos I’ve seen. Aboh has pace and offers a threat in behind. Wagner will play Barnes up front with Fassnacht behind though