Jim Smith

To be honest from what I’ve seen of him he looks pretty average. Certainly not a game changer. He’s played a few tidy enough passses but doesn’t seem particularly strong, good in the air or quick. I would pass on him in the summer if we can.

Agree. And we play the ball out better also

What we should have done is press them, win the ball back up the pitch. Not just let them knock it around. Get on the ball and give them a threat to worry about. With the run they have been on they would have been twitchy as hell if we’d gone at them. Not kamikaze but just with intensity and intent.

The worry is there is very little tactical astuteness when we go defensive. He just sticks everyone behind the ball. No evidence of a press

Most of our recent away performances have been very poor

A stark reminder of how had tactically Wagner is. He does not have a clue how to set us up effectively away from home. Sitting deep and passing it around slowly at the back is a recipe for disaster. We can only play at high intensity.

That is not saying much because defensively Gibson is hopeless.

I think Gibson is as bad as Sorensen to be honest. He’s good at passing the ball out but he consistently gets dragged towards the ball when crosses come in. Quite what he was doing for the chance they had late on in the game I don’t know. Just ran away from their player leaving him completely free and an easy through ball. it’s telling that Kenny remains by far our most convincing CB this season.

The point is that despite dominating we still give teams like that good chances.

Don’t get me wrong, great run of results and some good displays but am I the only one who is alarmed at how awful we still look defensively at times. Plymouth could have had three or four today despite having very little territory or possession . Not one of our defenders can actually mark properly or track runners. I guess the next two games will be the acid test but can we really sustain a promotion/playoff push with such poor defensive discipline?

Our centre backs remain horrifically bad. That may cost us if we play on the front foot. We have better players in the front 6.

They don’t. They are incredibly spawny but with confidence and momentum. If they don’t get up this year they finish mid table at best next season

Of course the shame is that if we win there we help out the scum. Obviously we want to win but shame there is that down side

Huge win that. Iffy performance at times. I worry about how bad the back four look at times. Better sides wound have punished us at times today. Gibson gets dragged to the ball far too easily. Shame it’s shaping up to be a good day results wise for the scum but the main thing is we won our winnable home game to give us some sort of cushion.

Perversely we could do with the others retaining a sniff though as hull, Cov and Boro all play the scummers and we could do with at least one of them taking some points off them.

It concerns me that we really need to beat or not lose to Leicester but should we do so we really help them out. We need Southampton to rediscover their form and beat them next week.

I think it was racist due to the application of a negative stereotype and I’m afraid little birdie he did specifically pick out pretty much all the higher profile young, black players who have come through our academy so I don’t buy the line about him making a random selection of players who just all happened to be black as there are a lot of black footballers. I do, however, believe that intent and context are important when it comes to culpability. I don’t think individuals should be “cancelled” or hounded endlessly just because they make a comment that may be unconsciously racist but where they had zero intent to offend or insult anyone. People say stupid things. The world is a bit of a minefield these days with the scrutiny put on press interviews and public statements etc. I don’t like the bloke at all and Webber was wrong to say what he did was wrong and it was racist but if he’s apologised and learnt from it then everyone should probably just move on. Ultimately he’s destroyed his own job prospects for the foreseeable future which is probably punishment enough!

Thought we were good other than the errors for the goals. Our attacking and midfield options are frightening. Mainoo and Toney both huge positives from tonight. The latter now Kane replacement if he gets injured. the worry remains the defence. They all have errors in them. We may have to just accept that and back ourselves to out score sides.

Sorry but I can’t agree. I do have a degree of sympathy for what Lakey is arguing. I can see what Webber was trying to get at in terms of football having the beneficial effect of giving some kids (whatever their race) from underprivileged urban areas a focus, a route to a career and it keeping them off the streets where they might otherwise fall into the wrong company . albeit he did it in a way that was clumsy at best and yes did up being racist, albeit possibly unconscious bias type racism rather than anything with intent. In my view the absence of intent when people say things is important in terms of culpability albeit it doesn’t mean it’s not a racist comment or removes culpability entirely. However you seem to be saying that he made these comments and they weren’t racist because he knew the specific players backgrounds or characters which is possibly even more offensive to them and their families and doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny based on what we know about several of them?

I agree re Knapper and Webber. I do think Knapper could have said something publically earlier during our bad spell but in the end he was saved/perhaps fortunate that our upturn saved the day. At board/executive level I do think there is a vacuum in terms of someone being the public face of the club which has probably not been filled since Kensell left. I still think we could do with a chairman or someone of the Munby ilk. It doesn’t seem to be Zoe’s natural style.

I’m not sure how active his charity really is yet. There’s not much evidence of activity in its website other than his climb and the podcasts. No mention of any programmes or grants they are running/offering yet. Personally, im surprised more eyebrows were not raised at the time when the two most senior executive employees at the club set up their own foundation, whilst in full time employ of the club and with more or less the same objectives and aspirations as the clubs own charitable foundation of which Zoe is a trustee. He could easily just have raised money through his climb for the CSF but perhaps that doesn’t set up their foundation for the future for them.

She switched back to Webber I think a little while ago. who knows why she did so although a cynic might come up with a few reasons

Not sure that’s really the case. Stuart will know he’s screwed up. He will also know how football and PR works. Absolutely no reason why a suitably worded statement cannot be put out even if its a bit embarrassing for him.

I agree and we obviously can’t blame her for his stupid comments. That said, it’s moments like this that call for leadership (and others in recent times) that beg the question as to whether another executive employee or perhaps chairperson is needed at the club both for corporate governance but also for the public facing elements of the role. Rightly or wrongly I very much get the impression that Zoe is more used to and comfortable operating behind the scenes.

This is what a vacuum of corporate governance gets you. Webber has been handed free rein to do snd say as he likes for years, despite his penchant for saying stupid things. It seems even when working his notice he’s got free rein to give interviews etc. the person who should be overseeing him/keeping the reigns on things is his wife who now effectively needs to slap him down in public to protect the clubs reputation. There is nobody else employed at the club who can do that. This highlights exactly the issue that Delia and Michael scoffed at when asked by Conor at the AGM.