Mason 47

I don't have the Bet365 app anymore but I'm sure there's a kindly soul around who could tell you the odds on that perfect weekend (I'd also love a Sheff W win at home v WBA, and if I'm being REALLY greedy, Birmingham to beat Huddersfield to pull Plymouth right into the relegation scrap. Which would also mean the last day for them, home to Hull, would have a lot more oomf)

In reply I would say: No idea. To paraphrase The Dude, it's just like, my opinion, man. But to make sure that doesn't come across as disingenuous, because I dont mean to be, Reyes was on the bench when Long was starting during Angus' injury. I dare say if Long had gotten injured he would have been the go-to (much like Barden in 2021 when Krul and Mick got injured). I will however say I didn't realise DB's Maidstone stint was last year so misrepresented the level they were at.

Then to me, the question is of consistency. If we are following the letter of the law, it must be for all laws, all the time. I look at the Arsenal/ Bayern debacle recently, in which the defender picked up a goal kick not knowing the keeper had restarted play. Many people applauded 'use of common sense' in not 'ruining the match' by awarding a penalty. But, the law is the law. Why was it not given? And how might one police such things in a consistent manner? The only solution would be every decision measured out by the Big Brother.

I agree. I've argued this point previously to a fair bit of resistance.

Reyes is someone we went to great lengths to recruit. Already involved with Chile u23s and has a loan to League 2 on his CV at 20. Barden's last meaningful contribution was 3 years ago (very unfortunately and in no way holding that against him) until a loan to the 6th tier a few months ago. Not saying the latter is crap, but not sure we would have bothered with Reyes if he wasn't at least as good an option as a 3rd choice with 20 competitive games by the age of 23? This is also mindful of having 2 senior keepers on the books already.

The issue with VAR is that VAR is now the de facto match official. I always thought it was meant to be a tool to help the on-pitch officials avoiding glaring errors; the on pitch crew are now just there to watch IMO. It was never meant to be forensic science.

Seems a slightly strange one with 2 senior keepers and presumably Reyes ahead of him. Would imagine that means McCracken and Mair will be seeking pastures new this summer to me.

Coventry win, for me. Gives Hull a reason to go at the Binners on Saturday, and Coventry then have them Tuesday- I'd like them to still imagine it might be possible by then, however slight. Strangely I don't see any way that we don't beat Swansea on Saturday which is where my theory might be a bit dodgy.

At least this puts away the old Cantwell-esque argument that 'he's got a long exotic name and isn't a local lad, so he'll be given unlimited chances'.

10 years ago, this would have been one of the greatest FA cup ties of all time. It's ended up just being the precursor to yet another Manchester v Manchester tie. Be still, my beating heart

Ugly decision. I completely believe the other way round the goal is given. The magic of The Decision We Wanted

Joke decision that is.

Hard to criticise him still, so few minutes. Fact of the matter is that Sargent is so important that if we need goals I think he had to stay on.

Bristol came in wanting a result and we came in hoping for it, IMO. We just looked a bit less determined. If you can't win, don't lose. Hopefully we are more focused for Swansea.

Hwang went out on loan again to Turkey, played in early Feb but seems this was too soon and re-injured the hamstring so has only played 3 games. I think it a combination of his fitness, Sargents return and the shadow of the legal stuff that brought us to cancel his deal.

Kenny McLean vs Barnsley on the final day of the season several years ago springs to mind as a cautionary tale. Halved by Helik in a nothing game, missed out on Scotland squad for the Euros as a result.

He does, more a comment on Hwangs age & experience. As quite a few have said about Idah, you'd expect him at, say, 29 to be much more capable AKA the Carlton Morris paradigm.

For questions of Idah v SvH, I've been trying to look at it in terms of 'would X have scored Y goal'. Concluded most likely that the latter would be at least on a similar sort of goal return, had he been here since the start instead. In terms of Hwang, I don't think Idah would have found the net as much with the exact same chances. Neither SvH, perhaps an argument for Sunderland A. Personally I think Hwang is clear of both, however, one should probably expect that from a 30+ international striker

In fairness, they've always been the loud ones. I've heard barely a peep from Ipswich supporting people in my circle since the derby until Plymouth beat Leicester and the 'Green Army!' gifs came flooding in

On the bright side however we have a 100% record against teams playing in brown. You have to focus on the positives sometimes.

Ipswich being in consecutive promotion races where their direct competition have chucked their form off a cliff during the run-in is very irritating.

We've played two games each in the green & purple kits I believe. WBA loss and Blackburn draw in the green, Rotherham and Watford losses in the purple. 1 point from 12 out of yellow doesn't bode especially well.

Speaking cynically, I think Knapper saw an opportunity to add some value onto Idah for a summer sale. I don't think the player much wants to be at Norwich and we're having to be 'creative' (to use a Webberism) to generate funds for what is likely a large-scale rebuild in summer. The SvH situation has me stumped though. I thought maybe he was a Hernandez-style signing, brought in 6 months early as we had an opportunity and he'd be settled by pre-season. But can he really be so bad currently that Wagner won't even risk half an hour at 2-0 up? Or Aboh, who though young, is probably a better fit for Sargents profile than putting Barnes up front for sufferball. The selection will be awfully telling today. FWIW I think it'll be Barnes and Sara in the forward positions.

I wasn't a fan of Hanley when he first came in, and I've always thought his injury in Farkes second season was pivotal in getting ball-players in the CB slots to help us play. An expensive blocker who happened to be captain. However, as time has gone on, I've been able to see his value. He's even improved his ability on the ball- not to a high standard but way above the level he joined- and could probably have left to sit on a PL bench a few years ago. When he got injured I said I didn't think he'd play any serious football for us again, given the nature of the injury and his age. I think that still holds- I think he will end up at a Hearts/ Hibs level team and see out the last few years of playing. Fact of the matter is he's probably 4th choice already and that won't improve unless the squad gets worse. A real shame but a great servant 👏

Interesting line from Connor's post-match- admittedly I'd only just clicked on so not sure on context, but he was saying how Wagner didn't want Forshaw or Placheta to leave and those were very much Knapper decisions. Certainly, it seems to be implied that Wagner doesn't trust the youth brigade or SvH enough at the moment, but I think it's a bit of a reach to be suggesting that Placheta would have been a genuine option instead. Much less Adam Forshaw who was only matchday fit every 20 games. I can't believe they're all of such poor calibre that there's no point even trying them.