Hank shoots Skyler

But I'm not talking about the result - I'm talking about fans whining about injuries

Are we really arguing with Coventry fans over who had the ****ter side available today? Proper 'my dad would knock your dad out' levels.

I guess it might feel a bit similar to Cov fans as it did to us last season when we beat Man City and all the media went on about was the centre backs who were injured for Man City - forgetting the fact that we had Amadou at CB and countless other injuries too! However, to be down to 12 senior players is ridiculous regardless of the experience / playing level of those players, any fan would be disheartened by that no matter what opposition they were up against. And on the basis of your OP, Man City or Liverpool fans should never complain about an injury crisis they are in because they've already got such good players... I just don't really think that's how it works - fans' feelings are tailored towards their own team, not the quality of the opposition!

I was under the impression that Farke had previously said he was a good lad and there wasn't an attitude issue - but I might be wrong! I also saw Farke had said that Drmic was out of contention as he hadn't been integrated / trained with the squad nor had he even met some of the new signings. So I understand the reluctance in just throwing him in - but maybe the exceptional circumstances should've overrode this? I thought perhaps that maybe he just didn't want to play anymore for us given Farke froze him out, but the fact he is sharing the above suggests to me that he would still like to play. Obviously it is easy for us to pass comment from the outside without knowing the ins and outs, but it would surely need to be something major in the background to justify his total absence when we are so desperate for someone to play the role that he can play in.

I get why we wanted to let him go over the summer, but does isolating him to quite this extent prove anything? Right now he is collecting dust as a footballer, which not only means the wages (still very high I imagine) we pay him are going completely down the drain, but also we stand to generate very little interest in the player from other clubs. Aren't we shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit with the overly stubborn nature of totally freezing the player out? Could we not have kept him at least at arm's length so we could use him in the event of an absolute catatrophe - like we are in now? If we actually played him he'd also be in the shop window for potential suitors. I really don't see how Drmic would be an inferior option to Stiepermann. Or at least a 70-minutes-into-a-game Stiepermann who could barely move beyond the centre circle!

I think the question we should ask is, would Farke do it differently if he could do it again? In my opinion Marco should’ve came off at least 20 mins before the end of the match. I’m not really following any case for keeping Marco on the pitch when he’s that knackered to he honest! And I also think if Farke could rewind back to the same point he would’ve changed it. Which suggests to me it was the incorrect decision. I would not have blamed him if he put on Dickson-Peters for Stiepermann and we still conceded. It’s highly unlikely that taking off a player who offered nothing out of possession would’ve made us defensively worse, whoever the replacement was!

I think looking back Farke will probably feel that he should've subbed Vrancic and Stiepermann who were basically traffic cones for the last 15-20 mins. I can't see much risk in swapping out players in the advanced positions who were knackered - at all. If he was playing football manager and in the habit of save scumming (replaying the game); on getting to the same point at 1-0 up, would he again decide to not make any substitutions - specifically in regards to those two players? I don't think so. IMO it was a mistake to not change things when the writing was on the wall. But its probably the first error he's made this season and his subs have been fantastic generally! That's it. I don't agree with any of the OTT criticism (I don't think he cowered / surrendered as canary dan suggested) but I don't see an issue with pointing out the error either. Still overall I think I would've taken a draw before the match, just always disappointing when it comes with a late equaliser to drop 2 points!

Yep I'm with you here, I can't see there have been much risk at all in swapping out those 2 earlier on, the tide of the game was turning against us big time and both Vrancic and Stiepermann were offering very little in terms of mobility.

I really don't see how it would be much of a risk getting Stiepermann off for one of the youngsters with 30 minutes to go, he had lost all energy and the team followed shortly after! A shame they equalised so late on but they probably deserved it.

But did we have any of these issues in the first two years under Farke? This is his fourth season in charge but only the second season where we have faced a significant injury crisis. Not really an indication of any real issue with the training. And haven't the majority of these injuries this season also been caused by comings together / unfortunate falls / twists etc? That suggests to me that it we indeed have been unfortunate. I also personally think Farke and the coaching staff are competent enough to not overtrain the players into injury, but there you go... Based on Liverpool's injury list would you question Jurgen Klopp's training methods too? Let's not forget as well that this is an unprecedented season of congestion too, aren't the number muscle injuries so far this season the most they have ever been or something? Hardly suprising, counting international games its been pretty much a game every 3 days!

I am a big Stiepermann fan but it is hard to argue with that, he doesn't half look incapable at playing football at times for all the good he does! I am a bit mythed how a player can thread perfect balls through to Pukki time after time, but can't seem to run forwards with the ball without booting it 4 yards out of his reach! Personally I think I'd rather we saw Stiepy in his normal position tomorrow - get one of the youngsters in up top instead. I find in the second half of matches that Marco has a tendency to lose nearly all of his mobility - and let's face it, he isn't exactly athletically blessed in the first place. I imagine he would be a defenders dream if he was leading the line for the whole game... or at least until they try to tackle him and realise his freakish dribbling style has inexplicably got himself through on goal.

I missed this part, to clarify: Maddison Played Goals Assists Champs season 17/18 44 14 8 Prem 18/19 36 7 7 Prem 19/20 31 6 3 Prem 20/21 8 1 2 Buendia P G A Champs season 18/19 38 8 12 Prem season 19/20 36 1 7 Champs season 20/21 10 2 5 Streaks ahead on goals? Yes definitely. Streaks ahead on assists? Not at all, Buendia shades it for me given he still managed 7 assists in a team that performed so terribly last season!

Good post chicken. You highlight a flaw in the key passing stat. I would agree with your comments to an extent, but I still don't really see how it takes away from Buendia too much. The stat may be flawed yes, but it also applies the same way for every other player in the champs too and Buendia still comes out literally off the scale. It doesn't really matter if a proportion of the passes are simple ones, the same can surely be said for his competitors! I also described Buendia as unpredictable, but that definitely doesn't mean I don't think he knows what he's doing. I just can't personally always predict what he is going to do when I watch him! And perhaps 'arrogance' was not the right word for Maddison. I was trying to say that he played with certainty and would nearly always make the right decision in possession. I think maybe 'efficient' would be a better description. I get the Hoolahan comparison but no chance is Buendia staying out of the premier league for any longer than this season. We just have to hope that we make it there with him. Agree with the rest of what you say though, Buendia does still show a flaw in trying to overplay it in the wrong spot sometimes - think as recently as the Stoke game he tried a nutmeg about 25 yards out from our goal versus Stoke when we were under pressure! And not to mention his overeagerness which has led to a few suspensions now.

Could be an entertaining game!!

Although isolating those 3 words does sound pretty idiotic I do think the point I made afterwards stands: Simply it doesn’t matter how tall or short he is, the fact remains that he is not at all comfortable coming to claim crosses!

Sorry sg, I think you have misunderstood what I was initially trying to say! I literally don't have any issue with anything you have posted here on Maradona and never felt you had disrepected him at all by saying he was a cheat or saying you felt he wasn't quite up there with other 'great' players. And none of what I have written in this thread has been specifically aimed at you. I merely responded to you after you said my initial post was 'non-sensical'. Which part of my initial post did you find so non-sensical, incidentally? Please read the thread back - I clearly mentioned 'respect' in response to Daisy's initial comment which showed a strong degree of illfeeling and a lack of respect towards Maradona during the time of his unfortunate death. I agree with you - I don't think the cheating should be glossed over as if it never happened! My issue is with people showing they are still upset about the cheating to the point where they refuse to respect his actual death. I also take issue with the Peter Shilton article which reads extremely poorly IMO.

Stiepermann upfront 😐

Yep the fact even the Daily Mail readers are piling on and having a pop at Shilton says it all! Just a shame Maradona isn't around to read it - think it'd have given him a good laugh. Also saw this on Twitter yesterday and thought it was rather amusing:

Yeah I'd agree with that. I was going to add a note in my last post on how I felt like I enjoy watching Buendia more than Maddison - regardless of who would edge it as a better player overall - and I think that's probably what it possibly boils down to. Maddison plays with an arrogance (in a good way) but Buendia plays with joy and unpredictability. Maddison would often do things very well but it was usually the 'good' thing you would expect him to do (i.e. the best through ball option, working space for a shot). Whereas Buendia will often show flashes of brilliance which are just out of this world and make you go WOW - that back heel versus Hull was one of those moments for sure. But as you say there's been a few times this season where he's plucked the ball out of the sky with ridiculous skill, or retained possession in a seemingly impossible position. I feel we are extremely fortunate to get to watch him for another season - hopefully we can keep him in Jan and get promoted so we can get at least another one!

I don't think one transfer window during a global pandemic is that decisive on the topic to be honest. Perhaps it was his temperament that put him off the big clubs, but more fool them IMO. When you look at his stats for key passes this season in the champs - its very obvious he should not be playing in this league. He is a statistical outlier amongst the other players already - not to mention he's missed about a quarter of our games! Hell even his stats for key passes were still up there with the best creative midfielders in the prem last season! Maddison is clearly the better goalscorer (I'd agree in a different league in this regard) - but when it comes to creating for other team members Buendia edges it for me (this is pretty natural as he doesn't look to shoot anywhere near as much as Maddison). If we swapped out Maddison for Buendia in this side and replayed the season what do you think we'd see from him? I think he'd have bagged a few more goals, certainly - but I also think the creativity for other players would fall a notch or two short of Buendia. Either way, do you really think we'd see stats which show Maddison as 'not remotely close to Buendia' / 'not in the same league'. That to me feels a bit OTT!

Yep that's what came across very clearly in the Shilton article and from posters such as you. Did you read the article? What else would you call it? I mean he didn't kill anyone did he? I think I would be coping just fine if I did experience it but thanks for your concern - I certainly hope you get over your terrible trauma soon.

It was definitely a great team effort, but we certainly struggled in the matches where Buendia wasn't playing overall. I don't think citing one game changes that too much. We certainly would've struggled just as much if we'd have lost Pukki up top too! I also recall us having to play West Brom away without Steipermann and fans were worried how we would cope without him. So yeah, a team effort and plenty of players contributed, but that does not mean we weren't without standout performers. Pukki of course the most - but Buendia would surely have to be a close second. I think this season so far Buendia has been at the heart of nearly everything great we've done - and he's not even been firing on all cylinders in half the games!

Yep again you are doing Buendia a disservice here IMO. You may favour Maddison, that's fine - I just think its a much tough call between the two. The stats show both players were /are head and shoulders the most creative players we had in the team. A case can be made for both players. Regardless of who we'd favour, I just don't think Maddison is out of Buendia's league like you appear to be suggesting here? Both players are exceptional IMO, Buendia would also excel in a team such as Leicester's.

How on earth would I not understand? I don't lack basic human empathy. You can still be bitter about it but that is no excuse to disrespect a human being who has sadly died. The facft is this is sport, it was 35 years ago, plenty of players cheat in football. Our players cheat, the English players specifically in that match tried to injury him out of the game. That is cheating. All of this saltiness just shows a lack of class way worse than any hand of god act from Maradona.

Right , yes, it is nonsensical to respect a man who has just died and not disrespect his death over an incident of cheating that happened 35 years ago. Interesting!