Sciatika

I'm giving up on this. Two ex-Liverpool players, Natasha Dowie and Lindsay Johnson, are co-commentators who refer to Liverpool as "we." It's a small thing but ...

Aggie, Aggie, Aggie - Oi, Oi, Oi

Back to the WSL tonight at seven. Chelsea away to Liverpool. Chelsea XI: Hampton, Lawrence, Bright, Carter, Charles, Cuthbert, Nusken, Rytting Kaneryd, Kirby, Beever-Jones, Macario. Subs: Musovic, Cox, Ingle, Reiten, Perisset, Mjelde, Hamano, Buchanan, Bjorn. Liverpool XI: Micah, Koivisto, Fisk, Bonner, Clark, Hinds, Nagano, Holland, Hobinger, Enderby, Roman Haug. Subs: Spencer, Matthews, Bo Kearns, Kiernan, Lawley, Daniels, Chadwick, Leath. BBC has Chelsea in a 4-3-3, but I think it's a 4-2-3-1 with Nusken and Cuthbert in midfield, Rytting Kaneryd, Kirby, and Beever-Jones in the three and Macario up front. It's good to see Millie back. Given how Erin and Nusken like to get forward, it's a very attacking lineup.

Great lies of our time: FFP is about making football fairer VAR is about making football fairer PGMOL and professional refereeing is about making football fairer.

You'd think they have learnt about it from the 1-4 against Spurs.

They need VAR to make sure the outcomes are tight and ensure revenues at the end of the season

I'm feeling optimistic today since my team won at 5-a-side last night. So, I will take the risk of posting something oddly positive about this game. This is a table of points dropped in the last 'n' games. Last 'n' Games CFC Spurs 5 8 7 10 17 16 15 26 24 20 32 34 25 37 40 30 45 53 33 48 60 If Spurs had not had such a good start to the season, they would be roughly where we are or below.

As a replacement for Mudryk? I am assuming sell one to buy one policy, so someone would have to go.

The groin operation was for an inguinal hernia. The medical staff tried to treat it without surgery. It would have been very painful, and, no doubt, the pain would slow him down. Hopefully, the surgery will fix the problem. I'd post the pictures of what this looks like, but given the location, it's a bit rude.

After Mount's reception in the 4-3, I doubt he will want to return.

If the fans can make it emotional, Spurs will fall apart. Will they do that before our players do, is another thing.

At the start of the season, I decided to give Poch a whole season and then see how we are. I'll stick to that. I was a little encouraged at Villa seeing him increasingly animated on the touchline and coaching the players during the course of the game. We came out better in the second half than the first, which was novel. Still no quick start, though. I am not convinced by his use of Cucurella as an auxiliary midfielder, but at least I could see what he was trying to do. I'd like to say his subs worked, but he only brought on Casadei for Mudryk, along with Disasi for the injured Thiago in the 90th. But apart from that, he only had U21s (Daevid Washington, Alfie Gilchrist, Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George, and Kiano Dyer) and a couple of spare GKs. We had more stupid bookings at the end. He really needs to get control of that. Also, I wonder if the manager is the most important problem we have, though that does not rule out parting ways. Looking at the table, I noticed that there seemed to be two kinds of defences. Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool have conceded around 30 goals and the rest with fifty or more. I suppose we are not the worst, but I think that's a worry. It's a clear indication that if we want to do better, we need to tighten up a lot more. Thiago leaving won't help. Put another way, it's a very weak league. If we can sort out the defence, the squad is probably a top-six one. BSA might be available for a short-term position 😦. If we could do that and add a more reliable goalscorer, we might get into the top four. Is Nkunku the man? It's impossible to know, he had barely been fit. However, Man Utd and the Geordies will be stronger next year. I suspect all this is true with or without Poch. My real worry is that the owners will replace Poch with a fashionable manager with a limited track record outside (or within) the PL. Worse, someone the MOTD pundits think has performed well. I think that's a mistake.

I think it might be time to move on.

One moment. I seem to have got some grit in my eyes. POTY 2023.

I am always impressed by John McGinn. He's the kind of player you'd love to have on your own side and hate to play against.

Bonmati waving an imaginary card.

Having a few Spuds sent off for wild challenges in today's NLD would help.

Happy Demba Ba Day everyone.

I would expect a lot of rotation, so sometimes that might happen, at least briefly.

Aitana, "the best player in the world,"™ Bonmati, waving an imaginary card in the face of the ref. Later, she requests a stretcher because she can't walk off, and when she reaches the touchline, she runs to shake hands with the player coming on.

UEFA ref sends off Chelsea player shock. Bunch of cheats.

I am probably a bit late, but for those attending the game, don't forget to bring your boots.

I was thinking yesterday about some posts from a few years back. I can remember quite a few people, myself included, saying that we would accept two or three years adrift as the price to pay to bring through some of our young players. I still feel that way, to a degree. I hadn't realised how much top-level clubs rely on experienced players to teach the mentality needed to convert losses into draws and draws into wins.

Over Land and Sea (and Leicester) next season.

In truth, I have no idea, but I think it has to do with the nature of elite sport and players being permanently on the edge of breakdown. Pat Nevin used to talk about this. In every game, they carry minor injuries. Mostly, that's OK. Sometimes, they have corticosteroid injections as an anti-inflammatory and sometimes painkillers. However, sometimes, they flip over the border into injury. Sometimes, that means surgery; sometimes, they just need to rest and recuperate. Anyway, from a club perspective, this is usually fine because the squads are large enough to accommodate injuries (unless you are over-dependent on a few players). Even so, all players need a break from time to time. However, if you choose to limit rest and recuperation by, say, playing across the Summer without a break, then you can get into a situation where the squads can no longer cope, and then you get into a kind of chaotic system with increasing numbers succumbing to injuries. I think this has happened in the prem this season. To some degree, it's the players. They love playing football. Injuries are frustrating. Also, they know being in a squad is competitive and important for their careers. They want to play for their clubs AND countries. This problem is exacerbated by heavy training programmes causing injuries. Many players enjoy extreme training regimes because it makes them feel fitter (e.g. Sterling's comments at the beginning of the season), but it's risky. Travelling also does not help; for women, natural cycles may also be an issue. Also, there is a temptation to defer surgeries (e.g., Enzo, James). In the end, there is huge pressure to succeed from all sides. Organisations such as FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the PL, sponsors, and media organisations are financially dependent on an increasing number of games. They keep inventing new competitions. Equally, clubs and international teams need success for financial reasons. They need commercial success so they organise more tours and commercial activities to engage in. They resist reductions in fixtures. Even fans demand success, naturally. And players are their own worst enemy. They want to return quickly if, for nothing else, to justify their fees. That happens when the dominant narrative is their transfer fee. I bet lots pretend to be fit when they aren't. So pressure is put on the coaches and medical staff to get players fit quicker than is sensible or to pass them fit when it's marginal. Players train too early and get injured during recovery or soon after returning. Sometimes that have the same injury and sometimes they overcompensate to protect an ongoing injury and injure something else. Now you have to overuse the rest of the squad to compensate. I don't think any of this is special to us except maybe having an over-demanding training regime (if that's true) and having very young players who are more susceptible to injury.