MATCHWATCH : Blackpool (h)

[RoyalBlue]

Happened in the 2nd half, near the Blackpool box, possibly for dissent? - ref wave card in the general direction of Smith and Blackpool captain (who deserved a card all match) then later noticed yellow showing against Smith on scoreboard.

Is it possible that scoreboard got it wrong? I now recall the incident and, whilst I was surprised at the time, the ref seemed to walk towards the Blackpool player waving the card.

No. https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/18273 ... -Blackpool

Just seen the club Twitter say Smith got booked for handball!

[Snowflake Royal]

That would get us to 46 points, which would probably see us go down. Add another 5 to that, and I'd be surprised if we'd go donw with 51 points.

There's no way this team is going to slide to picking up just 20 points from 27 games though. I think we've overacheived at home this season, but we are midtable team, at least.

However, a significant exodus of better players in January would tip the balance very strongly the other way, potentially by enough to cause a Bullivant style collapse. I don't expect that to happen though.

46 points has been enough for survival in all of the last 3 seasons. This isn’t the Championship.

So we're just going ignore the fact the no team with 46 points or fewer has stayed up since the 99/00 season* before that, because it suits your argument better?

* not counting the curtailed 2019/20 season

Recent history > ancient history.

Plus the requirement to stay up isn't matching 20th, its besting 21st.

[TiagoIlori]

Unfortunately a game where we were physically dominated. Referee didn’t do his job in addressing this which gave Blackpool the licence to exploit that. Felt we really struggled to deal with Ashley Fletcher’s physical presence too.

I don’t think it called for the reaction it got though. Arguably the toughest job in English football and Noel Hunt hasn’t really managed before, he deserves the time Sellés got here to figure out his system.

[tmesis]

46 points has been enough for survival in all of the last 3 seasons. This isn’t the Championship.

So we're just going ignore the fact the no team with 46 points or fewer has stayed up since the 99/00 season* before that, because it suits your argument better?

* not counting the curtailed 2019/20 season

Recent history > ancient history.

The entire rest of the 21st century is "ancient history"?

Wouldn't it be simpler and rather more dignified to just admit you didn't check back further than three years?

[morganb]

The other thing about yesterday is that the Blackpool manager is Steve Bruce. He's not exactly your classic League One manager and a tough one for Noel to be up against first. Blackpool are also one of those clubs that flits between Championship and League One so will be stronger than the majority of teams

[Clyde1998]

We never really looked like we knew what we were doing yesterday. Mbengue going off injured is concerning; hopefully nothing too serious. Crowd was unbelievably flat. Pereira made a couple of good saves to keep the score down.

All in all one of the worst home performances we've seen since relegation.

[RoyalBlue]

We never really looked like we knew what we were doing yesterday. Mbengue going off injured is concerning; hopefully nothing too serious. Crowd was unbelievably flat. Pereira made a couple of good saves to keep the score down.

All in all one of the worst home performances we've seen since relegation.

One of the few positives showing on the pitch yesterday is the way that Pereira is improving week by week. He is now starting to show something of the talent and form that presumably United were hoping to see when they signed him.

And yes, he had (and got away with) that crazy moment in the second half but then most great keepers tend to have a little bit of craziness in their makeup!

[Sutekh]

We never really looked like we knew what we were doing yesterday. Mbengue going off injured is concerning; hopefully nothing too serious. Crowd was unbelievably flat. Pereira made a couple of good saves to keep the score down.

All in all one of the worst home performances we've seen since relegation.

Think Mbengue might fall under the concussion protocol so may well miss the Lincoln game. No one seemed terribly sure after the match.

[Fezza]

Lino missed that their target man was always offside from a goal kick (happened every time).

You can’t be offside from a goal kick.

Or at any time when the ball is played back into field of play, having been played out? i.e. Goal kick, corner & throw in.

Ah, well that's me learnt!

[Snowflake Royal]

So we're just going ignore the fact the no team with 46 points or fewer has stayed up since the 99/00 season* before that, because it suits your argument better?

* not counting the curtailed 2019/20 season

Recent history > ancient history.

The entire rest of the 21st century is "ancient history"?

Wouldn't it be simpler and rather more dignified to just admit you didn't check back further than three years?

It's abundantly clear I looked at 3 years, because I said 3 years in my post. I'd hardly be looking at 7 and saying 3 would I!

46 would be enough (with GD on your side) in 4 of the last 5. And only 1 point off the 5th. Scaled up, 2019/20 would be 43.

This isn't a strong division, with the likes of Cambridge, Burton, Shrewsbury and Rovers all declining into relegation fights. Northampton maybe dipping, and Crawley struggling at a higher level.


It's just madness to start thinking about relegation after 1 poor performance. Hello Bolton, Stockport, Orient... look where we are after them. 6th with a game in hand on the team either side.

[hughsies no.1]

Taken a few days to let the performance sink in.

Massive overreaction imo.

I didn’t see hardly any/ if any differences in that first half performance vs a Selles side in terms of set-up, build up etc. Under Selles we played a lot of those long balls from defenders with the aim to win the second ball high up the field - which is where we get most our goals from.

IF Knibbs had scored that sitter it would have been a different game.

Then when they scored, they had the know-how to see it through.

Questions inevitably will be asked of Hunty’s managerial acumen but they’re all irrelevant questions as we all know he was the one we were going to get given our financial situation.

We’ve been massively punching all season, January will be a huge test.

But let’s keep the toys in the pram for now.