The make-up woman did Zola and Jim Rosenthal's hair before the cameras rolled and Barnes called her back to do his, before killing himself laughing.
Incompetence of the highest order to let the season start with Munoz in charge. The difference between the team he put out, and what we see under Ranieri basically can’t be quantified. That said, performances brimming with attacking intent and menace are worth nothing if we don’t stop the opposition scoring. Plaudits are nice, but points are the only thing that can keep us up, and again, we’ve come away with nothing.
Brilliant performances from Dennis, Sissoko , kiko, clevs, louza, jp and king. ok from Rose Cathcart and Bachman {don't think 2nd goal down to him} hit hard and fast from close range. WTF ok by his standards but lack of awareness played them on for 1st goal. Surely Kabba must be ready soon. Enjoying going to football under CR70 tenure. Spoke to Chelsea fan after game, he said we deserved to win and was v impressed with us in general with special praise to Dennis and Kiko.
Yeah everyone around me said "Christ he looks old" when I said who it was. I only recognised him from his nose. A quick Google tells me his son plays one of the lads from Friday Night Dinner.
I wonder if this is why we're picking up so many injuries. Our pre-season did not prepare the players for the level of intensity Ranieri is demanding and the result is muscles twanging all through the squad.
I agreed with the Pozzos' managerial change, but I still thought any new manager coming in would really struggle to keep us up with the squad at their disposal. It still seems like a difficult task, but I must admit to being positively shocked by the extent to which Ranieri has managed to improve our general performance levels. If we can continue to keep up such performances, certainly at home at least, then we should have a good chance of staying up. One slight concern from yesterday is that the players seemed pretty despondent at the final whistle - they gave so much effort and came close to getting a deserved point, only to again end up with nothing. If anything such defeats can be even more demoralising then being comfortably beaten such as against Liverpool where the players leave the pitch knowing they'd have never had a chance. The key thing for Claudio will be keeping everyone believing, even after games such as this, of which there will still be more similar to come.
Yes, the chances fell to them because our more competent finishers were either creating the chance (Dennis for Sissoko & JP for Cleverley) or were, you know, actually being closely marked; novel idea, I know. The most disappointing miss was Sissoko's; any kind of contact results in a goal.
Ah, yes, but the correct way of doing it is to walk in a straight line then breathe in through the nose. Take a look at how Kate does it.
That was a fantastic, valiant performance given our current situation. Ranieri has got us playing with commitment which is great to see. Sissoko was monsterous in the middle and Pedro looked a class above too. That’s the first time I have ever seen a top 4 team time waste against us, usually that sort of behaviour is reserved for the likes of Burnley!
He did not have a good game. Marginally better than his previous effort granted but only because it was literally impossible to be worse. He was still less than average. Some of our fanbase seem to have such a low bar for acceptable ability when it comes to our defenders. (Not suggesting you individually)
I’d absolutely love us to buy a genuine quality CB with positional awareness and ability on the ball. Largely because we need one - but also because some of our fans would at last see what an actual decent one plays like and finally raise the level of what they find acceptable! We are at a point where Cathcart and/or WTE are chucking in 2/10 efforts - so when they occasionally raise themselves to a 4/10 performance, it’s seen as having a good game.
What doesn't help is the weak mindset of the current generation of players, any small twinge seems to see them out for a few weeks before embarking on a few weeks of integration ahead of a staggered comeback over a few more weeks.
Not at all. I just don’t think any game of football is a ‘free hit’ unless you can’t go up or down the table. We are a team expecting to fight against relegation - goal difference is very much in play. Personal opinion but I just don’t think any game is a ‘free-hit’ really and it always raises an eyebrow/smirk when the phrase is used. (None of the above is meant personally! I find it as humorous as when @RS2 calls a horrific piece of sportswear ‘lush’ or ‘sexy’.)
