Gentleman

"ha ha last picks on the playground running football ?"

It's more the patterns of foolish behaviour from Brown. You've used the perfect description of his tackling style with 'untidy'. If you compare the going to ground tackling styles of Brown, Jones and Kelly you'll see how controlled the latter two's can be (saying that though, Jones had one or two bizarre attempts at winning the ball as legs tired yesterday). The untidy aspects of his game (lack of subtlety in the dark arts of defending) give the referee a decision to make. At a game I'll get behind any player but having seen it again the next day, it seems like a tackle that could've been avoided by not going to ground has led to a refereeing decision, that has made it significantly harder to get a result. That is why people have used terms like "accident waiting to happen" and "walking red card".

It has to be a strong, committed tackle at the correct time though. He often throws himself into tackles when a more mindful player would stay on his feet to win it and come away with the ball. Ignoring Reid's playacting, watch the tackle again yesterday. It's the middle of the park. If Brown shows a bit of composure there and stays on his feet, we turn them around and break with the ball. He jumps in which means if we don't win that second ball, we've a gap down our right hand side and are playing catch up. If he plays again, watch how often he gets drawn into attempting a tackle rather than protecting his space and picking his moment. It's the kind of thing you can accept if he offered an attacking threat or something greater to the team but if anything, this flaw is seen by some as his redeeming feature!

Aye. To be fair, Winny looks knackered at kick off.

Plenty of bluster but no quality today from him.

Agreed about Murphy, it's just a case of him being the one of the front two that offers for the ball in front of the back four and behind. Once he went off there was a wealth of space in the "number 10" position that no one drove or dropped into. If we were going to score it would've been a set piece. And being Bradford, that was unlikely to happen. As for the tackle, why go to ground there? I apologise if I've seen it wrong, but I imagine the replays will show its recklessness.

That's not to say that Murphy did much...

That was the most blatant red card I've ever seen. Middle of the pitch, three latics players close to Reid and Connor lunges unnecessarily with both feet in the air. The lad was a walking red card from the second he came on; constantly antagonising but rarely focusing on his job. None the less, we were much more organised defensively, with Brian Wilson talking Dieng through the game (as a back three) and Dummigan/Lafferty dropping when needed. We tried to keep hold of the ball but it rarely stuck up top when needed and once Murphy went off we became very one dimensional.

Even if he can't move he'll add a bit of composure and certainly won't shy away from offering an option to our back four.

Having spent the previous season dragging us across the line, it's no surprise his body had taken a significant hit. To think we'd released him at the start of that year as well!

Was this in Dickov's first season?

Kieran Lee looking very composed against Flamini and Arsenal. Sheffield Wednesday currently 2-0 up.

It could have been so much different for Shez if he'd got the Yantorno deal through.

Best of luck for the future to him. A nice guy out of his depth having been given a job too soon. There's certainly no animosity to him from me.

I can understand the worries regarding his weight but I think as someone that knows the level and the club he could prove a good edition for a manager in his first year.

Best of luck to him.

Brandy has done a lot for our club on previous football manager saves.

A home for the unloved.

I've heard very good things.

I completely agree.

Thought he did okay. The direction he parries is what upsets me as having got to the ball, it is sent back into traffic far too much. Was punished at MK but got away with it today. Cracking penalty save, mind.

Certainly didn't carry towards the RRE of the main stand.

Given his stature, I was pleasantly surprised at the flick-ons he won and the way he carried himself. It'll be interesting to see how he develops/stagnates here. (Tiny victories)

The ginger Mark Van Bommel

I thought he was very assured and kicked well.