RAW Review: 30th November

Hello! Well, we're here in December now. We're getting into the Festive Spirit, and with last night's RAW- December's definitely going to be an interesting month. Last Night's RAW was just bizarre, it entertained me in it's stupidity for the most part. Which, I suppose is better than complete indifference- which has been the case for the most part over the last few Months. Last Night sparked a minor meltdown for me on Twitter. There was a point where it just broke me, and in turn it just sent me into hysterics. Anyway, let's do this thing.

Sheamus' WWE Title Celebration
This pretty much set the tone for the entire Episode. It was just really, really wacky. New Day are amazing, I know that's not a very popular opinion- but they are. The individual New Day part of this Segment was great, as is the case with 99% of New Day segments. Once Sheamus came out, it was just went wacky. It's definitely nice to see a member of New Day win the WWE Title, but Sheamus wouldn't have been my first choice for that. Sheamus getting "jiggy" was definitely a thing that happened. I was actually entertained by this segment, almost in spite of itself. I have no idea if I was just in a weird "I don't give a single fuck" mood last night, but I ended up enjoying it. The only thing I wish they'd have done differently would have been to time the Superman Punch on Sheamus with an Explosion. I don't know if they were trying to do it with one going off about 2 Seconds after, but I think that would have been quite cool either way. I think it's a pretty safe bet that the reason we got this Celebration with a tonne of Confetti and Pyro was because the WWE don't know how to reallocate Brad Maddox's wages. Pricks.

The Authority & The Reigniacs Backstage Promo
I didn't mind this Segment, but it was annoying in a way. I don't know why the insist on Reigns being a bit of a twat as the "#1" Babyface. I know they want to make it come off as him being a "badass", but it just doesn't really work when he can't pull it off.

Dolph Ziggler v Tyler Breeze
This whole Tyler Breeze call-up is going well, isn't it? Tyler Breeze has been pinned 3 Matches in a Row now, in short he's dead already. I wasn't expecting Tyler Breeze to be fast-tracked into the Main Event, in fact I had my doubts over his gimmick translating onto the Main Roster. With that in mind, even I can't believe how much and how quickly they've managed to fuck him over. It's actually quite impressive that they have such an aversion to sane booking decisions. What does Dolph Ziggler, former World Heavyweight Champion have to gain by beating Tyler Breeze who couldn't even win at a single Takeover? Worst of all, SUMMER FUCKING RAE STILL HASN'T GOTTEN SOME FUCKING BOOT TASSELS. THEY DON'T EVEN COLOUR COORDINATE!

Miz TV w/ Rusev & Lana
I didn't mind this segment, but it was a bit moot knowing what's coming pretty soon from my point of view. The stuff about Lana having "nuclear heat" may be wrong, it's all speculation at the end of the day, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. With that in mind, I think it's a pretty safe bet that Lana's going to be getting humiliated for the foreseeable future. The Rusev/Lana pairing always has something about it, but it's going to take a while to properly rebuild it, of which I don't think they'll get.

Ryback v Rusev
This match wasn't much, but it wasn't meant to be. I'm assuming this leads up to a PPV match where Ryback shows concern for Lana in a similar circumstance and Rusev takes advantage.

Triple H & Dean Ambrose Backstage
I quite liked this segment, but not necessarily because of the content of the segment. I know that doesn't really make sense, and I've got a tendency for an over-active imagination at times- but the potential angle I see from the stuff that happened last night is definitely interesting to me.

Chances are they won't do it, but if I were booking I'd be going 1 of 2 ways. Either, The Authority alienate Reigns from all of the other Reigniacs and then keeping fucking him over- leading to Reigns having to choose between being a "valiant loser" or a "Corporate" Champion. Of course he'd choose being a Champion. Then the other way they could go is Reigns let's Ambrose down, and Ambrose gets pissed with always being the "Second Banana" to Reigns and getting fucked over and turns on him. I'd be happy with either of those, which means we'll get neither.

The Dudleys return from IKEA
I liked this segment, because for (to my best knowledge) the first time we actually got a proper Dudleys Promo segment. Surprisingly, they were in fact quite good. It really is too late for The Dudleys, even with what happened tonight. Too much of the polish has been taken off them, after the TLC match I think it's best they get taken off TV until the Night after Mania. Where they can ride the "massive pop" wave into a proper run where they're used well. The Wyatts stuff was all good, and then we got Dreamer's Return. I won't say it annoyed me, because it didn't and I'm not a liar. With that said, I was expecting Spike. I was expecting Spike, or to get two "new" Dudleys. That's something I've been wanting for a while. The idea that we don't know how many Dudleys there are can mean we get "new" Dudleys showing up at any time.

The Wyatts (Rowan, Strowman & Harper) v The Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer
Again, this match wasn't much- but I'm not sure it was meant to be much. I was pitching the idea of The Dudleys getting involved with Taker & Kane for Survivor Series with it being The Wyatts as the "new breed" sort of thing. It appears they listened to that up to a point, after fucking Survivor Series. More later.

Alberto Del Rio v Goldust
Goldust is already back to his Jobber ways. I'm not saying I was expecting Goldust to go after Sheamus, but I at least thought they'd be teasing Goldust v Stardust by building it up a bit again. I'm literally asking for disappointment on that front. Oh Yeah, I still hate the Del Rio Corner Stomp as a Finish.

Becky Lynch & Charlotte Backstage
The sound for this segment was horrendous, so I may well be wrong in saying this. With that said, I could have sworn Charlotte agreed to the match on the understanding that Ric got to "share" Becky's room with her. Give Divas a Chance, guys.

The Lucha Dragons v The Usos- #1 Contender Match
It might have been just because I was in a weird mood, but I genuinely thought we'd just get a clean winner (The Usos) in this match. I don't know why I did when all the signs have been toward a Triple Threat Tag Title match at TLC- but hey. The match was fine, I can't really say I was paying much attention to it. New Day are amazing, and I legitimately wouldn't mind them on Commentary full-time. There's not such a thing as too much New Day at the moment, which is obviously what Vince has realised as well.

Stephanie, The Lucha Dragons & The Usos Backstage
See my Dean Ambrose stuff with regard to The Usos and the angle with Roman. I hope they go all in and give these 3 Teams the TLC Stipulation when they actually announce the match. All 3 Teams can do crazy shit, so have said crazy shit at the top of a Ladder- and it's all going to be money.

Sasha Banks v Brie Bella
With my detective hat on, I'm fairly sure Brie was the Babyface here. I'll admit I zoned out for this match, but I'm pretty sure that as a Babyface- Brie didn't do the Daniel Bryan Kicks. Stupid. The match was about as good as we realistically could have hoped for, I was more fascinated by Alicia Fox's Hair in all honesty. With that said, Sasha Banks won as a result of Team BAD doing BAD things. It can really be that simple.

Roman Reigns v Sheamus- WWE Title
I liked this "match" up until the finish of said match. I think it's called "clock management" in American Football, but in actual Football it's just called time-wasting. That was what Sheamus was doing, and I loved it. Up until other people needed to get involved, I was loving the way they handled the match. Sheamus didn't "need" to win, so he didn't go out and try to win. Sheamus went out and "played" about as defensive as possible. As I said, that was up to the point where Sheamus needed the soon to be christened "League of Nations" to intervene- putting over the fact Sheamus can't last 5 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Roman Reigns.

The "League of Nations" reveal was definitely interesting. I'm genuinely wondering if the Survivor Series plan before the shit hit the fan was to bring together the "League of Nations" and have them face Ambrose, The Usos and Orton at Survivor Series. This is the thing I can't get my head around, the WWE have built a pretty solid Survivor Series- after Survivor Series. I know the Survivor Series plans were completely fucked by the Rollins injury, but surely they haven't just decided slightly re-worked their plans for Survivor Series to build up TLC. That's a new level of laziness.

Charlotte v Becky Lynch
This match was weird, primarily the in-ring action was quite good. There wasn't much in-terms of actual investment in the Characters, but the wrestling was good. I was expecting Becky to turn on Charlotte and align with Paige. Ya Know, seeing as "Foreigner Factions" are a thing again. I mean, fuck have Becky & Paige join the League of Nations. What we got instead was weird, but definitely something I'm interested in. Charlotte morphing into the "Dirtiest Player in the Game" sort of thing could definitely work. With that said, and knowing how the Divas have been booked I don't have high hopes for it all.

This was around the time I just completely lost and it was just hysterically laughing, at what I don't really know.

Becky, Charlotte & Paige Backstage
I like the idea that Charlotte will do "what's necessary" to win, and it opens up the potential of either turning on the other. But, with Paige waiting in the wings it's more along the lines of Becky being the Sting to Charlotte's WCW and Paige's nWo.

"The Rosebush" 
Here we saw the first Episode of "The Rosebush with Adam Rose". Here, we also saw he last Episode of "The Rosebush with Adam Rose". I know I don't do Smackdown Reviews, but I feel like I had to bring this up after Last Weeks. ADAM ROSE SKINNED THE FUCKING BUNNY! IT HAPPENED GUYS, #KRUGAH. 

Stardust & Titus in the 5th Dimension
THE ASCENSION ARE THE SHITTEST HENCHMEN IN FUCKING HISTORY. THEY LET TITUS INTO THE 5TH DIMENSION LAST WEEK, SO RATHER THAN BE MORE ON GUARD- TITUS SOMEHOW GOT IN AGAIN! It was just amazing, either The Ascension are shit or Titus is a 300lb Ninja.

The League of Nations & New Day v The Reigniacs
Firstly, I'm not sure if Kofi qualified for the League of Nations as a Jamaican or a Ghanaian. If we can get a definitive answer on that I'd appreciate it. This match wasn't the best, there was just too much going on. The match was designed to look as though it was overwhelming The Reigniacs, and in the process it overwhelmed the viewer. There were just too many moving parts at any given time. The one thing that did annoy me was the fact Roman Reigns, the Head Reigniac was the one taking all the heat- leaving the Hot-Tag to Ambrose. If there's one thing Roman Reigns does well, above anything else it's being the "Hot-Tag guy".

As I've already said, last nights RAW was just really weird. I can't say I didn't enjoy it though- because in parts I did. I'm not sure what the Ratings will be for the Episode, but I can safely say I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the Episode. The one thing that has to be said is I'm not sure if I was laughing with or at the Episode.

Thanks for reading as always. We're now officially in December- which is going to be quite a busy month on here. Along with the RAW Reviews, we've of course got TLC coming up and then we've got The Sammy's- and if I can find the time I'll do a Booking Post as well because I've got a few ideas after last night. Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a good week and come back here next week for another one of these godforsaken things.

Fulham v Preston Review: Wake Me Up When November Ends

I'm not going to make jokes, or try and make you laugh tonight. I'm pissed off. I'm pissed off for a variety of reasons, so let's just dive right in. To the people who were chanting Rigg Out in the Second Half, please- for both our sakes stop coming. There were a number of ridiculous things today, the Rigg Out stuff was definitely up there. What would possibly be accomplished by sacking Mike Rigg? Along with the Mike Rigg stuff they (I'm assuming it was the same people) were chanting "We Want a Manager", firstly guys- it's "Head Coach". Secondly, if you want a Manager- why exactly do you want to delay the process of getting said Manager by sacking the person who is in charge of appointing one? STUPID. If you were chanting the Rigg Out stuff, you're stupid. Was I happy with the performance today? No, of course I wasn't. But, I'm not going to start chanting "We Want our Fulham Back" and all that other stuff that's frankly cringe-worthy.

Second point of annoyance today, the Referee. Let me just start this section off by saying I wish Stevie May the best- it was just really unfortunate for both him and Stearman, and this isn't me in an "I Told You So" sort of situation. The primary job of a Referee is to protect the Players, I'm not blaming the Ref for the Stevie May injury- but he completely lost control of the game in the 2nd Half. The first point of contention was the possible foul on Ryan Fredericks in the box, me sitting where I do I had a pretty clear view of the whole thing- it was a Penalty. Had Fredericks not have tried to stay on his feet and sort of stumble over I think the Ref would have given the Penalty. I think it's one of those weird ones where you don't want Players to dive, and go over "theatrically" but sometimes they need to- as evidenced today. 

What followed wasn't pretty, I don't know if the Ref was overwhelmed by the game or whatever- but he just completely lost any sort of control. He was pulling us up for the stupidest "fouls", and then not giving us anything. Then, shockingly- our Players got frustrated and it led to some pretty dangerous tackles on both teams part. I was thinking around the time Scott Parker had clattered into (I think) Johnson someone's going to get a serious injury- and someone did. It was all nicely capped off by a good ol' fashioned ruckus after James Husband went down in the box. I thought it would have been a soft one had the Ref given it, but sometimes- and with the earlier decision in the Ref's mind they can be given. 

The Ref was abysmal without a doubt, but in a weird way he also helped us out. In the First-Half we were absolutely dire, nobody looked up for it. Once Fredericks went down in the box and the Penalty wasn't given it created almost a siege mentality of "It's us against everyone" with both the Crowd and the Players. Before the Rigg Out stuff, there was a noticeable shift in atmosphere with everyone's anger being directed toward the Ref rather than the team. It reminded me a lot of the Reading game back in January, except we didn't have Bryan Ruiz to get a Winner this time around. 

Third point of annoyance. HOW CAN WE NOT DEFEND A FUCKING CORNER?! We had the warning shot a few minutes before when a Preston corner went through everyone and we'd switched off at the back post- luckily that time a Preston player wasn't there. So, for nobody to be alert enough after (I think) Dembele missed the Header is just not on. I think conceding a goal from a Corner, but also only getting an Equaliser through a moment of quality sums us up today. We didn't look like a "coached" team today, especially in the First-Half the players looked either not up for it- or completely unsure of what they were actually meant to be doing. I didn't think McCormack was going to score the Free-Kick, I'll happily admit that. I thought it was too close for McCormack to get it over the Wall without putting it over. Thankfully I was wrong on that front, because we didn't look like scoring in any other way. 

The Preston goal wasn't in any way Joe Lewis' fault, and apart from making one good save in the First-Half- he had quite a quiet game all in all. Preston were definitely the more "threatening" team in the First-Half, and once again when we scored- but neither team really showed any real quality in their play today. As a result neither Keeper was ever put under any significant amount of pressure. 

As far as Yellow Cards go, the Ryan Fredericks one is definitely one I'm happy to accept. Was it a bit petty to sarcastically clap the Ref? Yes. Doesn't mean I didn't love it when he did. Fredericks was a weird one today, and it goes back to Players looking unsure of themselves today. Without being in Fredericks' head it's impossible to say what he was thinking, but to me- especially late on he was worried about getting another "niggle" because he slowed down a lot. It wasn't Fredericks' best game, nor was it anyone's really- but I thought Fredericks did give us a good attacking outlet in the 2nd Half which should have been more fruitful than it was. James Husband was quite frustrating today, the same can said of Fredericks- but especially in Husband's case we know they're capable of so much more. Especially going forward in the Second-Half Husband just didn't really "click" today, especially when considering he's set the benchmark for himself in-terms of Wing-Back performances against Bristol City about a Month ago. 

I thought Stearman played pretty well today, as with Ream. It was nobodies best game- and as already said everyone looked quite uncertain of themselves in the First-Half. With all that said, in the Second Half I thought Stearman was great at the back. Between him and Hutchinson in particular they were mopping up everything at the back and helping to keep Preston about as pinned back as our relatively one-dimensional Midfield would allow. Tim Ream performs infinitely better when he's not "responsible" for an entire side. With Husband being as attack-minded as he is, Ream isn't really suited be the Left Centre-Back. As soon as we shifted Ream to being 1 of a 3, he looked so much more assured with the extra cover that Hutchinson provided. 

Fourth point of annoyance, Sean Kavanagh's selection. There's not much to say about Peter Grant and his Coaching Ability, you can always say "he should motivate them more" or whatever- but that's not a solution to a problem. It's just empty words, one thing Grant can do is to not start Sean Kavanagh- ever again. I'm just praying for the sake of my sanity that Alex Kacaniklic is injured. He must be, I can't imagine a scenario where Peter Grant looks at Kavanagh and Kacaniklic next to each other and decides Kavanagh should be starting. Even as I'm writing this I'm not sure how harsh I'm going to be on Jamie O'Hara today. It wasn't for a lack of effort on his part, but he just didn't really get going today. Again, the reason I debating how harsh I want to be is because from what Grant said he was preparing for today in a different role to the one he ended up playing as a result of Mattila pulling out. 

A definite positive of today was seeing Scott Parker back on the pitch, even if the circumstances of his return weren't ideal. Parker's return was a last minute thing, so again on this front I'm not going to get too worked up about the Selection. However, in the future it really needs to be O'Hara OR Parker as opposed to both. Both as a result of having Parker and O'Hara, and having Tunnicliffe injured there just wasn't any energy in the Midfield until Cairney came inside. Speaking of Cairney, he was so much better than anyone on the pitch today- both in White and in Yellow (and Blue). If Cairney had a proper outlet today and a team complementing him- he would have made an even bigger impact on the game. Cairney's performance in contrast to the rest of the team can be summed up when he started a Counter-Attack by doing Three Players with a Roulette, bombing forward- before passing to Husband who ran it into the Corner and killed the Counter-Attack dead. 

I can't remember if I said it in my Cardiff Preview, but I definitely remember thinking to do so at the time. Before the season started I thought McCormack would score more than he did last season, but also NOT get our Player of the Season. The reason I thought that was because I thought we'd be creating a lot more chances with the Players we were bringing in. That probably is true if you looked at the Statistics, but above all else- Ross McCormack is just a quality player. I said it last week, I'm starting to question what McCormack's best is- because it's becoming repetitive to say he "wasn't at his best". Even with McCormack largely not being at his "best", he's the 2nd Top Scorer in the Division now. Moussa Dembele was isolated for a large part of the game today, the only half chance he really had all game today was a deflected shot in the First-Half. The thing with Dembele, and I don't blame him for this- he can't create his own chances or at least rarely does. That means in games where our Midfield and just team in general is as static as it was- Dembele was risking catching a cold today. 

I said heading into I believe the Burnley game that I wanted to us try Ream, Stearman and Hutchinson as a Three at the Back. As far as first outings go, I thought it worked quite well today. I was saying back in August that Hutchinson was our best Centre-Back, but as demonstrated perfectly in the Brighton game we couldn't rely on him. I don't doubt Hutchinson's defensive ability, but he just has a "wild lunge" in him that can cost us a game. He's not "there" yet as a Defender- but he's definitely close, and it was funny because the Stearman tackle was timed perfectly on Stevie May for his injury- and that highlighted the quality difference with Hutchinson's Brighton tackle in mind. Also, Hutchinson's Yellow Card was ridiculous in the context of the game. He did get turned, but the Preston player turned into him as much as anything else- and given some of the fouls the Ref was letting go on our Players the Yellow was just stupid. Matt Smith didn't necessarily have a direct impact on the game when he came on, but just his presence instantly gave the Preston Defenders something to think about. Pringle came on, really too late to have any significant impact on the game- but it was needed in my opinion with Husband on a Yellow.  

The result was far from ideal today, but it was definitely a fair one in my opinion. Preston DEFINITELY didn't deserve to leave with 0 Points, they came here with a Game-Plan- and almost had the perfect Away performance. At the same time, I thought our play in the Second-Half did merit us getting a Point from the game. 

Thanks for reading always. November's now officially over, and it can't end soon enough with the Month we've had. Anyway, we're now heading into December and of course the Christmas Schedule- so hopefully you'll keep coming back for the Previews and Reviews throughout the Month (and beyond). With us having no Midweek game, the attentions will be back on Mike Rigg and the Managerial Hunt again this week. I'm not saying don't "get into" rumours, but always take them with a grain of salt. Until we've actually announced someone, it's all speculative at the end of the day. Thanks again for reading, as I said last week- there may be a Post coming out in the Week should we appoint a new Manager. If not I'll be back here next Friday for the Forest Preview. Thanks again and I hope you have a good week. 

Fulham v Preston Preview: The Uncertainty Effect

Everything is going horribly wrong. Since last Saturday it's not really improved much has it? I wasn't necessarily expecting a new Manager to be appointed for tomorrow's game, but I was at least expecting something resembling "progress". I think the story that Nigel Pearson was officially out of the running came out after the MK Dons game, either way- yup that happened. Had we have won at MK Dons I think I'd have been a lot more positive for this Preview, but as is- we (and I realise there was an International Break) haven't won in nearly a Month and quite frankly our overall situation is getting a bit depressing.

The latest Manager in the cross-hairs is supposedly Gary Rowett. I can't see it happening, it's not an impossibility though. The fact Birmingham are still a mess off the field may factor into Rowett's decision should we give him one to make, but still I can't see it. Rowett is someone who I rate ridiculously highly, and I would absolutely love it if he came on board- but basing it off Rowett's Press-Conference from yesterday it doesn't seem likely. The thing with the Rowett link, and it's something that I don't think should be legal in all honesty- for want of a better term it's "Betting Market and Consumer manipulation". I don't have any "insider knowledge" and I don't claim to, with that said- and especially in the case of SkyBet with their obvious media reach I think they're guilty of doing "Betting Market Manipulation".

To try and describe this, media outlets create a story to create interest- it's the same thing that happens with the Papers over the International Break where everyone is suddenly buying Messi. With "New Manager" markets, and one that doesn't have an obvious market leader at this stage in our case- they basically manipulate people into backing in this case Gary Rowett in the Market by reporting on a "story". Then when there's an obvious shift in odds as a result, and as result more people pile on and it's the blind leading the blind and the Odds are greatly shortened as a result. There's your Conspiracy Theory for the day.

Anyway, back to the Manager situation. Supposedly should we fail with Gary Rowett, which we will- the report is that our "back-up" option is Mark Warburton. The only situation where I'd want Mark Warburton would be if he came in just in time for the Brentford game in a few weeks. I don't really "trust" Mark Warburton. He knew the Brentford system like the back of his hand, and it's similar to the Eddie Howe situation where I'm not sure how good he'd be outside of the Bournemouth dugout. Even though Warburton's stepped outside of his "comfort zone" now, Rangers is hardly the hardest job in the world- and again I don't know why he'd come to us in the first place.

So now that I've successfully ruled out two more Managers on the ever dwindling list, we get back to the drawing board. I still want Oscar Garcia, especially now Pearson's out of the running I'm even more "interested" in us getting him. If not Oscar Garcia, I want (and I realise this is somewhat contradictory to what I've said about "comfort zones) us to at least take a look Karl Robinson. I wanted us to go after him when we sacked Magath, and I think Robinson's starting to realise there's a ceiling at MK Dons. He's not really that dissimilar to Gary Rowett, except Rowett's already taken the "next step" by leaving Burton Albion and going to a "bigger" Club to expand his horizons.

I don't know if you can call this Season a write-off already, while it's 99% not likely we get Playoffs- it's not an impossibility. If we can get on a run under whoever we put in charge who knows what's possible? Momentum is such a key factor in the Championship, even to the point where I'd argue it's more important than having the Squad. Obviously the Squad supplements the momentum, but a team greater than the sum of it's parts can be Top 6 material. With that in mind it basically comes down to the sort of Manager we want, a "builder" or a "catalyst". If we wanted a catalyst, I don't think there'd have been a much better choice than Nigel Pearson- which is why I'm now leaning more toward a "builder" now.

Right then, Conspiracy Theories and Manager angst out of the way once again. EVERYONE IS INJURED. Literally everyone; McCormack? Injured. Stearman? Injured. Tunnicliffe? Injured. Billy the Badger? Culled. Ivan? Injured. Obviously I'm exaggerating somewhat, but the fact so many people are even in the "doubtful" bracket for tomorrow so soon after an International Break is quite frankly ridiculous.

Annoyingly, one player that wasn't mentioned in the "round-up" of injuries was Andy Lonergan. In some cases "no news" is good news, in others it's bad news- and sometimes "no news" is no news. The fact there hasn't been an update on Andy Lonergan leads me to believe that he isn't going to be back to face one of his Former Clubs tomorrow. In Andy Lonergan's absence it's obvious Joe Lewis will continue. As I've said a number of times, in Lonergan's absence I'm happy for Lewis to continue in goal.

At least in one case from Peter Grant's Press Conference an Injury situation has been properly cleared up. We now know Jazz Richards isn't fit and available as Kit had said he would be prior to the Internationals, which is quite annoying really. The fact Grant highlighted Tunnicliffe as the one most likely not to "make it" to tomorrow means I'm expecting Ryan Fredericks to be starting tomorrow. It's definitely not an ideal situation, we may well be risking aggravating whatever nagging injuries Fredericks has- but I don't really see an alternative. I'm praying to multiple gods that Tim Ream's recovered properly from his illness. I just can't even suggest Dan Burn start any more after the Month he's had. I've been one of Ream's biggest critics this season, and without a doubt I want us to sign a Centre-Back in January (if we can)- but I'd take Ream over Burn any day. Obviously partnering Ream would be Stearman, who's another one of the "doubtful" ones for tomorrow. With Garbutt's lack of anything resembling a convincing performance last Saturday, it falls back to James Husband coming back from Suspension. As I've said a number of times at this point, even when Husband goes back in a few weeks time I don't really want Garbutt starting. I'm happy for Garbutt to be starting up until January, but then I want us to sign a Centre-Back (which is necessary anyway) and start Tim Ream at Left-Back.

We saw the return of the Diamond last weekend, proving that Diamonds are indeed forever. It's not my first choice, but I'm not as against it as I was last season- because we've got players better suited to a Diamond this season. You'll know if you were reading these last season that I wanted Tim Hoogland to be played as a proper DM, and in Sakari Mattila I think we've gotten one. I don't want him to become a regular starter, but in the current situation I'd be all for him starting. That current situation is of course in relation to the Ryan Tunnicliffe injury. I said it before, and it's worth repeating now. Ryan Tunnicliffe is necessary to the overall team dynamic, and he balances the team quite a lot. I'm just hoping that his Injury doesn't hit us quite as hard as I think it might.

While we're only playing on the Weekends I'm happy for O'Hara to retain his place, Mattila coming in will push O'Hara a bit further up the pitch- which can only be a good thing knowing what O'Hara's strengths are. I'm going to keep suggesting this until it actually happens, I want Alex Kacaniklic to at least get in the Squad this Weekend- but hopefully also start and get a run in the team. The fact Sean Kavanagh got into the team when to my best knowledge Kacaniklic wasn't injured is just crazy to me. Kavanagh did nothing to suggest he should be starting over Kacaniklic last weekend, and I'm just hoping Kacaniklic gets the chance he really deserves tomorrow. The only proper option we've got for the top of the Diamond is Tom Cairney, and that's perfectly fine by me given it's without a doubt his best role.

The Striker Selection is pretty simple, as is the case for the next few weeks heading into the Christmas Fixtures. There's even more supposed interest in Dembele over the course of the week, and it's just really annoying at this stage. I'm hoping for Dembele's sake if he doesn't sign a Contract he moves to a Club that'll help nurture his talent as opposed to "stockpiling" him like most "big" Clubs do with Young Players. I don't doubt Dembele has the ability to make it at the very top level with the rate at which he's developing, but stalling him at this stage of his development is going to kill him. I obviously want Dembele to stay, but if he goes for Free heads will roll. McCormack's another of the doubtful ones for tomorrow, but I hope he's fine for obvious reasons. If he isn't I don't have a big issue with Matt Smith coming in, I don't have high hopes- but if Grant can play Smith without turning us into a completely Route One team I'm over the moon.

Team for Preston

I said it in my MK Dons Review, and I think with the further criticism there's been of the Managerial Appointment process over this week- I'm not going to get on Mike Rigg's back yet. In an ideal world we'd have had a Manager in place for the MK Dons game, but the fact is we didn't. If we take all this time to just give Peter Grant until the End of the Season (or something similar) then I'll obviously get annoyed about the whole thing. However, I'm willing to wait for the "right" appointment, whatever that appointment may be. Whether it's Rowett, Warburton, Robinson, Garcia- whatever it is unless it's someone like Harry Redknapp I'll be happy to give them a proper chance.

Thanks for reading as always, the game tomorrow is definitely going to be an interesting one- but it's one that even without a permanent "Head Coach" we really need to be winning. Whether we actually do win or not is a completely separate matter, and one that I'm not at all confident in. Anyway, that's for tomorrow and the Review- in the meantime we can only hope for the best. Thanks again for reading, as always the Review will be up tomorrow so hopefully you'll stay tuned for that and the Review tomorrow is a positive one.

RAW Review: 23rd November

Hello! Well, the last two days have definitely been days where Wrestling has happened. I can't really go much further than that. If it wasn't already obvious, I didn't bring out a Survivor Series Review yesterday. Unlike some other times I've missed out on doing a Review, it wasn't for a health reason or anything like that- there just wasn't any good talking points from the PPV. Genuinely, at a stretch I could have gotten about two talking points out of the PPV last night. That's the dangers of predictability. Anyway, we're back here now for the RAW Review- and I'll try and incorporate some Survivor Series thoughts where appropriate.

The Authority, Sheamus & Roman Reigns Promo
I suppose I'll get the Sheamus Cash-In thoughts out of the way now. I liked it, genuinely. As soon as we got (at a push) a 10 Minute Main Event- with 20 Minutes left on the PPV literally everyone knew Sheamus was cashing in. When it happened it wasn't a surprise, but it definitely worked- and I was happy(ish) with the outcome so more power to them. The only thing that they should have done differently in respect of a Cash-In in my opinion would have been to not have Reigns win the Title. He didn't need to, to be blunt. They should have had Reigns' first Title win actually mean something, and really build up to it- if it were up to me at Mania. The same thing happened with Bryan at Summerslam, I'm not saying the "Wrestlemania Moment" wasn't great- but if it was the first time he'd got his hands on the Title it would have been even better in my opinion. Speaking of Bryan, you lot will want to see Daniel Bryan v Sheamus at Mania now won't you? The long-con.

The actual segment was pretty standard, I like Sheamus- and to a point I actually like Roman but I can't say I'm looking forward to these two Triple H and Stephanie in the Opening Segment for the foreseeable future. I'll talk about the Rusev stuff more a bit later, but for now all I can say is that it was a pretty good return.

The Wyatts (Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper) v The Dudleys
I think it's a pretty safe bet to say the angle they did after the match was a way to write The Dudleys off of TV. They might be working toward Wyatts/Dudleys at TLC, and I'd be in favour of that just to see Harper to crazy shit like he did last year with Dolph- but I don't really see any point in all of it. I've loved Bray/The Wyatts since their incarnation- but even I've got the point now where I just can't really give a fuck about them. I knew I was wrong to predict the Wyatts would win once Harper was in the match at Survivor Series instead of Strowman- but it still annoyed me a bit. The whole thing about The Wyatts is simply that they're just a bit shit. He/They win what I'd call "second tier" feuds, and as soon as they move up to the "top tier" they immediately drop back down.

Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch
This was a pretty standard match, which is a shame because we obviously know they're capable of a lot more. There's genuinely not much else to say, apart from the fact it seems they've dropped the Natalya angle with Team BAD- which is annoying but not exactly a surprise.

Paige Backstage Interview
This little segment was some weird one where Michael Cole can communicate with the outside world via magic. Once I got over the fact Cole could talk to Paige in the Backstage Area through some Black Magic fuckery, it was a pretty standard Promo. I got pissed at the time because Paige instead of attempting to go for the Ropes actually moved further into the Ring at Survivor Series- but at least that was by design. It was a stupid design, but designed it was.

The New Day's First Anniversary Country Music Jamboree & WWE Tag Team Title Open Challenge
Have I mentioned at any point over the last 6-7 Months that I love New Day? Because I love New Day. This segment wasn't necessarily the best content wise, but New Day were so fucking amazing in the segment. Everything from Kofi's fucking Unicorn Horn Hair to the Unicorn's on Sticks it was all just amazing on the part of the New Day. New Day can genuinely make anything work, if literally anyone else on the current roster came out dressed like New Day and we had the sort of segment we had it would have been "Worst Segment of the Year" in the Sammy's next month. With New Day it was as good as it really could be. I'm assuming this segment is setting up a Triple Threat Tag-Team match at TLC with The Usos and The Lucha Dragons, and I'm perfectly happy with that.

Charlotte Backstage Promo
As with the Paige one it was a pretty standard Promo, except not delivered as well because Charlotte. It was also completely devoid of Black Magic fuckery, so really what was the point?

Neville v Mark Henry
This is the sort of match that when you get it on RAW, you know there's a bit of an injury crisis. The WWE are scrambling for literally anyone with a shred of credibility left and are trying to build them a bit with the number of people they've got out injured. One of them is Neville, who it looks as though he's going to feud with The Miz- it could definitely be worse. The match was pretty standard, it feels wrong to be criticising Mark Henry in-terms of his athleticism when the last time we saw him he was getting up for a Pop-Up Powerbomb- but still. Mark's 44, with not even a sniff of doing anything other than more jobs- he might as well just retire.

Stardust Backstage Promo
I know The Ascension aren't booked the best they could be. With that said, THEY'RE THE WORST. HENCHMEN. EVER! They just let Titus into the 5th Dimension/Stardust's Evil Lair. What good are they?! I'd also love it if this sort of thing became Titus' gimmick, Bray's doing one of his spooky Promos and then Titus just shows up in the background and starts barking etc. We've had worse gimmicks, and at least Bray would get a win under his belt with that feud.

Goldust & The Primetime Players v The Cosmic Wasteland
I believe it was around this point where I commented on the ridiculous number of aimless Tag Teams in the WWE at present. The Goldust Return was a genuine surprise at Survivor Series, I'll give them that one. It of course makes sense, we're on the verge of Wrestlemania Season- so that of course means they have to start teasing Stardust/Cody Rhodes v Goldust again. The match itself was again pretty standard (it's almost as if this RAW didn't have much going for it) Titus' Hot-Tag is still equal parts fun and hilarious- and Goldust looked like he was having fun. Considering the lack of direction for everyone involved it was about as good as it could have been.

Alberto Del Rio, Zeb Colter & Jack Swagger Promo
In-terms of gimmicks that make absolutely no sense, MexAmerica is definitely up there with the best(or perhaps worst) of them. The gimmick before tonight, as far as I could work out was Del Rio and Zeb were preaching equality- but at the same time deemed nobody good enough to join MexAmerica. Now, given what happened last night- I'm back to being confused. I think Zeb's Promo was essentially "closing the borders" of MexAmerica. So now they're... I don't fucking know. I'd say ask Del Rio/Zeb, but even they don't probably know. I'm happy that Swagger's actually got on RAW, their match could steal the show at TLC if they're given time (and the right gimmick).

Charlotte v Paige- Divas Title
The problem I had with this match, and the Survivor Series one- is really quite a simple one. I don't really give a fuck about either of these two. I don't know if it's because of the injuries, or they remembered that there's supposed to be a "Divas Revolution"- but they're actually pushing the Divas at the moment. The problem with that, they're positioning and booking the Divas as if they've actually been built up- at all. That's their first mistake. A month ago, Charlotte was being booked like complete shit- and Paige wasn't anyone significant. Now, in the last two weeks they've Main Evented a RAW, got the longest match on a PPV and now they've got a Title match on RAW. Common theme throughout all of this? The crowd haven't given a single fuck, and really why should they? It's the same with a variety of angles I've been assuming the WWE would be doing/pitching- now they've got somewhat of an injury crisis they're trying to fix months, if not years worth of shit booking that they shouldn't have done in the first place.

It's still bothering me how people can't see the significance of Paige doing the PTO AT ALTITUDE!!!!1!!!1! but I can get over it.

Proof that Ryback is a dick. 
Heath Slater, the generous fellow that he is decides "You Know What? We're in Nashville, I'll give them a Concert for free!". Then, Ryback being the dick that he is decides to wreck it for everyone by interrupting and attacking Slater.

Dolph Ziggler & Dean Ambrose v Tyler Breeze & Kevin Owens
So, in my Survivor Series Predictions I said there was no good reason for Breeze to be beaten by Ziggler. At least in that respect they didn't, but really what was the point when they beat Breeze the next night? I'm not saying Ambrose shouldn't have won last night- I'm saying Breeze shouldn't have been taking the Pin. Worst of all, SUMMER FUCKING RAE STILL DOESN'T HAVE FLUFFY BOOTS. I'M TEMPTED TO START A GOFUNDME.

Advertising Acid Trip
I genuinely have no clue what they were advertising. I suppose that isn't helped by the fact I'm in the UK and I'm not really familiar with American Products- but still. With that said, I did get a laugh out of "JBL-Torito". I'm deeply ashamed of myself.

Roman Reigns v Rusev
This was really as good as it could have been. Roman Reigns v Rusev is proof, if proof was needed that Vince is absolutely loving it at the moment. You've got the muscular, "super" Babyface wrestling a Foreign Heel as the Main Event of RAW. It's definitely a weird situation we're in now, because they haven't scrapped the "European Faction" with Sheamus joining The Authority. It's definitely interesting in that respect, because it could mean Rusev and/or Barrett turning Babyface. While I don't think that's likely, it's a possibility- and one that's interesting. With the number of people out injured, I'm just looking for any reason to invest in the Main Event scene at present really.

The match was (shockingly) pretty standard, the problem this match had was such a basic one it was stupid. Neither could afford to lose. Roman Reigns wasn't losing after what happened at Survivor Series, and it was what happened at Survivor Series that meant Rusev couldn't lose either. If you're counting the Cross-Armbreaker as a Finish, Reigns took I believe 4 Finishers at Survivor Series- and wrestled two matches. Had a returning Rusev lost to Reigns after that he'd have been dead in his first day back. I've got no clue what they're going to be doing going forward, but I didn't mind this whole segment.

This RAW was almost too standard. It didn't have anything "bad" really, other than some stupid booking decisions- and at the same time there wasn't anything that can be described as anything other than average. I know that Post-Tournament they're trying to get as many angles on the "board" as possible, and I do think we'll see some improvement in the next few weeks- but for now it was just so "meh".

Thanks for reading as always, as I said there really was no point in doing a Survivor Series Review when there wasn't much to say. I'd rather skip a Review than deliver a short one, or just one where I've padded it out with bullshit. I mean, a lot of what I say is bullshit- but I at least believe it. Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a good week- this if the last Wrestling Post of November- and as we head into December it's Sammy Season. I hope you're looking forward to all of that with a busy December on here- as well as the small matter of Christmas.

Survivor Series Predictions

It's been a nice, quiet build up to tonight's PPV this week. There's nothing that significant that's happened throughout the week. Unless, of course I've missed something. Actually, it's all coming back to me now- Adam Rose and Brad Maddox teamed up on Main Event. But seriously, this week has been fucked up- there's not many other ways to say it.

I suppose now it's a much clearer picture I'll talk a bit more about the Charlotte and Reid Flair stuff. Do I think it's fucked up what they did? Absolutely. Does it surprise me in any way? Nope. Firstly, I do agree up to a point with people freaking out over the angle and then saying they want the Attitude Era back- up to a point. The angle whatever else you may say definitely had an edge to it, but I don't deny it wasn't the "right" kind of edge. The WWE putting it all on Charlotte, well firstly I don't buy it- but it's about as much as far as damage control they can do. Ric got in-front of it all and washed his hands of the whole thing early, so they pretty much had to put it on Charlotte to save any face from the whole thing. I said it in my RAW Review as well, it's not my place to get offended by it- so instead I'm just going to laugh at WWE's stupidity. On top of it all, as a result of the Charlotte stuff the WWE are basically putting an embargo on their Talent talking to "unapproved" journalists. So basically, as a result of the Charlotte/Paige angle the WWE have resorted to becoming a dictatorship.

Now there's the small matter of a possible ISIS attack. When I started this Blog about a Year and a Half ago I never thought I'd be talking about a possible Terrorist Attack. Do I believe there's going to be one? No. The fact is when Anonymous didn't give out their "sources" it may as well have been confirmed it was just a load of people on Message-Boards scrolling through Twitter looking for something threatening. The thing I've found in the aftermath of things like what happened in Paris, people are jumpy for a long time. In that respect it annoys me that there's constant news coverage of things like what happened in Paris. I acknowledge it's a news story, but as long as it remains the "big" news story it's impossible to move on. Intelligence Agencies will be working overtime at the minute to prevent another Paris, if there's another threat you can fucking guarantee they'll be all over it. The furore over "Where will ISIS attack next?" is just fearmongering and generates panic- and that's exactly what Terrorists of any kind want.

Now let's get down to the serious business, and annoyingly there's not a match booked for the Pre-Show. It's annoying because it factors into any Prediction I may be doing for the Survivor Series match on the Main Card and who's involved. If I had to make a Prediction for the Pre-Show Match I'd say it would be Sasha Banks v Natalya, but it can just as easily be a million other things. Such as Adam Rose & Brad Maddox wrestling.

Roman Reigns v Alberto Del Rio- WWE Title Tournament
This one's a tricky one. This match could truly go either way, we've got two wrestlers who both are- ah fuck it. Roman will win. It goes without saying that Roman's going to win, unless of course they go for the scenario I wanted on Monday with Reigns losing to Cesaro and then taking Triple H's offer before inserting himself into the Final and winning the Title. I love this idea, because it can genuinely set-up the entire Non-Part Timer Main Event scene between now and Mania. The whole thing would be centred around if Reigns is good enough to win the "big one" on his own. In an attempt to prove that he's "the man" he'd be taking on all sorts of challenges with wacky stipulations against "the best" and winning with shenanigans every time. Then at Wrestlemania, as a Heel he beats one of Cena, Undertaker or Lesnar clean as a sheet- proving that he is "good enough" before transitioning back into a Babyface Juggernaut.

The only actual prediction in this section is the placement on the Card. For pretty much endless reasons I think Reigns is going to be wrestling first, although if I'm The Authority I'd be putting Reigns' match just before the Final. I guess that'll be one of life's mysteries. Good Guy Authority.
Winner: Roman Reigns

Dean Ambrose v Kevin Owens- WWE Title Tournament
There's at least slightly more debate when it comes to the outcome of this one. Actually, I take that back there's less. Because once Vince inevitably reads the scenario I've booked for Reigns as a result of losing he's going to be rewriting the whole show. There's about a 1 in a Million chance we don't get a Reigns/Ambrose Final, but I'd have probably said the same about Gable & Jordan not being in the Final had I have done Predictions for the last Takeover. If nothing else, this match should be pretty fucking good.
Winner: Dean Ambrose

Survivor Series 5v5 Match
There's literally a million intangibles when even attempting to Predict this match. As I said, I'm working on the basis of the Pre-Show match being Natalya v Sasha Banks- not involving New Day, The Usos etc.

If I had to guess the teams I'd say it's The Usos, Ryback and The Dudleys v New Day and The Ascension. The reason I'm not saying Sheamus and Barrett to partner New Day is I believe Barrett's got an injury. Working on the basis of those Teams, and as I've said those Teams may well be wrong- I think the Babyfaces will win. I'm not going to predict a "clean sweep", I do think Xavier will somehow lose in 2 Seconds- but it won't be a clean sweep. The Ascension and Xavier will be killed pretty quickly, then Big E & Kofi will "unicorn up" and through a variety of shenanigans pin D-Von and one of the Usos. They might even get rid of Bubba by DQ as a result of doing a Tables Spot, but given how they've built it up I think Kofi and Big E will be taking a Shellshocked and Splash each.
Winner: The Usos, Ryback & The Dudleys

Tyler Breeze v Dolph Ziggler
Firstly, SUMMER FUCKING RAE HAD BETTER HAVE GOTTEN SOME FLUFFY FUCKING BOOTS. Thinking back to it all, I think Sasha Banks had some for a night- so it can't be that hard to get a hold of them. Oh yeah, there's a match that's happening. It's way too soon to be beating Breeze, and a win for Ziggler against Breeze would mean absolutely nothing- and it's for that exact reason that they might just end up doing it. Perhaps against my better judgement, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to doing something stupid.
Winner: Tyler Breeze

The Wyatts (Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman) v The Brothers of Destruction
If you've either read previous Predictions Posts, or have simply worked out how I lay them out in this one- you'll know I'm predicting a possibly shocking outcome here. That's right, on the 25th Anniversary of The Undertaker I'm predicting a loss on the part of The Brothers of Destruction. This is the one where I'm most likely going to be wrong, but the fact is Strowman's never been Pinned- and Bray is in a much higher position than Kane as far as standings go. I'm not suggesting for one second that Taker will be pinned, but I can easily see either Strowman choking out Kane or Bray Abigailing him to get the win for the Wyatts. It all depends on how much Taker's pushing himself for what is most likely his "retirement tour". If Taker's doing TLC, then it's even more obvious that The Wyatts will win setting up a Taker/Bray match at TLC. Even then, if he isn't Taker doesn't need to take the Pin- and The Wyatts need the win.
Winner: The Wyatts

Charlotte v Paige- Divas Title
The Reid Flair situation has definitely been a big talking point, and I genuinely believe it's changed the outcome of this match. If they take the Title off of Charlotte now I can see a lot of people "Backstage" getting pissed at the whole thing. Their line of thought being "They had Reid Flair brought up, and then she loses the Belt less than week later". Before the Reid Flair stuff I genuinely believed Paige was going to win, and she may still do so- but I highly doubt it.
Winner: Charlotte

Roman Reigns v Dean Ambrose- WWE Title Tournament Final
Going back to my "Roman wondering whether he's good enough to win the Title" angle, another way they could go about it is to have Sheamus cash-in during the match in a repeat of the Rollins match and win the Title. The reason I'm not going to predict that, is because while it's more likely than it was before the Rollins injury- I still believe Sheamus isn't cashing in until Ninja Turtles 2 time. Another angle I discussed was the Ambrose injury one they teased in his first Tournament match, and that could have come into play with a "natural" turn within the match- with Reigns just beating the shit out of Ambrose's shoulder for 15 Minutes. Especially with Ambrose facing Owens, the chances of there being Post-Match shenanigans involving Owens and possibly an Apron Powerbomb- that door is still somewhat open.

It may be just because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment, but I genuinely believe that Roman Reigns is walking in as a Babyface, and is leaving as a Babyface with the WWE Title. He'll be (I think) the first to kick out of Dirty Deeds, it'll take a couple of Spears- Reigns will win the Title and Ambrose will congratulate him before leaving to let him have his moment. There is a chance Ambrose wins tonight or turns on him after, because he wasn't shown beating backstage with Triple H when Cesaro, Del Rio and Owens were on RAW- but that can be taken in a number of ways.
Winner: Roman Reigns

I've realised the longer I've gone on in these Predictions that well, they aren't Predictions. Consider this the return of the Booking Blogs- and with the Royal Rumble, and my booking of the Royal Rumble match on the horizon that's a good thing. I don't know what I'm expecting in-terms of show quality tonight. I thought we'd get a really good show at Hell in a Cell and I was proven right, but I'm genuinely not sure tonight. There's definitely potential in the card, and Reigns and Ambrose is definitely a Main Event worthy match- but at the same time there's not one that jumps out to me. There's a lot of matches that could go either way in short.

Thanks for reading as always. These Predictions are of course entirely my opinion so feel free to disagree with me on any of them. It goes without saying that, even if you don't want Reigns to win- the important thing tonight is everyone goes to and leaves the venue safely and without incident. The riots as a result of Roman winning can take place during RAW. Thanks again for reading, the Review is obviously following the Predictions- and hopefully you'll be back here tomorrow for them. In the meantime I hope you'll be tagging along on Twitter for more aimless musings- but confined to 140 Characters or less.

MK Dons v Fulham Review: Missed Chances and Manager Woes

Well, that was all very underwhelming really. If Peter Grant wants the job full-time that wasn't exactly a good first impression today. I think I said in my Preview that unless Nigel Pearson was demanding a pet Unicorn we should just give him what he wants. Well, does anyone have a Unicorn going spare? It's not even that we were horrifically bad today, I'm not saying there weren't bad points in our game today- but there we some definite good ones as well. Overall I'd say a point was the fair result on balance, neither team can say they deserved to win with a straight face- let's put it that way.

After the result today, and with no mid-week game this week the attentions will be firmly back on the Managerial Situation before the Preston game next weekend. I did see something Nigel Pearson related that came out last night that is the apparent stumbling block in us appointing him- his Assistants. Supposedly Pearson won't come on board without his Assistants that he had at Leicester, the problem with that of course being they're still at Leicester. I'm not even considering the compensation angle to the whole thing- although that is of course an issue. Ranieri clearly likes them enough to keep them on board, so why would they leave Leicester who are currently top of the Premier League in order to join Fulham where our ridiculously ambitious aspirations at present are to get 6th in the Championship. As I also said in my Preview, if not Nigel Pearson then I want Oscar Garcia. If we don't get a new Manager in soon, it's not the end of the world to me- however if we can appoint someone soon and capitalise on the good run of fixtures we've got to generate some momentum then who knows where we'll end up as a result of it.

Right then, onto the goals. Not for the first time this month Dan Burn's had a hand in a goal we've conceded. I can't exactly say it's surprising that he did so, at least Peter Grant saw enough sense to not want to start him prior to the game and it was only because of Ream being ill that he did so. In fairness to Bowditch it was a pretty good finish all things considered, and within the context of the game MK Dons did deserve the goal at the time. I'm not quite sure how Dembele didn't already have a goal when he put the ball in the back of the net for the equaliser. With that said, he made up for without a doubt a contender for the "Miss of the Season" by getting the goal- however fortunate it may have been to get through to him.

I thought Joe Lewis was pretty decent today. He couldn't have done much for the Bowditch goal, which has been the main criticism of him as a result of a handful of the goals we conceded against Burnley and Birmingham. Lewis made a number of decent saves throughout the game, not necessarily any outstanding ones- but he did his job when called upon for the most part.

Dan Burn is a complete liability. As I already said, thankfully it appears as though Peter Grant wasn't actually going to play him today- therefore we don't have to send the Men in White Coats to Motspur Park. That's a positive. It wasn't even just the goal today, he was the worst player on the pitch. It's genuinely baffling to me how some people rate Dan Burn- but Haters Gonna Hate, right Dan? Stearman was better, but that isn't necessarily saying much. The thing I've noticed with Stearman is as far as performances go he usually performs to the level of the players surrounding him- but in general he's just that bit better than said players because of his ability. Garbutt had another shocker today, I'm genuinely thinking the whole Garbutt coming in thing was just an excuse for Roberto Martinez to fast-track Galloway without annoying Garbutt. Garbutt is supposedly the next Leighton Baines, but at the rate he's going he's going to end up at Leyton Orient. He's done absolutely nothing to make himself be considered above James Husband. Once Husband's gone back- and hopefully without a Transfer Embargo I'd be getting a Centre-Back in January to partner Stearman and then be starting Ream at Left-Back. I said in my Preview that Ryan Fredericks had to be managed carefully when it came to Injuries, and I don't think it's been confirmed yet- but I can't see Grant wanting to inflict Kay Voser on us unless he had to.

Jamie O'Hara wasn't the best he's been this season, but the fact he improved as much as he did from the last few games before the Internationals to today means it was his fitness that was causing the problems for him. Of the three options up for the Man of the Match today I'd be going for O'Hara, but it's not as if we're spoilt for choice on that front off the back of the game today. The Tunnicliffe injury is a really unfortunate one. I said it at the end of last season, some people won't realise how crucial Tunnicliffe is to the balance of the team until he gets injured- and while I obviously hope I'm wrong I think it'll hit us quite hard. Tom Cairney was quite indifferent today, it's annoying because in the sort of game we were in today a player with Cairney's ability may have been able to provide the extra bit of quality we needed to turn the 1 Point into all three. I'm willing to give Peter Grant some leeway, because he's simply not a Manager. However, what on earth possessed him to start Sean Kavanagh today? Going back to what I was saying in my Preview yesterday, there must be some reason we're not aware of as to why Kacaniklic isn't starting. He wasn't even on the Bench today, and we were starting Sean Kavanagh! Kavanagh proved himself to be a complete lightweight last season, and he didn't do much to get rid of that label today. I can get my head around, and rationalise a lot of what happened today- but the Kavanagh selection is just truly baffling.

Speaking of things I'm strugging to get my head around, I genuinely have absolutely no clue how Dembele missed the chance he did. You've got Dembele, who's just been given the "Young Player of the Month" for October at most 3 or 4 Yards out with an Open Goal- how he managed to miss it is beyond me. However, as already said he did make up for it with the goal he later scored. Dembele's still young, and he will make mistakes like the one he did today as he develops. Thankfully, he's also got enough ability and the mental strength at the age he's at to not let it become "one of those days" and get the goal he did. McCormack had a weird game, I'm starting to question what his "best" is- because I seemingly say McCormack wasn't at his best in every game this season. On another day McCormack would have had another Assist and possibly a Goal to add to the Assist he got between Dembele's miss and his shot that was cleared off the line.

The Subs Grant made were quite good all things considered. I'm working on the basis that both of the Subs were enforced- and with that in mind I thought they acquitted themselves well enough when called upon. Neither Voser or Mattila are going to set the world alight, but especially in Mattila's case they look like good enough players to play a part when called upon. It may just be because Voser's Voser, but I never quite trusted him when he was on the ball- but on the whole he do anything to cost us the game- so by Voser standards that's at least an 8/10.

Depending on when we make the Managerial Appointment, I may well be doing a separate post where I'll expand on this. I fundamentally believe despite the good work Mike Rigg did in the Summer we're still a bit short in some areas of the squad- and a new Manager/Head Coach will have to address those before we even start thinking about the Top 6. Depending on what Formation we want to play we perhaps need another Winger, especially with Alex Kacaniklic seemingly being Satan. But, the key area where we need to improve is at Centre-Back. I genuinely believe that if we paired Stearman up with a genuinely quality Centre-Back they'd both get the best out of each other. Tim Ream isn't a Centre-Back and Dan Burn is- well Dan Burn. We don't have any depth at Centre-Back, it's one thing to say "we need to build a proper defensive foundation"- but we really only have one Centre-Back who's Championship Quality. Especially if a Transfer Embargo's likely, which nobody who doesn't know the Clubs Finances will be able to tell you- and we can't get a Centre-Back in this season may as well be written off now.

It goes without saying that we need to appoint a new "Head Coach" as soon as possible, but just because we've drawn with MK Dons it doesn't mean we should be panicking and potentially make an appointment we'll regret later. I'd genuinely rather we spent a bit more time sounding out Managers and getting in the "right" selection, than go in for someone who's appointed because it's convenient. Would I like a new Manager in by Monday or Tuesday? Absolutely. Will I be getting on Mike Rigg's back and demanding the sacrifice of his first born child if we haven't done so? Absolutely not.

Thanks for reading as always, as I've made reference to- depending on when we make the new appointment there may well be a separate post going up. So, perhaps keep an eye out for that one- and if there isn't one I'll be back here on Friday for the Preston Preview. It goes without saying that regardless of who's in charge we really need to be winning our Home Games especially against the teams below us. So hopefully we'll be more fortunate on that front, in the meantime let's not hope for a new Manager- let's hope that those in charge make the right decisions for the Club. If that means not panic-appointing a new Manager I can live with that. Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a good week- and hey! It could have been worse.

MK Dons v Fulham: The Manager Merry Go Round

Hello! Well, since my last Fulham Post there's not been much going on has there? Where to begin then? I didn't do a Birmingham Review, because to be blunt I was way too tired to actually care after the game a few weekends ago. There wasn't really much to say that I hadn't already said a million times this season with regard to Kit, and even in my Preview for the game I said Kit would be gone if we had a negative result. I was of course right, and Kit was gone pretty soon after the 5th Goal went in. I genuinely believe that Kit Symons will be looked back on as a (relative) success. It may sound weird coming from me, but I genuinely believe it. When Kit came in we were a complete mess, and however unsatisfying it was- he did keep us up last season. When he left a few weeks ago, he left us with a Squad infinitely better than the one he took over with- and while not in an ideal position a decent(ish) platform to challenge for the Top 6 should we get the right Manager in. In that respect I'd genuinely like to thank Kit, and now we have to move on quickly.

I was quite sceptical when the Steve Clarke stuff was practically a done deal according to the Papers. I'm not saying there wasn't any validity to the Steve Clarke rumours, but until I see a Player/Manager posing with their new Clubs Scarf/Shirt I don't believe anything. Especially with Fulham it's the only way to stay sane over the last few seasons. I'm not sure who's going to be taking over now, but I'm genuinely happy it isn't Steve Clarke. I just don't rate him that much. Apart from the season where he had Romelu Lukaku on Loan, he's never proven himself to be a consistent manager. Even at Reading he's not been that good in my opinion, he actually managed to finish below us last season- and even for the run they went on this season they're only 4 Points better off than us. Putting it simply, Steve Clarke would have been another hot and cold Manager- apart from costing us more to get him on board and most likely in the Wages. Apart from the Reading FA Cup run and their run directly after the Transfer Window closed when their squad had a "new toy" freshness, Reading really haven't been that good under him.

Now we get onto who'll actually be our new Manager. Firstly, as I've already said with regard to Paper Talk- I'm not buying into the "Talks Broke Down" angle with Nigel Pearson. Even if they have broken down I'm expecting us to re-go after him now Steve Clarke has turned us down. The varying reactions to the Nigel Pearson rumour has been quite entertaining- and to those who point blank don't want him. Well, you're Ostriches. I'm not saying Nigel Pearson will be sunshine and rainbows 24/7, but he'll get results. The season Leicester went up they had the second most amount of Goals Scored, of which we're already on course to do as a minimum this season- but crucially the third lowest amount of Goals Conceded. I'm not saying I'd not even necessarily be expecting us to get Playoffs this season, and Pearson did need a few cracks and some significant investment to get it "right". However, when he did- well you know where Leicester are now with largely the same squad Pearson put together. In short, unless Pearson is demanding something like a pet Unicorn- let's just pay what we need to get him in.

If not Pearson then there's very limited options, I don't want Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. I'd liken him in a few ways to Paul Ince in that they looked quite promising at lower levels and then they "moved up" too soon should we get him. I point blank don't want Curbishley or Grant. There's no chance we get Rodgers or Moyes, I wouldn't be too keen on Paul Tisdale or Uwe Rosler. In fact, the only Manager other than Pearson who I (realistically) would want (Rowett isn't impossible, but 99.9% not likely) is Oscar Garcia. The only problem I can foresee should we appoint Oscar Garcia is we'd be putting someone in charge of Fulham with documented Chest Problems. That's a death in the dugout waiting to happen.

I've seen a lot of criticism coming in over the last week with regard to not appointing a new Manager before this game, some of it justified. But some of the stuff that's been said with regard to Mike Rigg is frankly ridiculous. He's just overseen one of the best Transfer Windows we've had in recent memory, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to him not finding a new Manager yet. Should Rigg have had someone lined up given Kit's precarious position? Absolutely. However, that's obviously not been the case- all we can do is swiftly move on and hope that we get someone in before Preston. Preferably at the latest next Monday/Tuesday.

Moving onto tomorrows game, it's definitely going to be an interesting one. I genuinely feel sorry for those of you reading these from abroad because that Peter Grant Interview put up on Youtube must have been near impossible to understand for you. Don't worry too much though, Grant didn't really say much- and annoyingly given some of the injuries we had prior to the International Break there wasn't any specific Team News. In that regard I'm flying somewhat blind for the Team Selection, but I'll do my best.

Andy Lonergan's Injury was supposedly putting him out for "4 to 6 Weeks" back when it happened about 3 Weeks ago, so I'm assuming that he isn't ready to return yet. Of course, with Andy Lonergan's absence it means Joe Lewis will continue in goal. All we can really hope for is for Joe Lewis' "Goals Conceded" column to remain as low as possible after he's conceded 8 in his last two games.

The Defensive Selection is interesting in regard to who's actually going to be available, and deploying those available options in the best way possible. It's quite hard to say what the selection will be not really knowing what Formation Peter Grant will favour. With that in mind I'm just going to entirely do "my" selection for tomorrow's game. I remember Kit saying that Jazz Richards will be back after the Internationals- I think I'm rightfully a bit wary when it comes to Ryan Fredericks and his nagging injuries. When it comes to Fredericks, especially with the busy Christmas Schedule coming up very quickly I'd rather we alternated between the two for now. Obviously with James Husband being suspended tomorrow his stupid Red Card against Birmingham, Luke Garbutt will come in- and hopefully he'll put in a performance to properly stake a claim on the position to try and keep Husband out of the team up until he goes back to Boro after the Brentford game. When it comes to Centre-Backs, I don't think I need to tell you who'd be dropping out as a result of going back to a 4. If I were the new Manager, and assuming the Transfer Embargo stuff is just rumour- I'd be looking at signing another Centre-Back in January to get a proper partner for Stearman. But for now I'm happy for Tim Ream to be his partner, just keep him away from Right-Back.

As far as the Midfield goes, I'd be expecting a few changes from Kit's last selection- of which Kit really should have done. If I were fully in charge I'd be playing 4-3-3 for tomorrow's game. Similar to the Reading game where we ironically got the best of Steve Clarke. As far as the selection for tomorrow's game goes I'd be definitely expecting Tom Cairney and Ryan Tunnicliffe to continue in the Midfield and be the two more attacking Midfield options. With Jamie O'Hara, I'm not really sure what to make of him at present. The only explanation I can really think of to explain his drop in form is a fitness issue, so coming off the International Break that may well have been remedied. However, similar to the Ryan Fredericks situation I want us start alternating between O'Hara and Parker. This is especially important for me heading into tomorrow's game with no new Manager in place, having a
proper leader on the pitch in Scott Parker would be invaluable for me.

When it comes to attacking options, If Alex Kacaniklic doesn't start starting under the new Manager I'm going to start thinking he's got an attitude problem in training or something. There really is no good reason for Kacaniklic not to be starting given the attacking threat he's been providing in recent times. Genuinely, if someone can give me a valid reason for why Kacaniklic shouldn't be starting I'd LOVE to hear it. It's not going to take a PhD to guess who the other two attacking options will be in the rotating 4-3-3. I did see Dembele's Interview in the Break where he basically said "talk to my agents" with regard to his Fulham Future. For now I'm not that worried about him in that regard, I'm more thinking about Dembele from an on-the-pitch standpoint heading into the Christmas Schedule that of course completely derailed Christensen last season. Especially now we've got multiple attacking options and the ability to play multiple systems it isn't worth starting Dembele in every game over the next Month/Month and a half.

Team for MK Dons

I'd said at the time of Kit's sacking on Twitter that I had a weird feeling that we'd end up doing an appointment similar to Alex Neil coming in at Norwich. In that, well they were hardly known by anyone before they came in. I've made my Nigel Pearson preference clear, but really unless it's someone like Harry Redknapp I'd be willing to give whoever get in charge a go. I think I said back in August that we'd end up sacking Kit when it was too late and Allardyce would already be at Sunderland- and well, yeah. I'm not going to revise my Pre-Season Prediction yet with regard to High Mid-Table and pushing the Playoffs before collapsing around March yet- it all comes down to the appointment.

Thanks for reading as usual. These next few weeks are going to be the calm before the storm as far as Posts go. Heading into the Christmas Period these posts will obviously be coming out quite frequently so I hope you keep coming back for them. It's definitely good for attentions to be back on the pitch (at least for now) for the game tomorrow after the International Break before we inevitably get back to the Rumour Mill from Sunday up until either we appoint someone or the Preston game. We can only hope for the best heading into tomorrow's game, and really a very winnable run of games coming up. Thanks again for reading, as I said let's just hope for the best tomorrow- and that the Review tomorrow will be a positive one.