We need to talk about Ivo. And maybe Oliveira as well.

Pinto: much as I love his effort, pace and commitment (and he clearly cares, a lot) I have not seen a player get in to so many good attacking positions, proper match-changing positions, and subsequently fail to deliver a useful ball, since Lee Croft. And the things we all loved about Buzz were his commitment, pace and ability to get into good positions. We all know what happened at that point, especially if your place was in the Barclay or River end behind the goal. Ivo has become the weak link and that is a situation that urgently needs rectifying, whether it's him learning how to cross or pass, or being replaced. Either would lead to an upturn in goals and points.

Basil: why the crystal plated f**k was he permitted to take that free kick on about 30 minutes? We have arguably the best dead ball specialist in the league waiting to take it and he plays Billy Big Bollocks? Even Hanley came over to have a word and he still decided it was his right to blart it over into the lower Barclay. Is it any wonder they all had a collective sulk after that and lost the plot for the remainder of the half, letting Morison trundle through them like they weren't there? Adding this to the inadequacy of his general contribution throughout the game; if Swansea want to give us £12m in the next couple of weeks, my feelings wouldn't be that mixed.

Apart from that - Murphy, much better, please more of this. Trybull, fantastic, Tettey likewise. And as soon as I saw that ball from Pritchard was going to Maddison I had absolutely no doubt it was going in. The boy is proper awesome.

Morison was a total beast in the first half and we were afraid of him, absolutely, but the ref gave him (and Gregory, for that matter) so much "benefit of the doubt" that blatant pushes, knocks and shoves were treated as acceptable. Why do we have to tolerate this open cheating just because it's "this league"? Bollocks to it.

Posted By: APB, Jan 2, 00:08:24