feltmonkey

Buttler is betting pretty destructively. If he stays in, England could get 360+ but if he gets out, England don't have as long a batting line-up as usual, with Woakes in at 7, so they could be out for 300 or less.

Garnacho is no bigger than him, though.

Imagine if that sub keeper Reading brought on heads in an equaliser from an injury time corner. Ince would look like a genius.

Poor defending from a corner. Who was supposed to be marking that guy? It's turning into a good game. An eventful second half, anyway. We've bought on a third right-winger.

I was wondering about that. We've got two right-wingers on now. Who's dropping into Bruno's position?

How did that stay out?

If VAR disallow a Fred back-heel I say scrap the entire system.

What is going on? Fred unbelievable back-heel!

If we get a penalty in the last minute, who takes it? Casemiro for his first career hat-trick, or Rashford for the record? 😁

The Casemiro show!

Casemiro! Great finish, brilliant pass by Antony as well. That should shut the naysayers up for five minutes or so.

Yeah, that's why it's a stupid law. That defender was fucked whatever he did - if he left it, it goes into the centre and Weghorst remains active. If he tries to play it and it goes to Weghorst, it's another phase of play. In the end, I kind of think that the decision is fair enough, even though it's technically the wrong decision. Can a leg flicked out to try and block a cross with the back of your heel be considered a deliberate attempt to play the ball? Well yeah, of course it can. But it probably shouldn't, or at least it shouldn't have to matter. Edit - By the way, when is there ever an instance when a defender doesn't make a deliberate attempt to play a ball? These are professional athletes with the reflexes that go along with that, every shot or pass that comes at them they are able to make some attempt to play it. Like even that second Casemiro goal just now, the defender gets his head to it, but it's a deflection isn't it? But he did deliberately move his head towards it. So if it had come back off the post or keeper to a forward who was offside when the shot was hit, what then - is it offside? The Casemiro non-penalty is an absolute joke, though.

I actually think the offside was incorrect as well. You can be offside if the ball deflects off a defender but not if the defender deliberately plays the ball. The defender sticks his foot out a deliberately plays it. It's the same as that one Salah scored against Wolves. I actually think that it should be offside, as just because a defender deliberately plays the ball doesn't mean they're in control of it, and it's asking too much of defenders for them to judge whether an opponent is offside, and choose not to play the ball if they aren't able to control it. But as the laws stand, I dunno, I think he's deliberately played it, hasn't he?

Why is Lee Dixon so convinced that that challenge on Casemiro that kicks the back of both his ankles and doesn't get the ball isn't a penalty? He's an idiot.

Yep. He's just gone to a hundred. It's impressive that he's done it in about 80 balls as well. He's not ground his way there, he's carried on doing his job for the team and attacking.

Jeremy Vine had a phone in on his Radio 2 show earlier today - "Are you addicted to Warhammer?" The clickbaity title aside, it was a total love-in, with caller after caller espousing the virtues of the hobby and it's positive effects on people's mental health. Vine seemed totally on board by the end. I was going to phone in and see if they were interested in my story of getting made redundant in lockdown and ending up painting Space Marines for money, and to try and sneak in an advert for Siege, but by the time I decided to do it, Vine had pivoted to talking about dead crabs, and I didn't really have anything to add to that discussion.

Archer completed his ten overs. He was expensive, going for a lot of boundaries, but picked up a wicket in his final over. Assuming there's no problems that come to light after the match, that's a success, I'd say. David Willey just took a brilliant catch, standing on one leg teetering over the boundary rope, and then nonchalantly tossing a relay catch to himself.

Jofra Archer is back! He's completed his first over back as an England player. I kind of don't care if England win or lose, I just want Archer to come through the match unscathed.

I saw that pop up earlier this week. It's a lot of fun and pretty impressive. I'm always baffled by how people are able to do things like this. In a similar vein, this popped up in my YouTube recommendations - someone has changed Climbing Up The Walls to be in a major key. It's pretty weird. The music becomes really uplifting, and the juxtaposition with the lyrics is even more creepy and unsettling than the original.

Pellistri had a mixed evening, with some good play and a couple of bad mistakes, but overall he's an option, and as @fatbob points out, we're going to need some of them. Mainoo is going to be needed as well, and Williams. I think in the last three games we've started to see the effects of this run of fixtures, and it looks set to continue for quite a while. Bruno and Eriksen in particular look knackered. They both need a rest, but we have nobody to replace either of them, especially now that Van De Beek is out for the rest of the season. Amad Diallo has been playing as a number 10 for Sunderland at times, hasn't he? He's been fantastic for them, and I wonder if recalling him to rotate with Bruno a bit would be a possibility. I don't know what the problem with players posting supportive messages on Pellistri's Instagram is. They all do it all the time, and seem to be trying to make a guy who is breaking into the first team. Besides, Licha Martinez IS a god of football, as we all know. Here's another of his Instagram comments after yesterday's match.

Burnley have been either the best at those things or the worst (depending on your point of view) for a while, haven't they? Remember the Weghorst Jurassic Park one?

Great result, and that should surely settle the tie. Elanga played a very clever little pass to set up that third goal, after Neco Williams had finished auditioning for the circus.

I think overall Forest possibly shaded that half, but one bit of individual brilliance, one good finish, and a close offside, and we're suddenly in complete control of the tie.

Antony has been very quiet.

Bit of a let-off. He was offside, but he really shouldn't have been.