Well this one hurt. Absolutely brutal for United to score on two of their three mediocre chances in stoppage time, after 90+ minutes of getting only lousy shooting opportunities.

Strakosha was quite poor, highlighted by his third terrible rebound leading directly to the equalizer, but the attack was also frustratingly ineffectual. There were far too many counterattacking opportunities which fizzed out before a decent shot could be made of them, and the team took an unusual number of bad shots from range.

It's hard to get decent discussions going when everything is drowned out in a deluge of game highlight posts every time there are top level games happening. This stuff is relevant, but to have each game represented by a top level post is not helpful.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x05 Empathalogical Fallacies.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

Brentford beat the crap out of Forest and completely deserved to win. They got horrendously unlucky to come away with just a draw.

Story of the season.

And another one bites the dust. Already an extremely frustrating season, with excellent performance marred by poor results and a slew of serious injuries concentrated on an already shallow set of attacking options.

Frank:

I still think I can put a very strong team out there every game, but maybe we can’t change it as much during the game because the depth is not as good. I have big belief in our young players, but they need time to settle in

This was noticeable already last weekend, with only four substitutes used for lack of a fifth useful first team player on the bench (Zanka, the only remaining real option, is hardly an appropriate attacking sub). That was of course exacerbated by Maupay being on loan from Everton and Frank should have five viable substitutes going forward if Olakigbe continues to impress, but Brentford are already right on the brink of what their current squad depth can stand up to.

Regarding Schade specifically, I'm really disappointed that we won't be seeing more of him for a while, and that he won't have that time to continue his development. Obviously the physical tools are there and I have no serious concerns about his finishing, but he has struggled with positioning and decision making and missing several months won't improve matters.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x04 Something Borrowed, Something Green.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

Archive.today: https://archive.ph/qmdis

Obviously it looked pretty bad when Henry came off on Saturday, and although nothing is confirmed yet this his highly discouraging.

Outside of Henry and Aaron Hickey, this Brentford team has no natural left backs and fairly minimal depth at right back, with Roerslev and Ajer the obvious choices. Both are defensively oriented players, although they've had occasional moments in attack (Ajer's gallop forward against Fulham this year comes readily to mind). This team has also made a wide range of unothodox choices at that position when chasing games, with Janelt, Mbeumo, Mee, Ghoddos, Wissa, and last week, Pinnock all occupying those spaces in the last two seasons.

Henry's statistical profile is an odd one, mostly because he barely ever touches the ball and thus doesn't rack up elite totals of just about anything. When he does get involved, though, his involvements tend to be relatively impactful, and he certainly looks good making overlapping runs, delivering crosses, and slowing down opposing attackers in 1v1 situations. Henry's near-constant presence on the field is also notable: he missed exactly one game last season (matchweek 20 against Bournemouth, with Janelt and Ajer the starting fullbacks in a 4-3-3) and was substituted in just eight league games, only once before the 71st minute and only thrice more before the 86th. That mix of attack, defense, and stamina will not be easily replaced by any one player on this Brentford squad.

Jay Harris speculates in the article that Brentford might shift into a back three full time to offer additional defensive cover and allow a more attack minded player to take a wingback spot. That's a reasonable option, but compounds the existing problems with this roster: there are only four true attackers (Mbeumo, Wissa, Shade, and KLP), of whom Mbeumo is both the clear first choice up top and the most experienced wingback option. Two of the best fits to play a 10 role in a 3-5-2 (Dasilva and Baptiste) are also out with long term injuries. Perhaps Damsgaard can step up to fill one of those roles more reliably than he's shown thus far?

I'll be interested to see how Frank opts to fill the void here, but it's very unfortunate that he'll have to.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x03 In the Cradle of Vexilon.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

Outside of the penalty, a combined effort of Flekken/Hickey clumsiness and home-cooked refereeing, this was a very even game that went pretty much as Brentford wanted it to: minimal scoring threat on either side, with the Bees getting slightly better chances than they allowed. Unfortunate that Wissa couldn't connect on that Jensen cross, which was probably the most dangerous opportunity for either team today.

This is an Athletic piece, so paywalled. TL;DR: Jay Harris makes a case for the following:

• Brentford was unusually disjointed by injuries in this fixture last season, especially missing Norgaard
• Wissa/Schade might be the better pairing up front in the expected 3-5-2 formation
• Ajer's speed from centerback could make him worth starting over one of Pinnock/Collins/Mee in this matchup.

Brentford have been outplayed by Newcastle across their four EPL fixtures coming into this one, but not by anywhere near the margin the final scorelines and lack of points would suggest. For instance, they created superior chances in the Newcastle home match last season, with an xG edge of 1.8 (plus a penalty) to 1.3.

I'll admit an intense distaste for Newcastle ever since their purchase, so I'll be extremely disappointed if we come away with no points here.

This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x01 Twovix and 4x02 I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee.

Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.

In SNW 1x09 All Those Who Wander, the crew reenact Aliens with a handful of baby Gorn as their adversaries. We learn that Gorn breed by infecting a host animal with eggs, which hatch and burst out of the host when mature (which can take months or hours, apparently depending on the host). The babies are immediately hostile to other baby Gorn, and are left to their own devices until they are picked up by adults at some indeterminate point. We also learn that these baby Gorn are themselves capable of implanting eggs in a host by spitting on them.

These baby Gorn seem like a full fledged viable species already: small, vicious hunters who are (like tribbles) basically born pregnant. From an evolutionary perspective, that's plenty to propagate their own existence. It's also a lifestyle that selects for intelligence (small hunters tend to be pretty smart) but seems like an unlikely route to developing genuine sapience. We'd expect these baby Gorn to have a relatively stable population given the turnaround times of egg maturation and their predilection towards cannibalism, and the later feature would also make it far less likely that any given individual would survive long enough to become an adult, as each fresh generation brings a wave of fresh adversaries who vastly outnumber the handful of survivors from previous waves.

Of course, we know there are adult Gorn. So, how did they come to be? Why would there be a species where the adults are intelligent and social enough to be a spacefaring power, and yet apparently nothing they learn as an adult is needed for an individual to pass on it's genes?