S-Clarke

I didn't actually realise we ended up with 68% possession last night, way to go everyone connected with the club. We won! In all seriousness I will always remember something Ralph used to say ''Possession means very little, we often do better when we have less of the ball''. Never a truer word said. If you don't have the quality to do anything with the possession then you're wasting everyone's time and money.

Livramento was going backwards? The guy couldn't play for us for 18 months, hard to put that on what we did to him. Before his injury he was one of our first names every week. He's gone on to prove himself at Newcastle. I don't think we're a graveyard in any way, last season in the PL we put our future on the line by playing a load of kids and starting the pro careers of Lavia, Tino, Edozie, Larios, this season we've done the same with Charles, SAA, Dibling etc. As a club we got the strategy wrong and doubled down on it, in some ways I feel a bit sorry for the young lads we signed, but I don't think you can say we're a graveyard for them, we play so many young players - we just need to get the structure right around them and they'll fly imo.

It's a strange situation, we obviously need an eye on the playoffs - but we also need to keep an eye on next season and maybe providing an opportunity to SAA or Dibling to be involved at some stage is an idea. SAA started in the home game against QPR way back in September after having a storming start to his pro career with us, so I don't see why he's been pretty much consigned to the bin since. I think we'll be relying on these sorts a lot more next season, so the more game time we can give them now the better.

I agree, I feel more secure with two CM's in a pivot like that. The back 4 are less exposed and it's more balanced. You can then let the AMC's do what the AMC's do and drive forward, rather than worry about what's behind them. I'm not sure we'll have that exact team though, I think we'll be getting a new CB as I can't see Bednarek sticking around, last year of his contract so the club will need to return some investment on him. The lack of width on the right of the midfield worries me though, you're asking a lot of Bree (who is very, very limited) to provide the attacking outlet that Fraser will provide from the left. (I'm not counting on Armstrong, as I believe the club will be forced to sell given his contract situation) So...I think when the dust settles we'll end up needing a new GK, new CB, new FB x2, New CM, New AMC (if Charly stays, no new AMC). New Wide Right player, as in a proper purchased replacement for Tella. New ST. I don't think we can count on Stewart being a first choice player for us, we're going to need to plan without Armstrong, Adams and Mara so we need a hell of a lot up top. I hope we see more of SAA and Edozie next season, but we will need a hell of a lot of incomings to remain competitive to any decent level.

They're successful because they're funded by oil, so they can buy Haaland and De Bryune. When you have the resources they have a 'philosophy' isn't as important, they're just good enough to do things that other teams can't defend against. We are trying to do the same thing with Che Adams and Will Smallbone. Spot the problem! I always believed that for a club of our level, playing with a high press and bugging the hell out of the opposition is how we get success. All of this pass, pass, pass nonsense with the limited players we have is only going to end in lots and lots of tears and pain. Nothing wrong with passing the ball and keeping it, but that can't be all that we're about.

Interesting to get your perspective, I did read MK Dons and your views when we appointed him and all of how it's playing out is just like you guys said. I truly believe his philosophy is flawed at a fundamental level. The players at the top end of the pitch like you say are better than yours, so we've been able to score lots of goals to mask the defensive shitness. If we didn't have a player at the level of Adam Armstrong or Ryan Fraser at the top end then we'd be struggling to make Top half based on our defensive record imo. I feel we're 4th in spite of Martin at this stage, not because of him. We should be much better. I find our defensive record for a team just relegated, with the resources we have, nothing but a disgrace.

This was my worry as soon as Wilcox was rumoured to go, we have zero football direction at the top again now. If we fail we will enter the summer with the entirety of our 11 leaving in the main, and no DoF to help the manager or decide on any approach.

The midfield has worried me all season, I think we have generally been short there all year and it's shown up massively whenever we lose a single player. Downes is our only experienced defensive minded midfield player. Rothwell, Aribo, Smallbone, Armstrong etc are all more advanced midfielders and are too weak to play a disciplined role as we've seen. That only leaves us with Charles to play that role if Downes is out and he's playing his first season of pro football. A big cockup in the summer for me. I think Charles was ok last night, but I think we'd have been better off spending £5m on a Gruev type player rather than a kid.

He isn't awful, but we've made him awful. It's what we do better than anything else.

This season - Two 5-0 thrashings. Conceded 2 or more goals in 17 matches. Conceded over 60 goals, amongst the worst in the Top half of the Championship. Scored 85 goals, up there with the Top 4 - that's why we're up there, because of how many we've scored. Definitely a positive. Why we've not got 'there' is because of how many we concede. It's been pretty consistent to be fair, I can't see how we can win the playoffs with a defensive record like us. Martins teams concede in excess of 60 goals every season. It's a massive flaw in his approach and he doesn't learn and will not learn, he believes this is the way and he will still be trying to do this when Worthing FC sign him up in a couple of years. I don't disagree with passing football, but there's more to football than passing the ball (it's the very basis of the sport to be fair). You've got to be organised, you've got to track your runners, you've got to cover for team mates who bomb on, you can't leave huge gaps between the lines etc etc. I think the bloke is deluded, it's propaganda football, Man City-lite with players from Lidil.

I think the poster boy will be Smallbone, as he's the academy kid. The potential team for next season does send shivers down my spine though.

I think we can almost guarantee that Jack is now a mainstay for all of our remaining games, barring injury. How he shoehorns him in is the question.

Absolutley, they all know we'll give them a chance. We are the perfect team for a Norwich or WBA to play, they'll be underdogs in a sense but we'll give them all the encouragement.

He is the sort of player who thrives in quick, 1 touch, tight spaces etc. He's not quick through pace, but he's a clever footballer - but by us slowing the game down so fucking much we don't get the best out of him, and it makes him look so languid like you say. It has taken some real skill to have made a player like Brooks like as bad as he has.

We had Fraser sat on the bench who is capable of that, so is Edozie and Brooks (as Brooks has shown), but they are coached to within an inch of their life to just pass the ball backwards without any urgency. It's no coincidence to me how much Brooks has gone into his shell, at Bournemouth (as recently as their FA Cup game) he was positive, quick, direct - but now, with us, he's the opposite of all of that. We've overcoached him.