Dusic

Holgate or Charles? Surely got to be Holgate as he is actually a CB. Obviously poor start but he might get a run now in his preferred position.

So basically it was good until the bit of the game where the players probably needed a bit of a boost from the fans.

Perhaps what he is saying is that its a small part why their form has been so good, because the stadium gets behind them in the tough moments? Sure it helps when you are winning a lot but we always did it in the 90s despite some genuinely terrible football. Our players probably prefer playing away at the moment and that certainly doesn't help us get more points.

The booing is ridiculous but not surprising. Interesting that Connor Chaplin said on Sat one of the reasons Ipswich have been so good for the last yesr or so is because in the tense moments the fans get behind the team. At the moment ours don't and it doesn't feel like there is any real relationship there. Of course people were frustrated by the result but booing should be reserved for the genuine dross like Forest at home, not a game where you batter someone and they get out of jail with a point.

We had more than enough chances to win that game comfortably. Probably nine times out of 10 thats what happens. Very frustrating not to win, but the reason wasn't Russell Martin.

A midfield 3 in most games of Ndidi, Winks and Dewsbury-Hall helps a lot. In many games they have Iheanacho on the bench. Doing really well but have a superior squad to anyone else, which in most positions has pretty proven PL/Intl players!

Personally find a lot of this OTT. With ever so slightly better finishing and/or a GK not having one of those games and we are on 9pts from the week and sitting in the top 6 despite having lost 4 in a row recently. In the Stoke game if we take one of the massive chances (Armstrong header, Sulemana, Mara) then we win comfortably. For me its the same today. I can see improvements in defence, a team that is dominating the opponent and now creating good chances. The last two games we have probably had 7 or 8 very decent chances that we havent scored. On Tuesday it didnt cost us, today it did. Personally don't see why thebresult today has anything to do with the manager, it was the players not adding a second goal that was the issue. We look like we will be well in the mix for the playoffs, I will be majorly suprised if we dont finish comfortably inside the top 6. Leicester are clearly the best team, they have the best squad by a mile. Ipswich currently on an incredible run and are a team with positve momentum who have been together for a while. If they win 9 of each 11 for the rest of the season then they fully deserve auto. If they don't (more likely) then we need to make sure we are there to capitalise.

RM dis say in the embargoed section with Alfie House that he would make one or two changes today as some players aren't used/able to start 3 games in a week. Would imagine Stu Armstrong is high on that list and he hinted they might need to think about Alcaraz too considering he will be doing a lot of travelling. I reckon Adams will start this one.

The previous regime were absolutely dross at contracts. Protecting our best assets is really important and for most signings you can tell in 6months if they are really going to contribute so when they do and will clearly attract interest then it makes sense to be proactive. Good to see and I'm sure it strengthens our hand for the next couple of windows as far as he is concerned.

Might as well give Stu another start before the inevitable Scotland injury that seems to happen every Intl break.

His distribution the last couple of games has been so good, he makes it look easy when its anything but. Wait til he misses a game and we have to see McCarthy do it....

Squad: yes Individual quality: no, because we had players like Lallana, Lambert, Fonte, Schneiderlin

Downes and Smallbone were very good I thought. Smallbone probably someone teammates particularly valuable, always available for the ball and his weight of pass is usually great. Can barely remember a single misplaced pass from him, despite the chaos of the game.

To be fair at times in the first half, and certainly first 15mins 2nd half, we played some very nice football and really with some better finishes/ bit of luck would have had a comfortable lead. Considering we didnt do that then did well to limit them to some crosses and a long shot. Good win.

Would consider using James Bree as a front sweeper for this, covering the entire width of the field to stop their attacks. Bree is very much in the Frazer Richardson mould which makes him ideal for this: northern and usually plays RB.

Amazing what a bit of confidence does. He seems like he has a lot of time in the box to take an extra touch and compose himself, which was his biggest issue in the PL. Fair play as few players turn around a spell at a club after 2 poor seasons and he could easily have given up at Saints but seems like a good character and his work rate does set the tone from the front.

At the most basic level, as it exists right now: - Do our fans really support the team at hoke and make it difficult for the away team? No - Is there an advantage to playing at home? No - Does the atmosphere in the ground generally help the home team or the away team more? Away team Various, undeniable reasons for this, but that is the unfortunate truth.

Scraping the barrel. Jeez.

One small thing but I feel makes a difference. Put Edozie back on the left. Easily our best wide player this season has been Edozie. Seemed strange to me that after having his full back on toast in each of the first 3/4 games, he was moved to the right to accomodate Fraser who hasnt done much really. Pretty sure he will stick with the midfield 3 from today. Obviously lacking confidence and our crowd probably won't provide a huge amount of support so will be a very tough game. Lose that and its hard to see where Martin goes unless the club comes and says they are happy not to challenge this season for the longer term goal of resetting everything.

This is exactly the point. If you actually listened to Jason Wilcox then it would help your understanding. The club believe that if you have a specific style and that players are coached and recruited for it then you are more likely to win over the medium/long term. In particular at PL level as a small club where if you chop and change all the time its very hard to generate sustained results. Jason Wilcox has said when he came in January he saw he had no style, no strategy and that when we did win the odd game (like Leicester at home) it was mostly based on luck than any kind of specific coaching/playing success. I get results in the last two weeks have been poor but the idea of coaching, playing, recruiting to a particular style is sensible and being successful at these things when you have been unsuccessful for ages, doesn't happen overnight. I'm not saying Martin is going go get us promoted, or be a massive success. I'm saying that the change we are making is substantial, understood by the club, explained by the club and therefore lets see how it goes after another month or two. If its horrific then fair enough...but it might get better and we might finally have a strategy and plan after at least 2 years without one.

Exactly. Its not going to change and its the start of a new way of playing. I remember when Brighton started it under Potter their fans hated it at first because they were used to Chris Hughton football. Instead of asking for a new manager every 5mins we may as well get used to the fact that as you say our season will depend on how quickly the players master this. That means it might help not to give them stick for doing what they have been instructed to do. Our home atmosphere certainly doesn't help. The reasons are clear as to why fans are not happy as we have lost far too many games at home over a long period and got relegated but some patience is needed, somehow. Because at the moment it just helps the opponent.

Its pretty fucking obvious that when RM talks about being "brave" he is meaning to keep doing what they are being coached, i.e showing for the ball, being willing to receive it in tight areas, have a calmness to pass around the opposition press and to maintain this despite the reaction of the crowd or circumstances in the same. He and JW have said many times it takes brave players to play in this style because it isn't easy. Obviously some are at the stage where whatever he says they will question it but to repeat - its pretty fucking obvious what he means.

Easy, and understandable to say this but a couple of points: 1. He has been recruited because of the style of play. He won't switch to a basic 442 because the club (Wilcox who manages the football side) don't want him to and he is asking the players to be brave and keep doing it until its natural. That won't happen any quicker if he then backs down and tells them to do something totally different for a bit. 2. A lot of these players are used/suited to this style: Bazunu, Charles, THB, Manning, Downes, Smallbone, Edozie etc. The whole idea is that the recruitment and style of play are aligned which has been a problem for years. Not saying things are fantastic but when making significant and agreed change usually the wrong thing is to rip it up and do something else at the first signs of mistakes. The club wanted this style so they will persist with it because they must have known it would have some teething problems to start with.

He was successful at getting his teams to play a possession style which is what the club wanted. They obviously knew when they hired him that it would take time to coach into the squad but I guess have gambled on the fact that we have better players than Swansea did, which is true, so they could do it with better results. Time (if he gets enough of it) will tell, but I don't think they will be in a hurry to have yet more change, especially as Wilcox said the worst thing about what he found when he joined was that there was no clear style or strategy. Ultimately comes down to whether its just not quite working now but will in the future or whether it just never will. Personally I think changing at this stage would be foolish when seemingly the club are taking a slightly longer term view otherwise they wouldn't have hired him.

Please pick proper midfielders and end the Adam Armstrong experiment now. Always feels like we have an attacker too many on the pitch and just leaves huge holes. Also...Edozie has been great on the left, much less effective on the right. Fraser seems to put in 90% of his crosses with his weaker left foot. Switch them over. He will obviously get more time, but help yourself out by making simple decisions. Shea Charles looks like a good holding midfielder so play him there.