Chez

It feel like you missed a trick by not calling it `Russell roulette'?

Out of interest, where do you sit currently? What's the specific stadium change/away fan relocation that would prevent you renewing?

Not sure the out of contract players count, but if they do, if we go up does that mean Stu and Adams might sign new deals Janny B, KWP and Sullemana came to mind. Not so sure about Aribo, Edozie and Bazunu. Perhaps ABK, Charlie, Tall Paul and Perraud have been included, although would they want to stay if we did go up? Not sure I care if any player departs other than KWP.

Not always the perfect barometer, but the championship team of the year contained just one Saint, KWP, reaffirming that we don't have a many top quality players. if we got promoted perhaps we'd be better placed than some to assess if any of these could make the step up. Mads Hermansen (Leicester City) Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton), Ethan Ampadu (Leeds United), Jacob Greaves (Hull City), Leif Davis (Ipswich Town) Gabriel Sara (Norwich City), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Leicester City) Morgan Whittaker (Plymouth Argyle), Sammie Szmodics (Blackburn Rovers), Crysencio Summerville (Leeds United) Georginio Rutter (Leeds United)

Nicked from The Kracken from the safe standing thread, who himself nicked it from the Ugly. [Ive removed the points 1-4, 7-9 that were raised relating to the stadium] A small number of fans attended a meeting before today's game. It was very informative with a few surprises. 5- Most of the parachute payment went on loan repayments (something to do with how the contracts were set up) 6- if we don't get promoted, many players have said they will leave (no names!!) Nice of them, whoever they are. Other than KWP, will there be a massive queue of clubs trying to prise them away?

Not sure it does. Just because people in the Chapel (by and large) have said they will/want to stay in the Chapel, even if the away fans are moved next to them, that doesn't mean the away section is being moved to the Chapel rather than the current family section. That said, the away section, if moved, would have to encroach into the Kingsland (block 27) and/or Chapel (20) a bit, so away fans will be in a bit of the Chapel stand. I presume the safe standing in the away/Chapel section (block 20 and maybe 17/18/19?) will be in the upper sections (as was previously hinted would be the case in the Northam).

I see a lot of decent championship players. A few may be able to play in the Prem, but not many that look like they will thrive. Our nippers like Meghoma can't get a game while we are in the championship. Gonna be tough for them to make the leap with next to no experience under their belts. Burnley, who were pretty impressive in the championship, signed 13 and loaned in another 5. I'd of thought we'd need to do similar.

seeing as many on here had a lot to say about Forrest signing a record number of player when they went up, I wonder how many would object to us signing 20 (hopefully prem standard) players should we do the same? That wont happen of course, but the squad is not exactly blessed with players that Prem sides will be knocking our door down to sign if we fail to go up.

They can sit in one of the other three stands with seats in it or stay in the Northam and stand up. Pretty simple. What is wanted?

I know its entering Luddite territory, but might we consider reverting to 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 when we have forged a lead or have lost control of a game. Doesn't have to be forever, but just get a midfielder covering the fullback properly. I'm sick of seeing two vs ones down the flanks.

Not sure he got his positioning/angles quite right. He's a tad too close to his near post.

Nearly? In 17/18 McCarthy was player of the season. We ain't changing it now.

if we have a chance of promotion on the last day, I'd be very happy with that. Can't see it, as we will drop points somewhere, but what a game at Leeds that would be.

Agree fully that we are 2-0 due to Russball. I'm a big fan of our possession game, but there were a few occasions when we played ourselves into trouble because we did not recognise that they were pressing harder with more men further forward. There was also two or three occasions in the second half when it simply had to go long. RM has indoctrinated the play out at all costs, but players (keeper and defenders) need to see that the space is not there. RM and coaching staff need to spot when opponents are pushed high and get players to play that 30 yard ball to the wing instead.

I missed that. The foul on the keeper by Fraser looked pretty bad from the other end of the pitch.

Not sure I understood taking Aribo off. He was doing OK. I though Smallbone was the one that should have bene replaced. Stu came on and was fucking terrible. I'd of subbed the sub. Not having Charles on the bench or a defensive midfielder RM trusts to bring on is a problem. The Watford player waltzed past Stephens who looked like he was running in treacle. Thought KWP started brilliantly. I texted a pal that he was far too good for the championship, after which he looked terrible. He was not helped by not being helped. There are times when its two vs one and we are crying out for a right midfielder to sit in front of him and track the overlap etc. Playing 4-3-3 is great from an attacking sense, but its an issue for us defensively. Last thing. I will never bother with the £20 tickets in the chapel again. The number of kids screaming nonsense did my head in. Loved the enthusiasm, but hated the high pitch drivel.

Fella and his annoying kid next to me left on 95 minutes "seen enough".

Martin killed us moving Stephens to DM.

Fuck. Stephens so slow.

Stu having a mare so far. Tempting to take him off. Buck up lad.

Who was s their fella on the right. Skillful. They are a threat on the break.

i wonder if there is a realistic sequence of results which ends up Leeds being promoted before the last game of the season, creating an easier game for us?

Feels a bit like the Southgate discussion. The general consensus there would probably be that he (Southgate) has got the players and England not winning a trophy shows he ain't truely up to it. However, I think that fails to credit the manager for (reversing a trend) creating an environment where good players do play to their potential which has enabled us to go far in tournaments. The same applies to Martin. He has the players, but without an environment, shape, way of playing/methodology, things can unravel - we saw that in the early stages of his team. With Southgate and Martin the question must be, is there another guy that could continue to foster a great environment BUT be a little better on the tactics/shape side of things? For many, RM's team shape and methodology has its negatives and will always restrict the true potential. I am not certain about that. I am thinking that if we had two or three different type of players in the squad, that provided more bite and workrate without the ball but without a loss of technical ability, some of our ills might be eradicated without a change in shape/tactics. I know some will disagree, but when he joined, I certainly was not convinced he could turn this ship around and make a better fist of it than cuntflaps and Burley did the last time we went down. I saw a squad filled with losers and a pretty big task ahead of him. Perhaps I didn't take into account just how poor the championship standard is though, so am a cautious about praising him to high, especially considering our spending and wage bill. I do worry that with a potential loss of talent this summer the results will mirror Swansea's (when they lost Downes) - which saw them in touching distance of relegation for a large part of the season. This style of football requires players with very high technical ability to work. Lose that and you will start to lose games. Unlike many though, I think we will win the play offs, so maybe we will never find out if that is true.

Thought I'd check his stats. 12 goals in 34 championship games. 20 starts, 9 goals. 14 subs, 3 goals. For comparison, when we signed him from Brum, he had just scored 22 in 46 games. 43 starts, 22 goals. 3 subs, 1 goal. If we'd played him up front in every game this season, does he get enough goals to counter the 'liability in front of goal'?

Huge. We would need to win all 6 games. Watford Preston Cardiff Leicester Stoke Leeds We ain't doing that. We can beat any of those teams, but we could draw or lose to any of them too.