Holmes_and_Watson

I just hope that, if we go up, that we learn from the relegations of Everton, Forest and Man City. Ideally they'd find some way to demote more than 3, allowing us up automatically. Guy on Beeb saying that the consolidation of financial power with the big clubs, was some unforseen side effect of these things coming in. They couldn't wait to kick the ladder away behind them.

Birds

Tsk. I clicked, hoping to join an offshoot club of the CoT. 🙂 Also grumpy because the radio was praising Coleman for a record no of appearances... well done... In the PL era... don't give a monkeys... Both Stu and Bedders have come back really well this season. Part opposition quality, part stability, part fitness for Stu, part system and part enjoyable working environment. Oh and winning a bit. Definitely worth presenting Bedders with a voucher for excel, for those stats. 🙂

At the time, I just thought Stephens was getting on for some minutes, with us well in the lead. Smallbone going off meant that Stephens could pass from deeper too. 🤷‍♂️

Vertigo

Gaaaaaaah! 🙂

U = text speak Alright = when it's well known I prefer all right. Babes = reality TV utterance and not a proper sentence. Much more annoying than pal or mate for me. Well done, Toussaint 🙂

Bah! Silly free kick to have given away.

Sunderland miss an excellent chance, after Ipswich keeper error.

No alternatives here...buddy. Just trying that one out. 🙂

The ill-fated Dad's Army spin off from the early '70s. 🙂

I trust this means signing off before you travel, rahter than before you sing off forever from Saintsweb! 😨

I forgot to put a little smiley on that 😞 I was just thinking about Bednarek's position being a bit untouchable. Now that Stephens is back, someone with some different skills and someone who Martin picked out as a leader in the group, he may not get quite the full games as he had, as Martin will want to keep all 3 sharp. For exactly the sort of scenario where one' of them isn't 100%. Stephens will be thrilled we're doing so well, even if that's going to restrict his own minutes a bit.

It makes sense for him to come on when Smallbone is taken off, as Stephens seems to move into a number of the defensive slots Smallbone picks up. I'd not want to be the one to mess with the Bedders /THB partnership though. So a bit of man management from Martin (which he seems really good at) to let everyone know how important they are and that there will be minutes for all three. There's usually kocks, suspensions or just match fatigue that should be enough to keep all three ticking over.

All the work continues to pay off. Players happy, versatile with great movement awareness and composure. It's right across the team. From Baz's coolness, absorbing anything in his direction and weigting his passes, out to a solid backline, with KWP allowed freedom, and Manning's role tweaking as he's got Fraser ahead down that flank, but still tucking in. I enjoy just watching how many jobs Smallbone picks up across the park, while Downes provides a lot of talent in the midfield. Up front, we're still developing. And that's with the scorelines we've been getting. Today we put more away from our chances. That's partly due to the space we created and the quality of those final balls. Wednesday did try to come back into this, and we finished them off when they did. Fraser, Che and AA all providing something to the front 3, giving us movement, pace, huge amounts of work rate and some physical presence. Adams is always worth a little watch. As he's the least dynamic of the 3, his support work and positioning has to be pretty good. They had a few efforts on Baz. But there's were mostly at speed that would require a quality finish. It's deliberate that Martin is happy we reduce teams to those kinds of chances. Some will have hearts in mouths, but the players are very well drilled in their defensive shapes. Martin has been using the squad really well. That's with players with form/ fitness/ injury issues. Stu, Aribo, Stephens, Fraser have all been getting mroe and more game time. The unbeaten run continues. Martin and the players know there's more to come, that standards can;t drop and we have to be resiliant enough to handle any bumps that will surely come. Getting our noses ahead of Ipswich is some achievement considering whre we were. Martin and the players now have to push on into getting ahead, leaving whatever scar tissues that's left from last couple of seasons behind.

Dibling strong and a decent attampt at linking up with Manning there.

Passing it around the back. There must be yards between our two lines there. Just the sort of spaces Smallbone fills. Wednesday not coming near us, not taking the chance for it to get worse.

Alcaraz watch: Getting himself into lots of space. One pass might have gone forward to Mara, but he drops it back. When he gets the ball back, he looks to pick out a pass that gets someone into space. So, he's thinking of those fine margins. Did enough a few seconds later in a challenge for us to get the ball back too. Ooooh Dibling. That would have been something. But he's going to be nothing but direct until the end of the game.

Another lovely team move there. Starting with Baz cushioning it and making a composed pass out to KWP. And while we've still loads of possession from that move. Lovely from Fraser to, moving over from centre, to AA over to the other side to Mara, switched over to the other and in space. Such lovely movement and composure.

Eventually, Bednarek will get annoyed getting subbed for Teacher's Pet. Martin hopefully giving extra hugs and care there.

Mara doing a decent couiple of runs, resulting in them going backwards. Good to see that effort, in a game that might wind down a bit.

'Why hello Mr Fate. You don't mind standing there, while I walk up and down shouting "tempt, tempty, tempt tempt", do you?'

"That 2-0 is always a bit of a dangerous scoreline." Hmmmm..

Awww big hugs for Che, who is forced to keep a stony expression. Charlie and Mara ons.

My stream is miles behind! lovely third. But lots of good work to get it there. KWP skill and Smallbone making sure he's available to receive all the passes, and with a good pass. AA having someone similar on the other flank, knowing the runs that will be made. Lovely stuff.