OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint

Agree, it wasn't his best cameo but other than Scienza, who else have we got who can run directly past defenders? We need that directness in the team otherwise we pass sideways and backwards (which we did a lot of yesterday). Also think Sam Edozie has bulked up marginally so is not so prone to being pushed off the ball. He could play an important part in our run in.

Yep, they wanted it more. Just put the ball in the penalty area. That's where things happen. Too much possession for possession's sake. That said, looking forward to Coventry on Saturday.

Thanks Trousers that was quick. Team as hoped.

Guess that makes Wrexham the team to catch.

The Chelsea game seems to have taken it out of Wrexham. They look really leggy. Or maybe they just aren't very good. Hope we don't look the same tomorrow. Trust Charles and Stephens will be back in and they will strengthen the team.

I'm going because that's one of the most important games of the run in. Win that game and our confidence will be sky high (pun not intended!). But first, let's win this midweek game. Can see Stewart starting and hopefully Charles is back.

Thanks Tonda. Making as much as he can a game of it. Out of that line up, I would have preferred Quarshie to Wood but fair play, we have a chance. Hope they're up for it.

Yes, Tuesday, but if they don't arrive in today's post, call the club. As a final resort, they can always arrange for tickets to be picked up at the ground which isn't uncommon for Cup games.

That's how I look at it. From our perspective, I'm hoping we can dispatch West Brom midweek and then get something from Coventry away and we'll have a massive confidence boost for the future games.

Agree - got to go for it. Will be really pissed off if he puts out all the youngsters and then our League form takes a dive. That would be a wasted opportunity. Once minute they're producing the 50th anniversary shirts promoting the Cup and the next they put out a weakened team like for Leicester. Doesn't make sense.

Only watched the highlights but he wasn't totally anonymous - he seemed to get in the way of Scienza's goal bound shot at the end of the game 😒 If Stewart's not coming on, I'd prefer to see one of the youngsters given some minutes rather than Archer.

They do this in rugby. They do this in basketball. Think having a countdown clock would cut out half this time wasting which is ruining the game as a spectacle. Think they should also look at the obstruction rule again. How many times do you get players deliberately blocking someone getting to the ball without making any attempt to get to the ball themselves or blocking the goalkeeper? They call it 'jockeying' or 'holding their position' but it's blatant obstruction and should be penalised.

S-Clarke mentioned in one of his posts months ago when we were really struggling that we all know how this will pan out. We'll go on a run. The heat will be taken off SR. We'll all get our hopes up and then we will fall just short of a play off place. This is getting ominously accurate. I do hope that final prediction doesn't pan out but we shouldn't be in this place. Millwall, Wrexham, Hull FFS. We've royally buggered up this season and we are playing catch up on some very ordinary sides. At least we are now starting to pull away from the rest of the chasing pack but we have some difficult fixtures on the horizon.

And they have to play us!

Said at the time that the Pompey game would be season defining but I was thinking more from a result perspective. Actually, it's the stand up and be counted ethic that seems to be have got in to the team which has really moved us forward...combined with the change in personnel and formation. And Matsuki is one of the players getting more game time.

And who would have thought it? A big 6ft+ guy up front who can hold up and lay off the ball would make our team a lot stronger? That was up with Charlton and Stoke as our best performance of the season. Fantastic.

Yes, got to get away from the automatic changes after 60 minutes, 70 minutes etc. Tonda's sometimes guilty of following the mantra, if it's not broke, consider breaking it! I think taking Charles off cost us the match on Saturday. Same starting team as Saturday please. Edozie and Matsuki on if things aren't working.

Yes, but those four away games include Sheff Wed and West Brom (who we should be targetting for three points each if we're going for the play offs) and a cup game against Fulham. Then after that it's Oxford. Tonda says we have to 'game manage' better. Well, for a start increase the intent and increase the intensity and stop this meaningless passing sideways which wastes vital seconds and builds in to wasting minutes every game.

To get to the play-offs, they're going to have to show a lot more intent than they showed yesterday. They played the first half like they had all the time in the world and they didn't. Get people and the ball in the penalty area and stop passing it sideways on the half way line. QPR will present more of a challenge and hopefully they'll be a bit more positive than Charlton, which might create more opportunities for us. We were lucky to beat them at their place, so this could be a measure as to how much we've progressed under Tonda.

My sentiments entirely. Their fans were singing "We are staying up" at the end and that was the extent of our opposition yesterday. Almost level with Blackburn as one of the worse teams I've seen this season, and yes, we're going to have the odd blip, but to create one meaningful chance every 15 minutes or so against this standard of opposition isn't good enough. If not the tempo, we need the level of wanting to score and puuting the ball in the penalty box that we showed in the last ten minutes. We wasted far too much time passing sideways and backwards.

Our group's half time chat concluded with an early second half goal, the game's as good as won. Well that worked out well. It's easy to under-estimate the psychology in sport. Once again, we scored and sat back. FFS, go for the kill. And something's got to be done about time wasting. That lump of a sub they brought on went down like a shot with the lightest of touches. It's time to allow play to continue and even with the head injuries, the ref can call help on to the pitch but play around them. And we've been just as bad recently when we've been one up.

Totally agree. Our precious darlings have had a couple of weeks to rest their weary bones and I'm expecting nothing but a win. Real opportunity in the next three games to accumulate nine points. Fellows has come in for criticism in recent weeks. I like him but would like to see Edozie replace him if Fellow's not on his 'A' game tomorrow.

I like Fellows and he has a great cross on him. Just needs to speed some time practising running with the ball and shooting. Edozie, however, is an excellent sub for him. On Saturday, he was hooked off before he could do anymore damage to Leicester but he showed his potential and his runs (like Scienza, like Fellows) can cause all sorts of problems to championship defences. Think we'll be seeing a lot more of him from now on.

Yep, fell out of love with Poch after he put out that team against Sunderland in the Cup. I appreciate I'm a bit of a dinosaur, but I still remember the days when the FA Cup was taken seriously and it practically occupied a whole day's TV - so I still want a cup run. And anyway, that's just the nail in the stick. Tonda's obsession with a back 5 was baffling (inspiring many conspiracy theories that orders came from above) and his substitutions have often been ill timed and weakened the team. With Stewart and Charles coming back, we've looked a lot better and we've had a couple of recent lucky breaks (Sheff Utd & Leicester in particular). It's not been down to any great genius by Eckert. So my jury is still out but beat Coventry, Ipswich and Wrexham and the jury will make their verdict. 😀

Earlier in the season, playing off Stewart against Norwich, I thought there could be a role for him in the team, but his subsequent performances have been absolute dross. I don't buy in to the 'lacks confidence' argument. His touch is awful, he can't hold up the ball, he doesn't seem to fight for the ball in the penalty area and those misses against Leicester were classics. Hopefully we've seen the last of him.