east-stand-nic

Apparently on their forums, a lot of Leicester fans think we will win the league and they will finish second.

I will stick with what I have said before. No need to rotate as there are no extra games for us, just one per week during that period, so strongest team for me to keep the winning feeling and mentality. Try and put the game out of site by 60 minutes or so, then if he wants to rest some of the key players, being on fringe players then.

I will go against the grain here and say I want an Ipswich win. If Leicester keep dropping points it will mess up their feel good factor and maybe give us a chance to take the title. I think we have a better chance to overhaul Ipswich no matter what, but if Leicester win tomorrow just for us to be ahead of Ipswich, it is kind of meaningless. Let's focus on top spot and see if Leicester really do fall apart.

I watched sky sports Saturday and while reporting from Fratton Park, the commentator mentioned that there was a half time exodus. Can any resident pompey fans explain why this would be, taking into account they are the self proclaimed best fans in the world?

Definitely one of those we must win. Yeah yeah yeah, I know in the grand scheme it is not, but for me it is as we draw too many away and need to start scoring like we do at home. Surely RM must be well up for this one, I hope he just stays as things are and does not try to be ultra clever to show them what they lost. Keep to the winning formula and this should be a nice comfy sort of 0-2. Oddly enough, the Leicester Ipswich game...i would rather this was either a draw or even an Ipswich win. I don't care about going second now, more important to keep seeing Leicester drop form and let us both catch them and have a chance to win the bloody league at last.

Will they be able to though? Rumours abound that they are close to breaching FFP.

Sorry to say I think this will end up 2-3 to Wednesday.

Trump is an excellent example of how dumb people have become in their political outlook. They make a decision on the person, not what he/she does or stands for. Biden is the worst President ever by far, but so many prefer him to Trump because he speaks like a president. Terrible outlook.

Looking at the 8 games Ipswich have in that period... Ipswich Town v Sunderland 1 Leicester City v Ipswich Town 0 Ipswich Town v Rotherham United 3 Preston North End v Ipswich Town 1 Ipswich Town v West Bromwich Albion 1 Millwall v Ipswich Town 3 Swansea City v Ipswich Town 3 Ipswich Town v Birmingham City 1 Think they might get 13 points so they might still be just ahead of us. Really depends if they really have come off the rails.

If we make huge changes and disrupt the team momentum too much, he could well be right and RM probably would not care.

OK then. So, let's look at the next 8 games taking us to the end of February. Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday 3 Swansea City v Southampton 1 Southampton v Hull City 1 Rotherham United v Southampton 3 Southampton v Huddersfield Town 3 Bristol City v Southampton 1 West Bromwich Albion v Southampton 0 Southampton v Millwall 3 Some very winnable games in there, but also a couple of potential losses/draws. I have feeling we will start to drop a few points here and there, which to be honest has to start happening sooner or later. Perhaps a bit negative with the draw at home to Hull, but as I say, sometime sooner or later we will start to drop a few unexpected points. This is 15 from 8 games, so almost 2 points per game still. Will it be enough to get us into second?

Almost spot on there. We ended up 51 points from 25. Great run. Now need to focus on the next run of games.

And for me there lies the most important factor. We saw with the West Ham cup game just how breaking winning momentum can have long term effects. We have seen many times also, just how after an international break we are sluggish. It is not like an extra game. It is in place of a normal Saturday game. Play your strongest tea, replace loads after an hour if we are 3 or 4 up. This game worries me, because if we struggle with a totally second string team, I truly believe we will lose momentum. I know we are not going to win the cup, but we should treat this as another league game and keep the confidence high.

Be good also is WBA can beat Leeds.

I'd rather the Leicester game was a draw, assuming we win. Leicester will have a bump at some point so we need to think of catching them also, as unlikely as it might be.

Interesting line up. I guess 3 at the back or will Jack be more CDM? Interesting to see how this goes.

For all those who often say a draw is not a bad result, think on this. The reason Ipswich and Leicester are so far ahead is because they DON'T draw games like these previously. To finish top two u have to keep on banging out the wins against all the lower sides. If we want to be top 2 at the end of the season, these are games u have to win. Without knowing the line up it is always hard to predict, but RM has to want this one very badly. It has to be a win. I am hoping for something like 3-1. Get that GD up and up!

It really needs to be 51, but I would not die if we ended up with 49. If we can finish second, great. But if not us, I want Leeds second, and Ipswich with us in the playoffs. If the two of us finish 3rd and 4th, we might meet in the final.

Plymouth have a really bad record away from home so far. No wins at all. Do I not hate games like that. Plymouth 11 0 4 7 7 19 -12 4 Two homes games this week, six points a must as it will put us right up there with Ipswich as I reckon they will lose against Leicester, and maybe only get a point with QPR as after a couple of defeats in a row they may be a bit fragile. Anyway, we cannot control their form, but with six points we go to 51...and if they fail to get more than say two points from their two games, we would be just three points behind them. Question is, can we get those six points from two games that on paper, look very winnable. Or, will we do the usual win one and draw one and drop two crucial points? Come on RM, get them points this week!

They have the second worst home record in the division, so most would say away banker. And let's be honest, it should be. But once again, it is only a matter of waiting until we see the line up and style of play/tactics. We have been keeping clean sheets of late and conceding far fewer in general. Think we will need to score 2 to win this one, and will indeed thus go for QPR 1 - 2 Saints. QP Rangers 10 2 3 5 10 16 -6 9

Indeed, but sadly he will tinker and will end up back to keep ball next game. This is why it is such a frustrating season. Yeah yea yeah, we are doing well and all that, but look at what could have been if he would eat humble pie and quit with the silly over passing stuff.

I suspect and would put pretty good money on Burnley and United being top 6 if not better once again. Not sure about Millwall. My point is that there will always be three clubs with bigger money than the other 21 that have just come down, but those 3 always struggle to stay up as the EPL is such a huge gulf of class apart now. This is why which ever of us goes up, will need to spend very big in the summer to even consider safety from relegation. The top 3 and bottom 3 will I think start to become the yo-yo teams every year.

The problem is the manager and the style of play book. This squad, with any of the other top 6 managers would have more points on the board now and a better GD. We are better than we think, we are just not going to be able to show it under RM.

I think this is a sign that the Championship is starting to become like the EPL. The three sides that have come down are coming down with better and better quads and on top of that the parachute payments, making it harder and harder for the others to get anywhere near them. The obvious exception being Ipswich, but every season there seems to be one of these. I did not think we would finish in the play offs, but if we do, I hope Leeds win second place as i think we would likely have a good chance against all the others.

They have a very good home record. It will be a tough one if they are indeed still in form and a draw would not be a bad result, though again I would say if we really do want to push on into the top 2, we have to be winning these games. Their only two home defeats were against Boro and Blackburn, which is a bit odd. Since the last of those two defeats they have won 3 and drawn 1 and lost 0. Let us hope their form is about to dip. Watford 10 5 3 2 21 10 +11 18