Tom57

It also means on the other side Azaz looks like he's simultaneously trying to play as a 10 and a right midfielder

Both fellows and Scienza seem to be playing on the left

Bragg has the ability but lacks the experience for these big occasions. That second pull back was entirely instinct and he didn't have the presence of mind to stay level headed.

I think when West Ham fans talk about JWP's legs being gone they're thinking of this: I don't think it's that bad as Raya is running very quickly even for an outfield player and it must be at the end of the game if he's gone up for a corner, so JWP had probably covered quite a lot of ground by then, whilst Raya would be comparatively fresh from not having to run around for 90 mins.

Maybe a 4-1-2-1-2??? We will basically have no midfield whatever we do with that lineup I'd have thought 🤔

I think Spors likes doing his transfer business late. 1st team Players brought in before 21/8 last summer: Quarshie, Downs 1st team Players brought in after 21/8 last summer: Roerslev, Azaz, Fellows, Jander, Scienza, Long, Jelert Puts lots of pressure on him to get it right though, and we need to pick some decent points up before 1/9 if we want to be promoted automatically

This is going to be a very important summer. It could be the difference between us calming everyone down, settling any legal disputes we have as far as we can and having a group of players and new management who are focussed on the future rather than the past, or it could be us up to our eyeballs in lawsuits with a weak management team who are presiding over a mutinous squad, very few of whom actually want to be playing for us or are actually suing us themselves.

To be honest I have no idea what's going on anymore. This whole thing is absurd. I bought my Wembley ticket today and I just want to be able to look forward to it.

I imagined that one of Middlesbrough's analysts saw him milling about the golf club and recognised him without Mr Salt noticing him too, and told security who he was and to look out for him.

The champion's league final is on 30/5 and obviously Arsenal and PSG will hold on to their players until then. Could the EFL argue under the same premise or is it a case of UEFA just having enough power to tell FIFA to wait for a few more days?

It's not. The three playoff games are on the bank holiday weekend 23-25th May. The rugby has it booked on 30th May then the world cup starts 11/6. I guess they could swap the dates for the Championship and league 2 playoffs but that only gives them 2 extra days

They're also the only team to have done the double over us in the league, but we've gotten a lot better since then.

Simon Jordan clearly found the whole thing absolutely hilarious and it is quite farcical to be honest. In terms of Middlesbrough saying other clubs think we've probably spied it probably is something along the lines of: MB: Southampton have been spying on us and probably have been doing it all season! They probably spied on you! Other team: Yeah mate that's terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if they had been. *Goes back to whatever else they were doing* But in order for us to get done for it multiple times through the season: 1) We'd have to have thought we could get away with doing it and actually be able to spy, most training grounds don't have convenient golf courses right next to them, especially not Arsenal as some Middlesbrough fans are implying we spied on. It's like a fortress at their training ground 2) AND the club we spied on will have to want to look through all their CCTV. Wrexham and Derby might but I can't imagine Sheffield utd or Preston NE care enough to spend hours trawling through CCTV 3) AND they'll have to actually spot our operative rather than just miss him in all the bushes and whatever 4) AND the person in question will have to be obviously affiliated with Southampton and not possibly be just some overzealous fan, which may be very difficult if they're crouched in a bush 100m away from the camera What would be especially funny is it other clubs start looking and find spies from other clubs, possibly even Middlesbrough!

I think the EFL are working out how not to piss off the highest number of people. People they can piss off: Sky/other broadcasters if they give Middlesbrough a bye and don't let them televise these semi finals Middlesbrough (obviously) if we win the semi final then get kicked out then they'll ask why they had play the two games in the first place if they were just going to get awarded a win anyway. Imagine if Hackney gets injured in the 70th minute of the second leg and he can't play in the final. Obviously if we go through then they'll say we only got there as we cheated and any fine pails in comparison to the premier League money Millwall/Hull will be annoyed if Middlesbrough just get a bye and they've had to play two tough competitive fixtures Wrexham will be annoyed if we get kicked out the playoffs and they never get their chance to replace us

I've not seen Bree have as difficult a game this season as he did tonight. Philogene and Clarke really tested him all game. I can't remember Clarke doing well in the Premier League last season so he might be like Armstrong in being too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premier League. It was a very even game but I think Ipswich edged it as we completely ran out of energy. It's pretty obvious that Middlesbrough will be our first opponents in the playoffs, shame they're about as far away as can be to travel to!

If we beat Ipswich by 1 goal then we'll be above Middlesbrough on goals scored going into the last game

Their next game is against Oxford Utd which could be interesting because, as you said SW won't want to end on minus points and Oxford Utd would look more winnable than West Brom (their final game) but Oxford Utd HAVE to win to avoid relegation (as well as Charlton losing against Hull). So they'll probably both really be going for it. Then again I've just noticed the Charlton game is at 12:30, so Oxford could be relegated by then anyway!

Take this with the huge pinch of salt it probably needs as it comes from Will Still->Contact of Will Still->My brother's friend-> My brother-> me, but apparently Adam was bullying Damion Downs and was reminding him of his miss against Wrexham at every opportunity and was just generally a nasty person to be around.

If they win on 22/3 in the League Cup final they'll still be on for the quadruple which may give them reason to go for it even more 😬

So who are the five we'll have take penalties if we get there? Azaz, jelert, Manning maybe otherwise it's kids or cbs

Absolute cinema.

They talk about us buying our history, but they're the ones who bought the team to win an FA cup with money they didn't have.

Maybe if Charlton go down to ten men they might have a chance eh Nathan 😉

Whoever we get it has to be a case of them walking into the club and all the players being like 'I really want to play for this guy and really believe in his tactics'. You'd think being professional and giving your all every game should be a given, but it's obviously not as seen whenever a player is trying to force a move through to another team. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the players at the end of last season would much rather have moved on, but there's obviously a limit to how many players you can sell in one window so we're stuck with a bunch of players who are just phoning it in until the end of the season when they hope their agent can get them a move they'd wanted 12 months ago. Even players like Azaz and Fellows who've only just joined us may be working out an exit plan such is the toxic attitude the players have. You can get some hard line manager to try to bully them into working hard and doing what they should (wasn't that what Juric was supposed to do?) but the players have way too much power these days and can more quickly force them out than the manager can actually get them to do anything. You can fault Martin for his tactics, but one thing he very obviously did was come in and quickly convince the players that his way was the best. I think there was even an interview a few months after he left where one of the players said we'd have stayed up if he'd stayed, which as deluded as it is, shows how much they'd bought into his plan. You can get the best tactician in the world but if the players don't commit to doing what they say 100% then it won't work out. That may even be Will's problem is that the players just don't believe what he's saying.

Could be a 523 with Fraser and Manning as wingbacks and Armstrong and Scienza either side of Stewart