SNSUN

I wouldn't as I said. But Jelert for Bree is one option that wouldn't be a huge step down in quality if Tonda was going to tinker, compared to dropping the recently excellent Welington for Manning.

Nope. I read as it's a rearranged 3pm Saturday game it is part of the blackout for some reason. Spamming SaintsWeb and watching SSN for me.

Nope me either, but from that quote it seems he'll tinker a bit. But yes I'd leave the changes to the FA Cup game.

How are we on the same odds as Wednesday? At least we could mathmatically win it if we won every game (and all the bottom half teams won against the title challengers) - the most points Wednesday can get is 38 by winning every game.

I'm not sure I'd want to change anyone from a winning line-up but I see his point. Downes with his knock might be the obvious one with Charles coming in. Jelert for Bree perhaps although Bree has earned his place in the last couple of games. I wouldn't touch the CBs for now, or Welington. Jander and Azaz would stay for me, along with Stewart up front. Scienza or Fellows perhaps, one of them could be rested or dropped, possible Fellows with Edozie or Matsuki coming in. Something like: Peretz Jelert THB Stephens Welington Charles Jander Edozie Azaz Scienza Stewart That's 3 changes without diminishing too much of the quality.

Sheffield Utd pull one back...

Well Sheffield United probably won't be in the race. 2 down to the new League leaders.

He might get one or two, possibly a penalty here or there, because he tries hard which is his best trait. But it won't be enough to convince anyone that he's anything other than a decent Championship player.

So funny - they haven't even gone for the more experienced brother, the one that has actually managed at a decent level - and that THIS level. Watford fans must be fuming. Better get my FM 26 loaded up and see if I can't score a Championship Manager's job.

Someone has been altering his WIKI page: Edward Still (born 30 December 1990) is a football manager 26 enthusiast and manager of EFL Championship club Watford and Rickmansworth Ladies simultaneously. Loves mr pozzo and loves John harradence

Brighton, I meant Brighton not Palace!

Fixtures this week and my thoughts on play-off contenders: Monday: Sheffield United vs Middlesbrough - Sheffield United in decent form but that's a tough game for them. Draw at best, Boro win if not. Keeps Sheff U a little way behind us. Tuesday: Leicester City vs Southampton - Saints win of course! But seriously Leicester fans almost unanimously think we'll win. Let's hope we don't go all Saintsy. Oxford vs Norwich - Would love an Oxford win here to keep the pressure on the teams above, esp. Pompey and Leicester. Norwich in good form though but shouldn't threaten the play-off race. Birmingham vs WBA - Easy Brum win sadly. Wednesday: Charton vs Stoke - Could go either way, I don't expect either to be a play-off contender and suspect both will finish bottom half. Friday: Blackburn vs Preston - A win for Preston there. Blackburn are woeful right now. Saturday: Derby vs Swansea - Tough to call, could be a draw but Derby could edge it at home. Would prefer the draw. Pompey vs Sheffield United - Another that could go either way - I want Sheffield United to win of course but they are also coming up our rear. Pompey might feel like they can get away from the relegation zone. Preston vs Watford - Preston home win, possible draw but Watford for all their size and endeavour yesterday lacked quality. I'd rather Watford won this though with Preston ahead of us. QPR vs Blackburn - QPR win. Shame with QPR ahead of us. Mind you Blackburn can't lose EVERY game, can they? Sheffield Wednesday vs Millwall - Another 3 points for Millwall. It's tough to see the play-off chasing teams dropping many points here really. Still we can only win our own games and let fate guide the results of the others.

Swansea now one point behind us...

Leeds staying up will show you can survive in the Premier League after promotion, sure, but Sunderland have showed that you can thrive with the right signings.

Possibly, although we were so poor last season that would be quite an achievement - but I hope SR have learned their lesson. We have a few players out of contract at the end of the season or loans that may or may not be signed up. We will need a fairly big rebuild anyway - I'd rather go up and rebuild with, he says hopefully, Premier League quality players than rebuild with Championship players for another promotion push. And if we come down then hopefully we'd be in a better position than this season after we signed Championship quality players for our Premier League campaign of questionable talents. We'd have extra parachute payments too which would please SR no end. I didn't go as I was working but I don't think any Saints fan regrets winning the play-off final against Leeds, and if we were to go up this season, that would have to happen again. I'd take another play-off win even if it meant relegation next season.

Just realised Aribo can't play against us. That's a shame. 😁 Harry Winks the obvious replacement then.

Ooh those sausages look banging.

Not outplay as such - we could be crap and keep picking up wins. 😊 But yes we would need better results than the teams above us, and probably boost our goal difference to boot. While they have a superior points total, there's nothing to say Hull or Millwall might go on a terrible run yet either. We may think it's 9 or 10 teams fighting for 6th place, but if their form dips it could be 11 or 12 teams fighting for 4th-6th place. It's unlikely but if everyone is fighting to pick up results to get into the play-offs, they could easily see us in their wing mirrors. Of the teams ahead of us I think Stoke and Watford finish below us anyway. I still think we finish top half but short of the play-offs. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised if we got there than disappointed we didn't.

Yeah me too really but Matty Fernandes is running the show - they love him KUMB. Burnley and Wolves are down, it's one place for a few teams but that's where it gets interesting as, bar Leeds, who are very good at home and picking up good results, you could say the others are "too good to go down" on paper. Forest have some good players but aren't getting results - they could be a victim of buggering about with managerial changes with Dyche shortly to follow. West Ham have a few excellent players but have recruited quite well in the January window. Leeds squad isn't the best but they are picking up results and Elland Road is a fortress. Palace could be in trouble - too many player sales and they spent big money on a misfiring striker. Spurs should, sadly, survive with the quality they have. If it's not West Ham, Forest or Leeds for the drop, I genuinely think Palace could be in trouble. They're only 6 clear of the zone and their form is awful.

Transfermrkt said he has a Hamstring injury. Do they know something we don't?

I've had a look at all our promotion contenders Forums from Swansea up to Wrexham (because I'm at work on a Sunday morning and it's dead here) and in those that have Championship or Play-off chase threads, there's not one mention of us (Apart from Watford's for obvious reasons). So it seems we are sneaking up the table unnoticed. Fine by me. A couple of the forums are worried about Birmingham the most it seems. Watford seem to think they're sinking towards the bottom half, Derby and QPR seem to be surprised at where they are and have doubts they can do it. I guess any of us in the play-off race probably look at the table, see the few points required and think "we can do it". The difference is, on paper at least, we still have one of the better squads in the division. It's now up to Tonda to deliver the wins we need. Another way to look at it is that following our last 4 games, we probably only need another 7 points to avoid relegation. 😁😎

They think their full backs are awful - Thomas and Ricardo Pereira. If they play, we need Leo and Tom to rip them apart. Apparently Lascelles had a decent debut but he's no spring chicken. Aribo in midfield speaks for itself. They won't have Decordova-Reid as he was sent off who is one of their better players. Their strikers are also shite. Basically if we can keep Mavididi and Fatawu quiet (Bree and Welington need to be as good as they were yesterday) then we should be able to get a result. Reading their forum they think they should be building their team around their younger players, Monga, the recently loaned Mukasa, Kristiansen and Aluko. It will be interesting to see how many of them play on Tuesday. As for us, I'd start with an unchanged team again providing Downes is fit (Charles if not). That means Stewart starts again with Cyle to come off the bench later on. A point isn't enough against them if we want to get to that play-off spot really - they are in disarray so this is one of the remaining fixtures we should be looking to get three points from. BUT we have to play better offensively than yesterday.

Good to see we're scouting young talent but I suspect he'll be at Valenciennes next season.

Funnily enough Baz always got better when Alex Mc was in goal for us too!

The ever reliable AI says he scored after one minute. So that's probably accurate.