saintant

How will RM know whether Brizzle will play a low block before the teams are announced - even after he might not have much idea?

Don't think he's featured much and only got about 10 minutes in the final. Should be raring to go although doubt he'll be in the squad on Tuesday.

Joe should be nice and fresh after a few weeks holiday in Africa.

If we do lose you will get pelters for posting this 🙂

Phillips really is an agricultural footballer.

There you go, as predicted Arsenal playing walking football with no interest in scoring more goals.

Arsenal will faff about now for the remaining 20 minutes - not expecting any more goals from them.

Think the difference if we win our game in hand will be 8 rather than 7.

Well the gap is currently 11 points. If we win our game in hand and beat them at their place that suddenly becomes 5 points. Agree they'll be very hard to catch but not impossible. Plenty of twists and turns to come yet.

It has to be admitted that the standard in the Championship is very low this season and I think is the cause for the record points returns of the top four.

Make that 9.

I think RM alluded to the fact that Adams took a knock yesterday in one of his after-match interviews. If so it makes sense to rest him on Tuesday and give Mara a start through the middle which he's earned anyway.

Yes, fair points.

I think Rothwell has bags to come in his locker and hopefully the two goals yesterday will give him the confidence to influence games more. There is no doubt he has the ability to take players on and drive forward with the ball and I'd love to see more of that from him.

Was it the first half shambles that convinced you? 🙂

I reckon 4 points from the Brizzle and West Brom games would represent a decent return. Leeds upcoming fixtures are Swansea and Plymouth away followed by Leicester at home so I'd expect them to drop points out of those matches - can see them drawing with Plymouth and Leicester.

I take your point but even the best strikers miss a fair few chances. It's a numbers game and AAs are pretty good so far. He'll not convert every chance but he does well enough in his position.

The lad is as close to a natural finisher as we have. When presented with a chance he often converts and, if not, he usually makes the keeper work. His positioning in and around the penalty area is also good meaning he is usually in the right place at the right time. He's improving fast and deserves a run in the side as our main striker as game time is what will sharpen him even more. Mara is not the finished article but has the potential to become a top notch striker provided he puts the hard yards in.

A strange player who has scored 15 and registered 11 assists which is the highest combined total in the Championship and has among the highest strike accuracy percentage. I don't mind strange if it produces those numbers.

Bad as the first half was I think we need to highlight the fact that we won the second half 5-1. Huddersfield have rightly received plenty of plaudits but we battered them in the second half. The subs played a large part which shows our strength in depth and bodes well for the remainder of the season.

I wonder if RM might deal with the absence of Downes by playing Stephens in a patrolling role just in front of the back four as a bit of extra security. It might stifle some of our creativity but we have plenty of goals in us - may see less of the 4 and 5 goal matches but we should still have enough to score enough to win games. He is clearly a big fan of Stephens so it wouldn't surprise me.

Think you could add Huddersfield to that list after the way they played today. Leeds have to go to their place which could be tougher than they think.

Think it will involve cider drinking summats.

Baz KWP THB Bednarek Manning Charles (assuming no Downes) Rothwell Smallbone Brooks Mara Fraser Rest Arma and Stu for this one.

Agree. It is his birthday today and the official site had a montage of his goals - some absolute crackers there. Show me a striker who doesn't miss chances - they don't exist. Arma is contributing his share of goals and assists so let's not be critical of a few misses.