StrangelyBrown

Before the media go clutching their pearls about our spies perhaps someone should ask the question why media favourites Ipswich got over 60% more penalties than the next team and more than 3 times the number we got...

I don't think this is the problem.... Leo and fellows werent very effective in the first half - in the second Azaz looked a lot better once he wasn't being expected to feed off scrappy long balls with Larin

I wouldn't start Charles - he's been ghastly when he's started recently. I'd keep faith with Azaz and bring Charles in for him if he has a bad 1st half.

Why is no one asking middlesboro why they didn't build a fence FFS? Their set up invites problems

Job done. Woeful 1st half - very poor from all the attackers. Much better in the 2nd - Ross made a huge difference

Ha ha, can't believe something so trivial has blown up like this. What a bunch of melts!

100% this. Shows what a bunch of absolute noddies run Middlesboro. Come on you spies!!!

I really don't see where the hype about Charles comes from. Yes he's chipped in with a couple of goals, but he's turned into a propaganda player - covers lots of yards but without any real purpose, constantly slows the game down by taking too many touches and keeps his passing stats good by mostly playing sideways. He started the season well, but I can't remember the last time he had a good game.

I thought Shea did well at right back today and then was poor when he switched into the middle. We really need to keep him away from the middle of the pitch - we instantly surrendered control of the game as soon as he went there.

He could be decent there. Would suit his game and give us someone else capable of pinging some accurate long balls

Damien Downs is the complete mystery to me. No exaggeration... watching him warm up it was obvious he had a poor touch and didn't seem to kick a ball properly. As soon as he started a competitive game it was clear that he didn't have the fight for the game. What the hell did the scouts/recruitment team see in him?

To be honest I think Still's "tactics" suited him better. Tonda's fast transition, high energy game doesn't seem to suit him especially when he starts a game. Personally I'd like to see him further forward in an alternative for Azaz as he's got an eye for goal and I think he could be effective in those occasional games where Azaz isn't.

Only he did nothing of the sort. He's a potential match winner very infrequently, but also slows us down every time he has to have 3 touches before moving the ball sideways.

Shea Charles with the ultimate propaganda performance tonight. What exactly is he saving himself for? Everyone else put in a shift but Charles trots around like a useless twat. Never have I seen such a pathetic performance in such an important game. Rant over.

That was properly funny

You don't understand football do you?

Ive got the same. Think it's normal

Likewise!

Charles wasn't particularly great tonight - did some really good defending and then gave the ball away needlessly too many times. As for that sliced shot....

2 more wins under our belt and 4 games to go. Dare I say it - the playoffs look nailed on? What about 2nd....

We can only beat the teams in front of us and fair play to Tonda that's exactly what he's got us doing. There's a chance that Ipswich drop more points so all we can do is keep winning and hope someone does us a favour. Fair play to the whole team tonight. A very professional performance and some well taken chances. Credit to Archer for his performance tonight - I was expecting him to drop off but he kept going. Otherwise special mentions for Larin, Bragg, Charles and Manning.

It's a good point, we had a weak squad and were over performing. SRs first move (summer 2022) was to get rid of the manager who had us over performing and make the squad significantly worse. We'll never know if we would have stayed up with a different set of owners, but I'm pretty sure no one would have done as badly in that first full premier league season as SR.

When we're back to being comfortably mid table in the premier league then Sports Republic will have achieved nothing (we were 14th mid way through the season when they first came in). Until then no matter how you look at it they have taken us backwards with their "strategy" and deserve all the criticism that comes with it.

Lots of good shouts above so far. Azaz for me. Even when things weren't coming off for him you could see he was trying things and just needed a few players around him on the same wavelength. When we're playing well he makes the whole side tick. Irreplaceable IMO. Leo a very close second - has been a huge part in turning our season around and when we weren't clicking as a team was a very important outlet. Azaz gets it ahead of Leo for me because Leo isn't quite irreplaceable. Special mentions for Peretz, Harwood-bellis, Bree, Downes and 4 at the back (which all came together to result in our upturn in form).

With 6 to go; 8 wins from the previous 10 and the other 2 results were draws. How wrong could I have been? Somehow I think we'll need more than 2 more wins from the last 6 though...