S-Clarke

You've got to go all out for a win, the equation for us is as simple as it gets. Win both games, score a few goals (especially against Ipswich), and see what happens next weekend. It's a long shot, of course it is, but going into the last game on 79, 79, 80, 80 is a bit nuts. Even if we fail, I don't think everyone will feel deflated as if it's some glorious failure, we weren't even expected to be here a few months ago - so it's a bonus situation whatever way you think about it. We just need to give ourselves the best chance to partake in something incredibly nuts.

This isn't to discredit Pertez in any way, as I love the bloke, but we're not even talking about the difference between an average GK and a top quality goalkeeper here. It's simply the difference between having no goalkeeper and an actual goal keeper.

He was great, MOTM for me. All over the pitch, his stuff off the ball was just as important as his wins in transition. He certainly tired in the last 20, you could visibly see him looking a bit heavy on his legs, but he gave everything. He's a Top League CM now, that's for sure.

He was excellent yesterday, defensively more so than attacking as expected. I do like his little 'relationship' down the left with Leo, but as others have said...he's so injury prone, he can't seem to catch a break with his fitness so he never gets a chance to build a head of steam.

Proud is the only word which can sum it up really. The first half was excellent, although we were aided by a very slow Manchester City - they made it easy for us to get back into our shape and starve them of opportunities to break us down, and on the transition (which is all it was going to be about yesterday) we were excellent in that first half. We caused them all sorts of problems winning the 2nd ball, and we put so much into that first half. I didn't think we did enough to go in front per say, but we held our own and it was very much a stale-mate at that point. 2nd half they turned it up, as we all expected them to. I thought it was the introduction of Doku which really changed it, as they had someone who hugged the wide position and stretched us - they were playing too slow and too central in the first half, but once they stretched us they started getting in behind and causing all sorts of issues with their pace and movement, we were having to work overtime with the blocks and last ditch defending. Isn't it typical though, in the half where you are fundamentally camped and not in the game, you get a transition and score at the other end? That was a great goal. This wasn't the sort of game where you see Azaz dictating things or playing little cute balls all the time, however that goal is why you keep him on - he's one of those players who can be invisible and can then pop up with something extraordinary, you have to take the 'invisibleness' that these sorts of players can bring, because their moments are often a hell of a lot more valuable over the course of a season. The equaliser so soon afterwards was a real killer, had we held out till around 85/86 mins still on 1-0 they may have got a bit panicky, but they got back in immediately and that was that really. Great winning goal from them, we were physically fatigued at that point and we struggled to get out - which is why he had a bit too much space. Who'd have thought City would have been protecting the ball in their corner flag in the last moments of the game though, that's a credit to us - we gave them a game when no one expected us to. Player of the match for me was Jander, what a midfielder this kid is. So much energy, so much ability on the ball, always winning the turnovers. He had a little dip over Christmas, but he's back to that level now. He's almost certainly a Premier League/Top Division central midfielder. We gave it our all, we and that's all we can ask. Sure, it's another round of 'heroic' failure for us and another year of no trophy - but in the context of it all, you can't be anything by proud really. Amazingly we still have things to play for this season, and I hope this hasn't taken too much away from us. I'd be desperate to us build a team around THB, Jander, Leo, Charles, Pertez, because this lot could really grow with us.

I agree that you'd have certainly taken a playoff battle with Boro/Wrexham/Millwall at the start of the season, facing a Cov, Leicester or Ipswich would be more challenging (Well, Leicester on paper had they turned up this year). It would be a 'nicer' group than the last playoff round up we had. If Ipswich beat WBA at the weekend then any 2nd dream is dead, so how I'd see it panning out are 2 legs against a somewhat dispirited and out of steam Boro. I think Ipswich will finish on 85 by winning 2 of their last 3, which is all they need to do as their GD will never be overtaken by Millwall even if they win their last 2. From here it would take an almighty bottle for Ipswich to fail IMO. They can even afford to lose to us as long as they pickup a win at WBA and at home to a QPR side with their flip flops on.

It's worse than that actually, Winks is still contracted. He got an automatic 1 year added to his 3 year deal when they were promoted in 2024, so he's still there till 2027. Jannik will be sticking around too, he's on a decent chunk. But Skipp until 2029 is crazy, they'll have to move most of these on at cut price fees you'd have to think. I read something about their parachute payments too and apparently they've already 'used' next years final payment, believe it or not. They've rolled up all of their future income streams from transfer sales and next years parachute payments to fill in some loan payments/cover debt for 'now'. They are in an even worse situation than I thought, and it was already bad.

Our game at their place done it for them, that was a turning point for both of our seasons. I always felt that result would be season defining in a few directions. That was the first game after they'd had the points deduction, and they came out all guns blazing - you thought they'd get over the line, clamber up to mid-table and re-calibrate for next season. But the way they imploded in that second half with sheer panic and fear told you everything really, they were never coming back from that. And they didn't. Mentally that would have been crushing, demoralising and I get the impression a lot of the players think they're better than they are - so they were probably somewhat resentful of the 'punishments' and got sulky, had a 'we can't do any more than we're doing' attitude, rather than pulling together and fighting. The telling thing is at the end of the season they'd have gone down without any deduction anyway, so they can't even blame that. They just imploded after our game. The ultimate fall from grace really, they got a bit big billy bollocks under Rodgers and thought they'd become part of the 'Big 6'. It's another example of what happens when mid-sized clubs spend really badly over consecutive windows, it's really hard to recover because you lose that 'sell to buy' flexibility, are hampered by PSR, and are left with loads of rubbish on big money that you can't get rid of to give you PSR flexibility.

I personally thought he was a tiny bit lucky in the Swansea game, there were a few moments where he'd clearly lost his head. He had to be dragged away quite a few times. He'd have been sent off had he stayed on IMO, so on the face of it it feels a bit odd to retrospectively go back to it, but we were quite fortunate to play that game with 11 IMO. Gutting for Flynn missing the biggest game of his life - FA Cup Semi Final. He might never get there again. Feels mean in that sense.

More of a pen than the one against Boro, the biggest complaint I had with that is the Charlton GK diving over the ball. How bad were Charlton though? That game gave me PTSD of that Forest home game under Jones, constant aimless long balls with no real plan. Ipswich weren't amazing last night by any means, and WBA will put up more of a fight I think.

Even though Wednesday are sat down there with no wins in what feels like years, they've always put up a fight in every game I've seen them play. They don't really have a squad, but they've always given it a go. Definitely deserve credit, they've gone down with a bit more dignity that Leicester weirdly. I guess their target is a win in the next two, just so they don't finish the season on negatives.

They're not as strong as they were a few seasons ago, when they had peak KDB, Rodri and co. But they're still on a different level than us obviously, so it's going to be one of those games where we need to make the most of every sniff we get - we can't miss chances, and we also will need a fair bit of luck. Nothing is impossible though, and with the momentum we have I'd imagine City aren't thinking this is a comfortable game - it will probably be harder than the game at Burnley they just played. I just want the next two days to fast forward now.

I think there were a couple of chances in the end, sure - but on pattern of play, first half especially, Bristol City had full control over that game really. They didn't pepper our goal as much as they could have, but they were very smart in how they used the ball and blocked us off. We struggled to threaten them really. On the balance of play, their domination of the ball, I'd say we were fortunate to get a draw and that's credit to us for still having that bit of fight.

The bloke is an absolute catastrophe of a goalkeeper and really shouldn't be at such a high level. The fact we gave him so many chances in this league and the PL is such an embarrassment of the clubs judgement. I hope they see sense, but I do still get very vivid nightmares of him rocking up again in pre-season. I saw a funny comment regarding him on twitter. ''He's one of these annoying modern types of goalkeeper who is good at football, apart from goalkeeping''

It's now a toss up between Ipswich and Millwall, the game against us will probably decide it. I think Ipswich's goal difference will be what tips them ahead of Millwall at the end of the season, I reckon we'll play Boro in the semi's and Milwalll in the final if we get there.

It was just a step too far really when you think about it. What we've done, to even be in the conversation for Automatic Promotion with 4 games left was one heck of a rally, something none of us even had a thought of in January - sadly we just ran out of season as we started too late. I thought the entire team looked like they were walking in lead boots today, they were second off the ball, poor on the ball, not quite awake to picking up space or anticipating - it was a performance which screamed of running out of a bit of steam, guys like Azaz and Bree were just not there today - they couldn't do anything right. Those games happen sadly, but credit to us for getting the draw - as I don't think we even deserved that. Bristol City played well, they pressed us high and packed the middle of the pitch so it was harder for us to transition - there were still moments, but we always missed the 50/50 or had a poor touch on the ball. Every single player in that starting 11 had an off game in that sense. Of course it feels pretty deflating right now, I'd have loved that game next Tuesday to have meant something - but it wasn't to be. But the reality is we've secured playoffs with 3 games left, and I don't think anyone saw that coming! What we've done since January has been remarkable, I'm desperate for this run to actually mean something though - because otherwise it will be as pointless as the run under Martin. Onto the weekend, let's see what can happen.

I'm happy with a draw, at the end of the day Ipswich have dropped points in their penultimate home game. 3 aways on the spin for them now, if they get 9 points from that lot then fair do's. Even 'If' Boro had won, it didn't really change what we needed. At the end of the day we always needed to win all of our games, Ipswich and Millwall need to throw in 1 or 2 duff results. That wouldn't have changed no matter what result today, but dropped points for both is the better result imo. Keeps Boro a little bit away from us, so we've gained on Boro and Ipswich this weekend. If we do settle for the playoffs, 3rd or 4th will have the 2nd leg at home - so that's another advantage to play for.

I looked at Leicester and Spurs down there and thought, interesting to see....but no chance. But it could actually happen you know. Leicester are all but gone, but if the results go against Spurs this weekend then it's looking a bit squeaky for them too.

I honestly felt we'd be scrambling around with Derby, so to be all but assured in the playoffs with 3 games left is utter nuts. To be 1 point off 2nd is just nonsense. A lot is made of the collapse of Boro, but we've fully capitalised on that lot (and it wasn't as dramatic a collapse as some make out really) Ideally you'd want a Boro win today for sure, but even an Ipswich win and we've still got chances. I look at Ipswich away to WBA and then ourselves, if they get 6 points from those then fair do's - but they've still got opportunities to drop points after today. Millwall are an interesting one as they're in there right now, and their run in does look 'ok', you'd imagine they'll do Leicester quite comfortably. Stoke away isn't a 'banker' by any means, so there are opportunities for them to pickup a draw somewhere I reckon. Like ourselves, Millwall need to be perfect. Maybe Smallbone can come back from injury to head in an own goal against Stoke or something? All totally exciting though, and from a season which was looking like mid-table nothingness - with a bunch of players a lot of us couldn't stand - you have to say this is the biggest turn around in a season I can ever remember.

That's our toughest remaining away game out of the way, and we managed to win it from a position that we'd have lost 9/10 6 months ago. It wasn't perfect and we struggled to get going in the 1st half, but we still kept them at bay and didn't allow them to do too much damage even though they somewhat had our number. I thought Vipotnik was marshalled superbly, bar the flick on he got at the far post, in play he was really well nullified I think. Wood did a good job on him and that is exactly how you use a squad - chose players based on attributes for specific reasons, don't change the shape, just slot one in and one out - perfect. Common sense. The second half was much better, I think Swansea tired a bit - and I think one of the other big takeaways from the last 3 or 4 months has been our fitness over the course of 90, we seem to have teams on the ropes at the end. Given the amount of games we've played and the fixture pileup, I think our sports science/physios and management are dealing with the squad as well as you could ever dream of. I thought Stewart struggled yesterday to really impose himself, I love Larin as he injects so much energy and running when he comes on. He's a perfect number 9 in that respect. He's not static, he moves everywhere and you can anchor an entire attack around him. There are a few differences with this team that we haven't seen in many years, a lot of it comes down to a common sense approach to football - which isn't too common in football nowadays. 1 - A GK who is a GK 2 - A focal point to build an attack around 3 - Skilful and energic players in and around the 9 to pickup the bits and pieces 4 - Playing players in their natural positions and allowing partnerships to form. 5 - Being purposeful every time you have the ball and not recycling it for 10 mins just 'because'. 6 - Hitting it long when needed, not farting around keeping the ball at the back all the time - even when it's not safe. 7 - Players having clear instructions about how to mark, when to press, where to be available on the pitch. Sometimes it's the most obvious things that can make it all click, but we've had years of managers and coaches trying to do clever bollocks stuff - but I always point back to Adkins and Koeman to a degree, we never had what I'd call a defined 'philosophy' or 'style' (like Martin for e.g.), but we just had good players, in their right positions and a common sense manager. I'm not trying to belittle Eckert at all, I think it goes to show that managers who have this sort of 'view' of football are few are far between these days - there are way too many Rosineiors and Martins. Football needs more Eckerts.

Definitely cannot under estimate how much they've improved us too. Tonda has identified the gaps and suggested the GK and ST, I'm sure. And it's been transformational. The structure of the team is amazing though, I mentioned it before but we just look well coached. Players making runs in advance of getting the pass, players pressing in groups rather than individually. The entire machine feels coordinated, and you can even swap players around and it still functions the same - that's all down to coaching.

I like Larin because of his physicality, I think he adds a dimensional focal point we don't really have without him. Stewart is another shout for sure, he's more 'cute' in terms of how he plays - better touch, not as quick, more of a vision. Larin is a bit more all action and I think that energy helps everyone.

To even be in the conversation at this point just doesn't really compute, given where we were in November to be sat here with 4 games remaining and 3 points off 2nd is just twilight zone stuff. I think the equation to get there is quite clear - we need to win every single remaining game. That hasn't changed for me. If we can finish on 84 points with 10 wins in a row then we'll be in with a shout for sure. It may still not be enough, but we've got to give ourselves the chance. In terms of the playoffs, that's done - amazingly. We're there bar the shouting.

I really like him, adds such a different dimension to us. He's so strong, full of energy and elusively quick. We've not had someone like him for a while. Our January transfer window was brilliant, the 3 adds (if you include Bree) have been transformational.

That was absolutely superb, I can't remember such a one-sided first half before. Blackburn struggled to get out at all, luckily we capitalised as I always thought they'd get better. They did get better, the change they made with Ohashi coming on made a huge difference to them in attack - gave us something to think about, and he was moving us around a bit. They were very static in the first half, but we pushed them up a bit. I don't think they had anything to lose really, so they did open it up a bit, but we did defend very well in the main. There was that one shot where they hit the bar, Ohashi i think, but other than that they didn't truly test us much as we kept them at arms length. When we did get the chance to transition, we did, and we did it well - although we were more wasteful in the 2nd half finishing wise. I know Archer got MOTM, and that was one of his best games for us for sure - played really well, but Larin was my MOTM. He was a machine. Running left to right, front to back, holding the ball, playing others in, out muscling them, and scoring. He was epic and it shows how important a focal point is in all parts of the team. We are immediately more physical. I'd also say Larin is another reason Archer had a good showing, Archers best time came with Akpom at Boro - small man feeding off big man, small man feeding big man etc. Archer was never designed to be the main number 9, but if he's supported by physicality I think you can see what he brings. Charles has certainly gone up levels since we were last in the Championship, he was a bit majestic I thought. Winning the ball, running with the ball, his passing in behind was absolutely sublime - it was the ultimate CM performance. He's actually a very progressive central midfielder, not the all out defensive midfielder we used him as in the Martin days. If someone told me I'd be feeling like I am now, back in November, I'd tell them they're off their rocker. It feels like one extreme to the other, it's hard to really compute how we've improved over this period of time. I'd given up on playoffs, distant memory, but to be sat here with Playoffs being all but confirmed and automatics back on the horizon is a pure mind bend, it has to be said. Onto the next one...