S-Clarke

We'll win it, then lose to Stoke at the weekend.

He did pull off some great saves tbf, I recall one from a diving header from Adam Armstrong - he couldn't have done anymore, but the keeper got really strong hands to that.

Why does that matter? Couldn't care less if we finish 3rd or 4th, either WBA or Norwich will be equally as hard - but either way, 3rd or 4th, we're at home 2nd leg.

Brooks is a decent little player, but a complete individual if I've ever seen one. Very good quality on the ball, but is very selfish and that silly missed opportunity summed him up a little. Rothwell I'll give you though - I have no idea why we brought him in and what we thought we were missing that he could add. He's got a couple of good goals for us for sure, but I have no idea what he is as a player. In open play he has been truly horrific for us.

Not many will disagree with you on that, we should have been out of sight and the first half performance was positive - so you have to give credit for that. The problem I have, and many fans have, is that his subs made us worse and brought Cardiff back into the game. From a comfortable and controlled 1-0, missing loads of chances, we changed to a sloppy, disjointed and weak team who were being played through by the team who ultimately won it. For all the good in the first half and the team he picked, he un done it all by what he did with the subs. We'd got a goal, were being wasteful, so at that point you've got to think about 1) retaining control and 2) retreating a little bit, not much, but not being as adventurous during the final 20. Charles would have been perfect to sit and shied, but fuck knows why he doesn't trust him for the only job he can actually do. Rothwell doing that job cost us the match.

I've loved Stu's time with us, he's been a really good player during some pretty bleak moments. He's not a world beater by any means, but has always done a job for us. I think he got ill around Christmas of the 20/21 season and he's quite simply never ever been the same player. When he has his bursts forward he's great, has fantastic moments of quality, but just cannot handle any longer than an hour of pro football anymore - I'm sure he knows it. I personally feel gutted for him as he will likely lose his final shot at an international tournament which doesn't seem fair. He's obviously out of contract too so he has some serious career decisions to make at this point. If he weighs it up (he cannot last longer than 60 mins anymore) and if he's got a serious 12 month+ ACL, he really needs to be considering retirement and focusing on what he wants to do after football - which I think is law, he's a pretty clever bloke by all accounts.

I think we've got one more shot next season if we get our recruitment right. If he cock it up next season then, yeah - we won't be seeing PL football for many, many years as the gap to bridge will only get bigger. Ipswich have shown that you don't need to spend a fortune to compete occasionally, but the form horse is that the teams with the $$ will be the ones competing 99% of the time.

Feels a bit of a discredit to Ipswich, they'll be as difficult as any of the 3. We aren't beating any of them in a final, let's be honest.

I think the first half performance showed that he got the team right, nothing wrong with that selection or Smallbones inclusion. The Aribo/Rothwell sub is what really impacted us. Lost all elements of control at that point. Then we just threw on 3 wingers for the sake of it with no thought. That's what did it for us today.

Yeah, obviously - but the subs then ruined the game because they weren't very well thought through imo. Credit to him for the first half team and performance, spot on, but the way the subs destroyed us in the 2nd half has to be on him.

That's the worry for me, this was a huge game - we put ourselves right back at centre stage with the win against PNE, and we just buckled. (the pressure got to Che as well imo). Had we won it would have been the same at Leicester though, we were always going to lose - at least we now have a few weeks to stew on it, rather than falling at the 95th min on the last day against Leeds. We'd never recover from that.

Yeah the subs were on him today, totally killed our momentum and control of the game. The first half team and performance was spot on, we just couldn't kill them off. 2nd half we started just as well but again couldn't kill them off. The subs were poor as we lost all control at that point, Cardiff edged back into the game and equalised. After they equalised you thought we'd throw the kitchen sink at them, but again the subs (Edozie/Fraser/Sullemana) confused the team and it was like a tombola substitution - no thought, no tactical idea behind them, just a case of throw them all on and see - that's why Cardiff looked more likely to win it with a bunch of kids, and ultimately they did. Frustrating as our subs have often got us over the line, but today it cost us everything.

It was over in Feb if we're honest. Impossible to win every remaining game, we gave ourselves no margin for error because of that run during Feb. That's what did it for us.

Luckily we'll have a new bunch! Hopefully with much better mentality, but ultimately a lot less quality. Cardiff had a great mentality today, bunch of misfits, kids, u21's. Played out of their skin. So far off us quality wise it wasn't even a debate, but they proved that it's not about quality if you have the mentality right.

That's the worry, I don't think these players have the bottle or mentality for the playoffs - absolute pressure caldron games. If they read this and hate us for saying it then I don't really care, but the proof is in the pudding and whenever the pressure has been on us this season we have fluffed our lines, either through overall performances or our goal scorers panicking. We're fine when we're chasing and closing on teams, but when that chasing gets us back centre stage we choke. We did it in February when we got to 2nd after not losing for 24, and we've done it today when we once again got to within 1 point of 2nd with equal games. As much as we like to hope, it's been pretty obvious since Feb that it's 4th for us and nothing else. And as much as I hate to say it, from what I've seen all season it seems pretty obvious that we are a 'gallant' but losing playoff team.

Aribo was great, agreed. He was tiring a bit in that 2nd half though, but the subs were shocking. Once again I don't know what Rothwell is, he's scored some great goals from the advanced position, but he plays like a kitman when he's deeper as a CM. I hope we're not tempted to keep him.

I mean if you're going to blame Martin for that, then you're stretching massively. Criticise him for genuine things but not nonsense like that.

Stu's injury is the worst thing of today, going into a season where he's out of contract as well and with the Euro's. There's been talk of him studying law and focusing on that, I reckon he might retire now.

There was nothing wrong with how we played today, opened them up on numerous occasions and should have been out of sight. As dominant as the PNE game in that first part of the game. Hit the bar, really sloppy finishes from Adams and dallying from Brooks cost us that. Played well enough to have won that 9 times out of 10. We threw the team shape out of the window in the second half at the expense of winning/getting the goal, and it threw us off course. We tried to force it and then lost the composure we had in the first part of the game. It was always a pretty much non-thing for us to win every game, so in a weird way it's better that the final nail is delivered today than the last game against Leeds as that would have been psychologically gut-retching Playoff wise I have no idea what to expect, when the pressure is on and people start to look again this team does seem to buckle and certain players lose their heads/fluff their lines. They're fine when we're on the periphery and coming up from behind, but as soon as we step into the centre stage we lose our heads. And the playoffs are centre stage, all 3 games. Let's see how we handle that pressure, a hell of a lot more than we've had to deal with at any other stage this season.

Sounds like they have some injuries and illnesses, good for us - not sure where he's using that to make excuses though.

Yep, exactly that. Replays against whoever still generate revenue, these clubs down in non-league rely solely on footfall - so more games, more finance. It's a bad move for the non-league clubs and takes away that romance of it a bit in my opinion, bigger clubs won't play as weak a side either as they know they won't get a 2nd chance - so there will be much less chance of a shock.

Another laugh. They're smashing up their own town again, they really are a special sort. O'Neills bar severely damaged after Pompey title win with staff member racially abused (portsmouth.co.uk)

Wow, that's horrendous for him. Same injury as Ross Stewart. Don't forget that we have Lis coming back, so that issue may already be covered.

I'd also add that Ng is their best player, plays at RB. He'll be out. Wouldn't mind him as a replacement for KWP, he was in the running for team of the season.

I don't think the non-league clubs ever have any aspiration for winning the thing or getting that far, so sticking as many games as they can into any run they have is beneficial. More ticket revenue, more TV money if it's selected. If they get a draw at OT they get to take them back to their patch, sell out and get a massive ticket bonus plus TV revenue for the home game. If they lose they lose, they've just made a fortune. It's about the revenue for the lower league clubs and the replays provide that. Who gives a shit if Haaland or Foden are a bit tired because of their trip to Madrid the week before.