S-Clarke

Wouldn't expect much from Swansea tbf, they are horrific.

Our team under Poch was a thing of beauty. Boruc Chambers Fonte Lovren Morgan Rickie Jay Rod Cork Osvaldo

That was an absolute carbon copy of our win last night. They controlled the majority of that game, Plymouth had a little huff and puff spell but they simply had no where near enough quality to do anything of note. Just like us at WBA, Leeds were just way too good for Plymouth and had the quality in the moments that mattered. I know people are shitting this going to the last day (myself included), but I don't see any other outcome to be honest.

I think you're confusing Hull to another team? They play football, pass and move, use the width, have tricky and talented wide players. The polar opposite of cloggers.

Huh?

Great write up, agree with everything you say. Maybe a tiny bit harsh on Rothwelll...! I like him, he's got a good touch and can glide away with the ball - will be important for us imo. Agree on Charles though, I hate the way fans equate the price tag to how he should be. It's amazing how many people forget he'd never played pro football before the summer. I think he's got real potential, just some refinement to do in certain areas which will come. The raw tools are there though, he'd be exciting to coach.

Love the guy, one of my favourite players to have played for us in recent years. Will go on to play for England.

Could play the Fraser role, that's how he started with us - then eventually became a starter. Not many games left mind, and Brooks just wants to start games - so he may be thrown in sooner than Fraser was.

Better second half as he kept wide, periods in the first half he was being dragged too central and the gap was huge. But he was a real presence to have in the box for the set pieces etc, it was a good call to select him just for those moments.

Yep, the subs were made at the right times. But....to counter that slightly, it makes your job a hell of a lot bloody easier when you have a choice of Aribo, Brooks, Rothwell, Sulemana, Edozie to bring on! The quality wins it in the end, but he has to put them on which he did.

Bar a period just before and after half time, we controlled that game. It was never really in much doubt. Started the game with the energy we lacked at the start against Bristol City, so immediately I knew it was going to be a better night. WBA were always going to have spells, but I thought we defended them quite easily - they were very blunt in the main. The subs in the 2nd half were made at the right time, we totally regained all control once that happened. Aribo was absolutely brilliant when he came on, his touch, movement and ability to drive with the ball made a huge difference and opened the game up for us. He was involved in the Brooks goal. Make no mistake about it, this result will have the other sides feeling a bit shit. A lot would have seen this as a dropped points game, but we were professional, slick and composed and made pretty light work of the team in 5th. We were a level above really.

I don't get the moaning either, but I think some have been storing up their moans since September - so they're ready to release all their shit. As soon as I saw the line-up it was obvious - we've gone for height at the back at the expense of expansive full backs on either flank.

I think you've logged in with your wrong account again.

Ralph wants a word.

It's a shame it's gone back to that model, I think having the FA Cup across both ITV and BBC over the last couple of years has re-energised the comp and given it a bit of a boost. Money talks though, and that's all football is about let's be honest. Not about fans or having games to watch, it's about the product and how much the big wigs can make out of it.

It is a bit like that isn't it! Struggle for years, recruit a load of shit you can't get rid of. The moment we become 'OK' again, the vultures circle almost immediately and nab all the good stuff and force us to reset again. I know it's always going to be the case for clubs like us, but it's the frequency it happens which is somewhat concerning. It's hard to get behind a group when you know they're just passing through if they're any good. It's not even a couple of seasons anymore, 6 months to a year tops if we're lucky.

Not sure how Liverpool will be able to cope without the Worlds Best Right Back (TM)

This is the key thing for me, players were made to look worse because Downes wasn't there. I noticed a couple of KWP and THB passes into an area where Downes 'would' have been, but neither Charles or Smallbone had the positional awareness to be available to receive the passes - so it looked like everyone was shit because they were giving the ball away, but a lot of was because the player wasn't where they should be and the automatism's were thrown because of that. It's not just because it's Downes, but any 6 with positional awareness and experience could do that role. Our problem is for us is that it's Downes or no one as neither smallbone or Rothwell are 6's, they're more advanced midfielders. And Charles is an inexperienced kid.

It's impossible to really judge Wilcox yet, as what he's doing is a long-term thing. But there are positives I've seen since he's been here, like our ability to get THB or Brooks etc - would have been heavily down to Wilcox due to his relationship with both. It's ridiculous to put the Charles signing on him and say he's failed. Charles is a young kid in his first year of pro football, way too early to be saying he's a failure at all. The biggest issue with all of this is that it would disrupt the chink of stability and continuity we're starting to build. A DoF, Scouts, Technical directors, managers etc all recruited for the same reason. I wouldn't go as far as saying replacing him will require us to reset, but it will be a disruptive bit of change. 'If' we don't get promoted and we lose him, dally on replacing him, whilst we're losing a good chunk of our team without a DOF in place, then next season could be rocky.

Yep, I totally get where you are coming from. I absolutely despised this league when we were being murdered by Wednesday and Hull back under Wotte and co. That was not fun. It's only fun this year because as you've said, we've been able to retain/build a team to make it fun. It doesn't take much to turn into a Swansea or a Stoke and I bet if we ask them how they feel about the Championship, they'll say it's a cesspit. Being in this league and just winning every week is great, for sure, but you cannot sustain that if you don't take a promotion opportunity within the first 1 or 2 years.

He can buddy up with Viafara.

I know what you mean, but I genuinely believe we're a really good side and full of leaders. They couldn't have gone on the run they'd been on had that not been the case. I reckon by the end of this month after Leicester have beaten Leeds (yes, that's been given up on now) and we've won our game in hand, things will look better than they have at any point this season in terms of a gap to third. Just my positive hunch.

Which it has been for 25 or so games, we just had a slow night last night where we just didn't click. That doesn't equate to our style of football being all wrong and us needing to reinvent the wheel. That's not a dig at you, but I've seen some idiots on social media proclaiming that possession football will not get you results in this league and that we need to reset our approach and bypass the midfield. I must have imagined all the results we've got playing possession football then!

He let in 3 at Gillingham

To be fair we weren't anywhere near as good as the table suggested at that point, that form did roll between two seasons as well (the lockdown games skewed things massively, even Sheffield United finished 9th in that year). We've got better players for this league, whereas under Ralph we were punching during that run in my opinion. That's why I never understood the cries to dump Ralph when we inevitably struggled to maintain that 20 game form.